Private Practice: The Complete Second Season DVD Review
Posted by Michael Weyer on 09.16.2009
The second season of the spin-off manages to balance a great cast with a mix of humor, drama and romance that connects when it's not too preachy.
Private Practice the Complete Second Season
Six Disc DVD set
ABC Studios
946 Minutes
When it was announced Shonda Rhimes was doing a spin-off of Grey’s Anatomy, it seemed a bad idea. It got worse when she said it would revolve around the character of Addison Montgomery, played by Kate Walsh. The actress had been a great part of Grey’s, elevating her character from the cheating wife the audience was supposed to hate to a vibrant and funny person, a good woman who’d made some bad choices. So getting her out of that cast seemed a poor idea as she gave the show some spark.
It seemed rougher as Private Practice began. Despite a great cast and some good ideas, the show didn’t seem to gel well although its potential was marred more when the writer’s strike cut its first season short. Its second year also had some rough spots but ironically, compared to the pretty rough season Grey’s had in the same year (Ghost sex anyone?), Practice actually seemed the better show, taking on some big plots with a cast that manages to make things appealing. The result is a less high-octane thrill than its sister show but one that seems more heartfelt.
The Show
As the season begins, Addison is starting to get the hang of things at the Oceanside Wellness Clinic in Los Angeles. Best friends Naomi (Audra McDonald) and Sam (Taye Diggs) seem about to rekindle their former marriage; Violet (Amy Brenneman) was getting over her former boyfriend married to another woman; Pete (Tim Daly) was meeting an old flame, Meg (Jayne Curtis); and Cooper (Paul Aldestein) was having an affair with hospital administrator Charlotte King (Kadee Strickland). Things take a turn off the bat when Addison discovers that Naomi has been mismanaging the clinic’s bills to the point of bankruptcy. Addison lets the group decide who should run things and is stunned when the rest of the doctors vote her in charge. The event causes Sam and Naomi to realize they’re better apart. Addison also finds that one reason bills were high was Naomi was holding onto a whole floor inside the office building with dreams of building a new branch of the clinic but never got around to it. Addison sees this as a waste and sells the space only to have Charlotte buy it and build a competing clinic right downstairs from Oceanside.
Meanwhile, the other doctors are involved in some relationship events. Cooper is carrying out his secret affair with Charlotte, who can be pretty kinky in bed. However, a fight over a patient causes a breaking point between them. Meanwhile, Violet starts a fling with a psychiatrist for Charlotte’s practice named Sheldon (Brian Benben). However, she also finds herself sleeping with Pete when he and Meg have a row over her decision to do abortions in the clinic. When Violet finds herself pregnant, she’s unsure which of the two is the father and Cooper is the only one she can lean on, leading to more tension with Charlotte. Addison first carries out a romantic relationship with Kevin (David Sutcliffe), a cop but he decides to end it after being shot, worried about hurting her. Meanwhile, Dell (Chris Lowell) finds himself in conflict with the mother of his child, a former addict he fears is using again and starts to take on more responsibility so he can take her to court for custody.
The show has a much different vibe that Grey’s for several reasons. First off, it’s a lot more sedate, they don’t deal with surgeries or emergency cases too much. More importantly, unlike the rather young doctors still learning, these are experienced people who have been around for a while and are thus a bit more mature handling things. They’re not perfect of course, they’ll screw things up but they still are able to handle things better and with some professionalism. You also get the sense of more camaraderie here than the surgeons who are always competing against each other. These people are friends and respect each other even when disagreeing and are able to pull the viewer in with those relationships.
It helps they often have some pretty big issues to deal with at times. The show does tackle some stuff other shows may be a bit too skittish about. It’s not just obvious things like abortions or rights of a child. There’s an episode where a mother refuses to give her child an immunization shot, fearing it might cause him sickness and Cooper has to go against her wishes to treat the child. Another episode has a mother okay with her underage daughter having sex in her home and honestly jarred when the girl is pregnant. One story has a marathon runner with a heart condition begging Pete and Sam to let him run in a big race and a powerful episode has Joel Grey guest-starring as a man who wants Pete to help him die. More of these issues are brought up and the doctors are often divided, giving both sides equal say and showing how there are no easy answers in cases like this. There is the recurring problem of how the show can come off rather preachy on some stuff, the characters sounding more like they’re talking points rather than people. In small doses, it’s okay but when it gets overboard, it overwhelms and hurts the show’s vibe.
The cast is key to the series with Walsh taking the lead. She continues to make Addison a great and relatable character, trying to do the right thing so often but finding herself making some hard choices that often turn out bad. That’s especially near the end of the season when she finds herself falling for a surgeon only to discover his pregnant wife is her patient. Despite saying they can’t do this, Addison is still drawn to the man even knowing the damage this can do to her patient. Walsh is able to balance the drama with a nice sense of humor that makes her fun to watch and her vibrant personality centers the show.
