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God Laughs is the season five premiere and the 77th overall episode of Private Practice.

Short Summary[]

Sam, Cooper, Charlotte and Amelia team up to save the life of their friend Pete after he suffers a heart attack, while Violet, who was in the middle of leaving Pete and LA, is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Addison's desire to have a baby leads her to see Jake Reilly, her recent mystery man, in a most surprising place, and Sheldon tries to help Amelia in her battle with alcohol.

Full Summary[]

Addison is at her therapist's office. They talk about God, and how her mother used to say that people plan and God laughs. She thinks the idea of a God is comforting, but also unsettling. However, she doesn't believe God would punish or judge, because those or human traits.

In a flashback, Violet shows Pete the medical board sent her. Her medical license got suspended and they're coming after the practice.

Addison tells her therapist about the anonymous guy she met in the supermarket.

Another flashback shows Charlotte telling Amelia that her surgical privileges are revoked, following her slip.

A last flashback shows Pete not wanting Violet to go, but her leaving anyway.

Addison says she believes in a God who's accepting, loving, forgiving, and present, like the kind of parent she one day hopes to become.

Pete is still having a heart attack with baby Lucas sitting nearby, watching his father. He tries to reach the phone, but he can't.

Addison and Sam just had amazing sex. She wonders why they ever broke up, but she doesn't want to hear the reason again. Sam's phone rings. He wants to ignore it, but Addison sees it's the hospital. He takes the call and says he'll be right there, even though he's not on call. He gets out of bed and Addison sighs.

Amelia is dancing on a bar. A guy is attracted by her and asks her to take her top off, but she's gonna need another drink for that. A woman calls her bitch and tells her to get off the bar, as they're not in Vegas. Amelia says there's no need for name calling and asks to come dance with her, as guys like a little girl on girl. The woman, however, pours her drink onto Amelia's shoes. Amelia gets angry and calls her a bitch, just as she slips and falls off the bar. She has a deep cut in her hand from the broken glass. The guy helps her get back on her feet and she leaves the bar.

Violet is at the airport, but her flight got delayed, so she finds herself a spot in the waiting room. Her phone dies, so she can't play a game on it. She overhears a couple sitting nearby talking. The woman thinks the delay may be a sign, but her husband is sure they made the right decision, saying it's time to go home. Joanna wants to go back to her mother's house, but her husband David says you can't throw 12 years of marriage away over one fight. Joanna says this fight was different and he knows it. She doesn't know if they can fix it.

In the ER, Sam is trying to revive his patient. Charlotte comes in. The patient has been down for 45 minutes, so she thinks it's time to call it, but Sam refuses to do so. Charlotte, however, orders him to call it. "Time of death, 10:17," Sam says. Luckily, this patient is an elderly man, and not Pete.

Pete is still on the floor, inching his way to the phone, but he loses consciousness before reaching it.

Charlotte thanks Sam for coming in, as the on-call surgeon got stuck in the OR. They run into Cooper and Addison, whose patient is pregnant with triplets and in labor but not dilated yet. Sam wanted to go home, but now that he knows that Addison is here, he appears to have changed his mind. Charlotte says Pete didn't come in, so Sam can take over his shift. That way, Charlotte says, he can keep Addison company all night, as long as they don't pretend like they didn't get back together. Them pretending they didn't is making her uncomfortable. Cooper laughs at his wife's brutal honesty. Cooper asks about Pete, and Addison says he's probably upset because Violet left for New York. Cooper didn't know that. Addison says she saw Violet at the airport. Sam asks what she was doing at the airport. Addison claims she was saying there to say goodbye to Naomi. Cooper finds it odd that Violet didn't say anything to him. Charlotte says she probably said a lot to Pete, who's probably upset now. Sam says it's hard to cheer Pete up, but Cooper decides to go over and try. Meanwhile, Charlotte will stay at the hospital with Sam and Addison.

