(S02E08) “Crime and Punishment”

Private Practice truly jumped head first into possibly one of the biggest medical controversies out there. I’m talking about an issue that almost every single person in the world has an opinion on. This is an issue in which even the government, churches and professionals have felt the need to step up and have their say. Abortion: Do you support the choice or view it as murder? Perhaps you fall somewhere in between as many people do. Personally, I don’t feel it’s my place to share my views on the topic. That’s not to say I don’t have views, I just make it a habit to keep certain opinions to myself, where they belong.

While I congratulate the show for taking a stand and fully taking on a topic that is sure to get almost every viewers attention, I also wish they had kept their own opinions to themselves. Sure, we were able to see both sides of the token. Violet and Addison have both had abortions and are pro-choice. Dell once insisted his girlfriend have an abortion and is now left with mixed feelings, falling somewhere in between. Then there’s Violet and even Pete who are very anti-abortion. And, of course it goes without saying what her view is when Meg’s performing the procedure. In the end though, the practice must take a stand, and therefore in some respect, the very show must take a stand on the issue. I’m not so sure that this was the wisest decision they could have made, and as an individual with her own opinions on all matters I’m not so sure that I was happy to have the show take their opinion and bring it to the forefront as the “right” answer.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling what they choose to present as “right” wrong or right, I’m just calling it a personal opinion. Unless you have to share it with the world, I suggest you don’t. End of story.

Another part of this episode that annoyed me slightly is that, besides abortion, mercy killing was also brought on as a big storyline issue. Now I don’t know about you, but isn’t one very big controversial issue enough per episode? Here’s a show that was barely keeping us entertained in the early season and now all of a sudden they’re pulling out all their big fireworks and shooting them off at rapid fire. Keep a little till the end people. I’m just saying, don’t go crazy quite yet, we’ve still got a finale to watch after all and the end isn’t quite near.