The calm before a rather nasty storm on 'Private Practice'
What's it about?
Much to her displeasure, Addison is teamed with a new oncologist, Dr. Rodriguez, to treat a newborn baby with a malignant tumor; when Violet and Sheldon visit a prison in order to interview inmates who are up for parole, Pete is highly uncomfortable as Violet tries to help a parolee; and Addison and Violet suggest Sheldon could be the solution for Amelia's needs.
Review
'Private Practice' is rapidly becoming one of the shows that I rush to watch first when I get it, it's only bested by 'Fringe' and 'Bones' on a Friday evening once all shows have appeared on my desktop and there are big things coming up for these characters which will no doubt change the outlook of the show.
In the meantime lets deal with some semi-serious subject matter and take a serious look at where are characters are in their lives. I'm happy to see that Addison is still not truly out of the neurotic woods and still suffering with some inadequacies when it comes to her relationships, as much as I want her to be happy I don't want it to be so easy for her that it feels unnatural to watch.
I want so much for Charlotte and Cooper to be happy but there's a major speed bump to come in the form of a guest starring role from Nicholas Brendan and I'm become wary of the situation with Pete and Violet.I genuinely thought that their marriage was going to signal a happy outlook to the season and although I didn't expect it to be completely plain sailing for the couple I hadn't realised that they would become such a volatile couple, at this stage I'm not entirely convinced that their marriage will last the season.
As I've mentioned previously the character of Naomi has been given a serious backseat on this show of late but for once she's not overly missed this week as Amelia is given a storyline of her very own, albeit a humorous side story, which occupies the screen time which would normally be taken up by Naomi.
There's some backlash from the loss of Betsy in the previous episode, a storyline which creator Shonda Rhimes has received some serious flack for, which is a nice nod to continuity over the week-by-week nature of the show. Watching the previous episode I felt that I understood the decision by all parties involved that it was best for Betsy to have a new family and not be permanently surrounded by reminders of her dead parents. I was most shocked to see that certain viewers felt this to be an oustandingly bad choice on behalf of the writers and that some felt this was the time to jump ship from the show.
Onwards and upwards there is a nice change of pace with the inclusion of an outside medical character who provides an outlook on diagnosis to two new parents which is not normally seen on the show. It's rare that a patient is offered treatment that's not provided by one of our main characters so to branch the show out in to other areas was a nice change and would be welcomed again in the future.
Looking at the rehabilitation of convicts is also new territory for the show and made for some interesting viewing, it's not easy to take a character who has such a dark background and make them vulnerable but it's done here with a serious degree of realism and doesn't jar from the more run-of-the-mill aspects of the show.
Each week I talk about how successful this show is becoming at juggling the ensemble cast so take note, it's still doing so and I'm still impressed.
From here on in it's going to get a bit serious for the next few weeks but hopefully it will be worth it readers!
Next week...
A comatose, pregnant patient puts a strain on Addison and Sam's relationship when they disagree over treatment. Pete and Charlotte are in an ethical dilemma about whether to reveal an auto accident victim's HIV status. Violet gets caught up in Lucas's first Halloween which puts her at odds with Pete's family.
Overall
Story 4.0
Character 4.5
Medical content 3.0
Overall 4.0
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