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bironicKind of bleh for a large part of the middle of the episode, but enough at the beginning and end for an overall favorable verdict.
The good stuff:
*The fact that House didn’t have brain cancer was not only completely obvious, it was distracting. Maybe that was done on purpose, to reflect the way the fellows were themselves distracted from the patient case, but still, how could you be expected to engage emotionally in everyone’s reactions to House’s supposed condition when you’re sitting there shouting, “He doesn’t have brain cancer, you morons”? The interest there was in figuring out how House didn’t have cancer. (Switched samples? Patient’s info? Parent? Testing his fellows’ and friends’ reactions?)
So, Kurtwood Smith, a.k.a. Neil’s dad in Dead Poets Society, also a.k.a. a quietly heroic Cardassian on DS9. Too bad there weren’t any Smith/RSL scenes for the multifannish plot line combo possibilities. Doubtless the vidders will work some splice magic. He seemed like a decent enough guy and a good father. There was a minute -- when he and House were arguing about the hemispherectomy, and he said all those things about how his son is great and has a gift and is doing fine and he couldn't take away what makes him special -- when it became so very clear that House was dealing with a man who's the complete opposite of his own father. I wish they'd gone a little further with that. Also I was disappointed that he followed House’s advice and approving the procedure. Piano-playing was Peter’s “one thing,” and his father sacrificed that. Was greater self-awareness and the possibility of learning new skills worth the price? Will Peter’s brain somehow compensate so he can play piano again -- or will he slowly become conscious of the fact that he used to be a musical prodigy but can’t even play a simple melody anymore, making the ending to House’s sweet junior-high song Peter’s last composition? Probably we are meant to hope, since House took an important step tonight too.
Commentaries: Pru
Post-ep Fic: “When I See You There” by nightdog_barks, "Half-wit Ending Rewrite" by savemoony (drabble), "Halfwits" by daasgrrl
The good stuff:
- Dave Matthews in this role = adorable.
- Abbreviated opening credits for the sake of just having the dramatic piano chord = funny but a little weird. Wasn't until the actors' names came up in subtitles in the next scene that we knew for sure there hadn't been an error.
- Cameron/House kiss = hot.
- Chase/House hug = really touching. With the massaging fingers and the tears. Especially after being set up for something lighter what with all of House's previous jokes to him and Cameron about Chase or Foreman kissing him or Chase grabbing his ass.
- House/Cuddy ass grab and Make-a-Wish jab = hilarious.
- Foreman’s attempt at making his peace with House = good effort.
- How spectacular was the doorway scene, their faces all alight with joy at using their super diagnostic skillz to save their cantankerous boss and then moments later crumpling into horror and disappointment and embarrassment and disgust and hurt?
- Needed way more screen time. His best friend supposedly had brain cancer!* Where was he? And why did he keep calling it "brain cancer" when he's an oncologist and would use the specific term for whatever kind House had?
- Rolling his eyes while Cameron chased after him.
- Conniving with Cuddy again, leaping to conclusions when it was so clear it would blow up in their faces later somehow.
- Delivering that line about “Why didn’t you tell me?” with such brief but palpable pain. Ow, ow, ow, and *sniff*.
- Still holding strong to their friendship even when House treats him, and himself, like crap.
- The body language, the facial expressions, the heroin line, the holier-than-thou lecturing about pushing people away in favor of seeking artificial pleasure -- well, better to have annoying!conscience!Wilson than no Wilson at all.
- That last little scene, with Wilson’s “please eat comfort food and watch movies with me because I love you, you idiot, we all love you”? Oh, House, why did you leave him to that stale, lonely hotel room and hang out with your fellows? Being social is a big step for you, we get that, but your older, closer and more earnest friend practically begged you for your company and you snubbed him.
*The fact that House didn’t have brain cancer was not only completely obvious, it was distracting. Maybe that was done on purpose, to reflect the way the fellows were themselves distracted from the patient case, but still, how could you be expected to engage emotionally in everyone’s reactions to House’s supposed condition when you’re sitting there shouting, “He doesn’t have brain cancer, you morons”? The interest there was in figuring out how House didn’t have cancer. (Switched samples? Patient’s info? Parent? Testing his fellows’ and friends’ reactions?)
