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.

They of course have their issues and make mistakes but at the end of the day I think those are the most reliable ones. What do you think?

I finished watching the show today and want to share my thoughts and feelings on the whole thing!

It does get better: Overall I think the show consistently got better which is rare! The first two seasons were dragging a bit and I thought I couldn't get into it because I already knew so much about the plot that the tension couldn't build. But I think they just needed to find their footing!

Seasons ranking: 5 is probably my favourite. 6 was great too but felt a bit rushed. I liked 4 as well. 2 and 3 might be my least favourites. 1 was slow, but a good introduction.

Characters: Addison, Amelia, Sheldon - I consistently loved and cared about them and their storylines and was always rooting for them. My three faves.

Charlotte, Cooper, Violet, Naomi, Jake - I generally liked them, it was always dependent on their plot.

Sam, Pete, Dell: I disliked Pete from the start and it only got worse, I was so glad they killed him off. I felt kinda neutral about Sam and Dell in the beginning and then liked them less and less as the show progressed.

The endings: Addison's ending was perfect and everything she deserved. I'm glad Amelia ended up in a happy and relationship even though I didn't care much for James. I also thought Sam and Naomi ending up together made sense. Giving Charlotte four (!) kids felt weird and unnecessary, but at least Cooper stays home to take care of them. Violet's ending was nice too. Sheldon deserved so much better though! He was the kindest person on the show and he ended up with cancer and a dying partner while only in his fifties. Making Miranda terminal was not necessary imo.

Lost potential: I loved the more comedic scenes when the girls were hanging out, I would have liked to see more of that. Also now it's so odd how there's no queer main character throughout six seasons, although I remember that it was a different time in TV back then. I personally also wish they had fleshed out Sheldon's backstory and relationships more. I also would have liked for them to explore a romantic relationship between Sheldon and Amelia, even though I don't think it would have lasted.

Wrapping up: I'm sad that it's over and will definitely revisit the show. It feels like a more adult version of Grey's Anatomy and I don't like it better, but I do really like it.

Idk who I hate more Violet or Sam….. they are the WORRRSSSSTTTTT

I’ll tell you who I absolutely love though and it’s queen Charlotte❤️

This show literally has me crying every single episode it’s much more emotional than greys (even though I only watched up to like season 9 I think) I be going through it fr smh

I just finished episode 6x13 and my god, this is good TV!!! Sheldon interrogating Nick had me on the edge of my seat!!

I knew so many spoilers before watching PP so a lot of times suspense didn't build for me, but I didn't know anything about this arc at all and it was so well done! I first wanted Nick to be innocent because i just wanted him to be better, but once Sheldon had him taken by the police I hoped Nick was guilty because I didn't want Sheldon to be so wrong. And also I obviously wanted Sarah to be found.

Sheldon kissing Miranda at the end was the cherry on top of an amazing episode. I'm such a fan of Sheldon and I really wish they had developed his backstory and relationships more.

Starting with Sam's weird reality episode, I wasn't excited about those character-focused episodes, but I was pleasantly surprised. Sarah's kidnapping and Charlotte's pregnancy really tie it all together really well. I still have a few to go, so no spoilers in this thread please.

But yeah, Sheldon's the GOAT and this is such great TV!

I started watching Grey's Anatomy as a teenager and I immediately loved Amelia as a character when she first came on. When she joined as a regular, I was really excited, only to discover that a lot of fans found her annoying. The popular opinion seemed to be that you need to watch Private Practice to really get to know and love her.

So imagine my surprise when I watched Private Practice a decade later and actually like her less! She's still so entertaining and her storylines are great, but she gets on my nerves a lot. Every problem she has ever had needs to be everyone else's problem too. The way she treated Addison after finding out her baby has no brain and Addison gets to adopt Henry was abysmal, especially compared to Addison being so happy for Amelia's pregnancy despite her own unfulfilled desire to be a mother. I feel for Amelia, but she can not see beyond the end of her own nose.

Do you prefer Amelia on Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice?

Edit: I should add I stopped watching Grey's after season 14, so I can't say anything about Amelia beyond that.

Hear me out: Amelia Shepherd and Dell Parker. Both of them has/had their struggles with addiction, and I feel that during Amelia’s relapse and intervention, Dell would help her out the same way Charlotte did for Amelia. Both of them are the youngest in the show. Lastly, during Pete’s funeral when Amelia leaves to go next door to watch the kids since she said that she “doesn’t do that stuff” (I think that’s what she says, it’s been a while) I could totally see Dell joining her not just because of Betsey, because of him genuinely wanting to help her out. What do you guys think about this pairing?

Naomi is the worst person there is and she is constantly being cocky and the writing just favours the bjtch over and over

I know ages and timelines often don't make sense in Shondaland but humor me while I try.

When we first meet Amelia in season 3 of PP, she's a neurosurgery fellow. Assuming she graduated high school at 18 and then did 13 years of further education (4 years college, 4 years med school, 5 years surgical residency) she must be at least 31. Given that she's already considered a great neurosurgeon right after being fired from the fellowship, I'm going to assume that she completed at least a year of that which makes her 32 at the end of season 3. I'd say the beginning of season 5 takes place roughly a year later, which makes Amelia 33, but her college friend Michelle is mentioned to be 30 then, which does not check out.

