Private Practice: In Which Charlotte Goes Down The Rabbit Hole

(S01E06) "Don't wake the tiger." - Pete about Charlotte

And down the rabbit hole Charlotte went. (For those who didn't get the title twist, it refers to Alice in Wonderland in which Alice goes down a rabbit hole and ends up in a fantasy/dream world.) Per our poll in last week's review, out of the 306 people who voted by the time I typed this line only 1 said they liked Charlotte the best. I'm not sure that this somewhat Charlotte-centric Private Practice episode will have viewers relate more with the character.

Personally, I'm indifferent towards Charlotte. I see her more as a recurring than a regular character, meaning that I don't expect much development for her character. Since she's not part of the practice, it's difficult to relate to her. Every time we saw her interact with the rest of the pack so far was because the practice's patients needed to get treatment only offered at the hospital. Of course, Charlotte is not happy that the Oceanside doctors play on her turf, which explains why she is not smiling much and is not cooperative when we see her on screen. She's not the friendliest woman around; the Oceanside doctors even nicknamed her "it," "monster," and "tiger," showing how they view her. Charlotte is a career woman who was raised in a family where showing affection was not common and has intimate issues. We also learned that she had a problem with pills (addiction?) in the past.

However, this week, she made a connection with at least Pete and Violet. She already values Sam because why else would she have come to him instead of asking doctors at the hospital for help? Okay, she didn't want them to see her while being weak but still. (She did run test at the hospital but that doesn't mean she confide in her staff about her insomnia.) Her case finally showed us more of Pete's work. Besides seeing him treat Addison using acupuncture, we never really saw him at work using his "potions and voodoo;" we mostly saw Pete talk to people about things they could try. He tried various things on Charlotte, which included magnets, church-like music, mud, etc. But what Charlotte needed was to get some things off her chest and connect with someone.

Charlotte wasn't the only one trying to make a connection. After discovering that Naomi and Violet were dating, Addison wanted a piece of the fun too. The case of the week (Angie and Ray) helped Addison realize that people need to get everything life has to offer. So Addison decides to settle for fun right now and ends up kissing Pete and leaving him out cold! Last time they kissed, they played cat and mouse for weeks. Will we be stuck with that type of flirting again or will the two of them actually date? I hope for the latter. The show needs to get that couple try to date quickly so we finally see if they have a chance or not. They can't play cat and mouse forever.

The Angie storyline was an interesting one. A woman who thinks she has a terminal disease (she does) and who doesn't want to get pregnant because she may pass on the gene of said illness and may die when the child is still young. It's not an easy case at all. In the end, we got a happy ending because Ray really loves his wife and wanted to share a child with her while they could still be together. Addison's heartfelt speech was instrumental in making this happen.

It seems that Private Practice found its format. In the first episodes, doctors were all over the place, each having their own case or none. For the past two or three episodes, we've been treated with one main case in which a few doctors are involved and two side cases. This format works for me. It allows doctors to interact and brainstorm ideas; that's where they are at their best.

Other tidbits of interest:

• Naomi has her date pick her up at Addison's place where Sam could see it unfold?
• Does Violet really date? Somehow I don't think she really does. She was so involved in her Allan-centric world that it should take her at least a few weeks to get back on her feet, no?
• We learned that Dell was beaten has a teen. I'm pretty sure this will come into play at a later time when Dell gets meatier storylines.
  
• Cooper and Sam had to work together even if on opposite side. The case was a tough one and a huge rift could have been created between the too. But Sam has a head on his shoulders and made amends with Cooper.
• Sam thinks there is something between Naomi and Dell. Since the pilot within the Grey's Anatomy show and besides the cake storyline, there wasn't really much going on between the two besides business. Dell admits to Naomi that all he does is for her. That's almost admitting that he loves her! Naomi says that nothing will happen between her and Dell... yeah, right!