House 3x03: "Informed Consent"

[bironic]

Screw it, all I want to talk about is that last scene. I felt moderately bad for Cameron when the camera cut to her crying, but no more so than any other time she's been upset over a patient. [ETA: Because I am a moron and didn't realize she was crying because she'd administered the lethal dose of morphine. Now it makes all kinds of sense. /ETA] But then when House put his hand on her shoulder—and when he stroked with his thumb—oh, that was lovely. It was the comfort he's denied all his fellows in the past as far as we've been shown, the kind of sympathy I'd have liked to have seen him share with Chase after losing the baby in "Forever," although at that point he needed Chase to buck up and help save the mother's life; so that may have demonstrated the difference in House's treatment of his staff during the stress of trying to puzzle out a patient's ailment(s) versus in the calm of post-diagnosis, like we saw tonight when House went from snapping at Cameron to make up her mind and do something to his uncharacteristic and delightful softening in the chapel. He'd been harping on her all episode, harder than usual, doubtless trying in his tough-love teacherly way to push her in one direction or the other so she'd stop waffling and being useless, until she did snap and take action, and then House gifted her with that caress and one simple, powerful line—"I'm proud of you." Perhaps the highest praise a person could hope for from him. And, sadly, it came at a time when it probably couldn't make her feel any better about what had happened.

I have such a weakness for older man/younger woman relationships in fiction with that sort of fond paternal attitude and a hint of sexual tension. That scene brought tears to my eyes. Feel free to argue, but for me it was hands-down the most powerful House/Cameron interaction we've had. Heh. In the sense of being powerful in the first place.

The final montage song playing throughout was "Into Dust" by Mazzy Star, if you were wondering. So pretty. It's funny—I only knew it because I got it off one of those eclectic music-share posts on someone's LJ a year or so ago. Thus fandoms come full circle, or something. Here it is for anyone who wants.

…Okay, I lied. One Wilson bit. The lab scene. (1) So apparently last week's lack of blow-up at the revelation of Wilson and Cuddy's lie did signify that, as House once famously said, they're okay. The reinstatement of their usual rapport tonight suggests that House expected as much from his deceitful friend and has moved on, and/or that we made a bigger deal out of the deception than was warranted, and/or that the writers tricked us into making a big deal out of it by giving it so much screen time and then deciding it was no longer relevant and dropping it altogether. Beyond this we start getting into whether we're watching the show in the way the writers want us to, so I'll stop there and move on. (2) Loved, loved, loved Wilson's hands of blue blue-gloved "gimme" motion (same as his "don't steal my patient's joint" gesture) and the way House automatically slid the bottle down the table to him. Quick and subtle and coordinated, and implies many hours spent in the lab together in the past.

…Okay, and some other random stuff:

- Another well-filmed teaser. I especially liked the Bach (that piece always makes me think of House, for some reason) and then the lab rat peering over the counter as if concerned for its collapsed keeper, and then dropping down to sniff and nibble at him. Probably that made a lot of viewers cringe.

- Peppy!House with moments of pain gets a thumbs-up. Highlights included pushing the clinic door open with his back, his highly animated face towards the beginning, the deep breaths he tried to hide during the initial differential in the Diagnostics office, and the way his eye twitched as if in sympathy with Ezra during one of the brooding sessions. He also looked super-attractive tonight in that dark outfit and with whatever the makeup and lighting departments did for him.

- Ezra's begging to die came very early, I thought, before we had a chance to understand the extent of his suffering. At first I thought that would be relevant to his character—that, based on the swiftness with which he dismissed his entire experiment upon seeing the tumor in one rat in the lab in the beginning and with which he gave up on the stress tests at the hospital, House would confront him about giving up on his life too early—but the subject never came up. Also, I'm trying to figure out whether the side-plot of his infant irradiation experiments was necessary, or rather, whether it would have been better to choose something less extreme OR give it more screen time. It smacked uncomfortably of concentration camp doctors, and reminded me of an episode of Star Trek: Voyager called "Nothing Human" that dealt with that idea of how to deal with doctors who have ignored accepted medical ethics to achieve breakthroughs in the field; only here they only touched on it, using it to propel Cameron in her ultimate decision to support House instead of Ezra, whereas on Voyager most of the crew debated those dilemmas for a good portion of the episode. Of course, they're very different shows, and I'm not saying House should or shouldn't have handled it differently. Like I said, still trying to figure it out.