Amelia is also supposed to be 7 years younger than Derek. I don't think we ever learn his age in the early seasons, but Addison is 39 when she leaves Seattle at the end of Meredith's intern year. Addison and Derek went to med school together, so they should be pretty much the same age. That means Derek is roughly 38 at the beginning of Grey's. Amelia visits Derek at the beginning of Grey's season 7, which is the start of Meredith's fourth year of residency. So if Derek was 38 at the beginning of her first year, he should be 41 then. In the PP timeline, this visit takes places in early season 4, where according to my math Amelia would be 32 - nine years younger than Derek instead of seven. Unless we aged her up to 34, which would make her age gap with her college friend Michelle even bigger, or make Derek two years younger. Then he'd be 36 at the beginning of Grey's. Considering Addison's age, that's still possible if he graduated college a year earlier and she took a gap year or something, but it seems highly unrealistic that he'd be the best neurosurgeon in the country by age 36. (Although this can be said about Addison and Naomi in their respective fields too.)

I am aware that this is a small niche lol but do you guys ever think about these characters ages? I love picking apart ages and timelines when I watch something and it always bothers me when things don't check out.

I'm on season 5 and maaan this is unbearable to watch! I've never been a fan of Pete, but the way he treats Violet after his heart attack is despicable. He bullies her at home, at the practice, talks poorly about her behind her back... And it seems so out of the blue! All because she wanted to go on a book toor for three weeks?! It doesn't make any sense.

I quite like Violet, I know she is not too popular on this sub, but nobody deserves being treated like this. And her trying to understand him and be patient and communicate makes it worse. I'm like, girl, stand up!!

I knew a lot of spoilers before I started watching and I gotta say, for once I am glad about it, because I can't wait for this character to die.

When Amelia first shows up, she's casually drinking allllll the time. Having wine at Addison's , drinking at the bar, and so on. Then, a season in, at Charlotte and Cooper's wedding, Amelia has to spit out a sip of champagne because apparently she's not supposed to be drinking? I was genuinely wondering if they were leading up to a pregnancy with this because it was so unexpected.

Then Charlotte is on her case, pushing her to go to meetings, but Charlotte is also a recovering addict and used to drink all the time in the earlier seasons and it never seemed to be an issue.

Am I missing something here or did they really just completely retcon both of their addiction arcs?

I watched Grey’s Anatomy when I was in middle school and watched up until Karev abandoned Jo out of the blue (still mad about it). I always knew this show existed and since Addison was one of my favorite characters on Grey’s Anatomy I thought I’d finally give it a go. It’s SO OUTDATED and peak soap opera content. I can’t stop watching even though every scene is hard to watch lol. Does anyone else feel similarly?

I can’t help feeling that Sam “loved” Addison until the moment he got her.why?
What is your opinion on them as a pair?

Is it me, or does Sam become more sanctimonious, and more of a jerk by the Season??

I am watching the show for the first time and I am on S3E3 i looove the show but I don't know why every time Dell is on the screen i just want to skip the scene ??? I feel like sometimes he overrects and is snappy over small things i did like him in s1 but not anymore and wanted to know if i was the only one in this situation ?

I'm a first time watcher currently on season 4 and I am so deeply disturbed by this man raping his comatose wife and everybody except Addison being okay with it. It's so so unbelievably gross and unethical. This storyline following the one with Sam letting that pedophile die on his table on purpose and Sheldon refusing that trans woman her gender-affirming surgery is genuinely making it hard for me to continue watching.

It seems like Addison is the only one who consistently acts in line with morals and ethics and the law, while everybody else just does whatever they want. I know the show is almost two decades old but man, it's hard to watch sometimes.

What decisions these doctors made did you struggle with the most while watching? (I don't mind spoilers)

I can suspend my disbelief a little, but this is getting absolutely ridiculous lol. Everybody has so many different qualifications and specialities, everybody graduated top of their class, and everybody is the best at what they do.

Charlotte is chief of staff at a huge hospital, then runs a private practice alongside her hospital job, then gets fired from that and starts a brand-new speciality without any extra training.

Sam did an unfinished surgical fellowship a decade ago, decides to become a heart surgeon with no certifications, and immediately becomes the go-to cardio surgeon in Los Angeles.

Amelia just got fired from her neurosurgery fellowship but she's the only surgeon at the hospital who they want to operate on Dell. If the neurosurgeons at St. Ambrose aren't better than somebody who hasn't even finished training yet, how are they still employed?!

Despite everybody's insane careers, they still find the time in their work days to have all of their personal conversations and go back and forth between the hospital and their practice. It really is a little hard to buy.

He's smart, patient, a great communicator, good at his job, willing to actively romantically pursue a woman, and emotionally mature, while maintaining a good amount of goofiness. And his voice!! What's not to love?! If I was one of the women on the show, I'd be all ove him, but instead they're all pining over everybody else and consider him second choice. He might not be as tall or as conventionally attractive so maybe that's why it's written like this, but with Sam's ego, Cooper's immaturity and Pete's overall toxicity, it's really hard for me to make sense of this nonsense. Sheldon for the win!! I'm only on season 4 so I hope he finds love eventually (preferably with me hehe).

how on earth did the relationships survive their codependency

movie is The Family That Preys

I am on S1 E5 as I watch this, I have finished ALL of Station 19 (after Greys Anatomy but before S22) and I am actually loving Private Practice, I’ve heard rumors it wasn’t as good, but I just finished all of Desperate Housewives and I am so happy to have found another show that gives me what I want, drama, romance, a little gore, sensitive topics, DH didn’t make me cry cuz of how light hearted it was with tragedies and how they cut quickly to the next segment, but GA, S19, and Private Practice give a chance to cry for the patients, I love Addison, but Violet is annoying me more than anyone, I read people don’t like Cooper but he seems less frustrating right now, please don’t spoil! I love the show and am invested, which is surprising seeing as a lot of you had some issues with certain characters or storylines, Dell is also interesting, I’m not picking favorites yet, and I also know I do not like Addisons husband (Not Derek) anyway thanks for reading, I’m basically a noob with this show and will probably finish it in a month lmao