David leaves to get coffee. Joanna starts crying as soon as he's gone. Violet gives her a tissue and Joanna apologizes for crying in public. Violet introduces herself and says she couldn't help but overhear their conversation. Joanna says they'll be fine. Violet keeps telling herself that, too, and she tells Joanna about the drama that her book tour created. Violet guesses that that's a marriage: fight, make up, and move forward. Joanna says that is unless you keep fighting about the same thing.  She's a lawyer and she works a lot, and David doesn't get that anymore. He's always been extremely supportive of her career, but things haven't got any easier at her firm and all of a sudden, David's not supportive anymore. She came out here to get away. Violet says distance can give you perspective. David flew out and he was so apologetic. In the heat of the moment, you can say or do things that you later regret, Joanna says. Violet asks what she means by that. Joanna confesses that David hit her last time they fought.

Cooper is knocking on Pete's door, thinking Pete is willingly not letting him in. He brought some beer to drink as they commiserate, or he offers to take Lucas so Pete can have some time to himself. He then hears Lucas crying, so he gets worried enough to use his keys to enter the house. He puts down the beers on a table and then sees Pete lying on the ground. He calls 911 as he starts CPR. Cooper is trying to get Lucas to come out, saying he knows it's scary. He sees Lucas hiding under the table. Cooper promises him Pete is going to be okay.

Amelia is sitting outside the bar, cleaning the blood of her hand. Sheldon's car then stops in front of her and she's happy to see her knight in shining armor. Amelia says she fell down, cut her hand, and she didn't think she should drive. Sheldon asks if the bartender took her keys or if she really thought that. She considers it to be the same thing. He sees she's drunk, but she says she's not quite there yet. He asks about AA, but she says her problem is pills, not booze. He considers that to be the same thing. She says that's a clever comeback and that she likes him. He sees her Hopkins-trained neurosurgeon hand needs stitches, but she kisses him to shut him up. She asks him for a ride to the hospital. She gets in the car and he says he'll lecture her more later. She figured.

Violet asks Joanna if David's hit her before. Joanna swears he hasn't. His hours at work are getting cut back while she's only getting more, so he's always at home alone, stewing. She claims it's partially her own fault. They were supposed to go for a run, but a client called last minute for a conference call. Then, they fell into the same pattern as always. He got mad, she got defensive, and they were fighting for so long that she knew she was going to miss the conference call anyway, so she texted her assistant while David was talking. She knows it drives him crazy, but she did it anyway. He reacted badly, and then she came out to Los Angeles to see her mother, who adores David, so Joanna didn't tell her. Violet asks if she has friends in New York. She has, but she hasn't told any of them about the fight. Joanna thinks things like that don't happen to her.

Pete is rushed into the ER. His pulse is thready and he hasn't regained consciousness. Cooper hands Lucas to Addison and tells Charlotte he has left Violet messages. They don't know how long Pete has been down. They start treating him. Cooper is trying to intubate since Pete is having difficulty breathing, but he can't visualize the cords. Pete's in v-fib, so Sam shocks him, but Cooper hasn't let go of Pete's body yet. Charlotte is shocked as Cooper falls to the floor, but he says he's okay. Sam and Charlotte take Pete to the cath lab to open up his blocked arteries.

In a private procedure room, Amelia is getting ready to stitch up her hand. Sheldon doesn't think it's a good idea, but she uses sexual innuendo to avoid conflict, which is what she does with men. Amelia is in pain as she applies rubbing alcohol to the wound. Sheldon asks why they're not in the ER. Amelia doesn't want to run into Charlotte, who'll read the AA big book to her. Amelia was hoping Sheldon would help her, but he says he's no better than an intern. In that case, Amelia will do it herself, although she asks him to give her the shot to numb her hand.

Cooper enters the waiting area and sits down with Addison and Lucas. He informs her about Pete's status. She notices he doesn't look too good himself and he tells her he got shocked, so he's a little spacey and tingly. Addison remembers her first year of residency, where she got shocked once too. Cooper tells Addison that Lucas witnessed Pete's heart attack. Addison comforts Lucas as Cooper says he wants to get in touch with Violet.

At the airport, Joanna tells Violet she doesn't know how to tell people that she knows, because she's too embarrassed to tell them. Everyone knows how successful she is, but telling her that her husband hit her would make her seem wake. As she sees David coming over with coffee, Violet tells Joanna to meet her in the bathroom and leaves her seat. David says he went to the terminal to get the coffee. He brought her a vanilla latte just in case. Joanna says she has to go to the bathroom and leaves. David asks Violet is Joanna is okay, but she claims she doesn't know. She checks her phone again, but the battery is still dead.

