Articles by Francesca

Sheldon warns Sam that he may be in over his head when he insists on releasing Corinne from the hospital and caring for her at home; a badly beaten Scott arrives at the ER and is placed under the care of Pete; Amelia is encouraged to make a decision about her unborn child; and Jake’s daughter grills him on his love life when he visits her at college. Meanwhile, Erica’s health takes a turn for the worse.

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Interestingly, although a large part of The Letting Go takes place in the hospital, there is no formal patient in this episode, that is no one-off stranger whose medical crisis amazingly relates to whatever crisis the treating doctor is going through in their personal life, but rather only familiar faces were the patients.

The Letting Go is a moving episode, with the most heartbreaking scene when Mason and Erica say their goodbyes to one another, and then Mason runs out of the room breaking down in Charlotte’s arms. I can entirely understand Erica’s wanting her son to only remember her at her very best and wanting to protect him, so she couldn’t handle having him be there as her body shuts down. Meanwhile, Cooper and Charlotte are amazing with Mason and incredibly honest with him about his mother’s deteriorating health. Poor Mason is lucky to have them at his side to help him pick up the pieces.  I only wonder… when Amelia told her she was full of tumors and only had few days to live she seemed sad and apologetic, but not overly surprised. Was Erica being monitored? If they thought the cancer could spread, why didn’t they follow up the tumor removal with chemo and radiation?

Elsewhere, Jake pays visit to his stepdaughter, Angela, at college and I couldn’t help but smile at how awkward their conversation is, with Angela telling him about losing her virginity and grilling him about his love life. How many girls would be that excited to share and seem to expect their father to be excited about their budding sex life? Few, I suspect. However, much as Angela was honest about her sex life, Jake was honest in describing Addison as beautiful but even a bit frustrating.

Honestly, I feel like they dragged Sam’s storyline with his sister a bit too long. Corinne throwing herself through a plate-glass door was a pretty strong warning that he couldn’t care for her without help, but Sam is still determined to be there for his sister, in spite of that and of Corinne confessing she is having suicidal thoughts: his love and fear of abandoning her prevent him from putting her in a care facility. It is only when he has to shove the pills down her throat that he decides to do what he knows is right for his sister.  Corinne begs, pleads, and promises to be good, but, in the end, Sam, although despondent, has her hospitalized in an in-patient facility.

Amelia decided to keep her baby and tell Addison about her pregnancy. Sheldon was helpful as ever and stated again how he wanted to be there for Amelia no matter what. I feel it was not nice (not sensitive?) of Amelia to repeatedly say you’re having the love of your life’s baby to a different guy who clearly loves you. You could see that every time Amelia repeated “Ryan’s baby,” it was a stab for Sheldon His offer of baggy clothes and a hideaway so Amelia wouldn’t have to tell baby-hungry Addison she’s pregnant was sweet, but just acted as another example of how poor doormat Sheldon seems determined to put himself in situations that get his heart trampled on. On the bright side, in spite of Amelia’s fears, Addison is genuinely happy for her, once she learns Amelia is expecting a baby.

Finally, as he watches Pete and Violet interact after he was brought into hospital and placed under Pete’s care, Scott realizes Violet is only there for him out of a sense of responsibility, so he tells her he doesn’t want to stand in the way of Violet’s family with Pete and, therefore, that their relationship is over, proving to be the only adult in the whole Violet-Pete mess.

The seventeenth episode of Private Practice season 5, The Letting Go, airs tonight on ABC, at 11/10 c.

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Synopsis:

Sheldon warns Sam that he may be in over his head when he insists on releasing Corinne from the hospital and caring for her at home; a badly beaten Scott arrives at the ER and is placed under the care of Pete; Amelia is encouraged to make a decision about her unborn child; and Jake’s daughter grills him on his love life when he visits her at college. Meanwhile, Erica’s health takes a turn for the worse.

Sam tries to take care of his sister, Corinne, but her mental condition makes that nearly impossible; Sheldon learns that Amelia has life-changing news; the flirtation between Addison and Jake continues, and Cooper rejects Charlotte’s suggestion to seek outside help with Erica’s care.

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Andromeda is another strong installment of Private Practice 5th season. All of the storylines basically revolve around the question of what we can handle and understanding how how much is too much and how much is not enough.

It was good to see at least a little emotional fall-out for Mason and his mom in the wake of her brain surgery. It would have been overly unrealistic to have her recover overnight. With Erica’s recovery taking a toll on Mason and Cooper, Charlotte tries to help out by hiring a night nurse so that Cooper could get some badly needed rest. At first, he  rejects the idea and I thought it was frustrating to see him neglecting her when Charlotte has been amazing and unbelievably patient with Cooper throughout this whole ordeal. Luckily, he finally comes to his senses (with a little help from Violet, who got him to see that he was taking his frustration out on Charlotte) and apologizes to her, making it clear that he appreciated her more than ever.

Amelia’s pregnancy came  as a surprise and is another emotional twist. What I don’t get is how she could possibly get to be 5-month pregnant without anyone at the practice noticing any physical changes in her body. Sheldon’s response to the announcement was predictable, in my opinion: jealousy of Ryan, still getting between him and Amelia even after his death, makes him tell Amelia that she should turn to someone else for help and advice, but the he is back to her and tells her he will be there for her and support her no matter what she will decide to do with the baby. I wonder how Addison – who so much wants a baby and has so far unsuccessfully to have one – will react to Amelia’s unplanned, unwanted pregnancy.

Meanwhile, Sam keeps trying to care for his sister, Corinne, but her mental condition was making it a struggle, which reached its climax when Corinne strikes Sam in the head with a candlestick holder and then falls through a window. I found it very sad when Corinne can still see the stars in her hospital bed, but Sam will likely be convinced now to get her the help she needs (though his unwillingness to commit his long-lost sister is understandable). However, what is more upsetting in this situation is Addison’s jealousy over the attention Sam is giving his sister. I feel like a sick woman trying to get back on her feet with the help of her brother isn’t someone a grown woman should be jealous of.

As for Jake and Addison, sparks are flying on between them. I loved the elevator scene, when he tells her that it is all or nothing for him and Addison states she is not ready for him yet, but she may get ready. I like it that their story is taking time and developing slowly. Jake obviously care about Addison and he proved to be a gentleman in this episode, too, coming to her rescue when she needed help with a patient of hers.

Violet, instead, steps up and finally tells Pete that she misses what she had with Lucas and him, so wants to at least try to make their marriage work. I felt it Pete’s cold response is wrong: by neither enthusing nor letting her down, I think he might lead her to build up false hope or needlessly feel ungrounded. Honestly, I am stopping to care about what will happen tho those two.

Much as I am hardly ever concerned or worried about Addison’s patients, because she is too consistently successful in treating her patients. Addison had the patient of the week, Laurel, who is pregnant with twins, one of whom (a boy) has a diaphragmatic hernia, which is causing his lungs not to develop properly, and can only be saved by surgery that can endanger the other twin (a girl). Laurel wavers and only agrees to the procedure to not lose her partner, Dani, who was all for it. The successful surgery also revealed the girl-baby had a life threatening amniotic band. So, a win-win situation, but I question the wisdom of Addison telling Laurel and Dani that the decision to go ahead with surgery saved both babies lives. What if the original surgery supporter got angry at the thought the other woman’s fearful hesitance could have cost them both their children’s lives?