Ah, episode two of Private Practice. I approach this week like a great new beginning! It's the new Addison, the L.A. Addison. I'll consent to Addison being reborn! I'll allow her name to be used as a verb, or even a gerund! I, too, will follow in her footsteps, and leave the dreary bog of Seattle behind! The boxes are unpacked, the pictures are hung, and we're settling in, everyone.

Spoilers ahead!

Cooper sends Sam a stripper, delivered right to his house, but being the stand-up-good-guy doctor, he instead diagnoses her with a rash in a… delicate place. Ginger, said stripper/entertainer, shows up to get treated by Pete, spiking Addison's jealousy. In a very classic Addison move, she confronts Pete, who responds that she just wants him to kiss her again. Uh, yeah, that's exactly what she wants.

Sam goes on a house call to find his patient, David, passed out, with his teenage son and elderly mother unable to do anything for him. Sam sends them off to the hospital, where David promptly checks himself out, assuring Sam that he's fine. Of course, the son and Grandma show up later at the practice, with the son heaving. After a couple of blood tests, Sam finds out that Grandma is using mushrooms as a home alcoholism remedy, to cure David of his drinking problem, and the son just ate the wrong sandwich. Sam covers Grandma's completely dangerous actions by telling David that he's developed an allergy to alcohol, and he'll have to stop drinking immediately. Good guy doctor wins again!

Cooper, Naomi, and Addison diagnose a baby with a terminal illness, who happens to have a disconnected and uninterested father. When the tests come back, it seems the child couldn't actually be born of the parents, and all signs lead to a hospital mix-up. Naomi and Addison do some sleuthing, discovering that the only family that could have the other baby is the Stinsons, a product of Naomi's doctoring. After finding out that their baby isn't actually theirs, and their actual birth child is now dying, Daddy Stinson demands the infertility treatment money back from Naomi. Addison, through careful review of the visitor records, realizes that Daddy Stinson himself switched the babies, to save his wife the pain of losing a child, a child who was longed and fought for, and to make all the money spent on the treatments worth it. It isn't discussed, but I'm guessing he somehow knew their child would have this disease. Mommy Stinson, however, with Violet's help, comes back to face the other parents, and they trade children.

Violet's weekly infusion of stalkerish regret shows up in the form of a custom built Italian bicycle she'd ordered for her ex. She announces that she's going to give it away, to continue to disconnect from the very defunct relationship. But the bike has some bad mojo on it, and she can't seem to get rid of it. She ends up destroying it, for therapeutic reasons… but only after she takes it over to the ex's, and discovers his new wife has already gotten him one like it.

The Best:

- Charlotte King, the chief at St. Ambrose, is great, and I'm thinking she's here to stay. As the hospital's chief, she is intense and confrontational, but still emotional, setting up more private practice vs. hospital themes. And she's a great alter-ego foil to the Addison we now have, the decidedly non-chief Addison.

- Wow, you can get strippers AND doctors delivered right to your door in L.A.! No wonder Addison moved there. All I want is some decent Thai food.

The Good:
- Do you really buy that Taye Diggs would need someone to gift him with a stripper? But I had to laugh at it, nonetheless.

The Bad:
- Would two mothers just hand over children they've become attached to that easily? The answer to that is a resounding no. And I don't care what California law says or how good Violet might be.

- I'm not buying the chemistry between Naomi and Sam. And didn't they have a kid? Where's the kid?

- Cooper. Yes, as some readers pointed out, pediatricians aren't monks, but there's still something very distasteful about it. Even Sam and Pete point out that the Jekyll and Hyde act is hard to swallow. Couldn't he have been the alternative medicine guy, and Pete be the pediatrician? Or would that have been too easy, too uncomplicated? I'm not sure this character twist is interesting. I still say ew.

So, overall, episode two – better than episode one. Let's hope the ball keeps rolling. I was going to ask for a no-sick-or-dead kid episode, but the teaser has already thrown that hope out the window.

Comments

Agree with the conclusion that ep. 2 was better than ep. 1. Let's hope that they keep getting better and find out what the show wants to be. If they can do that fairly quickly, I believe that PP will benefit from that very much both in story quality and in ratings.

Rishi | Oct 3, 2007 7:43:57 PM | #

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What was the make and model of the bicycle?

sphd | Oct 3, 2007 9:01:17 PM | #

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I don't believe they said. They said custom built Italian, $6k.

Kiley McMichael | Oct 4, 2007 5:21:56 AM | #

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Personally - I think that they are trying to make Addison too much like Meredith and her character is getting quickly annoying. What's with the stammering and hemming and hawing. The Addison up at SGH was confident - not a bumbling idiot around some guy

Wags | Oct 4, 2007 5:31:51 AM | #

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I actually saw things take a turn for the worst last night. Like you said, the Charlotte King character is great...and she possesses many of the same traits that SG Addison did. Looking at Private Practice from a strictly pilot sense, this show would never survive without the Grey's fanbase.

