"Private Practice" Recap & Review - "In Which Sam Receives an Unexpected Visitor"

Private Practice
"In Which Sam Receives an Unexpected Visitor"

Original Air Date: October 3, 2007

Laura Ann - TwoCents Staff Writer

Last night was the airing of another episode of "Private Practice." I cannot hate this show. The reason I cannot hate this show is because my absolute favorite character from "Grey's Anatomy" is the star of it. "Private Practice" has a great cast of actors but unfortunately it has a pretty pathetic cast of characters.

Kate Walsh's "Addison" is superb as always even though she is a brunette now & not a fiery redhead (booo!!) & Taye Diggs' character is so much fun that I wish Addison's character would get with him instead of Dr. McDowner with the dead wife & no emotions.

The reason that "Grey's Anatomy" was so apt at pulling at its viewers emotions is that it had an ensemble cast of characters of all ages & a rainbow of personalities to conflict with & love each other. "Private Practice" is lacking because none of the bored middle aged people who star in it have anything to offer except being boring middle aged people.

Last night's episode focused around the team working at the practice & dealing with Taye Diggs' having befriended a stripper with a mysterious rash much to the chagrin of his ex-wife Naomi. Unfortunately, these two characters are way too underdeveloped & slightly bland together in order for the audience to REALLY care about their relationship. It got lost among random open ended conversations with all of the other key characters in the show.

Towards the last half of it, Shonda Rimes' classic heart tugging plots came into full force when the story of two couples with newly born infants was put into play. One infant has a deadly disease & will not live past the age of 5. The other infant is totally healthy. The dying infant is found to have been switched in the nursery. The climax is when the two mothers have to switch the babies that they have loved as their own (not knowing any different) since they were born. I was in tears because both mothers were in tears because to THEM they were giving away their children to complete strangers when they were forced to switch back in the end. The biological mother of the dying infant divorced her husband because he was the one who switched the babies after having seen the sick one seizing in the nursery.

The very end of the episode dealt with one tiny flirtation between Addison & McDowner. She got a little sassy & he asked if she needed to be kissed again. She quickly unsassed herself & that was the end of that. All in all it's not a bad show. But I expect more of Shonda Rimes. If she's going to take a beloved character out of a hit show then make sure the show that she is transferred to is worthy of her.