Charlotte King
Encyclopedia
Charlotte King is a fictional character
from the ABC
medical drama
Private Practice, portrayed by KaDee Strickland
. Charlotte is the Chief of Staff at the fictional St. Ambrose Hospital in Santa Monica
. She has an "adversarial" role in the show, and is responsible for opening Pacific Wellcare, a medical practice in direct competition with the series' main practice, the Oceanside Wellness Centre. Charlotte is also the love-interest of pediatrician Cooper Freedman
(Paul Adelstein
).
. She has two brothers, Duke (Tyler Jacob Moore) and Landry (Caleb Moody), and was raised by her parents "Big Daddy" and Augusta King, who she refers to as "a son of a bitch" and "a drug addict" respectively. She has trouble connecting with others because signs of affection were discouraged in her family. Charlotte attended Johns Hopkins Medical School, and went on to become the youngest physician to hold the position of Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose Hospital in Santa Monica. She uses internet dating websites using the handle
"CanYouHandleMe441", and is embarrassed to discover a man she has been interacting with online is Cooper Freedman
, the Oceanside Wellness Centre's pediatrician. She agrees to go for a drink with him, however, and the two end up sleeping together.
Charlotte and Cooper enter into a relationship, but break up when he discovers that she is opening a new practice to rival his own, on the fourth floor of the same building. They come close to reconciling when Charlotte believes she may be pregnant, but she is disappointed when her pregnancy test comes back negative and Cooper subsequently rejects her again. They re-unite when Charlotte's father dies from lung cancer
, and Cooper helps her to turn off his life support machine. Charlotte is jealous of Cooper's relationship with his best friend Violet Turner
(Amy Brenneman
), particularly when he opts to move in with her to support her through her pregnancy. In retaliation, Charlotte sleeps with Archer Montgomery (Grant Show
); however, Cooper forgives her as he realizes she is afraid of being in a committed relationship and is trying to push him away. Charlotte is later fired from her position as director of Pacific Wellcare as the practice owner, William White (James Morrison
), believes her to be heartless. However, she continues private practice work as she is employed to replace Naomi at Oceanside Wellness, electing to practice sexology
as her specialty.
In the beginning of the third season she and Cooper were having trouble because Violet was attacked and he put himself at fault. But, in S03E03 at the end he literally "swept her off her feet" and asked her to move him with him. In the S03E04 Charlotte renovates Cooper's bathroom, destroying it in the process. At the end it is revealed that he is broke. In S03E05, Charlotte is accepted into the practice and takes up sexology. Toward the end of the episode Cooper admits that he is threatened by Charlotte because she says that she is "too much of a woman" for him, but they get over this and they continue to be happy. That is, until it's revealed that Charlotte was married before and lied about this to Cooper. Then she enters into a sexual relationship with Sheldon, who later admits that he loves her. In 3x20 Cooper reveals that his parents' had a son that died before him and he felt like he was replaced and that's why he took Charlotte's first marriage so badly. He tells Violet that he is going to "get her back". In S03E21 Cooper tells Charlotte that she is important to him and they go get dinner. In S03E22 the episode opens with Cooper and her in bed after having sex. Later in the episode Sheldon admits that she deserves better, and he can be more to her. He asks her out to dinner. At the end, Violet asks Cooper if he loves Charlotte and he nods. So, she says to "go get her". He follows Violet's instructions and leaves for Charlotte—who is out with Sheldon. In the season 3 finale Cooper admits his love for her and proposes. Later in the episode he tells everyone that he proposed and she said yes. Sheldon resents being everyone's "second choice". At the end Cooper says that he takes back the proposal, so he can do it the next day. She questions this, but he says he can't live without her and she is everything he never knew he wanted. She tosses him the ring, and he asks, "if I propose again tomorrow, what are you gonna say?" Charlotte replies: "I'm gonna say yes."