In the cath lab, Sam has difficulties inserting the stent. Pete regains consciousness and asks about Lucas. Charlotte informs him he's fine. She and Sam see his face and they notice there's muscle paralysis on the right side, indicating he's already had some brain damage or there's a bleed. Sam asks to have Amelia paged, but Charlotte will take the neurosurgeon who's closest. The monitor starts beeping. The catheter dissected his coronary artery, so he's bleeding into his chest. They gotta get him to an OR. Charlotte climbs on top of Pete to start compressions as they wheel him to an OR. Pete opens his eyes, indicating there's enough circulation to perfuse his brain.

Amelia is done stitching up her hand. There's nothing to sober yourself up like puncturing your flesh with sharp metal, Amelia jokes. She needs a drink and asks him to come, but he offers to take her to a meeting instead. She says he sounds just like Charlotte as she gets a page. She assures him she's not on-call. They run into Addison, Lucas, and Cooper. They notice something's up and asks what's going on.

Violet meets Joanna in the bathroom. Joanna tells her David is not violent, that this was just a fluke. Violet says she did flee to somewhere safe, and asks Joanna if she has any reason to doubt that instinct. Joanna says Violet doesn't understand their relationship. Violet does know what it's like to be the victim of violence, feeling your confidence go out the window. If Joanna ever wants that sense of control over her own life back, she has to tell people. Joanna says no one ever gets to fully control their life. She understands David gets frustrated because of his work. You make sacrifices in a marriage. Violet says being hit is a not a sacrifice, it's abuse. Joanna says they should stop, questioning what qualifies Violet to define her relationship and tell her what to do. She appreciates Violet's concern, but it's none of her business. Joanna leaves to go back to her husband.

Sheldon asks if Violet knows about Pete. Cooper replies she's a on plane, but he tried every possible way to reach out. Charlotte enters the waiting room to inform them about the bad news. Pete's pressure keeps bottoming out, so Sam took him to the OR. She then sees Amelia and asks her what she's doing here. Amelia says she got paged by Sam and asks if there are possible neuro complications. Charlotte says a possible CVA and says another neurosurgeon is on his way. Amelia says she is here now. Charlotte asks about her hand. Amelia replies it's fine and she leaves to go talk to Sam. Charlotte asks Sheldon, who says Amelia cut it and needed some stitches. He says she's fine.

Amelia asks Sam what's happening. Sam needs to graft four arteries, but by the time he'll be done, Pete will be lucky if he can still drool. Amelia says she'll take care of her part while Sam does his. Amelia orders the staff to prep for a craniotomy, but Charlotte comes in and stops her.

In the waiting area, Cooper asks Sheldon to switch seats, as Sheldon is sitting where he sat when the Violet/Katie thing happened. That turned out okay, so he wants to sit there again. Sheldon says he was sitting in this seat when Dell died, so all the more reason to switch. While the guys switch, Addison stays in her seat, as she was operating both times. They all think Sam and Amelia are the best to deal with the situation, but Addison knows it must be hard for them to set their feelings aside. Lucas is hungry, so Addison takes him to go find something to eat. She asks the guys to call her if something happens. Cooper is checking his phone, finding out that Violet's plane hasn't left yet. This means she's still at the airport. He walks off, leaving Sheldon all alone.

Amelia tells Charlotte she needs to clamp Pete's arterial bleed. He doesn't have 10 minutes to wait for the other neurosurgeon. Sam asks what's going on between them, causing them to start bickering over Amelia's hand. Sam tells them this is not the time to work things out and asks Amelia if she can cut. Since it's her left hand, she can cut. She takes the drill and starts drilling.

Addison is sitting outside with Lucas. She says it's not fair that he had to see all that happened, but she assures him his daddy will be fine because he's got the best doctors working on him. She says his mommy's gonna be here soon, so that's okay. For now, she's glad she can be here with him.