So, Kurtwood Smith, a.k.a. Neil’s dad in Dead Poets Society, also a.k.a. a quietly heroic Cardassian on DS9. Too bad there weren’t any Smith/RSL scenes for the multifannish plot line combo possibilities. Doubtless the vidders will work some splice magic. He seemed like a decent enough guy and a good father. There was a minute -- when he and House were arguing about the hemispherectomy, and he said all those things about how his son is great and has a gift and is doing fine and he couldn't take away what makes him special -- when it became so very clear that House was dealing with a man who's the complete opposite of his own father. I wish they'd gone a little further with that. Also I was disappointed that he followed House’s advice and approving the procedure. Piano-playing was Peter’s “one thing,” and his father sacrificed that. Was greater self-awareness and the possibility of learning new skills worth the price? Will Peter’s brain somehow compensate so he can play piano again -- or will he slowly become conscious of the fact that he used to be a musical prodigy but can’t even play a simple melody anymore, making the ending to House’s sweet junior-high song Peter’s last composition? Probably we are meant to hope, since House took an important step tonight too.
Commentaries: Pru
Post-ep Fic: “When I See You There” by nightdog_barks, "Half-wit Ending Rewrite" by savemoony (drabble), "Halfwits" by daasgrrl
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Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 04:02 am (UTC)I don't know. The more I think about this episode the less I like it.
It's the ending that got to me -- Wilson has once again shown himself to be the concerned friend, and House throws the hotel card in his face. Again.
Just how pissed is House that Wilson moved out of his apartment? It's at least the second (maybe even the third) time he's mentioned it, and always in a mocking, angry tone.
He's very pissed. I honestly thought the only redeeming hope from this episode was that it would lead to some real House-Wilson confrontation scenes later in the season.
no subject
Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 04:09 am (UTC)What's promising about the way House lashes out at Wilson and Wilson sticks around is that (a) they still know each other well enough to really hurt each other when they want to, with Wilson telling House things about himself that House knows are true but doesn't like, and House retaliating with insults targeted at Wilson's weak spots (that's how I saw the hotel comment tonight, rather than as House being hurt that Wilson moved out), and (b) Wilson continually proves that he can take what House dishes out and not rescind their friendship, even if it gets pretty damn strained at times.
I hated, hated, that House pushed him away, again, and not even because he didn't want to be with anybody but apparently because he didn't want to be with Wilson. The hopeful interpretation there, I guess, would be that because Wilson knows him so well, an evening spent with him would be far more difficult than one spent with his somewhat more inferior/less intimate fellows.
no subject
Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 06:57 am (UTC)I think he's pissed that Wilson has never asked him about moving back in, but more than that he's still pissed about Tritter. The relationship isn't quite healed yet, apparently. They're both probably stubbornly waiting for the other one to make the first move about the shared apartment thing (just like at the end of "Whac-a-Mole").
However, I thought Wilson was extraordinarily forthright in asking House out for a "date" (pizza and a movie): he's willing to take a chance on being hurt in order to move things ahead. House, on the other hand.... I know that we're supposed to think that the fact he went into the bar was a positive sign (he's being human and showing his fellows he appreciated their concern), but the fact that he blew off Wilson to do that really bothered me. Wilson has known him a hell of a lot longer and been through more with him than those three. Sigh. Obviously, I'm still upset...
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 01:09 am (UTC)Yes. Yes, exactly. They're both too stubborn to "kiss and make up" about everything that's happened lately, even if they both want to. They're both hurt and angry, and Wilson is (not) dealing with that by falling back on lecturing, and House is relying on his biting words.
Wilson has known him a hell of a lot longer and been through more with him than those three.
Yes, that's what smarted about House choosing to go to the bar instead of the hotel. I think it's really meant to be a small step for him; socializing with the fellows is easier, like a stepping stone to making amends with Wilson. I hope!
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Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 05:06 am (UTC)That was so well played. He was essentially asking House out, IMO. Pointing at himself and saying "I'm right here".
And House really is very bitter about Wilson moving out. Even after all this time. Ah, subtext. How I love you.
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 01:16 pm (UTC)Also, I realize that chances are an episode that had 38 min. of Wilson would still leave us saying, "You know? This episode really needed more Wilson," but seriously! Not to have more Wilson in an episode where House supposedly has cancer makes NO sense at all!
no subject
Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 01:16 am (UTC)No, but seriously, last night he really needed to be there more. Even if he just kept showing up for three seconds at a time, trying to get House to Talk About It and getting brushed off, we would have been given a more convincing idea of how concerned he is for his friend in addition to the hurt he felt that House didn't come to him. I'm not surprised House didn't tell him about his plan, though, not at all.
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 02:49 am (UTC)I think it was actually considerate of House not to tell Wilson about his plan because there's no way Wilson would have gone along with it, and I'd think he could get in a lot of trouble if anyone even suspected he'd condoned someone faking cancer. Kind of like in "Control" where he wanted to avoid giving Wilson the moral dilemma.
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 03:17 am (UTC)And of course that wasn't to say there shouldn't have been more Wilson in SoCG -- only that I didn't feel the sort of frustration after it that I usually get after episodes like, say, "Sleeping Dogs Lie," that have 30 seconds of Wilson and he has two stupid lines.
no subject
Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 01:24 pm (UTC)They put Smith in the series and didn't give him screen-time with RSL??? That's so WRONG!