In season four, Charlotte meets a mentally unstable patient who appears to be extremely aggressive. When she goes to leave her office after a hard day of work, she is knocked back into her office and is raped and brutally beaten, left with a broken wrist, hand, a deep laceration on her left arm and a broken eye socket. Cooper is at a bar with Sam and Amelia while this is happening and Cooper drunkenly comes onto Amelia, who pushes him away. Addison comes to Charlotte's aide at the hospital and she tells Addison that her attacker "wipes" himself off in her hair and then rapes her again. She reveals to Amelia that she also was addicted to pills. At first keeping quiet what really happened, Charlotte is able to tell Cooper and the others how she was raped. However, her reluctance to come forward at first leads to her rapist being allowed to go free. When the man attacks his girlfriend, she stabs him in self-defense, sending him to the hospital. While Cooper and Sheldon are tempted to let him die, Sam saves his life. Before the operation, Charlotte sees the man, saying that if he dies, she wants the last thing he sees to be her face. Charlotte learns the man had told his girlfriend of the rape and convinces her to tell the police so he'll be arrested. He survives the surgery and Charlotte confronts him, saying she had built him in her mind as a monster but now sees he's just a weak little man and is able to move on. Charlotte and Cooper continue on the path to engagement with the couple taking a policy to be honest with each other. Cooper confesses his run in with Amelia at the bar and Charlotte confronts her, but the two are able to salvage the friendship and Charlotte asks Amelia to be her maid of honor. In the episode "What We Have Here..." Cooper confronts Charlotte's ex husband Billy after finding out that Charlotte keeps a photo of him after all these years. It is revealed that Billy cheated on Charlotte to find out if he was gay, which he is, shocking Charlotte. Charlotte eventually marries Cooper in the episode "Something Old, Something New", which finds them eloping to Vegas after dealing with dueling families that suggest that they call off the wedding.
". Strickland was added to the cast in July 2007, prior to the commencement of the first series. She did not have to audition for the role, but was cast after a meeting with series creator Shonda Rhimes
. Strickland was drawn to Charlotte's hardworking nature and "strong moral code". She has stated that the role is challenging as she does not "necessarily agree with her way of handling people or what she stands for" and is "shocked at how her point of view just really takes over for her and that's kind of it." Strickland grew up in a medical environment as her mother is a registered nurse
, something she has deemed useful for the role as it presents her with a "phenomenal resource for [...] research material".
Prior to the broadcast of the first season of Private Practice, Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly
described Charlotte as the show's "Tough-as-nails hospital administrator who disapproves of Oceanside Wellness' New Age
attitude toward medicine." Matt Mitovich of TV Guide
stated that a season later, Charlotte seemed "less shrill", observing that: "She originally came across as a character simply designed to be the thorn in everyone else's side. But I think they've worked her in better this season." Strickland agreed with this assessment, commenting: "I think that's what Shonda and the writers always sought for her, without even telling me where it was going. I clearly never saw the Cooper thing coming. I knew from what I had learned of Shonda's writing for Grey's that I would eventually get some justification for why I'm a kick in the pants. It's wonderful to have layers get peeled off. She's a Southern girl, and us Southern folks tend to have a lot of Southern gothic strangeness behind us."
Part of Charlotte's evolving characterization in the second season revolved around her relationship with Cooper. The season placed greater focus on the characters' love lives and the subsequent pressure placed on their personal and professional relationships. Rhimes explained: "I look at this sort of like a family business. I wanted the stories to challenge the family and how they deal with one another." Korbi Ghosh of Zap2it
opined that the relationship between Charlotte and Cooper was interesting as it "came out of left field", something which Strickland agreed with, stating: "it just goes to show that life is very unpredictable, I think. The truth is that people end up in the most unlikely situations. You can be around someone for years and not know you have chemistry with them. Charlotte and Cooper have been in this professional environment, never knowing that they have a similar proclivity, if you will. And where that’s leading is really just wonderful. I’m really thrilled." The season also saw Charlotte in more of a central role, as the show's main protagonist Addison Montgomery
(Kate Walsh) spent more time working at St. Ambrose Hospital. Walsh assessed that: "All the doctors at Oceanside Wellness need Charlotte, and yet they resent needing her, because she's a pain in the ass to deal with." With regards to the development of Charlotte and Cooper's relationship in the show's third season, Strickland has said: "I think I'm perfectly well-placed with Cooper. Other characters are going to have more of a triangle than me and Violet."
", Carreau opined: "I'm not sure I like the port Cooper found in his storm and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone thinking this [...] It's clear they are trying to make Charlotte more meaningful but for me, it's too little too late." She wrote that Charlotte was as poorly introduced as unpopular Lost
characters Nikki and Paulo
, and suggested that the relationship had the potential to ruin Cooper, who was in her opinion the show's best character. Carreau would have preferred for Cooper's online date to turn out to be Violet. She did find Charlotte's nickname of "CanYouHandleMe441" interesting, and noted that: "It sure shows a side of her that we didn't know existed." When Charlotte was fired from her position as Director of Pacific Wellcare, Carreau wrote: "Someone finally told Charlotte that she doesn't have a heart. Okay, she does have one but it must be made of stone or ice or something similar."
