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The fifteenth episode of Private Practice season 5, You Break My Heart, airs tonight on ABC, at 11/10 c.

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Synopsis:

Cooper and Charlotte take Erica to Seattle Grace to meet with Derek, Lexie and Amelia regarding a very risky surgery; Scott tells Violet that he would like to take their relationship to the next level; and Addison finds herself caught in the middle of Sam and Jake’s fight about a patient. Meanwhile, Sheldon warns Sam to be cautious as he deals with the return of his sister, Corinne.

The fourteenth episode of Private Practice season 5, Too Much, airs tonight on ABC, at 10/9 c.

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Synopsis:

Sam finds his estranged sister, Corinne, in jail, heavily medicated and near-catatonic, and brings her to Sheldon for help; Erica begins secret treatments for her cancer and refuses to let Cooper and Charlotte tell Mason; Cooper, Pete and Addison treat the baby of a drug addict; and things between Violet and Scott continue to heat up in the bedroom.

Synopsis:

Sheldon counsels Sam’s friend, Rick, an Army veteran suffering from PTSD who harbors a secreted sexual trauma; Erica and Mason are involved in a nonfatal car accident that forces Cooper and Charlotte to further come to grips with their future; Violet and Pete struggle to navigate life after marriage when he finds her kissing Scott; and Addison and Jack attend a medical conference they won’t soon forget.

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Private Practice was back last Thursday after a break with its fair share of drama.

Addison and Jake take a trip to Palm Springs to attend the Scientific Assembly for the College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (SACOG) conference and it’s a trip that they definitely won’t soon forget. Along the way we learn that Jake is old-fashioned gentleman who believes in opening doors and being the driver and Addison power eats to get over a break-up. I hoped this trip would be a turning point in their relationship (well, maybe it is), but Addison seems unable to get rid of Sam. I liked how Jake refuses to take advantage of her while she was drunk and vulnerable when she shows up at his hotel room and propositions him for sex, and takes care of her, ordering her food and moving her schedule around to better fit her hangover needs. It was nice to see the fun and drunken side of Addison instead of the super baby-focused one for a change, while Jack seemed almost too good to be true.

Back at the hospital, Erica and Mason are brought into the emergency room following a car accident caused by Erica suffering a seizure while driving. Cooper yelling at Erica over driving with Mason and threatening to have her license revoked if she drives with him again may seem mean, but it is clear to everyone that Cooper is really just having a hard time with the concept of Erica dying and worried about how Erica’s sickness and eventual death will affect Mason. Luckily, sane and supportive Charlotte gets through to him and suggests that he plead with Erica to try treatment and he does. Erica agrees to fight for more time and for Mason (perhaps now conscious that though treatment will entail heavy side effects, she won’t have an easy ride even if she refuses it).

Sheldon’s patient is Rick, a soldier who recently returned home from Afghanistan as well as a friend of Sam’s. Rick and his wife Kelly initially come for couples counseling, as he is distant emotionally and sexually since his return. Sheldon sense there is more to the story, but Rick is unwilling to talk. Sam stops to check on Rick at home and finds him unconscious after a pills/beer suicide attempt. Rick survives, but as he wakes in the hospital, he fights to leave, so he sedated, restrained and placed under a mandatory psych hold. Once he calms down, he opens up to Sheldon about having been raped by his sargeant. He’s immensely ashamed and blames himself, and when he finally tells Kelly, she is shocked and confused, finding it hard to understand how a soldier couldn’t fight off the attack (not an unexpected response), but Sam goes talk to her and helps her to see that she can’t possibly blame her husband for something that wasn’t his fault, so she returns to her Rick’s side. Sheldon asks Violet for advice on his current case and their conversation highlights that she is a one track shrink and Sheldon’s a much better one. Violet tells him to treat it the same way he would if Rick were a female victim, but Sheldon thinks his gender makes this case completely different. A man, especially one that’s trained to fight like soldiers are, would be questioned about his masculinity, unlike a female, who would be viewed as just trying to survive.

Meanwhile, Pete and Violet’s relationship (or lack of it) is frustrating. On the one hand, I feel like Pete should discuss the terms of their separation with Violet rather than complaining about the young paramedic she is dating with Sam. On the other, I feel it is hypocritical of someone who had a one-night stand with a complete stranger to tell Violet off because their son almost saw her kiss someone. When Pete demanded that Violet stop seeing Scott and Violet told him he left her, and either his jealous rage should lead him to start making out with her or he should leave it alone, I was totally on Violet’s side. Their separation was a mutual decision, and Pete ought to respect that.

The thirteenth episode of Private Practice season 5, The Time Has Come, airs tonight on ABC, at 10/9 c.

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Synopsis:

Sheldon counsels Sam’s friend, Rick, an Army veteran suffering from PTSD who harbors a secreted sexual trauma; Erica and Mason are involved in a nonfatal car accident that forces Cooper and Charlotte to further come to grips with their future; Violet and Pete struggle to navigate life after marriage when he finds her kissing Scott; and Addison and Jack attend a medical conference they won’t soon forget.