And I might add, without knowing the case, that robbing the kid of playing piano is nothing short of cruel. Dammit.
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 01:20 am (UTC)They put Smith in the series and didn't give him screen-time with RSL???
They did! Such a wasted opportunity.
Hope everything is all right over by you. :(
no subject
Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 01:25 am (UTC)Everything is fine here, yes. As can be, I guess.
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Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 06:27 pm (UTC)Just wanted to pipe up with my two cents re the House snubbing Wilson bit at the end because, yeah, I think House is still ticked at him. Personally I think he was a little offended by Wilson's laughing/irony statement.
I don't think he's quite used to Wilson being almost, I don't know, condescending towards him - that comment about the apartment was very 'you hurt me so I'll hurt you back', and that sentiment doesn't hold a lot of weight if you cave afterwards and go for pizza, even if you really, really, reallly want to (which in my own head House totally does).
Anyway, nice commentary, and OMG Yes DM was really adorable. I wanted to take him home and bake him cookies.
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Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 11:08 pm (UTC)Heh, honestly, I kind of think that condescending is the perfect word for Wilson's attitude to House at least half the time. I'm not saying House shouldn't make an effort to be a better friend to him and maybe make both of them happy - but seriously, if I had a friend who bitched that much at me and always belittled everything I was upset about... I'd get pissed off too.
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 12:51 am (UTC)And mhm believe me I'd have a few choice words for someone if they were always coming at me that way as well but this didn't feel like that; it felt like maybe he hit House in a weak spot (well obviously he did as evidenced by the later I'm Being Social moment) and was almost taking some pleasure in doing it? Not to be vindictive but more out of frustration. Geesh I hope this makes some kind of sense, my brain is so fried from overloading on semantic theory.
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 02:07 am (UTC)Yeah, ever since the end of "Lines in the Sand" it's been made clear that House is annoyed by Wilson's "endless lecturing." But as House has turned Wilson away time and time again, maybe Wilson has come to believe that this is the only way left to reach his friend. It hurts so much to watch the two of them now as they say and do exactly the wrong things and to know that they still care for each other.
no subject
Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 02:48 am (UTC)I like this explanation for the lectures, which are much more prevalent this season than in Season 1. (The other explanation, of course, is that the writers are lazy and use Wilson to tell the viewers what's going on with House and what to think about it.)
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Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 03:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 7th, 2007 10:11 pm (UTC)Chase, Wilson, Foreman, Cameron, Cuddy.
I thought all of Wilson's scenes were unbearably sad, especially the last one where there's so much anger flying about. I thought we'd get to see them get along better from now on.
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Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 02:19 am (UTC)Really, you'd put Foreman ahead of Cuddy?
And Chase ahead of Wilson?No, you're right on that one, as far as their on-screen behavior went.no subject
Date: Mar. 8th, 2007 03:14 pm (UTC)Yes pleaseI suspect that the show won't go there, since they've already been in that direction and therefore, to them, it's booooring.
Foreman and Cuddy were kind of tied, but Foreman ends up winning because he seemed to be somewhat saddened by the thought of House dying, whereas Cuddy seemed like... it didn't affect her one way or the other.
Weird.
no subject
Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 01:19 am (UTC)I thought Cuddy was actually the most respectful of House's expressed wishes - she's following the comment Wilson made about how every conversation becomes about the cancer & it's something that drives patients to not tell people they are close to about their diagnosis. She's trying to maintain a facade of normality despite the diagnosis out of deference to House's privacy until he's ready to talk.
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Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 03:29 am (UTC)Yes -- Cuddy was the only one who didn't bring up the terminal cancer to House's face, and I agree that's because she thought that was the respectful thing to do, not because she didn't care as much as everyone else that he was dying. For all we know, she cried herself to sleep the night House rang her doorbell.
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Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 09:53 pm (UTC)YMMV.
no subject
Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 03:22 am (UTC)Yeah, I think you're right. Also it wouldn't necessarily be the best thing for Wilson to move back in, considering how Wilson was constantly annoyed and House couldn't get any sleep.
Re: Cuddy and Foreman, I thought Foreman's seeming sadness fell apart when House called him on it -- he seemed very removed from it all, maybe as if he'd miss House merely for the intellectual stimulation. Whereas Cuddy seemed cooler on the surface but, as Saara said, probably only held herself so calmly because she knew how pissed off House would get if she harped on his condition. In that one little living room scene we got an idea of how she would've treated him if he'd really had cancer: she told him she'd be there for him, she indulged him with a hug and a little grope, but she didn't let him push his luck, and I'll bet that's how she would have handled things in the hospital too.
