bironic | House 3.16: "Top Secret"

Well, that was ... strange.

Teaser: Shall we take a count of the top five most uncomfortable medical-related situations depicted on this show? Because the immediate aftermath of the roadside bombing accident, with the screaming man with the injured leg trapped in the car and then being dragged away from the wreckage with his bleeding stump, is way up there. And not a whole lot on this series makes me cringe. Well, aside from the occasional bad line and criminal misuse of Wilson and those sorts of things. There’s something particularly awful about people crying with unbelievable pain, especially when it’s so sudden like that, where you see that lightning-quick transition from mundanity to grievous injury.

Wait, no, the oral vaginosis was disgusting. Spitting into that cup after Wilson took samples for his cancer tests... Wilson’s latex-gloved hand holding his chin steady... talking calmly to him about what he was doing... Sorry, what?

It did help during the opening scene that one of the guys in the truck was Riley, instantly recognizable to the ~~pathetic~~ BtVS fans among us; brought me out of the scene in the way that usually happens when a character is played by someone you recognize from something else. Heh--when he turned out to be the patient, and said he wasn’t leaving anything out when he described his symptoms to the team, the obvious crossover presented itself: He was using an assumed name and covering up some sort of demon infection he contracted while hunting with the Initiative in South America.

The teaser had great music, too, didn't it? And an excellent transition to House wielding his cane-gun in the office chair, giving us another way in which to consider the pain he suffers/suffered from the infarction (i.e., like amputation) while also showing us how terrified he still would be to lose that leg despite all the trouble it gives him. Was the dream supposed to represent, among other things, the returning fear of the need for amputation now that the Vicodin is causing more significant side effects?

Didn't like the dream-trick in the middle so much, nor the prescience, not if they're staying firmly rooted in reality, which they seem to be. Too much like "No Reason." No thanks. The tie to "Three Stories" worked, though, when we saw once again that House can handle the pain of unanesthetized catheterization if it means solving another, more pressing problem.

So much playfulness with the gay and ’shippy references: more House and Wilson bathroom fun, teasing about homosexual fantasies and dreams and obsessions, questionable Village People expertise, House looking at a photo of a man while in the bath, the whole “House would do Wilson before you’d do Chase” / “You’d do House and Wilson before [whatever she said]” exchange (and please let that spawn some decent House/Wilson/Foreman fic, because, come on, hardly any of it out there), Cameron in denial about her lingering feelings for House, the fanon favorite setups of sex-in-a-hospital-bed and sex-in-the-supply-closet, and the cute House/Cuddy at the end.

But see, now, a lot of that is the sort of show-sanctioned, "safe" or "controlled" slashiness that makes me uncomfortable. It’s funny, but it’s no more supportive of an actual relationship between the characters than any other canon--and in some ways, it undermines it by joking about it. Though there are surely arguments to be mined from the military metaphors and repression and constant banter about one or more characters being closeted. Really the only remotely functional relationship salvageable from among everything listed is House and Cuddy--and hooray for the nibblet of backstory about them having had a one-night stand, probably back at college--who are great together when Cuddy takes what he dishes out and slings it right back at him and smiles as she sees right through his insults. She and Wilson really are the only ones who can handle him like that, and when Wilson’s busy being Dr. Self-righteous (hee!), only Cuddy’s left to fill the role.

Speaking of Wilson, because we must: Hand-washing! Flushing with the elbow so he can fasten his pants with uncontaminated hands! Shiny bright brown hair in the men’s room mirror! Caving in yet again to House’s demand for a prescription! Operating with classical music! Wearing full scrubs! Stealing House’s team and his patient! Raising his voice for the increasingly deaf patient and then to House for making the fellows research his dream! Lookin’ trim with his hands in his pockets and his tie flat over his chest and stomach in the last differential scene! Giving an insomniac on two drugs the keys to his precious precious car! Love.

What else. ~~Why was “throats” plural on the whiteboard for “sore throats”? Last I checked, people only had one. And they kept showing it. Weird.~~ ETA: Thanks,

elynittria.

Also, House snapping and telling Cameron to shut up. I have a feeling a lot of people cheered when that happened. Are we to interpret that House was exhausted and irritable from his own personal problems and frustrated by the lack of progress with his patient, or that he did notice, and is affected by, the not-so-subtle signals emanating from Cameron and Chase about their continuing liaison? Or both? With the Cameron/Cuddy parallel, House’s post-supply closet smile and his talk with Cuddy at the end, the episode did seem to indicate that there’s something of a Chase --> Cameron --> House --> Cuddy love... square... going on. With Wilson angling in at steps three and four, of course.

And I loved the little scene where everyone gathered outside the OR discussing the Magical Hide-and-Seek Tumors and checking House’s logic. The man’s damn fast, and they kept right up with him.

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From:

nightdog-barks.livejournal.com

*is grinning*

Plus major props for using the word "fellate" in an episode.

Hee.

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House 3.16: "Top Secret"

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