By now, if you’ve been watching The Pitt, you probably have a favorite Pitt doctor. Many of them are easy to love, like Noah Wyle’s Dr. Robby, an honorable man with major trauma and incredible facial hair, or Taylor Dearden’s earnest Dr. Mel, who sings Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” to herself as a mid-shift pump-up song. We even stan Gerran Howell’s Whitaker, the poor little farm boy who keeps getting covered in bodily fluids and turns out to have a knack for rat-killing.

But here’s where I’ll admit something controversial: I have a soft spot for Dr. Trinity Santos, played with gumption by Isa Briones.

Look, I know what you’re going to say: Santos is an asshole! She’s a narc! She’s too confident for her skill level! But here’s what I say to you: She’s learning, she’s got the right mentality for this industry, and I want the best for her. But most importantly, every good TV show needs a great lovable bitch, and Santos provides that in spades.

The Pitt, whose first-season finale airs tomorrow night, primes you to dislike Santos. She gives people nicknames without their consent—when Dr. Javadi (Shabana Azeez) faints during the first few hours of the show’s nightmare shift, Santos nicknames her “Crash,” and later she starts calling Whitaker “Huckleberry,” just because.

She also displays little concern for the emergency room’s chain of command, particularly in the way she acts with Langdon (Patrick Ball), the senior resident with dark hair and a perfect dimple. Santos immediately distrusts Langdon, despite the fact that he’s her attending and she’s just an intern. This, of course, is a no-no, and a sign of her bad attitude. He does know more than her—and, frankly, if I were dying of a severe injury in the Pitt, I wouldn’t want some arrogant youngster talking back to her superior when trying to treat me.

At the same time: She’s also sort of right about Langdon. Santos correctly perceives that he’s been ordering extra doses of drugs and then squirreling them away in his locker. When Santos reveals this to hotshot surgeon Garcia (Alexandra Metz), she tells Santos to keep the information to herself. Instead, Santos ends up telling Robby, who tells Langdon to get out.

In the Langdon-Santos squabble, we’re conditioned to side with Langdon, who returns to the Pitt to lend a hand after the Pitt Fest mass-casualty event. First off, he’s a hottie. Second, it’s pretty clear there’s something that both we and Santos don’t know about his situation. Yes, he’s been secreting away some pills—but he’s not actually acting incapacitated in any way. He’s good at his job in a way Santos isn’t, at least not quite yet; at one point, trying to perform an incision, she drops a scalpel into Garcia’s foot.

But of the newbies we’ve met this season, Santos also seems the most qualified for a long-term career in this field. ER doctors are supposed to be cowboys—forging ahead when everything around them is a gruesome mess—and Santos conducts herself with situationally-appropriate swag.