Stop Staring
This review covers Season Four, Episode Eight of Private Practice, entitled What Happens Next, which originally aired on Thursday, November 11, 2010.
Charlotte got attacked – raped – and only Addison knows the whole truth. Thankfully, however, that changed this week.
Picking up a week after the attack, Charlotte appears to be on the road to recovery, and Addison is stuck in a tough spot. Does she keep Charlotte’s secret, thereby endangering her professional future, or does she tell, helping to take a rapist off the streets?
We learn that Addison did indeed do a rape kit following Charlotte’s attack, though we had at first believed otherwise, something I was quite relieved to find out. But she hasn’t submitted it yet, as Charlotte still doesn’t want anyone to know the truth.
I loved the progression that things took in this episode. Each character, minus Cooper and Amelia, came to the realization that Charlotte had actually been raped, simply because Addison told Sam, who in a very roundabout way told Violet. I actually have to give props to Violet for figuring it all out because what Sam said was so vague and confusing. And what Violet said to Charlotte was ballsy to be sure, but it was perfect. We’d known previously that Violet had been raped in college, but that was about it, and we hadn’t heard about it in years. I think Violet is going to be crucial in helping Charlotte.
In fact, they all seem to be pretty crucial in helping Charlotte, and that’s been one of the best parts of this storyline – that somehow, some way, each character has become connected to helping Charlotte. I’m glad that Sheldon so quickly put together all of the pieces of the puzzle, realizing that the man he worked with last week is Charlotte’s rapist, which hopefully means that he will be brought to justice.
To be completely honest, I don’t know just what to say about this episode. It was good, a very good follow-up to last week’s powerhouse, but I left the episode with not much left floating in my head, because this story is still ramping up – it’s not over yet, we’re still stuck in the middle of it, and as a result, I’m just not sure what to say. KaDee Strickland is doing a fantastic job with this story, as you can just feel the pain when you look at her. It is clear that she is trying to recover, move on, but the people around her aren’t ready for that yet, and she’s not ready for it yet either.
Rating: 
Loading ...November 18 on Private Practice
Despite how Charlotte is choosing to deal with the aftermath of her sexual assault, her fellow doctors think they know what’s best, teaming up to pursue criminal charges against her attacker. Pete gets a surprise visitor, his estranged brother, who has come to ask Pete to help release their sick mother from prison.