- I know some people don't care for Chase because they find him sycophantic, but I like his repeated displays of loyalty toward House. Huh—I almost phrased that "faith in House," and that's actually quite appropriate, isn't it? That the fellow who quit the seminary would find this unlikely man to believe in.

- So House has performed euthanasia "plenty of times" in the past. Does that surprise anyone? (Especially once Wilson qualified that he only does it after he's sure those patients are terminal?) It really shouldn't, whether you agree with the practice or not, considering all the times it's been made clear on the show that House cares about his patients and respects their wishes to die when they can't be treated (and even sometimes when they can, e.g. "Forever"). Very cool that Cuddy didn't give him a hard time about it, that Chase assisted until the twist, and that Chase later called Foreman out on his lack of spine re: not getting an authority figure to stop House despite vehemently disagreeing with his decision.

- It's not a proper episode until Wilson drops by to give a speech about House's state of mind. I'm resigned to it at this point. So, once again he has inside information from Cameron (as he did in "Sleeping Dogs Lie" when he divulged that he'd read the article she'd been bitching about all episode); seems that she, too, has reconciled whatever issues she had with him last week and is once more seeking him out behind the scenes to talk about her problems.

- Kind of have to say something about the almost-legal clinic stalker, I guess. I think she was funny, as were House's patronizingly flattered faces and Cameron's sneaking jealousy. The thong would have been too much if it hadn't led to The Epiphany. Not looking forward to where they're taking this plot line next week, but if they wrap it up then, it might not be too bad. Maybe the girl will function as the catalyst the writers feel they need to push House and Cameron together, especially now that they had this quiet little bonding moment in the chapel. Oh! and the Fresno calendar! firestorm717, you don't have anything to worry about, yours is way better. Although it was a shame that they not only used someone else's calendar on the show, it also came from a total House fangirl. Woe.

* * *

ETA: Commentaries - firestorm717, Sam's Three Things (esp. early comments), thewlisian_afer, Diane Kristine, nightdog_barks, cryptictac, usomitai, renoir_girl (f-locked), researchgrrrl (in comments).

Post-ep fic: "The Necessary Angel" by pwcorgigirl

Comments

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised you're a House/Cameron supporter if not shipper XD I thought just about everyone in the House/Wilson fandom avoided that pairing at all costs. But. Anyway. I agree with you, the ending was very touching, but I think that it would've been even more powerful, and perhaps...hm...more IC? if House had just offered that gesture in silence, and with a meaningful look to communicate his feelings. As shown in the end of Acceptance, he's not really one to actually express his affection for his fellows directly to their faces.

I'm still thunderstruck that House would tell anyone he's proud of them.

But whatever, on to merrier things. Thanks for the song, btw. I liked the beginning <3 laboratory scenes always fill me with a bit of glee, being a lab rat myself XD.

I wasn't sure whether the thing about House doing it many times was referring to exactly this act, giving them morphine, or whether it was more alone the lines of PAS, giving the patient the resources by which to end their life. Not quite up on New Jersey law in that, since there is a legal difference between euthanasia (directly performing the act) and PAS. But it would sort of surprise me if he had done this illegally many times in the past, and Cuddy still let him get away with it. Mmm...then again, Ezra did come to House for a reason, because he has this reputation for respect for his patients' wishes. Ack, can't decide u_u.

I missed the thong = Epiphany deal XD. Care to fill me in as to what the diagnosis was? Too busy looking up that senator quote.

