Private Practice

After an episode last week that felt a little over-dramatic and hokey at times, Private Practice returned to form last night. Also returning? The Captain. Addison's dad.

She was clearly shaken by the unwelcome arrival of her father, but Cooper was in even more dire straits after being arrested when he refuses to cooperate in a case.

Meanwhile, Pete fought to keep a terminally ill patient alive long enough for him to meet his new daughter. Addison, Pete and Cooper all really shined last night.

If you missed "Sins of the Father," follow the link for our recap. Now, a look at the major developments that took place and why we felt they worked so well (or didn't) ...

Aye, Captain: Addison is a rich trust fund brat who blames her problems on the man who provided said trust fund. Eh, we'll buy it. Money can't solve everything.

On the flip side, she's just doing what her father did and admitting fault. She certainly has a right to be mad, from what it sounds like she went through as a kid.

Still, blaming her cheating on Derek on her dad? That's a bit of a stretch. Then saying he's not family, because  the people she works with are. Yikes, that's harsh.

It also paints her kiss with Sam last week in a new light. Maybe she does consider him family. In any case, this Captain story is far from over, and we're intrigued.

Addison and her father aren't exactly on the best terms.

Dude, you're getting a Dell: This is true if your name is Betsey ... or Heather! That's right, Dell's back, and married. To Heather. Everyone understandable tweeks.

Violet and Naomi stage an intervention, but Dell's not having it. He says he loves Betsey, but he got married because of Heather alone, not just for their daughter.

Oh, Dell. You and your relentless idealism may be naive at times, but you're a breath of fresh air on this show and TV. If only Chris Lowell had a bigger role on PP!

He won't back down: The focal point of the episode, without question, is Cooper, who stands his ground when Evan's mom shows up demanding to know where he is.

Cooper ends up in jail, but he ain't talking. Talk about steadfast dedication to his patient. This ties into ongoing personal drama with Charlotte and their non-wedding.

Again, Coop says he's in the right when Addison sells him out protect him and the practice, as he tells her it's not the same just because they protected what they love.

In Addison's defense, she did end up saving the kid and clearing a wrongly-accused man. But does that mean Coop was in the wrong? Team Addy or Team Cooper?

The extra mile: Pete suggests Addison deliver a baby six weeks early so an ailing father can meet her, and the mother can one day say her dad held and loved her.

Addison won't until Pete plays the Lucas card. Pretty low, but it definitely worked - and everybody won in the end. We'd have gone for it too, who are we kidding!

What did you think? Comment away and let us know!

Gilmore Girls, rejoice!

Melissa McCarthy, who played Sookie on that CW cult smash, will guest star on a January episode of Private Practice.

Insiders have told Entertainment Weekly that McCarthy’s character will be pregnant and a patient of Dell's.

Since her long-running stint on Gilmore Girls, McCarthy has appeared on a few episodes of Samantha Who? and takes on a supporting role in the Katherine Heigl/Josh Duhamel comedy, Life as We Know It.

This Thursday's episode of Private Practice might not place Addison in a life-threatening situation or have her awkwardly make out with Sam, but that doesn't mean it isn't loaded with interesting storylines.

Addison's father, played by Stephen Collins, pays his daughter a surprise visit. There's also a marriage intervention and - as the clip below depicts - an arrest...

As always, TV Fanatic will recap and review the episode in depth.

For now, click on the photos below for an early look at scenes from "Sins of the Father."

The most recent installment of Private Practice drew mixed reviews from our staff - as our review of "The Hard Part" made quite clear. Now it's time to explore deeper.

Below, our staff breaks down some of the burning questions from last night's episode our Private Practice Round Table discussion. Here's how our panel saw it ...

1. What was your favorite Private Practice quote from the episode?

The Barnacle: Ooh, tough one. Anything with Pete and Sheldon, but specifically when they passive-aggressively bash the type of medicine the other practices.

Dr. Shepherd: The Addison-Sam exchange of "You're not Naomi" and "You're not Derek." So cheesy, so Shonda. Not sold on them as a couple but love 'em both.

M.L. House: No single line stands out but I thought the woman who played Kara was terrific. I couldn't believe she didn't make it after all of that. So Sad.

2. Addison and Sam: Up or down?

M.L. House: Down. I don't see the chemistry. Please let them stay just friends.

Dr. Shepherd: I felt like the Addison-Sam angle was sort of wasted on this episode, which was so good otherwise. It was sort of forced at the end in my opinion, after Kate Walsh and Taye Diggs had been so terrific throughout. A little bit strange.

The Barnacle: Up! Okay, so it's a blatant Girl Code violation for Addy to mess with Nae's man, even after they're divorced, but I'm starting to think she left the practice for a reason. Anyone else get the feeling we haven't seen the end of Saddy (Addam) ?

