Season 13 Episode 4 -- Dennis.

Episode 4 of the 13th season brings us the sad story of Dennis; a family man who is struggling with an alcohol addiction as well as a crystal meth addiction. Dennis strives to be the perfect father for his kids but unfortunately his addiction has a strong hold on him and he's battling his inner demons to get rid of it.

This is definetely one of the best episodes in the season so far as we get to watch the things we love about this show. Starting off the bat right away we find out that Dennis usually has sex with older women and fiends to be able to afford his drugs, we see him go into unidentified hotel rooms to meet with his "clients" and to do drugs with them as well.

Later on we also find out that Dennis, who has 2 sons and a daughter is pretty much homeless and walks the streets everyday looking for that next fix. Dennis' enabler is most definetely his daughter, who once a week drives him around looking for a dealer, gives him money for drugs and food and buys him cigarretes.

One of the common themes in this season is the effect that the 2008 housing market crash had on otherwise successful businessmen and this is the case with Dennis, who co-owned a very successful construction company that made him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Unfortunately, he lost everything during the market crash and that's when his addiction exploded.

Later on, Dennis high on meth shows up to his ex-wife's home and tries to pass it off as a normal thing, his ex-wife however is having none of it and they end up fighting again. Finally, moments before the intervention we witness Dennis as he scores some meth with an extremely dangerous dealer.

The interventionist for this show is Jeff VanVonderen and he makes it a strong point to let his family know that once again this is partly their fault for enabling Dennis. As his family members write their touching letters and set their bottom lines, they prepare for the tough intervention in which they read their letters to Dennis, who touched by his family's ability to never give up on him decides to go to drug rehabilitation to Vista Taos Renewal Center in Taos, New Mexico.unfortunately, Dennis ends up leaving the rehab clinic after just a few days; unable to fight his own demons that drive him to use drugs. At the end of the show we get a few shots of Dennis' family and how they moved on and cut off all contact with Dennis.

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Season 13 Episode 3 -- Katie.

Ah yes, Katie. One of the best episodes in what has been a (mostly) mediocre season. Katie is a 25 year old woman who is struggling with bulimia and binge drinking. For the show's opening scene we get an insight into one of Katie's talent which is writing. Later on we find out that back when she was in college she was apparently pretty good at it. Before she dropped out due to a traumatic event in her life that triggered her drinking habit.

Later on we also find out that due to a general lack of money as it's generally the case with addicts she has to prostitute herself and date older men in order to feed her habit. We also discover that Katie likes to binge and purge and has been doing it for several years; severely damaging her health and her looks.

Not only does Katie have to deal with abusive parents, but also a failed relationship with a man who is 32 years her senior and who basically has no respect to her. Katie later on confesses that she has sex with the man for alcohol but that she was hoping to start a relationship with him. Since the man is married with children, he refused to be on the show.

One of the aspects that make this episode one of the best for season 13 is the fact that Katie's mother is a very interesting character. First off she totally condems Katie's alcohol addiction but she's an addict herself! She thinks her family doesn't know but we see Katie go into her mother's room and finding a bunch of wine bottles hidden in the closet. The mother responds by claiming that even though she "loves a good glass of wine (or 12) she has never been seen drunk or smelling of alcohol at 9 in the morning.

The interventionist for this show is (also one of my favorite) Sett Jaffe who not only manages to convince Katie to go to rehab but her mother April as well. The title cards at the end inform us that Katie ended up completing the treatment, unfortunately after moving in with her parents again she ended up relapsing and going back to treatment.

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Season 13 Episode 2 -- Elena.

Season 13, Episode 2 brings us the powerful story of Elena; a 63-year old grandma who is struggling with a meth addiction and how her family try to make her go to rehab.

This episode starts out by giving us a peek inside Elena's life as a grandmother and how much she enjoys being one (obviously not as much as she enjoys meth). After this little clip, we find out that she has been using crystal meth for only 6 months (possibly one of the shortest addiction periods i've witnessed on the show) and how her life is spiraling into a frenzy of destruction and self-loathing.

During the documentary we find out that she spends up to a thousand dollars a week on meth and that she pays for it by guilt-tripping her family into giving her money and using her social security benefits to get money for meth. As many of the other addicts on the show she uses other drugs as well. In this case, prescription medication (she has 16 different prescriptions and she usually pops a few pills after snorting meth).

Later on we get to see how a few of Elena's relationship have gone down the drain and how she's using her elderly mother to get money to buy drugs. In one of the title cards we find out that Elena has taken over $11,000 dollars in the last 2 years to feed her addiction and how the other family members feel about it. (Obviously not too happy about it, seeing as how Elena's mother is basically senile.)

This show's intervention is led by Candy Finnigan who talks to Elena's family in order to solve some of the unresolved family issues still affecting them. During the pre-intervention she makes it a point to let the other family members that what's going on with Elena is partially their fault for enabling her. After a few sad moments and meaningful letters being read out loud to Elena, she decides to go to Hanley center in West Palm Beach, Florida for drug rehabilitation. The show's ending title card lets us know that Elena completed her treatment and that she's regularly attending 12-step meetings. According to the show, Elena has been sober since December 19,2011. 

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Season 13 Episode 1 -- Nichole.

Since we're just starting out the blog I thought I would start with the most recent season and go backwards from there. Since we're going to have A LOT of articles to go back to you can expect a bunch of reviews to get posted here in the next coming days, anyway on to the review.

Season 13 kicks off with the story of a 25 year old  woman named Nichole who is struggling with alcohol addiction, in typical Intervention fashion the show begins by giving us a general view of the person's life; what they usually do (ie get drunk) as well as their interest, their family life and an insight into the person's life before their intervention and whether or not they decide to go to rehab.

In Nichole's case what led her to drink initially was the fact that her fiancee (who moved into Nichole's parent's house) cheated on Nichole with her sister and then started a relationship with her after being engaged to Nichole. This initially demoralized Nichole to the point where she would drink up to 18 cans of beer in a day. The story goes on by depicting Nichole's troubled youth growing up in a home with a strict father who later on goes to admit he "wasn't there".

After the "childhood" segment of the show we come back to the present day to find Nichole was kicked off her home and is living with a new boyfriend in a co-dependent relationship. Later on we discover how Nichole's mom is enabling her and even going as far as buying her beer and smokes in order to stay close to her. One of the moments that really caught my attention was when Nichole goes into a convenience store to try and buy some beer. After the clerk notices how (clearly) drunk she is, he refuses to sell her beer and then Nichole's mom steps in to get beer for her.

The interventionist for this episode is Donna Chavous, who does a great job in this one (as always) by convincing our protagonist to go to rehab, as well as to let go of the past and forgive her sister and ex-fiancee. In the end, Nichole ends up going to Cedars at Cobble Hill for alcohol rehabilitation. The title card at the end tells us that Nichole managed to finish the rehab program and that she continues to attend 12-step meetings constantly. The show ends by letting us know that Nichole has been sober since May 30,2012.

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