The Standing Eight Count

Pete, Violet, Sam and Addison adjust to their new, singles lives in different ways. Addison questions how much she wants a baby and confides in Jake, Violet considers an offer to go on a date with a young, hot paramedic, and Sam and Pete have a bachelors’ night at a local bar. Meanwhile, Charlotte faces a personal, ethical dilemma when Amelia uncovers a secret about Mason’s mom, Erica, and Sheldon refuses to bend to the pressure when an old friend from the police force wants him to rubber stamp a fellow cop suffering from PTSD.

Losing Battles

Just as Violet’s personal life takes a turn for the better with Scott, the paramedic, Joanna (the abused woman she met at the airport months earlier) arrives in need of urgent medical attention, being both pregnant and badly beaten; Cooper, Charlotte and Amelia all counsel Erica on the toughest decision of her life; and Addison and Jake meet with potential surrogates.

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The Standing Eight Counts is first post-Addison/Sam episode. Violet and Pete are working their way through their separation while Charlotte and Cooper are becoming actual parents to Mason.

I was disappointed by Amelia’s and Charlotte’s choice and means to illegally obtain Erica’s medical records without her approval. This seemed out of character for Charlotte. In spite of her being worried for Mason’s mum, I thought her morals and principles would have pushed her to find a different way to find out what was going on with Erica. Besides, doing something incredibly illegal or unethical is the last possible resort, but Amelia got a fairly calm no when she asked if she could examine Erica after noticing hand tremor. Finally Amelia also seemed too quick to decide there was nothing they could do for the brain tumor they found, without looking into whethere there were treatments that they didn’t know of yet and they coult attempt before deciding Erica is done for. I felt so sad for Mason… Luckily, he now has both Charlotte and Cooper to help him get through a very rough period.

The Standing Eight Counts is also the episode of the boys’ night out when the boys feel the need to let off some post-breakup steam and freshly single Sam and Pete got quite a night to remember. However, Sam simply couldn’t get Addison off his mind by sunrise and though got a bit hot and steamy in the elevator, Sam’s escapade seemed kind of awkward, too, almost as if he wanted to get a notch on his belt rather than really enjoy himself. BTW, being neighbors, coworkers and exes put Sam and Addison in a delicate (awkward?) position, in my opinion.

Sheldon get the only patient of the episode, a police officer going through PTSD after shooting an unarmed 19-year-old kid. He is obviously not ready to go back to work but the force is pushing Sheldon to rubber stamp him and the police officer himself wish he could be back on the job. Sheldon doesn’t choose the easy way out and doesn’t back down: he fights against his cop friend to keep him off the force.

Losing Battles left me all shaken up.

First, there is Joanna (the battered woman whom Violet met at the airport months ago) who shows up at the practice beaten up and pregnang, needing urgent medical attention. I feel like it was a bad idea for Violet to nurse Joanna back to health at her own home, thinking David (Joanna’s abusive husband) would never find her there. I wasn’t surprised when David’s showed up at Violet’s doorstep and shoved it to get his wife back. It was gruesome and brutal to see David attacking both Joanna and Violet and then Violet stabbing David to death repeatedly. I wonder if things would have ended differently if Violet had taken what Joanna said about wanting to kill Davind more seriously the first time around and reported it to the police, as Sheldon advised, and whether the the doctors should have tried harder to intervene or simply let the police investigate. Anyway, I guess it is time for Violet to move and leave a house where Pete had a heart attack and a murder was committed.

We don’t know how Erica broke the news of her illness to Cooper, but it was tough to watch her trying to decide how she should live her last few months (undergoing treatments with heavy side effects to buy more time vs a shorter but quality time to spend with her loved ones).

Meanwhile, Jake and Addison are trying to to find Addison a surrogate, but none of the candidates seem suitable in Addison’s eyes. Even Amelia volunteered her services which Addie declined, telling her that she needed to find out who she was. Addison realizing she needs a break from all of the baby stuff and wanting to focus on absolutely anything else was welcome news: perhaps, freed from the obsession of having a baby quickly will be more successfull in her next effort to become a mother.

The guys spending time together discussing where and how to find women – from working out at the gym to creating online dating profiles – provider some comedic scenes that were cute and funny as well as to be highly appreciated in a very dramatice episode.

The twelfth episode of Private Practice season 5, Losing Battles, airs tonight on ABC, at 10/9 c.

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Synopsis:

Just as Violet’s personal life takes a turn for the better with Scott, the paramedic, Joanna (the abused woman she met at the airport months earlier) arrives in need of urgent medical attention, being both pregnant and badly beaten; Cooper, Charlotte and Amelia all counsel Erica on the toughest decision of her life; and Addison and Jake meet with potential surrogates.