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After becoming such a solid show over the past year and a half following its shaky start, Private Practice took a bit of a step back last night. Sam and Addison? Really?

Both primary story lines Thursday night were a bit hard to believe, as well as difficult to watch - in terms of the medicine practiced and the character developments.

If you missed it, we're jealous here's a recap of "The Hard Part." Now, a look at the major developments that took place and why we felt they worked (or didn't) ...

Rising to the occasion: Charlotte, Coop and Violet team up to help a newlywed who went overboard with his Viagra so he could be a rock star on his wedding night.

His erection won't go down. It has to be drained with needles. First off, they did this on Grey's Anatomy. Second, the kid is a virgin. Why would he need ... forget it.

Complicating matters is the kid's new wife, who made a virginity pact with him, but who is pregnant. She wanted to get the first time out of the way, she says.

With someone else. With no protection. Sigh. Even more dubious? How Charlotte convinces the kid not to leave her, revealing how her first marriage ... failed.

Um, what? Someone in the writers room needs to brew another pot of coffee, because that segue made very little sense. And sadly, it paled in comparison to ...

The "What if" game: Hiking "hours from anywhere," Sam and Addie ponder what would've happened if they hooked up, rather than marrying Nae and Der.

With the obvious foreshadowing out of the way for now, they discover an injured guy in the middle of the canyon. His pregnant wife is trapped in a nearby car.

Addison climbs in the car to check on expectant mom Kara, but just then, there's an avalanche, the car sails down the hill, crashes and both are trapped in it!

Oh, and her due date is today. Right, because that makes perfect sense, driving around in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service, while 40 weeks pregnant.

In a nauseating display for viewers, Sam improves a way to keep her husband's collapsed lung functioning while he runs for help. On foot. Addison delivers the baby.

The husband makes it but the wife doesn't, sadly. This sets off an introspective, passionate moment for Addison and Sam when he returns. They totally kiss! FAIL.

Talk about an overdramatic, nonsensical development. We've come to expect that Private Practice, even when it's off it's game, is nuanced, with appropriate pacing.

Sam and Addison, though? They talked about how great things might have been if they were together, then after all this, decided to give it a shot ... just kidding! Yeesh.

Whether they are or not, the romantic subplot was not necessary and took away from what was otherwise great acting from Kate Walsh and Taye Diggs in the episode.

On a less dramatic note last night, Pete and Sheldon hitting the bars and flirting with the women - and maybe, kinda sorta becoming friends - was pretty priceless.

Uh-oh.

On this week's episode of Private Practice, it isn't just a patient that's in danger. Addison finds herself trapped inside a car, following a hiking trip with Sam that turns into a major medical adventure.

Check out the clip below from "The Hard Part."

There is some levity during the hour, of course:

Charlotte, Cooper and Violet treat a newlywed that has downed too much Viagra (The Hard Part? Get it?!?); while Pete and Sheldon fall for the same girl at a bar.

Click on the pics below for peaks at scenes from the episode:

We've updated our Private Practice music section to include songs from the previous pair of episodes. Visit it now to purchase these singles off iTunes.

Last night's Private Practice featured four story lines barely connected to each other. We'll examine the ups and downs each in our review of "Slip Slidin' Away" below ...

Addison is treating a woman for stage four ovarian cancer, but the woman won't go to the hospital until someone she trusts agrees to watch Milo, her cat. Naturally.

We now have Addison becoming crazy cat lady. She's not quite Angela from The Office, but she gets into it. It's cute. Also cute? The oncologist, Dr. Brian Reynolds.

He asks her out and she accepts. Unfortunately, they then discover that their patient has passed away. Addison fears she may end up as Lily, dying alone with a cat.

Kind of cliched, but entertaining enough all around.

Naomi meets Dr. Gabriel Fife, a wheelchair-bound specialist in complex implantation in high risk groups such as little people. He's a bit arrogant but quite brilliant.

Dr. Fife and Naomi clash over “designing” a baby for a couple who hired Fife behind her back. Nae feels she’s being asked to do a procedure that is morally wrong.

Of course, she can't confront or talk back to Dr. Fife because he’s in a wheelchair. But ultimately she does - and he's impressed. And she comes on board with him.

Anyone else think these two have the makings of an interesting couple.

Charlotte is upset because she has no patients. Cooper tries to help by going into a chat room and finding a few folks who may be in need of a good sexologist.

Charlotte catches on and says she doesn’t want pity patients. Cooper argues that it isn’t pity, it’s a referral. He was only trying to help. Charlotte comes around.

Seemed a bit like filler, but who doesn't love them some Cooplotte!

