Private Practice 5×22 “Gone, Baby, Gone” review: Would you have done what Amelia did?

I don’t think any show on TV has made me cry the way Private Practice has for the last 5 seasons. I, honestly, bawl after every episode. So I wasn’t surprised that the finale was such a tear-jerker.

Amelia’s storyline over the last season has been SAD. Her best friend died, she started (re)taking drugs, she lost her fiance, she went to rehab, and then she got pregnant with a brainless baby. You’d think that would make me hate Shonda Rhimes for giving Amelia such an awful season, but I actually thank her because I believe Caterina Scorsone will forever get the attention she deserves after this season of brilliant performances.

In Tuesday’s episode, Amelia goes into labor. It’s time for her to have her unicorn baby. She has isolated herself from everyone – except for Jake who has become her OB. She let him in on a secret: she’s donating her baby’s organs. There are kids whose lives can be saved because of Amelia’s baby – her magical baby, thus the name “unicorn.”

She asks Jake not to give her any medicine. She can’t take any drugs again. She cannot be a drug addict again. She knows the pain she’ll go through if she had a baby without drugs, but she knows it will be worse later on if she actually takes the drugs. (By the way, how distressing was her scene with Jake when she was in agony? OMG. I love those two together.)

Jake let everyone know what Amelia wants. He needs them to help him keep his promise to her. But the doctors’ opinions split. Sam, as usual, wants to play it ethically. He cannot kill the baby to donate his organs – it’s murder. Charlotte is the chief of staff at St. Ambrose; she cannot just authorize something like that. On the other hand, Addison & Sheldon know its best, but they both want to be the shoulder Amelia cries on.

And then the debate starts – the debate that has made Private Practice the show it is. For seasons, the show has presented different dilemmas with different opinions from the doctors and made us, as viewers, think about it – the dilemma between ethics and reality. Sometimes you just have to stray away from the rules and the laws to do the right thing. And that what Amelia’s trying to do. But Sam believes that the boy has a soul – it’s not an “it,” it’s a “him.” You can’t just a kill the baby. And he’s as stubborn about it as he always is.

But Amelia’s speech to him changes his mind. “I’m his mother,” she tells him, “and I’m asking you to do this.” She starts listing the names of the babies her child can help, and they are a lot of babies. This one abnormal child can help tens of  other abnormal kids become normal and have normal lives.

Charlotte doesn’t need convincing, though. She knows she’s become soft, just like Addison, because she’s become a mom. She just cannot imagine doing that to her own child, but she understands why Amelia’s doing it. So she orders the surgery. The scene between Charlotte & Addie when they were talking about becoming soft was beautiful because just a season ago, Charlotte was the victim and Addie saved her. They were both so strong and so determined, and right now they were weaker than ever.

Amelia has her baby with Addison right by her side even though she has been pushing her away ever since Addie had Henry. And oh my God, the scene was so freakin’ heartbreaking!

After a few moments with her son, Amelia’s reluctant to give her baby away, but she knows she has to. She cannot abandon the promise she made; her baby’s a unicorn baby – he’s a magical baby that will save lives.

The finale reunited Amelia with those she tried to avoid while being pregnant: Addie, Charlotte, and Sheldon. And her reunion with Sheldon was one of my favorite things about the episode. I don’t know about you, but I love the relationship between the two. He’s in love with her even though she’s “an 8-year old,” and she needs him in her life even if she’s not actually in love with him. I don’t want them to hook up, per se, but they have this kind of bond Amelia needs in her life. He’s her guide; he’s the shoulder she cries on.

What the finale also did is reassure me that Caterina Scorsone deserves an Emmy nomination stat! Ever since the intervention episode, her performances have been impeccable. She has broken our hearts so many these last few months that it would really unfair to rob her from that honor. I know Private Practice is not an Emmy favorite – unlike it’s cousin, Grey’s Anatomy, it has never been nominated for any sort of Emmy award. But it’s time the show gets recognized; its time its ACTORS get recognized. Amy Brenneman may have been snobbed, and so has KaDee Strickland, but they have to reward Scorsone for this incredible season.

But of course, the finale did not just center around Amelia. Lots of stuff happened, too. There’s always that triangle storyline all shows follow in their finales: Sam proposes to Addison. He wants her. He wants her baby. But she has slept with Jake, and as Sam is proposing, Jake is driving to her place with Chinese food. And then the episode ends with a “cliffhanger” I could care less about.

It’s sad that the show centers around Addison and yet all she’s become is the woman who needs to have a man by her side or else she cannot survive. I hope Shonda realizes what Addison means to the show and to the fans watching and helps her make the right decision. What’s the right decision you ask? Choosing neither. Addie can go on without Jake & Sam – two men who have made it hard for her to live a life. But she has Henry now; the adopted son she has been pining over for the last season. THAT baby is everything she wanted, not the two men. (Plus, I still ship her with GA‘s Alex. Oh, Shonda, why did you kill that relationship?) That said, I do love Jake, and if she has to end up with one of the two, I’d definitely go with Jake. Sam didn’t want to have a family with her. He broke her heart. He can’t just Waltz in into her life like that.

Also, after being an ass and refusing to apologize for pulling the plug on a patient whose father didn’t want him to die, Pete cooperated with the cops after Violet gave him a hard time about bailing on her and his child. And I have to agree with Violet; the guy is a stubborn jerk who only thinks of himself and what HE thinks is right. He has given Violet crap over the last season and a half that I just can’t handle him anymore. I used to like him so much; I don’t understand what happened.

Amelia’s storyline wasn’t the only tear jerking in the episode; there was also another scene that made my eyes water: Mason asking Charlotte if he can call her his “mama” like she calls her own mom. Charlotte has transformed so much this season. She never wanted kids; she never wanted this responsibility, and yet she became the perfect mother to Mason while his real mother was sick and after she died. She took care of him. He even opened up to her more than Coop after his mother died. I never thought that was possible, but that scene between the two of them proved me wrong. It was a celebration of Charlotte’s evolution this season.

I am glad the show was renewed for a sixth season – a season I know is its final. The show’s ratings have been not very good, but I trust that Shonda will give the show and the characters the ideal closure they all deserve, and I cannot wait to see that.

What did you guys think of the episode and the season as a whole? Are you excited about season 6?