Private Practice
Recaps

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!

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.

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.

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.

Last night's episode of Private Practice was actually quite touching at times, despite a large dose of After School Special caliber cheese and some eye-rolling moments.

For the full rundown of what happened, follow the link for a recap of "Pushing the Limits." Now, here's our take on last night's episode, the fourth of the third season:

At times, watching Private Practice is like pulling teeth, as if they're trying to beat you senselss over the head tying medical stories into the characters' personal lives.

That said, it's what Grey's Anatomy used to be about, and if you like the characters, there is something to be said for this. Case in point? Violet's story line last night.

Working with a woman who had just been raped - and was carrying the rapist's baby, and whose husband wanted her to abort it - just hit too close to home for V.

The woman, who had been trying to conceive for some time, wanted to keep it. Violet went way over the line and told her it would be a living reminder of the rape.

Ultimately, she got a grip and told the couple they had to decide on their own. We don't know what they did, but it's network TV, so no way they had an abortion.

Side note: Why is abortion still taboo, even on ABC, the official network of hot same-sex couples? We're not implying this couple should have had one, just saying.

The most touching moment of the night, even if the cheesy lines elicited some audible groaning, was when Addison reunited a homeless mother and her mother.

The two had been estranged since - surprise, surprise - the 13-year-old refused to abort her pregnancy. Now she's got a two-year-old of her own and needs help.

With the help of the sentimental doctors of Oceanside ... Pacific ... whatever the heck they want to be called ... the two patched things up and the boy was saved.

These stories were good and at least consistent with what Private Practice is all about, and made it more enjoyable than Grey's Anatomy last night in many ways.

Other things didn't quite work, though. Dell may be really cute, but seems to show up here and there and never really produce much in the way of notable stories.

Also, the job switching seems like forced drama. Pete's moving upstairs, Naomi's not being replaced, Charlotte's moving downstairs ... it's all a blur after awhile.

When Private Practice sticks with what it's good at, it can be downright enjoyable. They've got a good cast and good writing. They just need to trim the fat a bit.

Last night, Private Practice received a special guest star as Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) continued her story arc from earlier in the evening at Seattle Grace. Yup, her patient on Grey's Anatomy had one last hope for a kidney transplant and that brought Bailey to L.A.

The reason it had to be L.A. is that the patient's HIV-infected sister was willing to part with a kidney. Problem is, that's extremely dangerous and also kind of illegal.

Bailey and Sam butted heads, but eventually saved the day. They also nearly kissed. OMG. We certainly didn't see that one coming, and we kind of wish they had!

Meanwhile, Addison was called out by Noah's wife, who totally figured it out. Perhaps most significantly, we finally, finally, finally know who Violet's baby daddy is!

Follow the link for a full recap of "Right Here, Right Now."

A handful of Private Practice quotes from last night ...

Sheldon: Where's Lucas?
Violet: I gave Lucas to Pete.
Sheldon: Gave to Pete to watch? Gave to Pete to babysit?
Violet: To live. | permalink

Cooper: Pete, I know your a dad now and the world's a big, scary place, but what the hell is going on? | permalink

Sam: My foot is down.
Bailey: Your foot is down? Well, you best pick it up and walk away from me! | permalink

Bailey: Are you a by-the-book chief or are you a do-what-it-takes-to-save-lives chief?
Charlotte: This kind of blatant manipulation typically work for you?
Bailey: Usually.
| permalink

Sam: I wasn't always the guy who sat and watched. | permalink

Bailey: This place is better than a telenovela! | permalink

Poor Violet.

A month has passed since the season premiere of Private Practice - or at least since the events shown on that episode took place - but no one has moved on. At all.

Violet feels nothing toward the baby she had stolen from her. Pete doesn't know how to get through to her, and Sheldon wants a place in her life (and the baby's).

Addison and Sam bond as they are mourning the same loss - Naomi - while Cooper has yet to visit his friend since he blames himself for what happened to her.

In short, everybody on Private Practice is a complete mess.

Follow the link for a recap of "The Way We Were."

Private Practice kicked off its third season last night with a typical Shonda Rhimes made-for-fake-spoilers moment: A somber Pete standing over a coffin being buried.

Oh, but it was just a flashback to when Pete's wife died. Shonda is lame. But said flashbacks did tell the back story of Pete and Violet and made for a strong episode.

Private Practice picked up where we left off last season, with Violet's baby having been stolen, and her bleeding on the floor. Sick. She was discovered shortly after.

Did she live? Yes. We knew that going in. But how she got there and the back stories told made for a wild ride. Follow the link for a recap of "A Death in the Family."

Here are some the top Private Practice quotes from the emotional episode ...

Naomi: Addison, let another surgeon handle this!
Addison: I can save them both, Na, I can save them both! | permalink

Dell: I am 25-year-old single father. How am I going to deal with all this?
Cooper: You just love her. | permalink

Pete: [to Violet] My wife died and all ... all I could think was that I can breathe again. | permalink

Violet: You asked me what kind of man I am? I think you're a man that married the wrong person.
Pete: Maybe SHE married the wrong person. Maybe I'm not cut out for all this.
Violet: You're a good man. And in time you'll find someone. You'll love someone.
Pete: I hope so. | permalink

Pete: Violet lives. Save Violet. That is the goal here. | permalink