Photo : ABC
Aside from the episode when Violet was attacked and the other episode when Dell died, this week’s episode is one of the best and most hard hitting episodes of Private Practice. This week, Charlotte is attacked and barely lives to tell about it.
By : CHAD KENNEDY
Aside from the episode when Violet was attacked and the other episode when Dell died, this week’s episode is one of the best and most hard hitting episodes of Private Practice. This week, Charlotte is attacked and barely lives to tell about it.
Before I begin, I’ll admit that Charlotte used to not be one of my favorites on the show but I’ve warmed up to her over the past season, like many of you I am sure. Her personality is still a bit strong at times but that’s what makes us love her even more. Her strong personality shines through this episode more than ever when she is brutally beaten and raped.
The episode begins with Charlotte stumbling out of her office at the hospital leaving a streak of blood everywhere she goes. You’d think that she would just be trying to get someone’s attention but instead she makes her way to a closet where she’s able to find some gauze and other first aid items. Luckily, Pete just so happens to find her and immediately realizes something is very wrong. When they finally show her face to us we see that her one eye is completely shut and already bruising, she can’t seem to move her one arm much, and she’s bleeding from.. well, it seems like everywhere. She collapses into Pete’s arms and he carries her to a hospital room. The whole time he’s carrying her she’s demanding that he not tell anyone else. Even in this horrific moment Charlotte King is still worried that people will think she’s weak.
It doesn’t take long before everyone at the hospital hears that something happened to Charlotte and are trying to peek at her in her room. Addison comes by for a visit which at first seems like a surprise but once Pete leaves the room we find out that Charlotte called Addison. Charlotte won’t admit it to Pete, or anyone else, but she was not only beaten but also raped. She wants Addison to fix her up down there but refuses to allow Addison to do a rape kit or report the rape to the police. The police have already questioned Charlotte and she didn’t mention a word about being raped either. Addison is not happy about it at all, she argues with Charlotte about reporting it for a while but finally gives in so that Charlotte will just allow her to do what she needs to. Kate Walsh, who plays Addison, does a phenomenal job this episode of really showing true emotion, as does KaDee Strickland, who plays Charlotte. I read in an interview that KaDee worked with rape victims before filming this episode.
Photo : ABC
While Charlotte is going through all of this, Cooper is at the bar with Sam and Amelia getting trashed. Everyone has been trying to call him to let him know but he misses every call for one reason or another. Violet ends up having to come to the bar, carrying her baby no less. Cooper gives the best line of the episode “Violet, you have a baby… in a bar” which of course comes from one of my favorite movies, Sweet Home Alabama. Anyway, Violet tells Cooper what happened and he falls over the bar stool trying to run out the door so fast. Fortunately, they don’t let drunk Cooper drive. Once they make it to the hospital Cooper can hardly face Charlotte because she looks so bad.
Amelia jumps into doctor mode the minute she walks into the hospital. She takes Charlotte to get a CT scan to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion. While she’s giving Charlotte the scan the two connect over a prayer. Amelia admits she’s been drinking a lot lately, so Charlotte offers to go to a meeting with her. Even in this horrible time, Charlotte is offering to help others. It seems a bit out of character for her but then again Charlotte is always all about everyone else and keeping the focus off herself.
The whole night that this is happening and everyone is sitting around waiting to hear the latest updates on Charlotte, Addison is feeling more and more guilty for not telling someone that Charlotte was raped. When Addison goes to Charlotte again pushing her to report it, Charlotte goes off on her asking if she’s been raped lately. She tells Addison that it’s not like you see in the movies where you’re able to zone out while you’re getting raped and not feel anything. She says it’s dirty, sweaty, and you feel things being torn apart that you never knew you had, and then when you scream because of the pain he punches you so hard that you see God. She says she doesn’t want Addison’s help if that means having everyone look at her differently. Addison still does not seem to agree that it’s right to just not report it but you can tell she doesn’t want to betray Charlotte either.
Later, Charlotte has to get stitches but she isn’t able to get anesthesia because of allergies and no other drugs because of past addictions, so she has to bear the pain with absolutely no numbing. It’s a very painful scene to watch. I can’t imagine having to get stitches and feeling the whole thing. She had to get 50 or so in all. Ouch! Cooper tries to be supportive but when he starts being more dramatic than her she has to tell him to leave the room to go fetch some coffee. Leave it to Charlotte to be the strong one yet again. Pete tries to help by bringing in some of his “voodoo medicine,” as Charlotte calls it.
When Cooper comes back later Charlotte tells him that she needs to write a memo about her attack for the staff but Cooper says that’s not a problem she needs to deal with now. She says that she’s Chief of Staff so it is something she needs to deal with. Cooper continues trying to get her to just rest but Charlotte isn’t happy. She tosses a cup of water across the room splashing Cooper as it goes flying. They both apologize. Cooper leaves and goes to see Charlotte’s office where the attack happened. Violet follows after him trying to stop him but when they reach Charlotte’s office they are both shocked by what they find. The entire office is turned upside down. Her desk and chairs are thrown around, things are broken all over the place. Charlotte clearly put up one hell of a fight in the process. Cooper can’t help but break down.
Charlotte later decides that she can’t stand being at the hospital anymore and demands to go home. Cooper knows better than to put up much of a fight so he agrees to help. He walks her out of the room and down the hall with everyone just standing there watching. Charlotte yells at them to get back to work while at the same time whispering to Cooper to make sure he doesn’t let her fall, he says he won’t. This scene in particular when Charlotte has to face everyone is extremely emotional.
While Charlotte’s been in the hospital the whole episode we’ve been getting clips of Sheldon who has been called to the police station to help question a guy who the police believe to be unstable. The guy has blood on his shirt and won’t answer what happened. After questioning for much of the episode Sheldon finally makes progress with the guy and finds out that he attacked someone. When Sheldon pushes the guy further he ends up shoving Sheldon against the wall. The police have to intervene to save the guy from killing Sheldon. The whole time we know that this is the guy that attacked Charlotte, but Sheldon is unaware of Charlotte’s attack and no one has connected the dots yet. The pieces start to come together when the guy says he attacked the woman because he went to the hospital and the woman told him to wait. He tells Sheldon that he “gave it to her good” and just smiles. It’s eerie! By the end of the episode Sheldon and the police know that the bastard has attacked and raped someone but they have no reports of rape at the moment so they can’t connect him to any crimes.
Next week, all of the pieces should come together and hopefully Charlotte will either come forward and report the rape or Sheldon will connect the dots and do it for her.
