Last season of Private Practice ended with Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman) leaving to go on a book tour. Since she’s already lost her license, she might as well support her book. The practice has to reform because of the lawsuit over Violet’s book; they end up doing so without Naomi (Audra McDonald). Pete (Tim Daly) had an attack of some kind and was left lying on the floor with no one to call for help, leaving us wondering if he was going to live or die. Private Practice: The Complete Fifth Season starts right there. Amelia (Caterina Scorsone) is out of control. Sheldon (Brian Benben) has to go pick her up at a bar where she was drunk and cut her hand open. Cooper (Paul Adelstein) goes to check on Pete when Addison (Kate Walsh) tells them all that Violet left, so Cooper finds Pete on the floor with no heartbeat. Once again, the whole team is at the hospital rallying around one of their own, all except Violet since they can’t get in touch with her. Addison’s near-fling from the end of last season, Dr. Jake Reilly (Benjamin Bratt) makes a return as well. Addison is seeing a therapist, which is actually the beginning and end of every episode. I like it as a format for the season. Addison is also in charge at the office, and she’s doing a great job as the boss. Of course, this group of doctors is not an easy one to keep under control, especially when Dr. Reilly joins the practice as well!

Cooper really breaks the rules and puts St. Ambrose at risk in the process. Since Charlotte (KaDee Strickland) is in charge of St. Ambrose, it really looks bad on her, which puts a huge wedge in their relationship. Then when a woman named Erica (A.J. Langer) shows up and tells Cooper that he has an 8 year old son, how will Charlotte deal with that? Cooper and Charlotte haven’t had the easiest of relationships and this season is really going to test them even more. I do love them as a couple though. They are really going to have a difficult time when Amelia tells them that she thinks there’s something wrong with Erica medically and Erica is hiding a lot. Is it possible to heal her?

Pete survives the attack and Violet comes home, but they decide to separate temporarily as things just aren’t working out. They’ll have to decide if they are going to make the separation permanent or not. Amelia gets continually worse, to the point that the team is going to have to see if they can convince her to save herself in an intervention. Nature can be quite cruel though and when Amelia ends up pregnant, things are really going to change in her life. Addison decides to undergo IVF, even though Sam (Taye Diggs) doesn’t want a kid. This is, of course, going to lead to problems in their relationship and with Jake still interested in Addison, things are going to be quite difficult for her to decide. The season finale actually is a huge cliffhanger without leaving someone on the brink of death. Instead, it leaves Addison with a very important decision to make!

There are only three special features on the set, but "The Practice of Parenthood" is quite interesting, especially given how it relates to the season. This season does introduce several children to the equation of the show and it really makes things different, better though I think. There are also Deleted Scenes and Bloopers to entertain. If you’re a fan of Grey’s Anatomy or Private Practice, then you really need to go pick up Private Practice: The Complete Fifth Season today!