'Private Practice': Killing dreams since 2008...

This week's Private Practice involved a whole lot of hopes crushed beneath a whole lot of shoes. Behold, the squishy pulp of your aspirations and ideals!

Spoilers below

Addison discovers she needs $487,000 to keep the practice floating. To earn the money, they'll open one hour earlier and one hour later plus weekend hours. they'll also be asking everyone to take on extra duties to help generate much needed cash.

Meanwhile, it's Jenna Day. Who's Jenna? Why a 17-year-old married, dying girl who's last wish is to have a baby. Jenna, her teenage husband Nick, and her parents are in a room as Naomi performs egg retrieval with Pete in the room as backup. When Addison finds out what's happening, she isn't behind the idea at all, arguing with Naomi and Pete that they're creating an orphan.

Addison runs into Nick after he donates his half of the baby-making materials and they talk. She asks what he wants and what his plans are, how he'll be involved. She asks what he wants and he pauses to think. I'm telling ya'll it's sabotage...

Naomi has found a viable egg and is about to begin the process of fertilizing it as Jenna and her parents happily watch. Jenna hands a camera to Pete and he tells a freaked-out looking Nick to get in the picture. It's at this point that Nick apologizes ans says he can't do this, leaving the room in panic.

Nick's locked himself in a room while Jenna, her parents, and pretty much everyone who works there stands outside. He finally comes out and he says that he loves her but, like Addison said, what about what he wants. Yep, it's all Addison fault. Naomi is no the happy, nor is Pete who told her to leave it alone.

Dell found a little over $100,000 in unpaid bills so Addison charges him with collecting the money but gives up since it's a rough time for everyone he's talked to for various reasons (including divorce - awkward!). He tells her that he quits and lets it slip that they have a floor of prime office space that they could rent and earn money from. Sam and Naomi don't want to rent it out because their dream is to create a self-sufficient medical office including a lab and cardiology. If the space is leased, it'd have to be for 5-10 years, thus killing their dream. Addison gets pissy because they didn't tell her about the space and Naomi digs back about Addison ruining a dying girl's dream. Double awesome.

Jenna and her parents show up the next day, sans Nick, determined to have her baby. Since she can't use Nick's sperm without his permission, she wants to use a sperm donor. Pete and Naomi discuss this and Addison butts in again saying Nick should have a say in this. Being pulled away by a nurse, Pete tells Naomi that Addison is kind of right.

Addison makes an impassioned plea for Naomi the reconsider the Jenna and office space situation, stating that there are dreams and possible futures but sometimes a path must change. Meanwhile, Pete goes looking for Nick and finds him at the arcade, like Jenna had mentioned. He tells Nick the situation and, after Nick tells him how he really feels, Pete advises he say those same things to Jenna.

After Jenna has found a suitable donor, Naomi comes in and tells her that she can't agree to perform the procedure anymore. Yes, everyone wants to make her happy and wants her not to die but having a baby won't change that. Nick and Pete show up at that moment and Nick tells her that he doesn't want a baby but he does want her. They hug and it's a quasi-happy ending. You know, 'cause she's still gonna die and whatnot.

The big B-plot tonight involves Violet and her college friend who's now running for Congress, Kara Wei (played by the fantastical Ming Na). She's up in the polls so her opposition is digging into her past, she asks to have her medical records destroyed. Bum bum bum. they bonded over past horrors in their lives - Violet a rape and Kara the death of her mother. She had checked herself into a mental institution and had shock therapy and doesn't want that getting out. Violet is reluctant on account of that whole illegal/lose her license thing. She talks to Cooper about it and he says not to do it.

Violet has lunch with Kara and says she doesn't thing she should hide the shock therapy. She says that Kara can help a lot of people through similar situations, adding that burying this won't do her any good health-wise. Kara really doesn't dig the idea and leaves all riled up.

Violet shows up at St. Ambrose Hospital, where Kara records are, and Cooper has followed her in an attempt to talk her out of it. With no ID, the nurse in charge can't give Violet the records but Charlotte shows up and vouches for her. Pulling Cooper away to talk, Violet walks away with the file.

After looking at Kara's records, she goes to confront her. Turns out Kara's mother was super abusive and Kara killed her in self-defense as well as to protect her little brother. The legal records were sealed (which Kara has already disposed of) and Violet makes one last plea for her to do the right thing, placing the file on her desk. And, in the middle of her speech, Kara picks up the file and starts shredding without a hint of remorse. Cold, but fantastic. Violet goes and tells Cooper what happened and they discuss how she was a dumbass as he comforts her.

Assorted Other Bits & Pieces

• Cooper and Charlotte have decided to be in a monogamous relationship and, thus, want to take an HIV test so they don't have to use condoms anymore. Essentially the whole episode they wait impatiently for the lab results. Cooper receives them at the end but opts to be there for his best friend Violet in her time of need instead of opening them. But, since Coop set up the fantasy Charlotte was prepping for them while they were waiting, I'm assuming the results came back negative.
• Speaking of Charlotte, she interviewed for a mysterious new job. Cooper had told her about the financial troubles and how they're trying to rent office space, information that helps her secure whatever job it is.
• At the beginning of the episode, Sam and Naomi are in bed together and their daughter Maya walks in on them (thankfully they're not doing anything because hello, all kinds of damaging). She asks if they're getting back together and they say yes, to cover. So this, plus Jenna telling him that people should appreciate life before its too late, triggers a sort of mid-life crisis for him - complete with an ear piercing that ends up getting infected. As Naomi helps him clean it, Sam says he wants to move back in. Naomi says that she would've said yes if he had asked the day before but, since she's killing dreams today, she says no. But she has a good reason. She says they never really separated and is scared that they keep falling back together because it's easy, not because it's right. Cut to Naomi comforting their mega-disappointed daughter. It's funny how a locked door could've prevented all this from happening.
• Charlotte kept interrupting Violet and Cooper's friend time. Also, Violet didn't react favorably to learning they decided to be in a monogamous relationship. She claims, at the end, that she's not jealous and that's she happy they're happy. Really she's just bitter because she doesn't have a life outside of the clinic. Can the writer's please get this woman a good boyfriend? Geez...
• In the middle of all this, Meg and Pete are hanging out and her smoking is driving him nuts. At the end of the episode, she's off to Ghana and Pete says for her to come back because he's happier when she's here. Oh, and try to stop smoking because Pete's wife died before she could quit.

Your thoughts on the episode? Should Addison have handled the situation differently? Did everyone seem more unreasonable than usual this episode or is that just me? Should Violet have known better than to hand over that file? Any suggestions on who should play her hopefully soon-arriving-full-of-awesome boyfriend?

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