Awkwardness follows Violet’s return to ‘Private Practice’

Okay, I’m taking bets now, how long do you think it’ll be until Private Practice’s Addison is again found locking lips with Sam “I am delicious cake”? One episode? Two? Until the custody battle over Lucas is resolved? Clearly that’s where Addison’s story seems to be going. If I’m wrong, I’m prepared to write a post dedicated to the errors in my analysis. Seriously.

Addison’s been flailing around all season long, not thinking through her romantic decisions before plunging forward (suddenly hopping into bed with McSteamy again being a prime example). And when it comes to Pete and Addison as a couple, I’m sorry, I don’t buy that she loves him and that he loves her, not really, not romantically any way. They hooked up because they were both mourning the fact that they couldn’t have the people they REALLY wanted — Sam and Violet, for whom Pete professed his love when he was sick while Addison, who’d cared for him and his child when they were ill, was lying in bed next to him.

Whereas I’m unconvinced that the Pete-Addison coupling is long for this world, I remain fairly convinced that, despite the big sides-taking battle that’s shaping up over custody of Lucas, Pete and Violet will wind up together. If Cooper and Charlotte can hurl cutting, deeply hurtful invectives at one another and still have a chance, certainly Pete and Violet will get over whatever happens regarding the custody fight.

That’ll leave Addison as the odd woman out, shut out from baby Lucas’s life just after she bonded with him and caught the mommy bug . . . which is why I believe she will end up with Sam, a man who really wants her and doesn’t consider her a second choice, despite the objections of Naomi, who is herself, as that ’70s song said, “Torn Between Two Lovers.”

The theme of this episode was in its title, “Second Choices”: Addison being Pete’s second choice, Vanessa as Sam’s second choice, Violet deciding against New York for LA. All of those threads made sense. But as far as “second choices” pertained to Cooper, it really felt forced. Cooper’s big reveal was that he felt like his parents’ second choice after learning that they’d had a son before him, making him feel like a substitute, the same way he felt when it came to marrying Charlotte, like her substitute husband. This was supposedly the deep-seated reason as to why Cooper ultimately pushed Charlotte away. Now that he’s figured all that out, he’s decided to pursue Charlotte after all. Please.

Now I’ve liked the complicated Cooper-Charlotte story (though wasn’t a fan of the Charlotte-Sheldon dalliance) and have been patiently waiting for them to rekindle their relationship. But to have Cooper “figure this out,” by way of a patient with a compulsive eating disorder from which the boy’s mother also suffered but never divulged, was hard to swallow. (Couldn’t help the pun.)

So, back to the initial question: How long do we think it’ll be until Addison and Sam are kissing again? How long will the Violet versus Pete custody battle go on and will it fracture friendships?

Clacked by Meredith O'Brien
on Apr 23, 2010 @ 13:00 EST5EDT