House – "Cane and Able"

[bironic]

The only sad thing about dance class starting up again is that it means I have to tape House when it's on at 8:00 instead of 9:00, and by the time my little response goes up everyone's probably said everything already.

Therefore, a couple of quick recs to supplement:

- "Nutritional Values" by kementari. Worried that House is subsisting on little more than Cheez Whiz, beer, and everyone else's lunches, Wilson bribes his friend into a trip to the supermarket. This had me snorting with laughter in my seat at work so badly I had to stop and come back to it on my legitimate break.

He did buy food. Of a sort. Maybe some of his selections didn't exactly fit the traditionally accepted definition of 'food', but people were far too closed-minded these days. Peanut butter and Cheez-Whiz, for instance, covered at least three of the four major food groups: Possibly Dairy, Mainly Protein, and Mostly Sugar. Okay, so maybe that last one was a bit of a stretch, but after all, the body burns glucose for fuel. By consuming it in its raw form, he was simply helping it along a bit. He was a doctor. He knew these things. The fact that one of the two aforementioned sandwich spreads was only one molecule away from being an industrial plastic meant absolutely nothing. After all: a molecule is still a molecule on a molecular basis.

- "Deconstructing the Text" by sockitup. After an evening that doesn't turn out as planned, House figures out something about Wilson, and they have a big fight. This fic has decimated the likelihood of my ever attempting a "House and Wilson work out their feelings for each other" conversation because it is so damn perfect and in line with how I see it happening. It's solidly written, funny and painfully raw by turns, unbelievably insightful, and the easiest-to-read 13,200-word fic about a single evening you may ever encounter. Also, there's a really hot kiss. Seriously, people, WHERE IS THE LOVE THIS FIC DESERVES?

"Could we not... could we not talk about this?" There was a catch to Wilson's voice, something House thought might even be desperation.

"There's something to talk about?" House countered.

"There's always something to talk about." Wilson's smile was brief and pained. "There's always been something to talk about. Somethings. We just don't. And now, in a car, in the rain, just a few blocks from your place, is really not the time to do it."

And now, five (but really nine) things about tonight's episode because time is short:

1. Don't be a young blue-eyed boy on this show, kids—you'll end up with rectal bleeding. Sad but true. And your parents will need a visit from Supernanny (I can say this because I had to sit through an episode over the weekend) because they need to learn to care about their seven-year-old son's fear of the dark, not to mention of alien abduction, instead of snapping at you to go to sleep.

2. Chase! You are the hero of this episode. Making fun of Foreman and being met with the sound of crickets chirping, failing to fool a seven-year-old, sniping at the kid's stupid parents, getting to do a bunch of medical procedures, becoming the aforementioned seven-year-old's hero, and inspiring most of the running jokes about believing in aliens, including a delightfully nerdy recitation of astronomical statistics. And you managed not to kiss the prepubescent patient.

3. Alpha Centauri! Hyperdrive! Deadpan delivery of lines about unidentifiable non-terrestrial metals! House totally watches crappy sci-fi along with all the stuff they showed on his TiVo.

4. Look! Cameron notices House's pain. Oh, there, she notices it again! And again! *facepalm* How awesome was Cuddy's line about how Cameron isn't as delightful (or whatever the adjective was) as she thinks she is? Not a Cameron-hater, here, but, funny.

5. Wilson. While I feel a bit cheated at the lack of a good blow-up between him and House (and I mean that in the argument sense, not the sex toy sense, because I definitely wouldn't be complaining if the latter were the case) in the same way copperbadge felt cheated at the magical making-up before the actual making-up in "House vs. God" (ref.), I adore the way the writers set up all his scenes to elicit such a range of theories and reactions from us regarding his motivation(s), from the smug collusion with Cuddy in the lobby and his talk about this being their only opportunity to change House to the curious supplying of Vicodin to the jaw-dropping "Just sayin'" to the big "awwww" moment at the end.

5b. Despite his heartbreaking little confession about House's fragile wings, I am still not totally buying that Wilson did all of this to save House from crushed hopes. He seemed a little too pleased with that taunt about House not having been right about the brain cancer guy. (They could have fixed that by showing Wilson standing out of sight in the hallway recovering from what he'd just had to do, but they chose not to.) That smirk of his, along with the raised hands, gave me shivers. And he may have seemed to want to relieve House's pain with the Vicodin so he could keep exercising to strengthen the muscle, but who's to say Wilson didn't know exactly what House would do, working the leg so badly the ketamine would wear off more quickly, hastening his return to his role as House's caretaker and verbal sparring partner. Or maybe he figured House would get himself hooked back on Vicodin anyway and—or maybe I'm just looking for super-dark!Wilson where there is none to be found. I'm not saying that Wilson wasn't at least partly justified in trying to do what he did, though; House admitted to being an addict, he's shot morphine at least once at home, and today he lied about not being back on Vicodin and about his leg feeling fine, all suggesting that he can't be trusted to handle his problems on his own.