Fresno calendar T_T~ I'm actually making up an October version right now, figure it's the least I can do *sniff* Only adds to my absolute spite of the jailbait House fangirl.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh. Hi! After starting to read your entry, I hopped back over here to add a couple of things, clicked "update captain's log" and here you were.

You know, I've never been much of a House/Cameron shipper. It's partly because when a show's writers decide to go with a pairing rather than playing with subtext, any spark the characters may have had often extinguishes, and partly because the way they've been portrayed before when the subject of romance (or lack thereof) comes up -- mostly I mean Cameron whining about whether he likes her and House having those lusty moments seemingly out of nowhere -- wasn't so promising. However, if this is where they're planning to go, I'm all for it. He should be more of a mentor for her.

Also, re: your comment about H/W exclusivity, while they're my House OTP, I do support more (fanfic) pairings on this show than I have in any other fandom I've belonged to, and that includes House/Cameron stories, although the quality threshhold for those is higher than for H/W or H/Chase or certain other combos.

You're welcome for the song. Do you have the Bach cello piece? I've got a recording by Yo Yo Ma (I think) if not and if you want.

I wasn't sure whether the thing about House doing it many times was referring to exactly this act, giving them morphine, or whether it was more alone the lines of PAS, giving the patient the resources by which to end their life. Not quite up on New Jersey law in that, since there is a legal difference between euthanasia (directly performing the act) and PAS. But it would sort of surprise me if he had done this illegally many times in the past, and Cuddy still let him get away with it.

Okay, I'm not up on the terms either, so I may have used one or the other inappropriately above. Regardless, I didn't assume that Wilson's comment meant that House had used morphine specifically, and really it doesn't matter if we're only considering it in light of his character. I did assume that "in the past" meant pre-PPTH. Cuddy said he got fired from what, four jobs before he came to PPTH, and that was two regime changes before her. So House may have helped his patients die in another state or under another administrator('s nose).

Aw, don't cry over the tacky tourism calendar. Yours wins.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

XD This does seem like a more appropriate direction to take things, because before, Cameron was in a sort of half hero worship, half heal the puppy dog mode, which just sort of...eh...turned me off. I would still prefer them to have a platonic relationship though, if only because June/December (is that what they call it? With the large age differences?) pairings often turn me off, not because of the age differences so much as the way they're usually portrayed. There's only a few scenarios that I really like, and those are often in archaic romantic texts.

I guess I'm more of a House/Wilson/Cuddy shipper, because those three have the best chemistry IMO. Chase and Cameron just never clicked in my mind as romantic interests.

Yup, it's one of my favorite classical pieces ^_^ Great music to fall asleep to.

Apparently, euthanasia and assisted suicide are criminal offenses in New Jersey (as well as most states). There's a list of definitions here, but it's obvious that what House did in this episode was euthanasia by action, clearly illegal. If even PAS is illegal, then...I think the only act that would be legal is taking someone off life support. Which I doubt covers House's patients, so yeah, it seems like House has definitely stepped over that line multiple times, although I'm sure he does it in such a way that (given his words to his fellows about taking a walk) it's difficult to prove any sort of charge. Interesting. I never considered pre-PPTH, I thought it was referring to cases in the past when Cuddy was dean. But yeah, that definitely could've gotten him fired; in fact, I'm sure an offense like this most likely would get your license pulled if discovered and brought to trial. House must've had some fast connections he drew on to get him out of those messes XD.

Is it a tourism calendar? I don't even know what the hell Fresno's is.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Fresno is a town in California (where the stalker & family had just gone on vacation). So the calendar must have been photos of various places in Fresno. Bo-ring.

House/Wilson/Cuddy's cool in my book, as is House/Wilson/Stacy. Chase/Cameron not so much, but either with House or Wilson gets interesting.

Oh, I wasn't thinking that a euthanasia or PAS had gotten him fired from those previous positions, since, like you said, if he'd been discovered by an antagonistic party, he probably would have lost his license. He's certainly done enough other unethical, illegal, and otherwise horrifying things to himself and his patients to lose him his job many times over.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

Meh, yeah. Hot sex and Wilson pr0n would've been so much better.

