Private Practice – Recap & Review – Are You My Mother

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Private Practice
Are You My Mother

Original Air Date: Jan 5, 2012

Karen Belgrad – Senior Editor
karenbelgrad@thetwocentscorp.com

Can you believe that it’s been seven long weeks since we checked in with our favorite beach doctors? Last we saw Amelia had left rehab, Violet and Pete had agreed to split up, and Addison was staring at a pregnancy test.

We pick back up an indeterminate amount of time in the future. Maybe it’s real time, maybe it’s a few weeks later, but we’re not really sure. All we know for sure is that Pete and Violet are still split up, Amelia is still clean, and Addison is…

…Not pregnant. In fact, Addison has apparently moved on from trying to give birth to a child to trying to adopt a baby. She’s moving all of her things back to her place from Sam’s, sensing the social worker that is coming to visit would not understand her living with her boyfriend who does not want a child. But… where’s Amelia living? Would the social worker really be OK with a recently-out-of-rehab roommate? Addison’s social worker (played by the awesome Aloma Wright of Scrubs fame) gives Addison the third degree about safety locks and the dangers of the nearby ocean, but is seemingly most troubled by an errant pair of men’s shoes.

However, she quickly approves Addison for adoption. Even quicker is that Addison meets a prospective birth mother, Melanie (played by Bresha Webb). Melanie is nervous that Addison will judge her for giving up her baby, but Addison sets her mind at ease by bringing up her own mid-30’s abortion. Addison doesn’t get an immediate answer, but Melanie soon goes into premature labor. Addison takes over the slightly difficulty birth and is immediately smitten with the baby girl. However, the next day, Melanie tearfully tells her she’s gone with a two-parent household from her church, with a stay at home mom. You see, while she thinks Addison rocks as a person and doctor, she was worried about who would be there to look after her little girl. Addison is crushed and cries in Jake’s arms.

The patient(s) of the week are seemingly a lesbian couple named Rose (Audrey Marie Anderson) and Kendra (Jamie Silberhartz) looking to have a baby with their friend Evan’s (John Sloan) sperm. The plan is to use Kendra’s egg, Rose’s womb, and Evan’s swimmers. Before they begin, Jake insists they have a therapy session with Violet. In therapy, it comes out that this is not a couple, they are a polyamorous triad. Translation: It’s a relationship threesome. Now, I’m aware that there are many people who were thinking Mormans/Sister Wives, but from what I gathered, it’s the three in the relationship, with one bed (as they pointed out). I wonder if this is a hot button issue for a lot of people, however the only issue I had was that the three actors didn’t seem to have romantic/love chemistry with each other. They insisted they loved each other, but it didn’t really come across on screen.

When it turns out Rose has a scarred uterus and ovarian failure, which would prevent her from carrying the baby or donating an egg, she wants to walk away from the whole baby idea. The triad all explain that their relationship works because of rules. Violet explains to Evan and Kendra that if they had the baby without Rose, she might feel excluded, like she is from the conversation they are having without her. The two try and convince Rose that she would be a part of it. Eventually, Rose gives the OK for them to have a baby, but then Kendra balks and suggests adoption or a surrogate. Evan, however, wants his own baby and realizes that it could be more important that the love the three share.

Additionally, we had stories involving every other cast member. It was quite the busy week!

Sheldon was having a hard time forgiving Amelia for crushing him. Charlotte took him to a gun range and suggested he get his feelings out via firearms rather than declarations to Amelia. After all, Amelia is still re-learning the day-to-day and not ready to deal with someone else’s feelings.

Amelia returned to surgery and rocked it, but was still overwhelmed by the pain of missing Ryan and how she hurt people. Charlotte reminded her to take things minute-by-minute and sent her to a meeting.

Coop caught Mason shoplifting some cards from a toy store and was unsure how to handle it. He wanted to remain the cool guy in Mason’s life and leave the punishment and discipline to Erica. Both Sam and Charlotte pointed out that he could do that, or be an actual father. Coop coordinated punishment with Mason, but promised to always be there for him. Side note… Does anyone else agree that Charlotte just ruled the roost tonight with awesome advice?

Violet and Pete struggled with the back and forth of sharing time with Lucas at the one house. First Pete told Violet not to stop by unannounced during his scheduled time. Then Violet suggested Pete get a permanent house so they can stop pretending for Lucas. She learned about rules from her patients, and insisted that they need to have them when Pete tried to stop by for an unscheduled visit. Pete expressed his concern over being shut out of Lucas’s life, but Violet promised that would never happen, they just need to follow rules. …Holy cow! Intelligent and adult interaction between the two… Who would’ve thunk it!?!?

And… finally…. Sam and Addison agreed they love each other, but can’t keep going with the different goals in their lives. And — hallelujah — ended their relationship. Last year many of you were Team AddiSam. But now I ask, were any of you sorry to see the merry-go-round finally stop?

So there you have my TwoCents! Be sure to share your TwoCents, comments, and feedback below!