5c. Thoughts on whether House figuring out that this whole thing smacked of Wilson and not Cuddy means that House probably also figured out that his friend rigged up the plan in "Detox" as well?

5d. Has anyone ever written a fic in which Wilson persuades Cuddy to persuade Stacy to do the surgery on House while he's in his post-infarction coma? I've read maybe one or two in which Wilson convinces Stacy that it's a good idea, but what about this? I wouldn't be at all surprised if this turns out to be the backstory, and residual guilt over the fallout of his decision (which he let Stacy take the fall for) would help explain why Wilson has spent so much time around House and taken so much sh*t from him over the last six-ish years.

Annnd 6. They've got a cunning plan!

* * *

ETA: Commentaries - renoir-girl, ew.com, blogcritics.org, usomitai, firestorm717, thewlisian_afer, elynross (middle of large post), rubberbutton, catalase, blackcat333_99.

Post-ep fic - "Icarus" by daasgrrl, "Experimental" by mad_with_july, "Odi et Amo" by rubberbutton.

Comments

[bironic.livejournal.com]

The IMAX! I forgot about that. So many lovely quips from so many characters.

I called the glasses as a symptom as well as the IVF, but forgot about the IVF comment until House brought it up again in the garage (oops). Got as far as "other person's DNA" at the heart tissue but couldn't come up with a cool reason for how it could have gotten there. Also went for vestigial twin while House started his final diagnostic monologue, but yeah, no cigar.

You worked Alpha Centauri into a fic? Excellent. Are you going to change it to a different star now that it's come up on the show? Either way, looking forward to finding out the context.

I usually only talk to the TV when I'm watching with someone else. Last night it was just me, but I gasped when Wilson did that. It gave me this sudden, severe sensation of uneasiness that took a while to shake off, aside from it being a nasty (if perhaps necessary) thing to do. The end was very, very sweet, but that little smirk/hand-raise still disturbs me.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Me, I guess I don't really understand the vital importance of this 'convince House he's not God' mission, although it seemed to me more of a (mis)perception than a reality on Wilson/Cuddy's part - like they anticipated what House *might* be like when not in pain as opposed to waiting and seeing what he actually WAS like when he came back. That... annoyed me, but then I've never really been into deep analysis so I may well be missing something. On a little bit of further thought it may be an extension of Wilson's ability (or believed ability) to 'read' House - he 'knew' House would be like that when he got back. But when it appears House is going back to his pain even in the short time they have left Wilson STILL thinks they need to show him this, for some reason. However note that it's Cuddy who correctly points out aphasia man wouldn't be a good case. OK, I'm thinking way, WAY too much about this :)

I knew that wasn't the right spelling. Hmph ;) I did actually change it - it wasn't really relevant :)

Oh, in the midst of general grumpiness I stil found much love for Wilson's 'wrong-handed' catch. I loooved that :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I got up from my desk a few minutes ago to get some water from the kitchen, and for some reason filling the glass made me think again about RSL having caught the pill bottle right-handed, and I was trying to figure out whether and how to bring it up to you. And then you did it. :D It was cute! As was that little knee-bend he did as if he were scooping it up with his whole body.

I guess I don't really understand the vital importance of this 'convince House he's not God' mission...

Me either, really, but we have to go with it. A lot about the season premiere was muddled, and a lot in both episodes doesn't really jive with Wilson's explanation for his actions. Why, for instance, didn't he spend more time with House over the summer if he was so concerned about this narrowing window of time to sneak past House's defenses and get him to change for what Wilson thinks is the better? Or, why doesn't Wilson know after all this time that House doesn't think he's God?

like they anticipated what House *might* be like when not in pain as opposed to waiting and seeing what he actually WAS like when he came back

Yes, that too. Everything's been happening so quickly -- House comes back and struggles with half a dozen problems while everyone scrambles around him with their own agendas in one episode, and then he goes from 95% pain-free to relying on his cane while most of those plots resolve in the next.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree, I don't think we have a choice in the 'going with' department, sadly. And that's a good point too, that Wilson would probably have had a much better shot 'working' on House over the time he was recovering. And so on.