I end up sticking Chase and Cameron together just to make things easier for House/Wilson ;;; I'm at a dilemma where I don't know whether to address the Cameron's unrequited crush on House and go into soap opera land, or just sort of quietly tuck it away in a corner and hope readers forget u_u;

It says a lot that he's know by such famous people for being a radical doc XD.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Wild sex and Jell-O shots? :D

I don't think anyone can know for sure whether we're supposed to get into Cameron's lingering crush. I mean, look at the difference between their relationship two weeks ago (three hours, our time) and now: one minute she's telling him he's not healthy and he's all 'have a drink...ha, I knew you'd say no, this is why we can never work' and the next he's squeezing her shoulder and saying what No Man Has (Possibly) Heard Before. I think it's going to take several weeks before we'll have some sort of consistent depiction to go by.

It says a lot that he's know by such famous people for being a radical doc XD.

Yes, that was cool. Normal patients may hate him, but the doctors under his care trust him to do what's right. I liked how Ezra was able to challenge House when he tried to deliver a false diagnosis to buy more time and how he went along with what House wanted (when it would have freaked out a layperson-patient) because he knew why the tests or injections or whatnot were necessary.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

I have no clue what Jell-O shots are XD;

Right, consistency is a big issue for me with Cameron's character. I don't know if it's because they have so many different writers with different opinions on where things are going, or whether they're trying to combine too many traits together at once without ever settling on one, or...who knows. I do know that in order for a relationship to work with the general audience, they're going to have to work out some of these characterization issues before my brain implodes at the bipolar-ness of it all.

And yes, part of my >_> over the ending scene was because I secretly wished it was Wilson; I can't recall any other moment in the show when House ever made a physical, comforting gesture like that toward anyone.

Oh, that scene was awesome! I was so glad someone could finally challenge House on his own turf, with their own knowledge. Another reason why I liked the patient. He knew what he was getting into when he went to House, and he no doubt thought over it for some time, having been in and out hospitals for a year. I'd say Ezra was almost a polar opposite of Sebastian Charles from last season.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Alcohol + liquid Jell-O + shot glass = Jell-O shots (http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink586.html). Heard much talk of them in college.

they're going to have to work out some of these characterization issues before my brain implodes at the bipolar-ness of it all.

At this point I don't even mind if they ditch half of what they've established (or tried to) about her in past seasons if it means they choose a clear characterization path for her now. Just, please, it's so confusing, and that distances viewers.

I secretly wished it was Wilson; I can't recall any other moment in the show when House ever made a physical, comforting gesture like that toward anyone.

Me too, now that you mention it, and for the second part, me either. Alas, 'tis still the realm of fanfic. Or perhaps not alas, since relationships on serial dramas tend to be riddled with problems before ending badly.

I'd say Ezra was almost a polar opposite of Sebastian Charles from last season.

Mm, good point: the two very different doctors House has treated. Was "TB or not TB" the third episode last season? Am too lazy to go check. That'd be cool, though. For me it was the similarities to "DNR" that popped right out, and mostly in a bad way for last night's episode, since "DNR" did some of what "Informed Consent" tried to do and succeeded where "I.C." failed (patient House respected, patient with a personality, House fighting patient not to let himself die, House convincing patient his ailment may be non-terminal, clear plot line, etc.).

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

*grin* I'll definitely have to give those a try at the tequila party I'm going to this weekend XD.

Yeah, and talk about wank over at house_md...yet again. I wonder if the writers are even aware of the huge drama in fandom that surrounds House/Cameron u_u it's probably the most divisive ship I've ever encountered in my (admittedly short) foray into TV land.

<3 <3 I'm glad I'm not the only one. He hasn't had a moment like that with either Wilson or Cuddy that we know of, and he's known and trusted (to some degree) them for a much longer time. Meh, I'll keep hoping for a bit of physical contact to feed my House/Wilson bunny, just enough for fic fodder ^^. I like my relationships as subtext.

