House #100

[bironic]

For a story about a woman who scratched through her head into her brain, as well as a fascinating discussion on the nature and origins of pain and a bizarrely successful therapy for phantom limb pain, I highly recommend The Itch by Atul Gawande (The New Yorker).

Last week-wise, if you're interested in a more sustained treatment of what it means to consider having children when you have Huntington's, try Facing Life with a Lethal Gene by Amy Harmon (The New York Times; Pulitzer Prize-winning essay).

On tonight's ep, superficially:

My TV-watching partner is back, so I missed a lot of stuff that was going on on the show. But I did make him shut up for the Wilson scenes, so I can say that I was delighted—delighted!—to see him interact with someone in his field, to get a tiny itty bitty bit of backstory with the mention of the Chicago conference where they had some kind of conversation (since I guess despite expectations they didn't sleep together), to have it spelled out more or less that he's a clinician and not a researcher, to have him mention the people he treats and often watches die and how that's hard for him (no matter what House says), and to have him perform a medical procedure in a gown again. It's been a while. Gosh darn it, I wish Wilson had done my biopsy last year. Then it would've been almost pleasant. Anyway, all that and the quiet scenes of him washing dishes* compensated for the guilt trip he laid on Dr. Dana Whoever and the fact that he discussed his personal life with a patient. I guess it was a nice change from when House does the same.

*No matter, apparently, that he had a dishwasher in the apartment.**

**And, ha! So it is Amber's place he's been living in.

Not much to say on the House & Cuddy front; this whole arc has just gotten weird. Ditto on the Foreman/Thirteen. I like Thirteen, and Foreman's decision process was clear enough, but like her, I didn't understand why he'd make a choice like that when they'd only been dating for a week, and why he wouldn't consult with her. His half of the double-blind trial was already screwed; why not ask her if she wanted to be on placebo or the drug? And why the drug would cause that side effect so quickly when none of Foreman's other patients exhibited symptoms after many more weeks on the therapy is a mystery.

I'm also trying not to think about Cuddy's mood swings, House's comments re: same, and the fact that all of this patient's problems were centered in her uterus, because of the theme of hysteria/irrationality it evokes, suggesting that her decision to leave medicine wasn't the right one. Also, gross. Also, anticlimactic. Also, how did that cause all of her earlier symptoms again?

Ethical questions about a person's responsibility to use his or her gifts and knowledge to benefit humanity versus being personally happy, I guess? If this were a season one episode, that would've been explored more. Or maybe it was and I was just distracted.

In sum: It is now canon that House has slept overnight on Wilson's office couch when he couldn't or didn't want to go home.


...Doing work now. Honest.

Comments

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Not much to say on the House & Cuddy front; this whole arc has just gotten weird.

Word. (Not to mention that it's boring.)

The best bits in the ep were Wilson related, esp. House sleeping on Wilson's couch. (I guess House doesn't want to crash in Amber's old place--at least not until Wilson moved her stuff.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Not unless we're going to end up in some David Lynch plot where House stands in for Amber and Wilson can call him that in bed and pretend she's still alive and -- yeah.

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

I am totally not into the Cuddy/House, which is weird because I like their tension when the show isn't trying to push it. But this constant back and forth about whether she can be a mother AND have a job, and House just taking whichever side Cuddy isn't on on any particular day is awfully tiresome. There's no way that plot works that doesn't make me mad at House, and it's just unresolvable unless they actually have her give up the baby (and I will be PISSED if House convinces her to do that).

I liked Wilson getting a bit of development on his own, away from House even, but I miss them getting more screen-time together.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Basically I am happy if there is a Wilson on my screen, so this was a nice treat after the middle of the season when he never seemed to be around. Stuffed duck and comfort were lovely too. But yes, more H/W would not be amiss.

whether she can be a mother AND have a job

It's just a totally false dichotomy, and it makes me wonder whether what's her name, Katie Jacobs, is checking the stuff the men are coming up with, or what. Not that fathers don't have to deal with this too. Very weird.

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's such a false dichotomy, though the way the show has been set up makes it fairly real. I mean, if we accept that House will never do anything except act the opposite of the way Cuddy wants him to AND that Cuddy will never abandon him to some other boss because she's afraid of what would result, there really isn't any proper resolution. But the fact that the show sets those parameters without questioning them is the problem.

