The Way We Were

Season 3, Episode 2, Aired

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Violet is physically recovering from her violent attack at home, but the emotional trauma she suffers from isn't going away, despite her friends best efforts. Meanwhile, Addison and Naomi try to mend their tension-filled relationship, as Sam and Cooper treat a man who was stabbed by his wife.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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  • Like I said, nice shoes.

    6.5
    "Fair"
    By thefanof, Apr 08, 2011
    Not a terrible episode of Private Practice, but the character development and the direction this show is heading is just not favorable for the franchise. Addison is supposed to be the protagonist and yet she is blowing off Naomi, Violet is supposed to be the strong, mentally healthy woman of the group and she is a train wreck and Charlotte King's voice is still as annoying as ever.

    Private Practice excelled in its first season by focusing on the medical cases and not putting an emphasis on the personal lives of the characters, but if the show wants to be Grey's Anatomy-lite then I don't want a part of it.moreless

  • Out of the several different ways one could feel like a prisoner in their own home is to have a piece of your sanity cut away from you.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By lexacliche, Oct 12, 2009
    Violet had her share of what it felt like to quiver at the sound of your very own door bell. The worst consequence of her nearly fatal confrontation with death by a psychopath is that she no longer feels a connection to her very own new born son.

    'The Way We Were' marked the changes in the lives of everyone; be it directly linked to Violet's mishap with Katie or indirectly. The case subject even marked the essence of everyone. It takes the vulnerability of another wrecked family to reflect the true image of the lives in the Practice.

    I felt a sort of sadness for everyone in the group; Naomi has left the Practice in the capable hands of Addison and Sam, but things aren't really meshing together because they both feel that something is missing in their lives. In 'A Death in a Family', Addison made it clear that she felt as though Naomi had abandoned her; if we analyzed Addison's entire lifestyle, she's been hurt the most part of it and almost everyone has abandoned her with haste, so I understand the meaning behind her broken heart because of Noah, yet another mistake that keeps her down and now her best friend has abandoned her.

    Sam has lost his wife and probably his best friend, so it's understandable when he had to operate on a presumed wife-beater, that his resilience mimicked the incapability of getting how someone could abuse their wife, without understanding what it's like to live without one.

    Violet may have the burden of getting a piece of her taken away by Katie, but it seemed like Katie's negligence had a huge impact on Sheldon, Pete and more so Cooper.

    The battle among these men were evident, Sheldon is hanging on a thin thread of possibility that Little Lucas is his child (Sadly it actually looked as though Lucas did have his ears). Sheldon's battle is showing us that he deserves a right to feel some sort of compassion with Violet because he could be connected to her on a bigger level.

    Pete's battle deals with his attachment to Lucas and Violet and the possibility of everything going away. Pete played a crucial part in Violet's life that very first month playing a father to Lucas and Violet's soul-mate and caregiver. He feels as though Violet has completely pulled away from him.

    When the tables turn to Cooper the dice keeps rolling, because he's is the only other person most affected by Katie's misdeed. Cooper suffers with the guilt of being 'so close and yet so far'. He was right there by the door when Katie had Violet at her mercy, he could have stopped everything from going wrong, but he didn't and he would have to live with that the rest of his life. I'm not sure if Violet blamed him, frankly she probably found different ways of talking herself into not opening the door, because now she couldn't even go outside to take her son for a walk. Amy Brenneman deserves an Emmy for her stellar performance as the glass fell from her when Sheldon rang the bell and she ran into the closet to seek cover; Katie was probably locked up in some institute, but she left her scars. It was even more heart breaking when Violet left her son in Pete's care and I actually believed when she said she couldn't be the mother Lucas wanted her to be.

    It wasn't surprising that we gained some perspective from her conversation with Charlotte as to why she couldn't be a mother to her son and she preferred to stick him in the fridge than face him. I actually feared for Charlotte when she revealed her responsibility for her condition of sort and Violet's 'You owe me' response did feel as though Charlotte would owe Violet her life if it came to it.

    The case with the abusive father turned into abusive child, was beautifully executed. Tammy Larsen played by Emily Rae was an excellent guest star arch, especially when she began abusing the nurse like a person in need of some psychiatric assistance. All came together in the end when her tumor was revealed and her father's abusive role became non-existent.

    'The Way We Were' could evoke a sense of sadness in anyone's heart, even one that would consider themselves icy with respect to poignant shows could imagine themselves shedding a tear. I especially admired Addison's 'Nobody beat me, nobody tried to steal my baby, nobody stabbed me, but I am wounded' speech. In the essence of it's humor, it was one of the saddest speeches Addison delivered and it was even depressing watching her and Naomi talk about shoes in their end scene together.

    Private Practice has touched an element of complete appeal, that each episode this season has been incomparable. I think back to Grey's Anatomy, a show where Addison's character did not get the true individualism she has on Private Practice and I am able to appreciate the beauty of her character even more, I commend Kate Walsh for most of that.

    It's not easy to give away a part of yourself and that's exactly what Violet would have to cope with in 'Right Here, Right Now'. For now I would stick with how much I would like to see this episode again if only to capture those moments, not many series have that impact.

    Lexa Reviews

    http://lexabuti.blogspot.com

    ____________

    Five Stars

    Grade A+

    ____________moreless

  • Violet deals with the aftermath...

    7.5
    "Good"
    By sequoa84, Oct 10, 2009
    Now that both of Shonda's babies are past their season premiere stages, things are getting a little slow as the carryover drama from the earlier season has ended. Violet turns zombie-like during her recovery from the horrific Katie incident. And she finally finds help from an unlikely source - Charlotte. Back at the practice Sam and Addison have a hard time dealing with patients and experiencing a weird sense of anger because of Naomi's departure. The drama/medical case was usual stuff; nothing really mentionable about that.

    There are a couple of answers that are worth looking for in the coming installments, like who's the dad, who'll take care of Lucas. It's definitely not right to expect fast-paced thrilling drama all the time, and episode such as these are pretty bearable.moreless
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