Sisterhood of the Traveling Stethoscopes

I always thought that Addison (Kate Walsh) was the coolest character on Grey’s Anatomy. Like the phenomenal woman Maya Angelou describes, she rises, she rises, she rises. And when she got tired of being the only one around her willing to rise, she had the courage to reinvent herself. I thought that this made a great beginning to the spin-off show Private Practice.

And then I saw the first season.

The writing was absolutely horrific; the characters were uncomplicated clichés. Last year’s writers’ strike was the best thing that could have happened to the show.

But I really thought the show could find its way, so I tuned in for the start of season two. And I’m happy to report that things are looking up! The show seems to have mostly lost interest in Sam (Taye Diggs)’s commercialism and Cooper (Paul Adelstein)’s freaky sex habits, both major improvements to the plot. The show instead has returned to Addison herself and the process of starting over in middle age, which is difficult even if you are gorgeous and a fabulously wealthy double board-certified neo-natal surgeon.

It seems that all of the gorgeous and wealthy professional women of this show are having the same problem. Overwhelmingly, the show is asking an interesting question: when your life doesn’t go the way that women’s are “supposed to”—you find yourself single at middle age, you can’t have kids, you don’t want kids, you don’t want the stable relationship with the great guy—how do you deal? How do you cope with being constantly at odds with the expectations that surround you?

What I like most about the show’s new direction is that it doesn’t pretend that these questions can be answered in forty-five minutes a week. “A Family Thing,” aired on October 1, was messy, and none of the ends got tied up, or even look like they can be. Dr. King (KaDee Strickland) is still not sure if she’s dedicated to her career because she loves it, or because it’s a shelter from having meaningful relationships. Naomi (Audra McDonald) has still added professional failure to her failing personal life. Violet (Amy Brenneman) still doesn’t know how to not live her life in a non-relationship with Cooper.

I hope that they can keep it going. The drama is not as artificial as Grey’s Anatomy, and the characters are just starting to get interesting. Addison’s story has the potential to become one of the most meaningful for women on television at the moment.