It's actually the fourth; the third was Humpty Dumpty. It came to mind when Cameron (or someone) acted surprised that there was someone in the medical community that House respected, very much paralleled Cuddy's line about "is there no one you admire?"

But anyway, yes, DNR was big on my mind even in the promos. I do think House and the musician had a lot more...hm...connection going on that we just didn't get for IC. But I don't think that was the point of the ep. I think it was supposed to be more exploring the ducklings' reactions to a DNR style storyline that doesn't work out in the end. And of course, develop Cameron's character and all that. What didn't you like about IC?

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

I can't recall any other moment in the show when House ever made a physical, comforting gesture like that toward anyone.

The only other time I can think of is when House lifted Stacy's chin in "Need to Know."

Also, we know from Stacy that he can occasionally express something seriously, like in Three Stories, when he said, "I love you," it was said like something natural he'd said before and meant - not a big revelation. So the "I'm proud of you," isn't really OOC. And we know he is proud of his ducklings often, though, only very, very rarely tells them so (he has told Chase and Foreman in the past that they are good doctors).

And he's never given such a comforting gesture to Wilson, but. He let Wilson live in his home! lol. And of course, there was that wonderful scene at the end of "Histories" when he sat with him.

I agree with a lot of your thoughts on the ep, Bironic, and though I tend to hate House/Cameron, I'm finding myself surprisingly warming up to it a little - but only if the writers do a better job with characterization regarding Cameron. So far, they've done a better job this season than they have in the past. I still would rather see House and Cameron have a platonic relationship though. Which is actually why I liked this scene. It just felt so fatherly, so mentor/student. That dynamic feels right for them.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

Right, Stacy is a separate issue since it's been established that they were intimate beforehand. I was more referring to the people he knows right now, who potentially have or could develop a relationship with him, platonic or otherwise.

I forget that part in Three Stories o_O. But then, House and Stacy have always seemed more natural, personally, as a romantic pair, at least to me. They act more like equals and have sort of the rhythm you would expect of longtime boyfriend/girlfriend. As for telling the ducklings they're good doctors, House has never outright said it, that I remember. I do remember him implying it, by roundabout routes and rhetorical questions, but never actually going to Chase/Foreman and saying, you're a good doctor. You know what I mean? Even if House feels strongly that way about one of his fellows, he won't say it directly to them, it just...it doesn't seem to fit his personality. Meh. Who knows. He could've changed because of the leg thing after all.

That was more of a college buddies type gesture. Only Histories and Babies and Bathwater got close to something like that. Nothing recent, and I don't like that they keep using Wilson as an amateur psychologist to House (especially in this season), making his whole character revolve around just dealing with House's issues. We had some promising tidbits that were tossed to us in previous episodes, but nothing since Grace has really contributed much to his character.

I don't know. I really don't like Cameron's personality and tone of voice. Mostly the latter; if her actress would stop making every other line out to be this sort of obstinate challenge to whatever's being done, I might warm up to her. Maybe I've been listening to Japanese seiyuu too much...I'm starting to judge a lot just on the basis of delivery...

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

I can't remember when exactly - I'll try to find the quotes - but I am almost positive House has in fact said told Chase and Foreman that they were good doctors. One of them at least. I think it might be "DNR" that he tells Foreman. And I know in "The Mistake" he tells Stacy that Chase is more than just a "decent" doctor - and he says so again in "No Reason" but that's not to Chase either. Still, though, I think he might have said something like that to him at one point also. He's always said stuff like that to them though, while he was sort of angry at them, or - not angry, but... pushing them. And said it quickly and kept saying other stuff to and immediately send them on their way, so it couldn't really sink in right away, certainly not while he was still in their presence. So in that respect, there is a big difference in the way he told Cameron.

