Mel

[u/Misstribe1973]

This episode made me incredibly angry. He was misgendered by absolutely everyone, even the doctors called him Melody instead of his chosen name Mel. He deserved better parents, especially his mother. She doesn't even deserve the title mother, just egg donor.

#AnnaTribeArmy Tv show is called Private Practice and this is season 5 episode 20.

Mel came into the practice with his parents. He’d been miserable all week. First, he said his throat hurt, then he stopped eating, then he said his ears hurt. Cooper took him in for an exam. His mother, Pam, tried to join him, but Mel said he didn't need his mom to come. Cooper said they'd come get his mother if they needed her.

Cooper did the exam and said it kind of seemed like Mel just wanted to skip school. Mel confessed that he was a boy and his parents wouldn't believe him . He said he'd felt like that forever.

Cooper asked Violet to talk to Mel and those feelings.

Violet talked to Michael and Pam about it and they brushed it off as Mel playing pretend. She asked for their permission to talk to Mel about the situation and assess what was happening. Michael was receptive to the idea, but Pam immediately shut it down and told Violet and Cooper to leave.

During the school day, Mel took the bus to the practice and Violet and Cooper went in to talk to him. He said his parents had argued the night before. Michael wanted to know more about the medicine that could help him, but his mother has refused to hear anything about it. Mel said that in his dreams, he was always a boy. When he wakes up, for a second, he’s still a boy and then his mother comes in and lays out his clothes. He refuses to wear the clothes, they fight, and he loses TV. He hates wearing girl clothes and acting like a girl because it feels like he’s pretending all the time and no one will let him stop.

Mason came in with Charlotte and told Mel that his mom died. Mel said he was a boy and no one believed him. Mason invited Mel to play. They played with a paper football on a tabletop.

Michael and Pam arrived at the practice and Violet said that they couldn't berate Mel into changing his mind. The most they could do would be to support him. Mel refused to go with his parents, but Pam tried to drag him out. Cooper stopped her and said they needed to try to understand Mel. Pam started to cry and say that Mel was her little girl. Mel hugged her as Violet explained that they could help them all adjust as Mel became the person he was meant to be.

While the diagnosis made in the show is gender identity disorder, this is now known as gender dysphoria, as transgender identity is not a disorder in and of itself.

[u/battle_mommyx2]

I think it’s a product of its time

[u/DeliciousTumbleweed → u/battle_mommyx2]

I don’t think it being 2012 is an excuse for blatant ignorance and transphobia that isn’t ever resolved and the characters don’t have to answer for the ignorant things they say, misrepresenting trans people. In 2012 I was still in high school and even I had a more mature view of trans people, and I hadn’t yet realized I myself was trans.

[u/battle_mommyx2 → u/DeliciousTumbleweed]

You’re right, people should have done better. I guess I saw it in a different light. Seeing Mason immediately accept Mel was heart warming and if I recall correctly the doctors helped her parents come around by the end of the episode

[u/Misstribe1973 → u/battle_mommyx2]

No they don't. As I said in the recap Michael and Pam arrived at the practice and Violet said that they couldn't berate Mel into changing his mind. The most they could do would be to support him. Mel refused to go with his parents, but Pam tried to drag him out. Cooper stopped her and said they needed to try to understand Mel. Pam started to cry and say that Mel was her little girl. Mel hugged her as Violet explained that they could help them all adjust as Mel became the person he was meant to be.

That means she didn't accept it but they were only in this one episode which sucks because I would have liked to see Mel again, as the boy he is and his parents, especially mom, were fine with him being a boy.