Episode Report Card DeAnn Welker: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT And the Winner is ... Cooper Freedman
By DeAnn Welker | Season 3 | Episode 8 | Aired on 11.19.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Addison's father, "the Captain," shows up this week and turns her whole world upside-down. Mainly because she's a spoiled rich girl who blames all of her problems on the very man who has given her a gazillion dollar trust fund. I'm not trying to say money solves your problems or anything, but she could throw the guy a bone for being there for her in at least some ways. And he's visiting her this episode, trying to be there at least. She first blames her cheating on Derek on him, though, and then tells him she's not his family, because the people she works with are. That makes the kissing Sam last week even squickier, doesn't it?
Then this show proves it cares about continuity with the returns of Heather, a patient we've seen before, and the mention of Charlotte and Cooper's almost wedding. First, Heather. Dell's back, FINALLY. And he's married. To Heather. Everyone at the practice freaks, and Violet and Naomi stage an intervention. Then Violet visits Heather. But Dell yells at her, and says what we've all been thinking -- how she hasn't been there for her own son, how she left Pete, blah, blah, Violet sucks, blah -- and she gives him a congratulations/I'm sorry plant, and tells him what a good dad he is. He says he loves Betsey, but he did this because he loves Heather. Awwww. I missed Dell and his idealism. Let's hope he sticks around a little longer before his next hiatus.
Charlotte's still in the doghouse after having lied about being married before, then Cooper turns out to be the liar when Evan's mom shows up demanding to know where his son is. Cooper does know, but since Evan said his stepdad abused him, there's no way he's telling. He even goes to jail and gets beaten up, but still won't talk. Facing five to eleven years in prison? Still not talking. Charlotte becomes his accomplice, but Addison gives them up, and Evan's dad gets arrested. Evan then stabs himself and admits to Charlotte that his stepdad never abused him; he just did it to bring his parents back together (yeah, that didn't work). She tells Cooper and they have a big fight, then she opens her heart up and explains why she lied, and he brings up the almost wedding, which is even worse now that he knows there was one before. And everything he says is right, which is why Cooper is the best thing about this show. When Addison tries to tell him she told to protect him and the practice, he tells her he gets that she thinks they did the same thing (protecting those they love), but that she's wrong and he was right. And again? Cooper is right.
There's also a patient(s)-of-the-week storyline in which a pregnant woman wants her dying husband to meet the baby. The cancer patient is Pete's, and he thinks positive thinking is the key, but Fife has an experimental treatment to try. When it doesn't work, he suggests Addison deliver the baby six weeks early so the father can meet her, and the mother can one day tell her that her dad held her and loved her. Addison balks until Pete convinces her by playing the Lucas card. It works and there's happiness all around for the baby, dying dad, and mom. And Naomi learns that underneath Fife's rough exterior is someone who cares about his patients. But he's not going to show it.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!Once again, no previouslies. Instead, we open on the elevator with Cooper looking like a sad puppy and Charlotte looking annoyed, with Addison standing between them, looking perfect and aloof while reading the newspaper. Charlotte says Cooper's barely talking to her because she was married a long time ago and Cooper doesn't think she told him soon enough. Addison says, "Wow, that's... none of my business and storms out of the elevator. She sees Stephen Collins, and they exchange cold hellos. Then Cooper comes up and adds, "Hello." When Addison glares at him, he cutely says, "I thought we were saying 'hello.' " Addison bitches that they're not, and he leaves. Then Stephen Collins calls her kitten and asks her for a drink (she protests it's too early), and says he'd like to talk. She asks if he's dying of something, and he says he came to see her. She says now he has and leads him to the elevator. He says he'll be at the Carlyle.
Speaking of dying, Pete's telling a patient that his cancer's spread everywhere, but he's kept his optimism. The patient jokes his colon's good, though. The patient's wife comes in and tells him that everything went well with her appointment (she's very pregnant), and that it's a girl, so he better revise his list of names. He says there's nothing wrong with a girl named Doug, and doctors are wrong all the time anyway. Oh, how he wishes that were true... The patient tells Pete he needs to be there in six weeks to hold their little girl. Pete says the patient's optimism is great and he couldn't ask for more, but the patient's wife said she can ask for more: She needs him there when their little girl is born. They hold hands and look at Pete, who's thinking, "Who do you think I am? God?"
Back at Oceanside, Cooper tells the others in the break room that Addison's taken a "lovah." That's how he actually says it. Sam: "And he's old?" Charlotte clarifies that he's good-looking old, though, and that from the looks of their fighting, he's not her lover anymore. Sam muses that she never said anything about a guy, refraining from adding, "WHEN WE STUPIDLY MADE OUT." Addison walks in, and they all look at her. She turns and says she's not talking about it, then Dell storms in and asks if everyone had a good weekend. He says he had a good weekend: He got married. He knows it's fast and crazy, but ... it's Heather. He says he knows what they're going to say, but he's happy and Betsey's happy, and he loves Heather. So, yeah, it was a good weekend. Violet shakes her head, as if Dell's the one making head-shake-worthy mistakes. He leaves everyone in stunned silence.