What's it about?
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.
Review
The moral of this weeks tale is that you should never play god, particularly when you are a surgeon.
This week was a pleasant twist in the format of 'Private Practice' as we get to flash back to when both Addison and Sam were surgical residents and learn aspects of their past which had never been mentioned before.
Flash backs can make or break an episode, in terms of a show like 'Lost' they are relied upon but in most shows they're really just a plot device to held bolster the effect of the main story line. Flash backs are not a regular occurrence in world of Shonda Rhime's shows although we've had a few more this season what with all the events which have taken place over the summer.
Here they work well to compliment the main story and also to flesh out the potential conflict between Addison and Naomi over their respective relationships with Sam. There are certain plot devices which are quite obvious but the way in which they are presented here doesn't make them as obvious as you might first expect and the sight of Kate Walsh in a wig thankfully doesn't bring back memories of disastrous flashbacks of Jennifer Love Hewitt as a 'teenager' on 'Ghost Whisperer'
The peace of the last couple of weeks is tested after the driver of the car which killed Dell appears in the practice but it doesn't feel overtly contrived that he appears now: his trial is coming up and his actions are weighing on his conscience. I think it is fair to say anybody in this position might feel like apologising to the people they've hurt.
There are a lot of raw emotions in this story and seems only set to continue next week with the reappearance of orphaned Betsy, It has been easy to forget that very sharp emotional twists are one of the things which make both 'Private Practice' and 'Grey's Anatomy' so great and whilst the other is languishing in the aftermath of last season 'PP' is starting to soar in to new territory for its characters.
It's always good to see a show reach a creative momentum which means there are very little filler episodes and I hope this momentum lasts for some time as the variety of content on show here is starting to match, if not overtake, that of 'Grey's' and as much as I hate to play these shows off each other it is hard not to considering their creative driving force.
Likewise as the story of Cristina's path back to surgery to strung out on 'Grey's' it feels as though the story of Addison and Sam becoming comfortable with their own relationship might get strung out for at least a few more weeks of 'PP' but I'm fine with that as long as the outcome is not the Rhimes standard... they break up.
As Pete and Violet struggle with the infancy of their marriage and Cooper and Charlotte continue along the path of break-up and make-up as they do so well this show needs a couple to mirror the Meredith and Derek happiness of 'Grey's' we can only wait and see what happens next...
Next week...
The arrival of Dell's young orphaned daughter, Betsey, stirs up the emotions of everyone in the practice; and Pete and Amelia disagree over a risky surgery to treat a woman who has been experiencing chronic and insufferable pain throughout her pregnancy.
Overall
Story 4.0
Character 4.0
Medical content 4.0
Overall 4.0
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