And I definitely agree with you on the Wilson thing. Wilson is a fantastic character, and RSL is a fantastic actor, but the writers are not using that to their advantage at all. I'm sick of Wilson's only purpose being to give an annoying little explanation of House's ulterior motives, which are half-true but ultimately reductive, and break the "show, don't tell" rule way too much. Wilson's always done that to a certain extent, even in season 1 - but it's gotten way worse. Started getting really bad about halfway through season 2, and so far, this season's had waaay to much of it.

And yeah... I kinda think Jenniffer Morrison's deliver is annoying too... A lot of it is the writers, but Morrison doens't often help that much. Just my opinion.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Amen to your second paragraph.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I still would rather see House and Cameron have a platonic relationship though. Which is actually why I liked this scene. It just felt so fatherly, so mentor/student. That dynamic feels right for them.

I would prefer to see it develop in a mentor/student or father/daughter direction too, and I agree that it feels right for them -- or at least, it feels much better than the declaration-of-amorous-feelings and dating arc did and than the let's-make-Cameron-House's-female-counterpart probably would -- but I hesitate to argue that in depth not only because I don't know Cameron very well but also because I'm so biased toward those sorts of relationships in fiction that it's largely based on personal preference.

[cedara]

Since I didn't know either what a jell-o shot was, I googled and came up with this: a cocktail of jell-o, water and vodka.

[synn.livejournal.com]

I have to say, the last scene actually made me angry. Not b/c house offered comfort to cameron (although, house/cameron = *shudder* in my book) -- I agree w/ what you said about that being nice, but b/c I don't buy for a second that Cameron would have gotten to the guy that night before House or Chase. I get the point that they're showing something I'm sure every doctor has to go through, but I didn't like that the final scene of what I thought was otherwise a great episode, made the whole thing about Cameron. It would have been more interesting, and better suited to the balance of the episode, if we'd never known, for sure, who it was.

Didn't agree w/ Wilson's assessment that House was only interested in solving the puzzle - I think that house just wanted to be sure that it was incurable before they did it, just like he said.

Didn't agree that Cameron was 'standing up for something' when she took the sample. No, she'd just decided that his life was no longer worth as much b/c he'd done something she disapproved of -- this is precisely why I despise her so.

Loved, loved loved Chase's moments in this episode. Think fic should be written in which house just think's it's cameron that did it, when really it was chase.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I don't buy for a second that Cameron would have gotten to the guy that night before House or Chase. [...] It would have been more interesting, and better suited to the balance of the episode, if we'd never known, for sure, who it was.

Wait, what? Are you saying that scene implied that Cameron gave Ezra the morphine? I didn't even think of that. Did I completely miss that? Oh. Hm. It would explain House's moment of surprise when Cuddy said Ezra died. And it gives a whole new meaning to House's comment about being proud, which I'd thought was about her finally picking a side -- oh, boy, I'm blind. Yes, that would make much of the episode about her, and now I have to rethink what was going on between them there. Oh, jeez.

Didn't agree w/ Wilson's assessment that House was only interested in solving the puzzle - I think that house just wanted to be sure that it was incurable before they did it, just like he said.

Wouldn't be the first time Wilson assumed House is obsessed with the puzzle and doesn't care a whit for his patients. That guy is pretty darn dumb for having known House for six-plus years.

Didn't agree that Cameron was 'standing up for something' when she took the sample.

But she did -- she performed an action for the first time since running the stress tests. And I'm not sure that she thought his life was worth less so much as she was willing to take something from him against his will to get the diagnosis. If she'd stopped caring about his life, she would have let him die rather than taken the sample. It's a similar behavior to what we saw in "Sleeping Dogs Lie" (the plague ep you saw randomly last year); when she gets morally outraged, she takes it out on the patient, whereas House remains unmoved whether his patient is a convicted murderer or a young kid.