Have to agree there too on the rush - it's something that IMO would be worthy of most of a season's arc! House's pain slowly returning, the is it/isn't it tease of whether it's psychological/real//overwork/etc., the ups and downs of House's mental state in tandem, Wilson's reactions and possible change from support to doubt back to support, the arrest of the shooter and his side of the story, how that might affect House in his 'recovery'. All very potentially cool stuff that seems like it got compressed into a throwaway 'and then he got better for a while and Wilson and Cuddy had a cunning plan but as it turned out he didn't really and things went back to normal'. We'll see, I guess.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Was so.

You know what else was funny in an RSL meta sort of way? Last week, when Wilson sauntered up to House on the balcony and said, "I heard you were watching surgery with a patient's family. Talking to a patient's family." Something about it sounded so very familiar, only I couldn't place the intonation in an episode, until on second viewing I realized it's like the voice he used for Walter's aunt in the audio book for The Short History of a Prince. It'd been hard to place because it wasn't Wilson's line the first time, and because there was no RSL to see on its delivery.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Hee - you put two and two together and come up with Walter's aunt. Or, as I originally typed, Wilson's aunt. Yes, I am *this* close to going to sleeep :)

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

It's bothering me now that no-one I've read has mentioned the betrayal of brothers theme re the Cain and Abel play on words. So I had to go find someone to mention it to. Hello *g*. It also makes me think the ending may not as forgiving as the way I automatically spun it.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hee! Come on over anytime. I actually didn't like the title very much, which isn't unusual for me where this show is concerned. It's too cutesy, and the pun has more relevance to the episode than the original reference does. (Feel free to argue.) Thus commences a reply far longer than you perhaps care to receive. :)

The only discussion I've seen of it was over at house_cameron (http://community.livejournal.com/house_cameron/1381902.html). It... leaves a lot to be desired, and even the poster admits that the connections she makes don't quite fit, but there it is nonetheless.

To be obvious for a moment, Cain and Abel was a story about one brother who killed the other out of jealousy or spite because his gift was spurned by an authority figure while the other's was accepted. Even setting aside the motive and the presence of a higher power whose approval is being sought (and the whole Mark of Cain thing, because that's another post's worth of material), I don't really see how this applies to what happened Tuesday night without a little stretching.

A) The patient plot: Clancy had a brother of sorts (or a sister -- they didn't specify, did they?) who died. But he didn't die by Clancy's hand, and he had to die in order for Clancy to live: no real parallel there.

B) The House plot: Where the pun comes in. 'Nuff said.

C) The Wilson-and-House plot: All right, they're close like brothers, and Wilson betrayed House, like you said, which makes Wilson Cain, I suppose. But Cain hated Abel, whereas Wilson quite clearly cares for House. And is this supposed to imply that Wilson has been acting out of jealousy -- that suddenly he's envious of House's diagnostic genius and is seizing on the opportunity to keep him down at his level? I don't think so. That's looking too far into it, probably, anyway. Moving on. The "brothers"' strife doesn't end in death, but it does cause a rift. I don't think we've seen the end of this; House took it calmly, doubtless because he knows better than anyone (except maybe the ex-wives) how capable Wilson is of deception, but he's not going to forget what Wilson put him through.

Part of the trouble with the Cain and Abel comparison is that Wilson's Icarus reference during one of the most critical scenes in the episode (along with the parental roles he and Cuddy took) sets them up as father and son rather than brother and brother, with Wilson in the role of Daedalus, as you implied so nicely in your drabble.

What I like best about the title with regards to Wilson is the "Am I my brother's keeper?" angle. Wilson has clearly answered "yes" and has been trying hard these past couple of weeks to do what he thinks is best for House, however misguided and inappropriate his methods and despite the fact that it would probably blow up in his face.

Sticking stubbornly with my Wilson's-brother-was-an-addict-who-crashed-and-burned theory, the title would work nicely if we ever learn than Wilson caused or helped hasten his real brother's destruction with his interference (or cessation of previous enabling interference). That is a very big reach, though.

Sorry you asked? :D No, really, thanks -- that was fun to work out.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, see, I knew you'd come up with answers!

I... hadn't actually thought about how it applied to the POTW, so that was very comforting, because it implies to me that the secondary meaning was the cane pun, and - because I think trying to fit three references into a title is going a bit far - any connection to the House/Wilson arc was probably incidental. Although I'm still worried about them. Damn. I was so sure Wilson was instantly forgiven before I read those posts. Too much fanfic. Thanks for the analysis and link.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I can't tell if Wilson was instantly forgiven because House knows he's a liar and he accepts that, or if this will be boiling beneath the surface for a few more weeks until it explodes. (Or neither, if the writers drop that plot line in favor of something they think is more shiny.)