"Private Practice" Recap & Review - "In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl from Somewhere Else"

Private Practice
"In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl from Somewhere Else"

Original Air Date: September 26, 2007

Gargy - TwoCents Staff Writer

This Grey’s Anatomy spin-off starts out in the Chief of Surgery's, Dr. Richard Webber, office at Seattle Grace Hospital. There we find Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery (Kate Walsh) explaining to him why she needs to leave, needs a change and introduces, by proxy, her co-workers. She has figured they are all pretty much suitable people for their individual fields of practice, yet she failed to notice they aren’t too proficient at their personal lives. Some obscure reference to the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Show, I wasn't even born when that show was on the air, and they hug good-bye but not good-bye/more of a “see you later” type things.

Loving the scenery of LA, Addison’s and Dr. Sam Bennet's (Taye Diggs) beach houses are a big plus, but the moving boxes and dancing naked in front of your open window (that your new neighbor – a co-worker - can see in to) is probably not the greatest of ideas. Dr. Sam is livid now as he just found out that his ex-wife, Naomi Bennet (Audra McDonald), hired Addison without telling anyone at The Oceanside Wellness Center and without an actual vote.

We get to The Oceanside Wellness Center (which will be OCW from now on). Addison remembers William “Dell” Cooper (Chris Lowell) from her previous trip down to LA, the surfer dude who wants to become a mid-wife but is also the receptionist. Naomi gets interrupted by Addison and Sam, as she tries to attend to her patients Ken and Leslie arguing about Ken donating sperm. Whilst waiting and watching Sam and Naomi duke it out proverbially through a glass wall, Addison lets it slip, that she is now working as their OB/GYN, to the resident psychiatrist Dr. Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman), the herbalist Dr. Pete Finch (Tim Daly), and the pediatrician, Dr. Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein) ... who all, except for Cooper, take it with surprise and a little discouragement.

Naomi shows Addison the OCW, while reassuring her that everything will be alright. After holding a meeting in Pete's herbalist office, the rest of the team corners Naomi and Addison with their concerns and that they all agreed to have equal votes regardless of Naomi having the bigger share. They get distracted by the overly exuberant moaning of Ken's attempt at sperm donation. This is one problem Ken doesn't get to solve because he has a stroke and is rushed to the hospital where he is pronounced dead by the Chief of Staff of the hospital, Dr. Charlotte King (KaDee Strickland). Leslie takes issue with getting Ken's sperm, a little too loudly for the ER.

A big “how was your day, this was mine” type deal happens in the OCW's break room between Cooper and Violet. Addison comes in just in time for Violet to get a 911 page. Dell comes in to let Addison know she has a patient, her first patient at the OCW.

Back at the hospital, Sam and Leslie have a heated conversation with Charlotte about the legal rights of procuring Ken's sperm...Charlotte is one cold lady. At the OCW Lucy Henderson, a patient of Cooper's, is Addison's laboring mother to be, however Cooper doesn't do the gynee-squad (aka-OB/GYN team). But “Laboring Mothers Love Pete” is scrubbing in. At the hospital Naomi shows up, finds out that Charlotte has made Sam mad, and soon finds herself irked with the not-so-good Chief. Another crisis at the OCW, Dell wants to help Addison because he needs the hours for his mid-wife classes.

Paul, a management type at a mall-type department store, has called Violet about his sister Jenny, whose having a psychotic melt down right in the middle of the store. She's counting tiles on the floor. Violet removes one of Jenny’s cotton and surgical tape plugs from her ear and informs Jenny she is being charged by the hour, so Jenny might as well be able to hear Violet.

In the Birthing Room, Lucy is trying to explain to Addison and Pete that her father's mad at her because she messed up by getting pregnant. Dell steps in, still demanding to be able to help. Dell ends up noticing that during the actual beginning of labor that Lucy has passed out despite Pete's acupuncture treatment to help with the contraction pains. They stop the birthing because the breathing is distressed as well as the fetal heartbeat, putting both mother and baby in danger. At the hospital, Naomi is vehemently showing the legal proof that she and Leslie have every right to Ken's sperm. One problem Ken's ex-wife, Maria, has shown up calling Leslie a tramp and that she wants Ken's sperm for herself.

At the mall, we find Violet unsuccessfully trying to break through to Jenny, and ends up flat on her back after physically trying to get Jenny to look at her. Problem back at the OCW - the ambulance won't be in time, Addison has to perform a C-Section right there in a non-sterile environment. Addison extracts a beautiful baby girl and hands the baby to Lucy's dad who’s now not even remotely upset. He is still concerned for Lucy because his wife died giving birth to Lucy. The ambulance arrives to take mother, child, and grandpa to the hospital.

Cooper comes to help out Violet with Jenny. Violet attempts to question Paul about where in the store Jenny started to freak out. They go to the camping section and survey a video of a happy family camping. Turns out that Jenny and her husband took their son, who was dying from an inoperable brain stem tumor, camping just weeks before he went into a coma. Jenny took him off the ventilator and held him for four long hours while Jenny's son breathed on his own until he finally died. Cooper and Violet help Jenny understand that she did everything a great mother should've done and she is not to blame for her son's death. I cried while watching that, I remember a few months ago I had another cat that died (quickly thank God) from FIV complications-that nearly killed me, I don't even want to imagine what it would be like to loose a child, I gave life to, like that.

Maria lets go of Ken by allowing Leslie to have Ken's sperm, and that helps Naomi let go herself of her past marriage to Sam. It was a great day all around. Addison shuts her curtains on Sam and dances naked, again.