Andrea Reiher of Zap2it called the scene in "Nothing to Fear" which saw Charlotte dress in white lingerie and a veil after proposing to a hesitant Cooper "creepy". When Cooper declined Charlotte's request that he move in with her in favor of moving in with Violet, Reiher questioned: "Why did Cooper have to tell Charlotte? Why couldn't he have just said yes to her and told Violet things were off? If he really loves Charlotte, why wouldn't he do that?" Fellow Zap2it writer Kiley McMichael agreed: "Cooper is an idiot. Truly. He says he wants this real future with Charlotte, but doesn't act like it. Best friends or not, there's no need for him to move in with Violet now that she's pregnant. She's not debilitated." When Charlotte slept with Archer in retaliation, McMichael noted: "[her] tough as nails exterior is crumbling, which is sad, because that's what made her interesting. Now she's just flawed." Reiher was critical of Charlotte in the episode which followed, commenting that she took an opposing stance to Cooper at work: "Because she's a giant turd. Man, I dislike her." She further recapped: "Cooper tries to reconcile with Charlotte and she gets mad at him for loving her, even though she's a horrible, horrible woman. I side with Charlotte. She sucks, don't love her Cooper! Love Violet! Instead, he grabs her in a hug and she cries and they kiss and I vomit in my mouth a little. Sorry but... I hate Charlotte."
In another negative review, Alessandra Stanley
of The New York Times
wrote that the female characters in Private Practice "collectively offer one of the most depressing portrayals of the female condition since The Bell Jar
." Mid-season two, Jon Caramancia for The Los Angeles Times opined: "That Charlotte has become the axis around which most of this show's intrigue revolves only highlights how thin the central characters have become and how many of the show's initial charms have been neutered. The vivid sexual confusion between Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman) and Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein) has been completely sacrificed so that Cooper could play out his ridiculous affair with Charlotte, whose character has resisted all attempts at softening—sea changes in hair, makeup and wardrobe be damned."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
Private Practice, portrayed by KaDee Strickland
KaDee Strickland
Katherine Dee "KaDee" Strickland is an American actress currently known for her role as Charlotte King on the ABC drama Private Practice....
. Charlotte is the Chief of Staff at the fictional St. Ambrose Hospital in Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
. She has an "adversarial" role in the show, and is responsible for opening Pacific Wellcare, a medical practice in direct competition with the series' main practice, the Oceanside Wellness Centre. Charlotte is also the love-interest of pediatrician Cooper Freedman
Cooper Freedman
Dr. Cooper Freedman is a fictional character on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice. He is played by actor Paul Adelstein.-Character history:...
(Paul Adelstein
Paul Adelstein
Paul Adelstein is an American television and film actor, best known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the television series, Prison Break, and his current role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the series Private Practice....
).
Storylines
Charlotte (Char) is from Monroeville, AlabamaMonroeville, Alabama
Monroeville is a city in Monroe County, Alabama, United States, the county seat of Monroe County. At the 2000 census its population was 6,862. It is known as the home town of two prominent writers of the post World War II period, Truman Capote and Harper Lee, who were childhood friends in the...
. She has two brothers, Duke (Tyler Jacob Moore) and Landry (Caleb Moody), and was raised by her parents "Big Daddy" and Augusta King, who she refers to as "a son of a bitch" and "a drug addict" respectively. She has trouble connecting with others because signs of affection were discouraged in her family. Charlotte attended Johns Hopkins Medical School, and went on to become the youngest physician to hold the position of Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose Hospital in Santa Monica. She uses internet dating websites using the handle
User (computing)
A user is an agent, either a human agent or software agent, who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified by a username , screen name , nickname , or handle, which is derived from the identical Citizen's Band radio term.Users are...
"CanYouHandleMe441", and is embarrassed to discover a man she has been interacting with online is Cooper Freedman
Cooper Freedman
Dr. Cooper Freedman is a fictional character on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice. He is played by actor Paul Adelstein.-Character history:...