David, Joanna, and Violet get a message through the intercom that their plane's mechanical issue has been solved. Violet walks up to Joanna and says that she knows it's not her business, but she asks Joanna not to board the plane. She knows what a complicated marriage is, but what's going on between Joanna and David is something else. She knows that Joanna is not ready to go home yet. Violet gives her a little paper and says she can always talk to her. David says they're done here as an airport employee comes over with an emergency call for Violet from Dr. Freedman. Violet is shocked at the news and rushes off. Joanna appears to be worried over her. 

Addison and Lucas return to the waiting room with a full belly. Addison asks Sheldon if Lucas knows what's going on. Sheldon says that kids absorb a lot, so even though Lucas may not understand it, he feels the crisis. She's worried about future consequences for Lucas, but Sheldon says she's doing all that she can possibly do. More than everything, Lucas needs Violet. Addison wonders what will happen if Pete doesn't make it. Sheldon says it's a cataclysmic event for a child, so they shouldn't think about it until they have to.

Charlotte is wondering if it was right to let Amelia operate, but Cooper thinks it was. He hopes Amelia wouldn't have pushed so hard if she had any doubts. Charlotte says Amelia never has doubts, so that's what she worried about. They didn't have any other choice. Cooper thinks about what would happen if any of them died, because he remembers that when his father had a heart attack, he was in the hospital with his mother, who repeated to herself that she didn't want to be without her husband. Charlotte has thought about it, too, but in this moment, her and Cooper is not what she's worried about. He asks if she'd get married again. He wants her to. She, however, jokingly says she'd prefer he be miserable for the rest of his life. Cooper's phone rings. It's Violet. Cooper says Pete is still in surgery, but he'll go on him immediately.

Sam wants to take Pete off the pump, but Amelia's not done yet. However, she says he can take Pete off the pump as she closes. After a few tense seconds, Pete's heart starts beating again. Cooper comes in to check as Pete's pressure drops again. He's going into v-fib. Sam asks Cooper to scrub in. 

Violet arrives in the waiting room. Charlotte informs her Cooper is still in the OR. Violet doesn't want to wait on Cooper and checks up on Lucas, whom Addison tells her is fine. Violet quickly kisses her son and then rushes to the OR.

Sam tries to shock Pete's heart with the paddles, but it's not working. Cooper has to squeeze the heart manually. As Sam urges Cooper to squeeze harder, Sam notices Violet is standing outside, watching them. 

Sam tells Violet that the grafts are holding and his cardiac output is on target. He says he's going to be okay. Violet cries in relief. Cooper says recovery is going to be tough, but Violet knows that. Cooper also reminds her that he saved Pete's life twice. Violet thanks both of them and wonders what she should say to Pete. She wants to apologize, thinking the stress she put on him by leaving caused the heart attack. Sam and Cooper say she didn't cause this. It was bad luck. Before they go into his room, Sam warns him that Pete can be a little euphoric because of the anesthesia and bypass. However, that'll wear off.

Violet enters Pete's room, but Pete isn't awake. She strokes his arm, causing him to wake up. He says she's beautiful and laughs. His chest hurts. She informs him what happened, also explaining the headache. Pete knows it'll sound odd, but he thinks he's okay. He tries to get up, but Violet tells him to wait till tomorrow to try that. Pete says he loves her. Violet gets emotional. They're both okay and she's here now. She left, but to her, it felt like she was going somewhere, while the other, she just left with no destination in mind. She says that if she hadn't left, maybe none of this would've happened. Pete hushes her and says that they're all okay. He once again tells her she's beautiful.

Amelia greets Charlotte and acts enthusiastic about saving Pete. She says she rocked it and she also thanks Charlotte for worrying about her hand. Charlotte says she's not welcome. She means that she won't enable, nor protect Amelia ever again, until she get her sobriety in hand. Amelia says she was never a drunk. Charlotte replies that the fact that Amelia is making a difference between drugs and booze is a sign that she's in trouble. It's common for drug addicts to think that they can handle booze, but that's not true. Amelia insists she's fine. Charlotte says she cares too much about Amelia to trust her. Her privileges are still revoked, and next time someone pages her, she should ignore it. Charlotte walks off and Amelia turns around, seeing that Sheldon followed the entire conversation. She hushes him before he can start talking, but he was just gonna offer her a ride home. She'd appreciate that. They leave the hospital together.