Pete treats Barbara, who is seriously depressed. Her fiance, Jimmy, desperately wants her to get better. Violet suggests a way to end the depression right now: Electroshock.

The procedure takes a few seconds and Barbara wakes up no longer depressed. But she also doesn’t know who Jimmy is. Or so she says. Violet believes she's faking amnesia.

V's theory is that something bad happened with Jimmy and she blocked it out. But Jimmy is so nice! Together, Violet and Pete decide to lie to Jimmy to spare the guy's feelings.

When Violet says memory and emotion get all wrapped up with each other and it’s hard to pull them apart, one gets the impression she's not-so-subtly talking about them.

We think they're not together, and she thinks this is for the best. We're not so sure.

Get ready for the latest installment of what is becoming an annual or even biannual tradition: the worlds of Grey's Anatomy and its spinoff Private Practice will cross over again.

Private Practice leading lady Kate Walsh is heading back to Grey’s Anatomy in January in a crossover involving Addison, Mark, and a patient played by guest star Leven Rambin.

The situation as we know it is as follows:

On Grey’s Anatomy half of the crossover, Dr. Mark Sloan (McSteamy, a.k.a. Eric Dane) pleads with Addison to come to Seattle and help perform surgery on Rambin's character.

One would assume that the girl is pregnant, given that Addison is the preeminent neonatal surgeon in, like, the whole country. But that has not been confirmed at this point.

Then, the story continues on Private Practice when, according to creator Shonda Rhimes, “complications arise and Mark takes [her] back down to L.A. for more surgery.”

As for Mark's connection to the new patient, whether sparks fly between Addison and Mark, and how Mark and Lexie are affected, that all remains to be seen. For now.

Are you excited for the latest Grey's Anatomy-Private Practice crossover?

We'll reserve judgment on this for now, but do you think they're overdoing it with these crossovers. By our quick calculations, this will be the fourth since April 2008:

• Addison returned to Seattle near the end of Season 5 of Grey's Anatomy. We forget the exact reason right now, which probably tells you all you need to know.
• Last season, Addison summoned Derek to treat her ailing brother, Archer (Grant Show). This story line continued for several episodes and on both programs.
• Just this fall, Bailey (Chandra Wilson) took a transplant patient to Los Angeles, where she resides, after she was unable to get the help needed in Seattle.

Katie Kent is back. And she is on trial.

That, of course, is Violet's insane baby-snatcher and C-section performer from the Season 2 finale of Private Practice. And Violet, of course, cannot bring herself to testify.

She's not ready to relive it, but then Katie herself asks Violet to testify (she thinks this will prove she is crazy and get her the help she needs, rather than a prison term).

Violet plunges into a crisis of conscience. Who will testify at the trial, if she does so at all - Violet the victim or Dr. Turner the medical expert? Whose opinion should count?

This is the theme of last night's "Strange Bedfellows."

This was inevitable and a bit too drawn out, but what was more compelling was the affect on Pete as well. He wants Katie to be sent away and do time for what she did.

It's not happening. Violet tells the court that, in her expert opinion, Katie was temporarily insane. Pete is not pleased, and that is when Violet realizes he is a victim too.

Pete has been saddled with the burden of losing the woman he loves, as well as having to care for baby Lucas. She apologizes. He says she owes no apologies, but ...

... please come home. Typical cheesy Private Practice. But you gotta admit, you want her to come back to him, don't you? If not, check yourself for a pulse, people!

Elsewhere, Charlotte is trying to get Sam to sign off on her joining the practice. He eventually does. Sweet, right? Not for Cooper when he learns her new specialty.

That would be "sexology." If you think that makes her sound like a hooker, that's exactly what Cooper said. Charlotte wasn't too thrilled. He got drunk. It got worse.

Even though it is a bit cliched that Cooper is so insecure about the specialty, we love these two together, and liked the way it was resolved. Strong women are cool.

Lastly, Addison and Naomi deal with the swapped unborn babies from last season's finale, one of whom has a tumor that will kill it without (equally risky) surgery.

The women have grown close, though, so the surgery happens. It fails. The other one runs away with the baby still inside her. We smell a return around March.

As a veteran of the soap opera world, Leven Rambin knows all about backstabbing and bed-hopping.

With that in mind, Lexie Grey better watch her back. Or her man, to be specific: the former All My Children star has booked a recurring role on Grey's Anatomy.

According to Rambin's Twitter account, the actress has started filming scenes for the ABC hit already; and her character looks to be going after a certain, gorgeous plastic surgeon:

Soap Opera Weekly, meanwhile, reports that Rambin will actually recur on both Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.

No details yet on her character, but expect her to show up later this year. And cause a few problems for Lexie and Mark, by the implication of this Tweet.