, the Oceanside Wellness Centre's pediatrician. She agrees to go for a drink with him, however, and the two end up sleeping together.
Charlotte and Cooper enter into a relationship, but break up when he discovers that she is opening a new practice to rival his own, on the fourth floor of the same building. They come close to reconciling when Charlotte believes she may be pregnant, but she is disappointed when her pregnancy test comes back negative and Cooper subsequently rejects her again. They re-unite when Charlotte's father dies from lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
, and Cooper helps her to turn off his life support machine. Charlotte is jealous of Cooper's relationship with his best friend Violet Turner
Violet Turner
Dr. Violet Marianne Wilder is a fictional character on the American television series Private Practice . She is portrayed by Amy Brenneman.-Storylines:...
(Amy Brenneman
Amy Brenneman
Amy Frederica Brenneman is an American actress, perhaps best known for her roles in the television series NYPD Blue, Judging Amy and Private Practice...
), particularly when he opts to move in with her to support her through her pregnancy. In retaliation, Charlotte sleeps with Archer Montgomery (Grant Show
Grant Show
Grant Alan Show is an American actor best known for his role on Melrose Place as Jake Hanson, which he played from 1992 to 1997.-Early life:...
); however, Cooper forgives her as he realizes she is afraid of being in a committed relationship and is trying to push him away. Charlotte is later fired from her position as director of Pacific Wellcare as the practice owner, William White (James Morrison
James Morrison (actor)
James Paige Morrison is an American actor. He was born in Bountiful, Utah, the son of an office manager, and was raised in Anchorage, Alaska.-Biography:...
), believes her to be heartless. However, she continues private practice work as she is employed to replace Naomi at Oceanside Wellness, electing to practice sexology
Sexology
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function. The term does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sex, such as political analysis or social criticism....
as her specialty.
In the beginning of the third season she and Cooper were having trouble because Violet was attacked and he put himself at fault. But, in S03E03 at the end he literally "swept her off her feet" and asked her to move him with him. In the S03E04 Charlotte renovates Cooper's bathroom, destroying it in the process. At the end it is revealed that he is broke. In S03E05, Charlotte is accepted into the practice and takes up sexology. Toward the end of the episode Cooper admits that he is threatened by Charlotte because she says that she is "too much of a woman" for him, but they get over this and they continue to be happy. That is, until it's revealed that Charlotte was married before and lied about this to Cooper. Then she enters into a sexual relationship with Sheldon, who later admits that he loves her. In 3x20 Cooper reveals that his parents' had a son that died before him and he felt like he was replaced and that's why he took Charlotte's first marriage so badly. He tells Violet that he is going to "get her back". In S03E21 Cooper tells Charlotte that she is important to him and they go get dinner. In S03E22 the episode opens with Cooper and her in bed after having sex. Later in the episode Sheldon admits that she deserves better, and he can be more to her. He asks her out to dinner. At the end, Violet asks Cooper if he loves Charlotte and he nods. So, she says to "go get her". He follows Violet's instructions and leaves for Charlotte—who is out with Sheldon. In the season 3 finale Cooper admits his love for her and proposes. Later in the episode he tells everyone that he proposed and she said yes. Sheldon resents being everyone's "second choice". At the end Cooper says that he takes back the proposal, so he can do it the next day. She questions this, but he says he can't live without her and she is everything he never knew he wanted. She tosses him the ring, and he asks, "if I propose again tomorrow, what are you gonna say?" Charlotte replies: "I'm gonna say yes."
