What's it about?
Violet and Cooper make changes to their friendship to appease their significant others; Pete and Cooper argue over a patient's marijuana use; Addison debates going public with her new romance.
What we saw
An episode which encourages all characters involved to stop taking short cuts and start facing up to the challenges before them. Time to grow up...
Review
It's becoming increasingly obvious how the titles of a lot of episodes these days are a comment on the content within, I'm sure that's nothing new but it seems to be becoming a lot more obvious as the years pass by. This week on 'Private Practice' we are learning the consequences of taking short cuts and apparently short cuts are bad!
There are a lot of problems between our ensemble and in this episode it became time to allow a lot of those skeletons to get out of their respective closets. Perhaps our biggest development is the impending merger between Oceanside Wellness and Pacific Wellcare which has clearly been a long time coming. I'm just hoping we get to see those 4th floor plans come to fruition.
A merger between the two groups who, as is pointed out in the episode itself, already spend most of their time floor swapping will open up the show to maybe jazz up some sets and introduce some new faces but will also bring the family back together in a way not seen since season 2.
These people need to heal but they're too busy causing conflicts to realise it, particularly for Addison who is continuing to accept that she has potential for happiness and spends the episode wrestling with herself about making things public. Her choice in the final moments of the episode will undoubtedly have an affect on other characters for the next few episodes but inevitably it is the start of some return to stability.
There was a little more Naomi in this episode, something which has been lacking since the latter half of season 3, and it's a good thing. Even when she's broken down she still brings to the screen a lot of the soul of the show and it was a shame to see her separated from the family during the storyline with William.
The storyline featuring guest star Darryl Stephens opens up some interesting emotional content for both Sheldon and Charlotte and brings one of the biggest medical shockers this show has seen for some time. It serves as a warning about bringing outside issues in to the workplace and also gives both actors a chance to show a different side to their character. The interplay between the two has been lost since Charlotte's decision to stay with Cooper and this is hopefully the beginning of them rebuilding their friendship.
There are good, solid medical issues which are in this episode: questioning the medicinal use of marijuana on children with learning difficulties is envelope pushing enough despite also having a suicidal patient with gender dysmorphia and they are well intertwined with the emotional issues of the main characters and enough praise cannot be heaped on the writers of this show for being able to mix these two so seamlessly.
On a side note: I am looking forward to the 'Grey's Anatomy' cross-over next week, even if it is only a little one.
Next week...
The man responsible for endangering Maya's life and killing Dell shows up at Oceanside Wellness with a heart condition, and Sam struggles with his responsibility to help; contrary to Violet's warnings, Pete volunteers at a friend's home medical clinic and ultimately puts a patient's life at risk; and news of Addison's new romance doesn't go over well.
Overall
Story 3.5
Character 4.0
Medical content 3.5
Overall 3.5
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