Rewatching ‘Private Practice’: “The Other Side of this Life, Part 1”

As a new segment on WhatSamWatches, I will now be doing more informal reviews/commentaries on what I’m watching. And it’ll include shows I’ll be rewatching just because I feel like it. I know I just did a review on Private Practice but I’m just not ready for it to be over. So I’m binging the show from the beginning all over again.

The Other Side of this Life, Part 1

Since I’ve already watched all of this, it’ll be a different perspective given that I know what happens later.

• Ok, so this isn’t technically the first episode of Private Practice. It’s actually a two-part backdoor pilot on Grey’s Anatomy. But it’s our first introduction into that world.
• Awkward Addison is the best. Plus poking fun at the whole elevator thing and “Mc” stuff is great. They’re essentially making fun of Grey’s Anatomy, in a way, which is hilarious.
• I miss Addison and Pete. I still wish the writers actually gave them a real chance to be together because, by the time they actually get together, it’s just too complicated to work.
• It’s so weird seeing different actors play Naomi and Maya. I kind of like Merrin Dungey as Naomi though. I feel like the character changed so much by the time they actually made Private Practice a show. It doesn’t make as much sense as to why Addison and Naomi are friends later on because they don’t really seem to have much in common.
• But I get why they recasted Naomi – this backdoor pilot makes it more plausible that Naomi and Dell would get together instead of Naomi and Sam (and so it only made sense to also recast their daughter).
• Love that Bellamy Young’s in this first episode.

Some More Thoughts

• It’s so weird to see how different both Violet and Cooper are in these episodes. They really tried to make Cooper into a sex-craved internet dating guy. Now, internet dating’s more common so it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if this episode aired today.
• Considering the fact that I later end up not liking Sam, seeing Addison repeatedly slap him on the head is a little satisfying.
• I love Dell and I love Chris Lowell but his haircut is a hard no for me.
• The surrogate case is crazy. But entertaining.
• I completely forgot that Pete drove away Oceanside Wellness’s former GYN. They just never address it later in Private Practice. Or maybe the writers forgot about it altogether.
• Cooper and Violet are supposedly best friends in Private Practice but these episodes don’t make it look that way.
• The whole conversation that Addison and Naomi have in her kitchen is what proves to me that they’re best friends – Naomi says she wishes she hadn’t just done everything she was supposed to do and Addison says she wishes she hadn’t forgotten to have kids. But it doesn’t really come up again. At least for Naomi. Addison’s desire to have a baby thankfully comes back in the later seasons.
• Naomi should’ve at least tried the fertility treatments for Addison given that she gets them done later with Jake anyway. I mean, her chances are really low but not impossible.