Thought you'd like Chase's camera time, except possibly for his fish faces while House started intubating after the morphine. As a Chase fan you picked a good time to start watching.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

Am adding my surprise as to the Cameron giving Ezra morphine conclusion, although now that I think about it, it does fit the scene, doesn't it? I had originally thought it was House who either did it himself or just "left" the morphine on the table overnight by "accident"...but yeah, I guess this would definitely explain why she was in the chapel, and why she was so upset (even for Cameron). Thanks for the clarification.

[bell]

Loved the teaser this time too. Seems like they're determined to have them as good a hook as possible. It certainly helps us with sympathizing with their plight in the rest of the episode-- and be invested just as much in them as the regular cast.

the deep breaths he tried to hide during the initial differential in the Diagnostics office

I kept waiting for Cameron the others to notice his pain.

At first I thought that would be relevant to his character

That would have been more interesting. I took it for granted that it was because he was a no-nonsense scientist who is more scared of pain than the great-unknown. (He's curious about it-- typical of a guy who wants to know more about everything.) And it was sad that Cameron's motivation for going back to work was that the guy gave babies cancer. For all her ethics and morals, she's strong on the spite.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

We did get Cameron Noticing The Return of the Cane, though, which was almost as exciting as her concerned looks last week.

I took it for granted that it was because he was a no-nonsense scientist who is more scared of pain than the great-unknown.

Good point, but then you'd think a medical researcher would be eager to use, oh, the medical skills of the world-renowned diagnostician he's sought out to cure the problem and end the pain that way, not give up less than a day into the observation because he's got some chest pain and is short of breath. Then he can slice up some more rats before the inevitable day when he'll find out what's on "the other side."

And it was sad that Cameron's motivation for going back to work was that the guy gave babies cancer.

Especially after calling House on his attempt to get her to do just that.

[bell]

which was almost as exciting as her concerned looks last week.

Is that sarcasm? It looks good on you. >D

Especially after calling House on his attempt to get her to do just that.

Oh, but then it was different, because the patient deserved it. When House suggested it, he was just being mean and vicious.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Sarcasm? Me?

Oh, but then it was different, because the patient deserved it. When House suggested it, he was just being mean and vicious.

Hypocrisy must be one of the writers' favorite character flaws.

[renoir-girl.livejournal.com]

The reinstatement of their usual rapport tonight suggests that House expected as much from his deceitful friend and has moved on, and/or that we made a bigger deal out of the deception than was warranted, and/or that the writers tricked us into making a big deal out of it by giving it so much screen time and then deciding it was no longer relevant and dropping it altogether.

I'm almost on board with this idea now. Next week (or later) we might get more of a sense of resolution, and it still feels wrong for Wilson to be lecturing House about anything right now, because I want him to have earned that right, and I think he lost it. But anyway. You could be right. I'm just going to have to wait and see.

I've started thinking of Chase's choice to hang out with House as "solidarity." It's more than faith in House, but it's also more than just believing in euthanasia.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

I'm sick of lecturing Wilson too u_u. Give me some dialogue that isn't amateur psychoanalysis, for once.

[renoir-girl.livejournal.com]

liek, erm, having fun maybe? joking? smiling? laughing? "So that's what breasts look like" and "Bros before hos" and such?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ya, rly. synn and I were watching some Season One episodes again the other night and what struck me the most about them was how playful they are. I miss that.

[firestorm717.livejournal.com]

There's been a marked decrease ever since the cane-sawing incident.

I really hope this isn't what the writers meant by portraying a "darker" Wilson >_>.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I'm almost on board with this idea now.

Sorry, with which idea? I was throwing out three there and am still not sure which works best. Someone else (don't recall who) has proposed also that the very brief (non)confrontation at the end of "Cane and Able" and the magical-reconciliation this week can be read as House deciding that he can no longer trust Wilson and thus there was no point arguing about what Wilson had done -- so they're not "okay," but Wilson might not know that, and we may still get an argument about it down the road. I don't know. If they still seem hunky-dory next week, I think we'll have to accept that there's nothing more to what happened.

it still feels wrong for Wilson to be lecturing House about anything right now, because I want him to have earned that right, and I think he lost it.