In season four, Charlotte meets a mentally unstable patient who appears to be extremely aggressive. When she goes to leave her office after a hard day of work, she is knocked back into her office and is raped and brutally beaten, left with a broken wrist, hand, a deep laceration on her left arm and a broken eye socket. Cooper is at a bar with Sam and Amelia while this is happening and Cooper drunkenly comes onto Amelia, who pushes him away. Addison comes to Charlotte's aide at the hospital and she tells Addison that her attacker "wipes" himself off in her hair and then rapes her again. She reveals to Amelia that she also was addicted to pills. At first keeping quiet what really happened, Charlotte is able to tell Cooper and the others how she was raped. However, her reluctance to come forward at first leads to her rapist being allowed to go free. When the man attacks his girlfriend, she stabs him in self-defense, sending him to the hospital. While Cooper and Sheldon are tempted to let him die, Sam saves his life. Before the operation, Charlotte sees the man, saying that if he dies, she wants the last thing he sees to be her face. Charlotte learns the man had told his girlfriend of the rape and convinces her to tell the police so he'll be arrested. He survives the surgery and Charlotte confronts him, saying she had built him in her mind as a monster but now sees he's just a weak little man and is able to move on. Charlotte and Cooper continue on the path to engagement with the couple taking a policy to be honest with each other. Cooper confesses his run in with Amelia at the bar and Charlotte confronts her, but the two are able to salvage the friendship and Charlotte asks Amelia to be her maid of honor. In the episode "What We Have Here..." Cooper confronts Charlotte's ex husband Billy after finding out that Charlotte keeps a photo of him after all these years. It is revealed that Billy cheated on Charlotte to find out if he was gay, which he is, shocking Charlotte. Charlotte eventually marries Cooper in the episode "Something Old, Something New", which finds them eloping to Vegas after dealing with dueling families that suggest that they call off the wedding.
Development
Charlotte is the only series regular not to have appeared in the backdoor pilot episode "The Other Side of This LifeThe Other Side of This Life
"The Other Side of This Life", which aired as the 22nd and 23rd episodes of season 3 of the TV series Grey's Anatomy, is a backdoor pilot episode for the spin-off show, Private Practice. The episode was written by Shonda Rhimes, the creator of both of the series, and the episode was directed by...
". Strickland was added to the cast in July 2007, prior to the commencement of the first series. She did not have to audition for the role, but was cast after a meeting with series creator Shonda Rhimes
Shonda Rhimes
Shonda Rhimes is an American screenwriter, director and producer. Rhimes is best known as the creator, head writer, and executive producer of acclaimed television series Grey's Anatomy and its spin-off Private Practice. In May 2007, Rhimes was named one of Time magazine's 100 Time 100 people who...
. Strickland was drawn to Charlotte's hardworking nature and "strong moral code". She has stated that the role is challenging as she does not "necessarily agree with her way of handling people or what she stands for" and is "shocked at how her point of view just really takes over for her and that's kind of it." Strickland grew up in a medical environment as her mother is a registered nurse
Registered nurse
A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...
, something she has deemed useful for the role as it presents her with a "phenomenal resource for [...] research material".
Prior to the broadcast of the first season of Private Practice, Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
described Charlotte as the show's "Tough-as-nails hospital administrator who disapproves of Oceanside Wellness' New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
attitude toward medicine." Matt Mitovich of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
stated that a season later, Charlotte seemed "less shrill", observing that: "She originally came across as a character simply designed to be the thorn in everyone else's side. But I think they've worked her in better this season." Strickland agreed with this assessment, commenting: "I think that's what Shonda and the writers always sought for her, without even telling me where it was going. I clearly never saw the Cooper thing coming. I knew from what I had learned of Shonda's writing for Grey's that I would eventually get some justification for why I'm a kick in the pants. It's wonderful to have layers get peeled off. She's a Southern girl, and us Southern folks tend to have a lot of Southern gothic strangeness behind us."
Part of Charlotte's evolving characterization in the second season revolved around her relationship with Cooper. The season placed greater focus on the characters' love lives and the subsequent pressure placed on their personal and professional relationships. Rhimes explained: "I look at this sort of like a family business. I wanted the stories to challenge the family and how they deal with one another." Korbi Ghosh of Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
opined that the relationship between Charlotte and Cooper was interesting as it "came out of left field", something which Strickland agreed with, stating: "it just goes to show that life is very unpredictable, I think. The truth is that people end up in the most unlikely situations. You can be around someone for years and not know you have chemistry with them. Charlotte and Cooper have been in this professional environment, never knowing that they have a similar proclivity, if you will. And where that’s leading is really just wonderful. I’m really thrilled." The season also saw Charlotte in more of a central role, as the show's main protagonist Addison Montgomery
Addison Montgomery
Addison Adrienne Forbes Montgomery , was a fictional character on the ABC television series Grey's Anatomy, and is currently starring on its spin-off show Private Practice. Addison is a world-class neonatal surgeon with board certifications in both Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Maternal and Fetal...
(Kate Walsh) spent more time working at St. Ambrose Hospital. Walsh assessed that: "All the doctors at Oceanside Wellness need Charlotte, and yet they resent needing her, because she's a pain in the ass to deal with." With regards to the development of Charlotte and Cooper's relationship in the show's third season, Strickland has said: "I think I'm perfectly well-placed with Cooper. Other characters are going to have more of a triangle than me and Violet."