Violet walks into Cooper, who now finally can tell her that he's really mad at her. It killed him last time when she took off and leaves her troubles and her family behind, and now she did it again. He hugs her and says she can't deal with losing her license and her argument with Pete by getting on a plane. This is life and she's got to stick around and fight. She says he's right. Addison comes over with Lucas. Violet takes Lucas and tells him she missed him. She thanks Addison for having watched him all night. Violet takes Lucas home and gets a phone call as she walks out of the room. It's Joanna, and she's still in Los Angeles. Violet is glad to hear her wanting to talk. Addison stares after her and Lucas.

Addison is crying on her therapist's couch. She says life is hard and messy and out of her control. She hates the idea that she can't control what happens in the world or what happens to the people she loves. Every day, she delivers babies and she sees the moment when the woman becomes a mother. No matter what happens to the baby, the woman will always be a mother. She's transformed and it's exhilirating and terrifying and she wants that. She wants a baby. Sam hasn't changed his mind at all, but for today, for some reason, that's okay. She made an appointment with a fertility specialst who's supposed to be amazing. And she went. There's just one weird thing and potentially complicated. She says people plan and God laughs.

Addison is lying on the examination table, waiting for the fertility specialist. The specialist comes and greets her. They watch and recognize each other. It's the guy she met at the supermarket and almost went to Fiji with. He says it's a nice surprise and that it was her choice to skip the preliminary consult at his office. She heard from a lot of people that Jake Reilly was the go-to fertility specialist. He's flattered. She can't believe he's Jake Reilly. He checks her chart and tells Addison it's nice to officially meet her. She asks if wasn't supposed to be in Fiji. He says he was on the plane, but got paged because another fertility specialist loaded up a patient with HCG and nearly ruptured her ovaries, so he spent that night in the hospital. It would have been a nice trip, but sometimes there are more important things to do, which he concludes is the same decision she made, as she didn't join him to go to Fiji. Addison says her being here has nothing to do with why she didn't go to Fiji. Jake says that even though the flirtation was fun, he has no problem leaving that in the past and taking care of her as a patient. Addison, however, feels very awkward and says she has a boyfriend. They won't be using his sperm, nor anyone else's, she says as she wants to get off the exam table. Jake says that that's going to make this hard for them then. Addison says they won't be doing anything. Jake calms her down and says he's gonna give her a baby.

Addison asks her therapist how she's gonna deal with that.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Co-Starring[]

Medical Notes[]

Addison Forbes Montgomery[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Infertility
  • Doctors:
    • Psychologist
    • Jake Reilly (reproductive endocrinologist)
  • Treatment:
    • Talk therapy

Addison spoke to her shrink about her thoughts on God and plans and how plans change. She also said she decided to try to have a baby and made an appointment with a fertility specialist. She was shocked to find that the fertility specialist was her mystery date.

Pete Wilder[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Myocardial infarction
    • Cerebrovascular accident
    • Arterial bleed
  • Treatment:
    • CPR
    • Intubation
    • Catheterization
    • Quadruple bypass
    • Craniotomy

Pete had had a heart attack while alone in the house with Lucas. He struggled to reach for the phone. Cooper found him and couldn't find a pulse, so he started CPR. They rushed him to the hospital, where the stabilized him and got him to the cath lab. While they did the catheterization, they noticed Pete had some facial paralysis, so they paged for a neurosurgeon. Sam then nicked his coronary artery, so they started CPR and rushed him to the OR for bypass. Amelia came into the OR and prepared to start a craniotomy, but she was stopped by Charlotte, who knew she'd been drinking. Despite this, Pete didn't have the time for them to wait, so Amelia started to operate. Sam finished his repair and Amelia finished hers and they took Pete off bypass. His heart started beating, but then he went into vfib. They were able to get him back and they told Violet he was going to be okay.

Sam's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
  • Treatment:
    • Attempted resuscitation

Sam attempted to resuscitate a patient in the ER, but he couldn't and he pronounced his patient dead at 10:17.

Addison's Patient[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Pregnancy
  • Treatment:

Addison had a mom in labor with triplets and she was waiting for them to be ready to deliver.