Of course, Wilson's been a hypocrite who lies to House and then takes the moral high ground in their psychotherapy sessions (in which he accuses him of feelings and actions that sound suspiciously like his own problems) since the first season, so in that sense, lecturing House this week after what he and Cuddy did last week isn't really anything new. That is, I don't know if Wilson lost the right to lecture after withholding the information about the Addison's guy so much as he never really had that right in the first place, and lectured anyway. Maybe he doesn't see his own absurdity. Maybe House has done the same thing to him enough times that it's fair retribution.

But anyway, yeah, I think we're all sick of the writers using Wilson for these ridiculous speeches -- especially when they hardly give him anything else.

I've started thinking of Chase's choice to hang out with House as "solidarity." It's more than faith in House, but it's also more than just believing in euthanasia.

Absolutely. If nothing else, the season so far has shown that he's got House's back. I wonder if they're setting Chase up for trouble later.

Long comment, sorry. It's a risk of talking about Wilson around here. :)

[renoir-girl.livejournal.com]

lol, sorry. You're totally right. You did float three separate ideas. I guess 'the idea' I was tentatively agreeing with is just that we've seen all the resolution there's going to be, for whatever reason.

But it just feels unsatisfying. And that's not the only thing that tells me this isn't over.

I think Wilson had earned the right to give House honest feedback, and he'd earned it by being a good friend in all the good ways. But we aren't seeing that this season, so it's become unwanted blah blah blah. He needs to keep his trap shut until he's back in a friendship. If he doesn't get that done, he has no place on the show.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

He needs to keep his trap shut until he's back in a friendship.

And then you have to ask, what was so different about their friendship before now? Everyone keeps bringing up the Chinese-at-Christmas and the laughing-over-poker type scenes, but let's not forget that for the last two years we've also seen, to name just a few:

- Wilson lying to House about seeing Stacy
- Various instances of House invading Wilson's privacy (stealing Wilson's personnel file and getting into his office via the balcony door when the front is locked, etc.)
- Wilson hiding behind Cuddy as mastermind of the well-intentioned detox experiment
- House refusing to listen to Wilson when he was going through the painful end-stages of his marriage
- House deleting messages from Wilson's real estate guy without telling him because he decided he wanted Wilson to stay
- House playing pointless pranks on Wilson and tricking him into housework, trying to get him to snap
- Wilson lying to House about moving in with a patient
- House lying to Wilson about Cuddy's fertility treatments
- And more light-hearted stuff like House framing Wilson for pegging the janitor with grapes.

I'm not saying their friendship consists of a series of attempts to undermine each other -- obviously Wilson is House's best friend and I think it's safe to say that the opposite is true as well, they're probably the closest two people on the show to each other, and they can have a lot of fun together -- just that it's not all fluff and bunnies and The L Word on mute. They treat each other like crap from time to time, they project their own issues onto each other, they lie and manipulate and try to help in all the wrong ways, they may take comfort in each other's utterly-screwed-up-ness. They've probably been doing all of that since the day they met. I mean, who's to say that House didn't first become interested in Wilson because of his incongruencies -- the way he seems nice and tries to be good but is still a serial cheater with codependency issues? At this point, three episodes in, it's just as likely that House shrugged off The Lie as just another instance of Wilson being Wilson, well-intentioned but wrong-headed, as it is that Wilson pushed him too far at last and we're witnessing the calm before the storm. We don't know enough.

[renoir-girl.livejournal.com]

We don't know enough.

And that's what it's all about. You're very right about all of this. Everything is in the mix at this stage. Everything is possible. Nothing is clear or reliable--thus my addiction to these meta-discussions right now.

I hate waiting.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ah, but without the waiting we wouldn't have all this between-episodes meta!

[renoir-girl.livejournal.com]

ehehee... At first glance I thought you said "between-episodes mental," which wouldn't be half wrong...!