More screen time on Wilson and Cuddy would really have been nice. I'm choosing to believe that they grieved off-screen on their own, then got over it in time to deal one-on-one with House again.
no subject
Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 09:54 pm (UTC)Well, yes, out of the entire cast, Foreman is probably the one that loves House the least. He definitely has a grudging respect for him, and I do think he likes House-- he's also constantly annoyed by him. That "You're right, I don't like you!" was more in exasperation than actual sentiment, I think.
no subject
Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 01:13 am (UTC)Because Wilson never actually saw the file & he doesn't know what type of brain cancer House is supposed to have.
Wilson only knows what Cuddy told him, what she inferred from the Boston folks. The kids have the fake file, but because 1) they assume, as its a PPTH file, that Wilson has seen it & doesn't need to see it again (after all, they think are double-checking his depts work) and/or 2) Wilson isn't going to admit to them that he doesn't know what's going on as his friend had lied to him & won't go ask to see it, all adds up to Wilson having almost no info and stewing alone until the kids tell him about the lie.
Poor Wilson - he really got hung out by House this time and really got hurt. Notice he doesn't follow House & Chase when Wilson has to admit he told Cameron. He knows House is furious about that, after being furious for his first assumption that Wilson told Chase. Telling Cameron was foolish in a lot of ways (though dramatically necessary), & maybe triggers Wilson pulling back from her as well as House after being rejected like this.
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Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 03:43 am (UTC)Because Wilson never actually saw the file
Oh, hm. Better than anything I've come up with so far, although I'm still not convinced. If I were Wilson, well-trained by having been friends with House for so long, I'd've found out exactly what was what. And then
lectured him about itcalled some friends in the field to make sure he got the best treatment, even if House didn't even bother to share the "bad news" with him.Telling Cameron was foolish in a lot of ways (though dramatically necessary)
Dramatically necessary -- nah, don't cut 'em the slack. The Wilson-tells-Cameron thing could've been avoided if the story had been rearranged just a little. The writers should know better than to box themselves into a situation where Wilson had to tell Cameron. Either they wanted Wilson to gossip with Cameron about this for a specific reason -- and maybe the rest of the scene that got cut, if the line that made it into the preview indicates trimmed footage, would have made this clearer -- or it was sloppily done, because the story could just as easily have been written so that Cameron found out before Wilson or in some other way.
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Date: Mar. 11th, 2007 05:22 pm (UTC)"snorts!" I think the "you can't tell anyone" line had to get cut, because TIIC just can't have Cameron looking bad! and it gave House an additional reason to isolate Wilson. Which frankly sucks, so yes, there were other ways to have done this. I do also hope that it might also set up a situation to have Wilson next time tell Cameron to get lost - which I would really like to see "g".
Mind you, I do think Cameron came off as really clueless in this ep - I can't put my finger on a specific reason why, but she set this train moving by speculating on House's mail, she didn't really contribute to PotW's treatment, Chase did most of the hard work with House's medical situation even focusing on the phone records, while she's glomming on to the year book, the needle thing - doomed to failure, the "faking cancer to get high" & "I have a right to know" comments. And having Wilson tell her what's going on actually makes sense in that context - she can't figure any of this out herself. Hmm - I just worked that out in my own mind, but it makes a weird kind of sense.
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Date: Mar. 11th, 2007 06:18 pm (UTC)Actually I thought Wilson was right about that, that House was doing because he really is depressed. That or he thinks the drug could help his chronic pain. Either way, I doubt House was doing it just to get high.
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Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 09:50 am (UTC)I enjoyed this ep, although I agree that the 'brain cancer' thing was a blatant fake-out because there's no good way they could extract the show from that kind of plot *g*
I thought Wilson was virtually having a hysterical freakout at the end there, blue shirt and all :)
I agree the H/Cam kiss was sort of hot. AGH!
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Date: Mar. 9th, 2007 12:29 pm (UTC)Hysterical freakout... hm, possible. He definitely seemed overwrought, and the laughter was new. What is the significance of him wearing a blue shirt at the time? Just that you like him in blue? :)
Off to read your story...!
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Date: Mar. 10th, 2007 05:11 am (UTC)See, my opinion of RSL at any time needs to be modified to take into account his clothing, thus, "despite the fact that he was wearing the blue shirt which instantly diverted half of my attention, I nevertheless noticed he was kind of hysterical" ;)
Will get to replying properly later, but thanks for reading! Yours was one of the rants that pushed me into thinking about it.
no subject
Date: Mar. 11th, 2007 12:38 am (UTC)Ah, yes, gotcha on the Wilson-in-blue partial brain malfunction and not much minding whom House is kissing. I didn't like House/Stacy scenes the first time through, but on the second try most of them were indeed quite nice.