Amelia Shepherd[]

  • Diagnosis:
    • Hand laceration
  • Treatment:
    • Stitches

Amelia cut her hand at a bar and had Sheldon drive her to the hospital, where she performed her own stitches after Sheldon numbed her.

Music[]

Song Performer Scene
"I Don't Really Care" Miss Eighty 6 (feat. Rae)
  • Addison and Sam finish having sex. Sam's phone goes off. He immediately gets up after taking the call.
  • Amelia dances on the bar and falls off.
"Space and Time" Alex Cornish
  • Violet and Joanna talk about Joanna's relationship and how it took a turn for the worst.
  • Cooper is trying to get Pete to let him in, but uses his key when he hears Lucas crying. He finds him on the floor. He calls the ambulance while performing CPR.
"Rely" Alex Cornish
  • Addison spends time with Lucas in the ambulance bay.
  • Violet tries to convince Joanna not to board the plane as an airport employee comes over with a call for her. Violet rushes off.
  • Addison sits down with Sheldon in the waiting room. They talk about the effect Pete's heart attack can have on Lucas.
  • Cooper and Charlotte talk about death and what they'll do if the other one dies.
"Always a Way" Alex Cornish
  • Addison talks to her therapist about becoming a mother. For some reason, it's okay for today that Sam doesn't want a kid. She made an appointment with a fertility specialist.
  • At the appointment, the specialist turns out to be Jake, who she almost went to Fiji with. He promises he's willing to leave the flirting thing in the past and that he's going to give her a baby.
  • Addison wonders how to deal with that.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • This episode scored 7.79 million viewers.[1]
  • This episode's title originated from the Yiddish proverb Addison quotes, "Man plans and God laughs."[source?]
  • This episode marks the addition of Benjamin Bratt to the main cast.

Gallery[]

Episode Stills[]

Quotes[]

Charlotte: You can keep Addison company all night as long as you two stop pretending you aren't back together because you can't sell it. It's making me uncomfortable.

Violet: Airports are like hospitals or high school dances. Somebody's crying somewhere.

Addison: Life is hard. It's hard and scary and out of my control. That's the part that makes me the craziest - the fact that I cannot control the world or what happens to the people I love.

Addison: Every day I deliver a baby and every day I see that moment of change, that moment when every cell in a woman's body is transformed. And whatever happens, whether the baby is sick or happy, unhealthy or healthy, lives or dies - whatever happens, that women will never be just a woman again. She will always be a mother.

Amelia: There he is, my knight in shining armor.
Sheldon: You okay?
Amelia: Fell down, need stitches, didn't think I should drive. Thank you for coming.
Sheldon: Yeah. You didn't think you should drive or the bartender took your keys?
Amelia: Tomato, tomahto.
Sheldon: Amelia, you're drunk.
Amelia: Not quite. I was on my way to being drunk when all of the unfortunate bleeding interrupted my evening.
Sheldon: What happened to AA, huh?
Amelia: My problem was with pills, Sheldon, not booze.
Sheldon: Tomato, tomahto.
Amelia: You tomahtoed me back. That's clever. I like that. I like you.

Charlotte: You're not welcome, Amelia.
Amelia: Okay.
Charlotte: What I mean by that is, I will not enable you and I will not protect you anymore, not ever again. It's a onetime deal. Until you get your sobriety in hand--
Amelia: Look, I am not a drunk. Charlotte, I have never been a drunk.
Charlotte: The fact that you're trying to draw a distinction between booze and drugs tells me you're in trouble, 'cause you know better. And you been around long enough to see how this goes. Alcoholics go out on pills, they go crazy. Addicts go out on booze, and they think they can handle it, but they can't.
Amelia: I am fine.
Charlotte: No, you're not. The fact is, Amelia, I care about you too much to trust you right now. Your privileges are still suspended. Next time someone pages you, don't answer.

Addison: I have a boyfriend.
Jake: Will we be using his sperm?
Addison: No, we will not Be using his sperm. We won't be using anyone's sperm.
Jake: Well, that's gonna make this hard.
Addison: We are not gonna be doing anything.
Jake: All right. Just take a breath. It's okay. Trust me, all right? I'm gonna give you a baby.

See Also[]

A complete overview of this episode's crew can be found here.

References[]

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