"Private Practice," First Look

(Ed. note: We posted this review last week, but since the show debuts tonight, we thought we'd give you another look...)

I've seen the first episode of "Private Practice," and let me say this: it was good. 

Okay, some of it was good, because when it was good, it was very good.  But there were rough spots, and when those were bad, they were very bad. So the question these days really is this: "Private Practice" - redheaded step-child of the season, or the smash hit that we hoped for at first?

It won't be the critics who'll decide, and it won't be the fans.  It won't be the producers, the writers, or the cast.  It'll be one person, and one person alone: Shonda Rhimes.

The success of "Private Practice," debuting Sept. 26 on ABC, rests entirely on Shonda's shoulders, and three years ago that would've been a good thing. You know, before the crash-and-burn that was this past season of "Grey's." From the penitent interviews Shonda has been giving, it seems like she's finally got the message: You can only push the characters so far before they just become impossible to believe - and, worse, relate to. When Meredith says, "Seriously?" the answer shouldn't be, "No."

This "Seriously?" problem with "Grey's Anatomy" last season was what pissed off fans during the spinoff episode for "Private Practice" last season.  The talking elevator was hard to swallow, but at least it was a hard-to-swallow moment in the plot.  The slo-mo gawking as their dripping, muscular surfer-boy receptionist walked in from lunch, the sleeping-around of the surrogate mother - those were hard-to-swallow character points.  And in a show from Shonda Rhimes, the woman who single-handedly brought decent character development back to network TV, that's unforgivable.

So the question is: did the first real episode, with the full power of its own crew, producers, and writers, manage to do better?

(Spoilers lie ahead, so proceed at your own risk!)

The episode's major plot points include Addison having to perform an emergency C-section with acupuncture as the only available anesthesia, Addison's best friend Naomi and her ex-husband Sam seeing their own relationship in a wife and a mistress trying to get sperm for artificial insemination from the same dead man, and Amy Brenneman stealing scenes as psychiatrist Violet Turner on an emergency call in what was both one of the most absurd but also one of the the most heart-wrenching plotlines I've ever seen. 

Sadly, I have to say that Shonda's old problems haven't all been resolved in the first episode of "Private Practice."  People yelling in sync at their co-workers?  A guy arrogant enough to think a woman moved a thousand miles to be with him after he kissed her?  The indescribably fake annoyance of the other doctors in the practice after finding out Addison had been hired without their consultation? "Contrived" is a nice word for it.

These things happen because Shonda's understanding of what people do and say is more than a little unrealistic these days.  We all loved the wackiness of the "Grey's" characters - how can you not love a woman who'll get into a relationship with a one-night-stand who turns out to be her boss?  But wackiness is different from ridiculousness. Izzie falling in love with George?  And just a few months after Denny died?  C'mon, Shonda, you can do better.

But I said before that the episode was good, and it was, in the same ways "Grey's" used to be good - and hopefully will be again.  The acting glows with realistic drama, and the wit of the writing often hits you in the face like a bucket of cold water - in a good way.  Kate Walsh finally gets the opportunity to fully display her prodigious talents and range as a comedic and dramatic actress, which in and of itself justifies the spinoff.  And despite stretching believability in some points - especially the use of acupuncture as anesthesia and the psychiatrist playing detective to get her patient off an OCD tile-counting fit at a department store  - the stories are touching. 

Those moments, when the writing and the acting all came together, might not have made up the majority of the episode, but they were there.  And I have to admit, I cried - okay, full-out bawled - towards the end of the episode.  Even if knowing when to do it isn't her strong suit right now, Shonda still knows how to push the right buttons.  "Seriously?"  Seriously.

Comments

[atharvaveda27]

Acupuncture as an anesthesia may be hard to believe, but it's well documented in President Nixon's visit to China, and is still routinely used for dental surgeries and the like. A C-section may be pushing it for people who haven't had acupuncture before, but it is possible. I'll take it as an indication of the show's chinks if it can't make people believe that.