Alyx | Oct 4, 2007 6:17:32 AM | #

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Well I liked the first show and liked this one even more. We all know that they would not change baby's that soon, BUT they only have an hour to do things so it is what it is. There were and are many flaws on GA that we "over look" them. I like the show and its been added to my weekly DVR list.

Ray | Oct 4, 2007 6:51:46 AM | #

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I stopped watching half way through this episode. I couldn't take it anymore. What a waste. I wanted to like this show. Instead of getting a grown-up Grey's I'm getting 40 year-olds acting like children. What a disappointment.

Jennifer | Oct 4, 2007 7:16:01 AM | #

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I know pedicatricians aren't monks, but they are very connected to children, and are very busy. Their job is both wonderful and heartbreaking. I know I would feel a little weird knowing my pediatrician was so into that stuff, and it's kind of like college age boy stuff too. I wouldn't want such an immature knucklehead for a doctor, even if he was brilliant. Your relationship with the doctor that cares for your child, just extends beyond medical expertise. So I agree, ew.

Sue | Oct 4, 2007 7:39:39 AM | #

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I think I'm done with this show. I really really want to like it, but I so don't. Did Sam seriously just lie to his patient and make up an illness? What kind of doctor does that? They writing is so overly dramatic and childish. Bring Addison back to Seattle Grace!

sarah | Oct 4, 2007 8:23:39 AM | #

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HORRIBLE SHOW...the better for me because now i have more time to watch BIONIC WOMAN and GOSSIP GIRL!!

sara | Oct 4, 2007 8:24:40 AM | #

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I am very disappointed in this show. I think they are trying way too hard to make these characters quirky and make the storylines emotionally involving. I don't believe for a minute that a medical practice in LA or anywhere would do house calls - not in this day and age. Especially in LA. Doesn't it seem like these doctors have all the time in the world on their hands? How do they pay the rent when three or four of them are all working with one patient all day?

I think the chick that plays the hospital chief of staff is too young for that post and way too bitchy.

This series just seems so unrealistic in every aspect. Yea. Addison is looking out for Naomi - really? Funny this is the "best" friend she hadn't had any contact with for several years and didn't even know she was getting divorced, but suddenly she acts like her keeper?

Didn't the way they had Addison and the lady from the hospital seem to be dressed inappropriately?

Betty | Oct 4, 2007 10:41:40 AM | #

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Two down: Private Practice and Bionic Woman.
And that as they say is that!

Lori Wilson | Oct 4, 2007 11:59:01 AM | #

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FYI --- They did mention that the baby seized while in the hospital while the father was holding her, so this is how he realized she was sick. I'm hating how immature Addison is behaving, too. Well, ALL of them, actually. There are lots of good actors on this show, but they're being horribly wasted.

Jan | Oct 4, 2007 12:03:09 PM | #

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Hope they're still holding the job open at Seattle Grace. High priced physicians in LA seeing just one patient a day? You've got to be kidding.

Sy | Oct 4, 2007 12:46:51 PM | #

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you keep saying how confident she was...etc...guys, do you not remember the bumbling idiot around karev? hello?

becky | Oct 4, 2007 2:01:32 PM | #

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Is anyone else wondering why Addison hasn't mentioned ANYONE back in Seattle even once? She just changed her life for cryin' out loud...does she have amnesia, too? She left people behind that, no matter what she says, she cares about...She is so busy dealing with everyone else's life...did she forget she has one of her own?

Michael | Oct 4, 2007 4:26:36 PM | #

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"Would two mothers just hand over children they've become attached to that easily? The answer to that is a resounding no."
You think they handed their babies over easily? From the episode I watched, it was a VERY difficult thing for both mothers to do (obviously). Apprarently you didn't see the scene where they exchanged babies and could hardly bring themselves to do it.

I officially think Merrin Dungey would have been better in the role of Naomi, despite MacDonald's talent.

I'm liking the show, but I do agree that they are making the characters too childish and quirky. It worked at the beginning of Grey's because these interns were trying to keep their head above water in a new cutthroat environment and adjusting to their new lives.
These people are established in their career and surroundings and should be a little more mature.

graeme | Oct 4, 2007 4:59:16 PM | #

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Wow, tough crowd!! I love the show-I cried so hard when the moms handed over the babies, and I am connected enough to my real life living that my tv watching time doesn't have to mimic it. As a matter of fact, I prefer that it doesn't. If I want true to life misery and "maturity" (Oh Lord!), that's what CNN is for-otherwise I just want some plain ol' entertainment.

(We all do realize this is just pretend, right? Just checkin'....)

Sherry | Oct 4, 2007 6:28:48 PM | #

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I so agree with Sherry, I cried hard when those moms had to exchange babies. I also watch this show and others to have some escape and entertainment from the "real" world for a couple of hours.

Tumba | Oct 6, 2007 9:53:45 PM | #

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