The latest episode of Private Practice was called “Triangles,” and for pretty obvious reasons. Private Practice is swimming in love triangles.
Addison, Sam, and Naomi. Addison, Pete, and Violet. Cooper, Charlotte, and Sheldon. Naomi, Fife, and William. I think a scorecard might be in order.
The biggest triangles (as in multiple), of course, feature Addison Montgomery, who has gotten herself into quite a pickle, sleeping with Violet Turner’s former man/baby daddy, coveting Violet’s child, and foolishly admitting to having carnal feelings about Naomi Bennett’s former husband Sam. Not exactly making herself popular with the gals in the office, is she? I imagine there’ll be a heap o’ problems when Violet finally returns.
During “Triangles,” Addison wildly vacillated between her unrequited feelings for Sam — of which I don’t think we’ve heard the last — and her fear about her growing affections for Lucas, Pete and Violet’s infant son. I, frankly, think that Addison’s just using Pete, despite the fact that she said, “Maybe I could be in love with you too.” Emphasis on the word maybe. Of course Pete was the one who first said, “Maybe I could be in love with you,” but I can’t really get a firm read on his sincerity.
However, if Sheldon Wallace hadn’t told Addison to “grow the hell up,” I don’t think she’d be suggesting to Pete that she could develop feelings for him. I don’t think she loves Pete. I think she loves the fact that Pete’s comfortable, that she doesn’t have to work hard when she’s with him, and that she’s delighted by the fact that he’s already got a kid, right there and ready to love, when she cannot bear one of her own. (Reminds me of Grey’s Callie Torres and McSteamy, only they don’t have a kid. Yet.)
I suspect that Addison’s true feelings, at least for now, are for Sam. Why else would the writers have included that last scene in which Addison told Sam, “You and I were a bad call,” and have her rest her head on him only to have Naomi walk in and feel all betrayed? Why would Addison suddenly cop to the fact that they kissed but that it’s not going anywhere?
And really, Naomi has no business telling off other people when it comes to romance. She’s busy juggling two men. She’s dating her boss, who Pete and Fife know has ALS, only he hasn’t told Naomi and is manipulating her in order to get her to expedite their medical practice’s ALS research. That can’t go anyplace good.
In the same episode, Naomi also asked Fife, who’s already declared his feelings for her, to raise his wheelchair to an upright position so she could plant some passionate kisses on his lips.
The Cooper/Charlotte/Sheldon thing has been plain awkward, from the ick-inducing peach conversation in the elevator, to Cooper and Sheldon’s adolescent scuffle in front of the fridge which left them both with bloody wounds on their faces. Sheldon doesn’t love Charlotte. Charlotte doesn’t love Sheldon. But Sheldon’s willing to fight Cooper and get his nose bloodied, when Cooper’s the one who actually loves Charlotte.
Where’s the scorecard when you need it?
Clacked by Meredith O'Brien 
on Mar 12, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
PP S3 is a combination of S1 and S2. S1 focused more on romance while S2 focused more on medicine. But S3 does a nice job of balancing both. Because S1 was all romance, the writers frequently dragged out relationships or kept characters apart for a wee bit too long. However S3 isn’t pulling any punches. I totally didn’t expect Naomi to kiss Fife. I didn’t expect Addison would confess to Naomi. And, I didn’t expect the boss to get ALS.
Although the past few episodes went well without Violet and if Amy Brenneman wanted out, PP would survive without her, but I’d like to see Violet return. Although I like the idea of Dell and they’ve re-tooled him, the show could deal without him. Although they need him around for character variety (his marriage/child/living with Naomi went in the right direction), unless they bring him into the romantic/friendship mix, the show seems to run smoother without him –
I really liked eps 13-16. I enjoyed this, but the contention between Addison and Addison 2 reduced its fun. According to imdb ep 18 won’t air until May. I hope that isn’t true. S3 shakes things up while slightly returning to the fun, friendship, and relationships I enjoyed in S1, so I want to see how the writers allow things to play out.
1. Could care less about any disease William has, because I don’t care about him.
2. Wasn’t asking Fife to raise his wheelchair so she could kiss him kind of…handicappist? I mean, lots of people are in wheelchairs who can’t raise them up. Why couldn’t Naomi kiss him while he was sitting? Is it because she wanted to pretend he’s not really in a wheelchair? Lean down and kiss the guy! Baily can’t “raise up” her height, and her new BF had no problem kissing her, and I’ll bet she’s not much taller than Fife sitting down.
3. If Addy and Sam were really friends “like that”, they wouldn’t have jerked apart when Naomi came in. Guilty, guilty, guilty. Or as Naomi so aptly put it, “Shame on you”. Get over yourself Addison. I felt Sheldon was right on when he lectured her in the elevator. Is she too good even for therapy? Why can’t she have an “I choose me” moment and go to a competent therapist (ie. not anyone in the practice) and work out some of her mummy and daddy issues? It would be refreshing to see her a little more kick-ass ala Grey’s and less little girl lost ala PP.
4. Where’s Dell?
5. The whole “maybe I could be in love with you” reeked of middle school. Is this really something adults would say to each other? I think not. It’s not a plan people, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they wrote it into their blackberries: “Thursday, March 21st. Fall in love with Pete”. Give me a break with the dialogue here. More “You think Pete is your Daddy” and less Susan Polis Schutz greeting card babble.