Reception
Isabelle Carreau of TV Squad is critical of Charlotte's character. In October 2007, she noted that of 306 respondents to a TV Squad poll on viewers' favorite Private Practice character, only one had selected Charlotte. Following the episode "In Which Charlotte Goes Down the Rabbit Hole", she opined: "I'm not sure that this somewhat Charlotte-centric Private Practice episode will have viewers relate more with the character." She wrote that she was indifferent towards Charlotte, and saw her as more of a recurring than regular character, whose lack of screen time made her hard to relate to. When Charlotte slept with Cooper in "In Which Cooper Finds a Port In His StormIn Which Cooper Finds a Port In His Storm
"In Which Cooper Finds a Port In His Storm" is the eighth episode from the Grey's Anatomy spin-off show, Private Practice. The episode aired on November 21, 2007 in the United States.-Plot:...
", Carreau opined: "I'm not sure I like the port Cooper found in his storm and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone thinking this [...] It's clear they are trying to make Charlotte more meaningful but for me, it's too little too late." She wrote that Charlotte was as poorly introduced as unpopular Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
characters Nikki and Paulo
Nikki and Paulo
Nikki Fernandez and Paulo are fictional characters on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific...
, and suggested that the relationship had the potential to ruin Cooper, who was in her opinion the show's best character. Carreau would have preferred for Cooper's online date to turn out to be Violet. She did find Charlotte's nickname of "CanYouHandleMe441" interesting, and noted that: "It sure shows a side of her that we didn't know existed." When Charlotte was fired from her position as Director of Pacific Wellcare, Carreau wrote: "Someone finally told Charlotte that she doesn't have a heart. Okay, she does have one but it must be made of stone or ice or something similar."
Andrea Reiher of Zap2it called the scene in "Nothing to Fear" which saw Charlotte dress in white lingerie and a veil after proposing to a hesitant Cooper "creepy". When Cooper declined Charlotte's request that he move in with her in favor of moving in with Violet, Reiher questioned: "Why did Cooper have to tell Charlotte? Why couldn't he have just said yes to her and told Violet things were off? If he really loves Charlotte, why wouldn't he do that?" Fellow Zap2it writer Kiley McMichael agreed: "Cooper is an idiot. Truly. He says he wants this real future with Charlotte, but doesn't act like it. Best friends or not, there's no need for him to move in with Violet now that she's pregnant. She's not debilitated." When Charlotte slept with Archer in retaliation, McMichael noted: "[her] tough as nails exterior is crumbling, which is sad, because that's what made her interesting. Now she's just flawed." Reiher was critical of Charlotte in the episode which followed, commenting that she took an opposing stance to Cooper at work: "Because she's a giant turd. Man, I dislike her." She further recapped: "Cooper tries to reconcile with Charlotte and she gets mad at him for loving her, even though she's a horrible, horrible woman. I side with Charlotte. She sucks, don't love her Cooper! Love Violet! Instead, he grabs her in a hug and she cries and they kiss and I vomit in my mouth a little. Sorry but... I hate Charlotte."
In another negative review, Alessandra Stanley
Alessandra Stanley
Alessandra Stanley is an American journalist. In 2003 she became the television critic for The New York Times. Stanley was previously co-chief of the paper's Moscow bureau, Rome bureau chief, and as a correspondent for Time. She is the daughter of defense expert Timothy W...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote that the female characters in Private Practice "collectively offer one of the most depressing portrayals of the female condition since The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar
The Bell Jar is American writer and poet Sylvia Plath's only novel, which was originally published under the pseudonym "Victoria Lucas" in 1963. The novel is semi-autobiographical with the names of places and people changed...
." Mid-season two, Jon Caramancia for The Los Angeles Times opined: "That Charlotte has become the axis around which most of this show's intrigue revolves only highlights how thin the central characters have become and how many of the show's initial charms have been neutered. The vivid sexual confusion between Violet Turner (Amy Brenneman) and Cooper Freedman (Paul Adelstein) has been completely sacrificed so that Cooper could play out his ridiculous affair with Charlotte, whose character has resisted all attempts at softening—sea changes in hair, makeup and wardrobe be damned."
External links
- Charlotte King at ABC.comAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...