What's it about?
Pete discovers Charlotte at the hospital after she's brutally attacked but she only tells Addison that she was also sexually assaulted.
Review
Let me start by saying that this is in no way an easy review to write. This episode is nothing short of outstanding. The work done by all involved in this episode is award worthy through and through; this can't have been an easy storyline to take on or to execute but it's done seriously and brilliantly.
First things first: somebody needs to hand KaDee Strickland every award she can possibly be nominated for and they need to do it fast. She stands above all the rest in this episode, as she should, for her portrayal of a rape victim. Even through all the post attack scenes her character remains true to the Charlotte of previous seasons but there's a heartbreak and a vulnerability which adds many more dimensions to her.
The final moments of the episode as she leaves the hospital and flashes back to the attack itself were beyond tragic and I genuinely felt that I couldn't watch any more. I fully understood what had happened to her but to jump back to it after all the developments of the episode itself was traumatic enough as a viewer never mind for the actress to have filmed.
The rest of the cast shine here as well from Addison's horror at needing to cover up what really happened to Cooper's role as the devastated lover and all those in between. This is what the cast have been building to all season, I've said it week after week but this cast has pulled together amazingly over the last few weeks and here they all get their roles within the group dynamic turned upside down in an attempt to cope with Charlotte's attack.
I can't seriously talk about the calibre of acting in this episode without heaping praise on Nicholas Brendan for his continuing guest appearance in this episode. Having played the faceless attacker in the previous episode this week he gets to show his face and show us just how well he can cast off any comparisons to his role of Xander on 'Buffy' if however you do wish to draw a comparison there's a little of Xander when hypnotised by Dracula on show here.
He plays the mentally unstable role of Lee McHenry with some serious gusto and his scenes with Sheldon in this episode are quite gripping.I found myself wishing for Sheldon to discover who it was that Lee had attacked so he could exact some kind of revenge on him even though it was obviously not going to happen.
It remains to be seen where the storyline will go from here, Charlotte's obvious reluctance to tell the wider world of the magnitude of her attack means it could be some time before he's brought to justice, or that the truth will be dragged out due to circumstance. Either way Lee is going to be around and about for a while I assume and this can only mean more of this character who we might, as an audience, hate but will provide some gripping viewing.
The threads of things which I've said over the last few weeks are starting to pull together and make far more sense in terms of the bigger picture: the darker colour pallet, the moodier lighting... it all pulls together in this episode beautifully to match the emotional tone of the episode.
If the first few episodes of this season were an indication of what is to come then this episode marks a serious turning point in the direction of this show and prove that it is a serious contender to outshine sister show 'Grey's Anatomy' as this rivals the season ending shoot out at Seattle Grace and outshines it at the same time.
As I said at the beginning of this review I've found it very hard to write and it's been hard to describe why I loved an episode which had such a traumatising and serious subject matter at its heart so before I go on and ramble too much I'll just say that if you haven't seen it and even if you aren't a fan of the show I would watch this episode.
Tough stuff but the stuff of brilliance.
Next week...
Addison works to keep what really happened to Charlotte a secret because Charlotte decides to remain silent as she deals with the emotional toil the assault is having on her. Cooper and the other doctors are faced with their own inner demons as a result of Charlotte's attack.
Overall
Story 4.5
Character 4.5
Medical content 4.5
Overall 4.5
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