It actually really bothered me that Cuddy got upset at the idea that she felt nothing for the baby without anyone bothering to point out that new mothers, even biological, often have trouble with their babies, especially at the crucial moments when the babies are causing the most disruption. There wasn't a single voice on the show saying with authority that she shouldn't immediately assume she's a failure of a mother just because things weren't immediately happy and perfect.

.....I need a Cuddy icon!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

And not only that, but nobody was supportive, really. Even Wilson said the magic would happen soon, and then wondered if she was being abusive. Wacky.

there really isn't any proper resolution.

I fear that this will eventually be true of the show as well. Troubling!

[ahab99.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right - especially since Hugh is always talking about how the point of shows like this is that the main character is static while those around him change. He always seems to know exactly how his show works, so that's probably a prediction I should remember! For some reason I just get super-protective of Cuddy when these things happen, and I haven't yet figured out why...

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I think the Cuddy apology/House no-apology was supposed to be the end to this House/Cuddy arc. Please, yes. I liked their relationship before much better.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

That would be nice -- unless they go the Teyla route and forget about the baby's existence nine episodes out of ten from here on out.

[synn.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't mind the house/cuddy thing as much if it wasn't centered around the baby. Much like I wouldn't mind foreman/thirteen, except that it's foreman and thirteen -- I don't particularly care about whether cuddy keeps the baby or not, or foreman and thirteen are dating or not -- because I have absolutely no interest in any of their personal lives.

I did find it entertaining that House decided the best course of action was not to retaliate.

Also, I keep expecting Cuddy/Wilson to become a thing. which is fine now, but will really annoy me if it actually happens.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I don't think they'll ever pair Cuddy with someone who isn't House. Although I'd've said the same for Cameron and look what happened with that.

It makes me sad that the show has become so much what I was glad it wasn't at the beginning: invested in the personal plotlines of the characters, so that there is something to catch up on from one ep to the next (did so and so sleep with such and such, is there another twist in the clinical trial, etc.). ETA: which isn't meant to mean I don't want the characters themselves developed -- you know.

[synn.livejournal.com]

It makes me sad that the show has become so much what I was glad it wasn't at the beginning
yes, exactly.

[theninth.livejournal.com]

*No matter, apparently, that he had a dishwasher in the apartment.**

There are some people who find washing dishes to be calming. The running water, the cleaning and rinsing... It's probably also easier since he's living there alone to clean up a small amount of dishes rather than wait until everything is dirty to run the dishwasher.

Also, it's symbolic when he finally washes Amber's mug.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

True, true, re: reasons for hand washing, and clearer for viewers to see I guess than loading/unloading a dishwasher would be.

Though I laughed when he picked up the mug at the end. "That's right, Wilson. Wash Amber right out of your life. With soap!"

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

It was nice to see Wilson again. And to see Wilson on screen with House, hallelujah!

I liked the interactions between Wilson and Dr. What's-her-name. The question of happiness is an interesting one, and I loved the insights into Taub -- especially that last scene, where his wife asks whether he could be happy without a kid, and he says he knows he can't be happy without her. &hearts!

Wilson is in a rut. Here's hoping House breaks him out of it. ;-) (Okay, okay, I recognize that House is probably part of the rut, But a girl can dream.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Or maybe Wilson wants House to get him in a different rut. :D

Sorry, sorry. Aw, is that what Taub said to Mrs. Taub? That is sweet. I did not hear it. Darn TV-watching partner. It is too tempting to talk when someone else is in the room.

[no-detective.livejournal.com]

OK, the PotW scratching through the skull and into her brain - that was the most viscerally disturbing thing I have EVER seen. After 4-and-a-half years of House, I can peacefully eat dinner through exploding guts, external broken bones, blood vomit, pulled out eyeballs, brain surgery... but I nearly jumped out of my own skin with sheer horror and disgust at that scene. YEEESH.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to see what grosses people out from episode to episode. I'm trying to remember what made me squirm earlier this season or possibly last season, which was something fairly ordinary, I think, or at least benign compared to all the projectile blood-vomiting and stuff. Breaking Katrina girl's finger, maybe; she was really freaked out.