McDonald is good as Naomi, she and Diggs matching well as exes, still knowing each other so well and deep down, you get the hint that they still love each other but know it just can’t work. McDonald is helped by a big plotline mid-season as Addison’s brother Archer (Grant Show), comes to town and the two of them hook up. It turns out Archer has a wild brain condition which leads to the big crossover with Grey’s as they take him to Seattle Grace for surgery. Admittedly, it suffers from the fact the actual Grey’s episode with the big surgery isn’t included. But you do get some nice fallout as Archer sees shadows on his x-ray afterward, is convinced he’s dying and starts confessing stuff like how he shouldn’t have slept with Naomi and back in college, he slept with the girlfriends of both Sam and Mark Sloan (Eric Danes). Naturally, Derek (Patrick Dempsey) breaks in to reveal that the x-ray was misread and Archer is just an arrogant idiot. That’s proven when he ends up cheating on Naomi, throwing her for a major loop. She and Walsh support each other with Addison showing the right amount of angry sister to this jerk.
The dynamics with Cooper, Pete, Violet and Charlotte form the bridge of several episodes. Strickland gives her character a bitter edge, snapping most of the time and calling the shots a lot. She does get goofy stuff like dressing up in dominatrix outfit or whipped cream for sex. However, there’s a fun bit where Cooper insists on actually talking and she refuses at first, not wanting it to be deeper but ends up relating more of herself to him. The Pete/Violet thing seems to come out of nowhere but they are able to handle it well as both Daly and Brenneman handle comedy and drama in equal parts. It’s the Cooper/Violet stuff that’s the most fun. When she tells him she’s sleeping with Pete and Sheldon at the same time, Cooper, rather than be judgmental, tells her it’s a good thing as why shouldn’t a woman play the field like men do? When she becomes pregnant, Cooper is there to help and shows a good bond of friendship between them. This causes some worry for Charlotte as it’s clear she does care for Cooper but hates to show it. It’s the same reason she refuses to show emotion when her father dies despite Cooper trying to help and Strickland has a great breakdown scene at the end.
There are some nice guest stars over the season like Grey and Curtis is fun as the energetic Meg, matching will with Daly. A clever casting is Diggs’ real-life wife Idina Menzel as a single mom Pete takes up with (with a funny bit where Sam sees her go by and mutters “not bad.”) and Amy Acker as a mother thrown to extremes over her child. Benben is also a great addition as Sheldon, trying to be charming despite his nervousness and he and Pete have great chemistry clashing over Violet and the child with Brenneman ably carrying both along in good humor.
The show is better when it handles those smaller bits, the human elements to things and how the characters gel so well. It’s when it gets more melodramatic that it suffers and the writing becomes more clichéd. That’s especially true for the finale with Violet getting into an extremely wild situation that’s pretty out there for the show. It’s a shame as when the show works, it really does work as a nice adult drama where the medical stuff is hand-in-hand with the characters. The cast are able to handle the material, both the drama and the laughs and can elevate things bigger than they should be. It’s a different vibe than Grey’s but then that’s the point as the characters tackle personal issues that affect people more than the wild accidents of that other show and the characters themselves bond as real friends. Indeed, its overall year is better than Grey’s was and is able to entertain while tackling some serious topics as well. It doesn’t rely on flash and glamour but shows how practice really does pay off.
Rating: 7.9 out of 10.0
Video: Widescreen 1.78:1, enhanced for 16X9 sets. As an L.A.-based show, the series relies a lot on vibrant colors and they come out pretty well through it all.
Rating: 9.0 out of 10.0
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound with subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The audio is always clear without needing to adjust the volume too much and the music is clear too to help things out.
Rating: 9.0 out of 10.0
Bonus Features
No audio commentaries to the set, which is a bit of a surprise. Two episodes (“Crime and Punishment” and “Nothing to Fear”) are extended cuts, although that only adds a couple of minutes to each one.
Patient Confidentiality: Examining Season 2 is a twelve minute feature looking at the season and its storylines. Rhimes is shown with producer Betsy Beers talking about how she wanted a different vibe than with Grey’s and how she likes the show best when the characters are standing around talking (or yelling) at the clinic kitchen table. They discuss some of the big topics they tackle and their approaches to it, mentioning how they like the fact that often the men are more upset at stuff like teen sex or abortion than the women are. The cast gels just as well off-camera as they are on it, that bond obviously helping carry the show and its stories along.
Life Through the Lens: The Pictures of Chris Lowell is a fun look at the actor and how he has a hobby of photography. We see his work which is pretty good and the obvious passion he has discussing his travels around the world to take photos. There’s a funny bit where Lowell talks about shooting Taye Diggs naked, the men talking about doing it in the nude with Diggs holding his dog with bows in its head. The two then break down laughing, revealing they were joking about the whole thing.
There are 23 deleted scenes, most filler stuff cut for time. There are a couple of nice ones that Sam trying to handle the bungling fill-in receptionist and a fun bit with Sam and Sheldon drinking at a bar and sharing talk about Violet. The scenes all come with commentaries by Rimes that discuss how they fit in and why they were cut. There’s also a short blooper reel.
Rating: 7.0 out of 10.0
The 411: While it can be rough, Practice does manage in its second season to overcome doubters and establish itself as a good drama on its own. It tackles hot-button issues with a usually good hand and the cast is always able to boost the material and gel as true friends. The extras are a bit scarce but the show itself is a good series that shouldn't be private at all.
