The C Word: good and bad
Jesus. RSL and HL totally hit it out of the ball park.
One thing to get out of the way: I hated the lighting of this episode. I HATE THE LIGHTING OF THIS WHOLE SEASON.
I enjoyed this episode. I loved how much House/Wilson we got. But (unpopular opinion ahead!) it was not a good episode. Yes, the two can be mutually exclusive.
Bad things first (the good will come!):
Lots of House/Wilson, but it wasn't to my taste, what with the bromance and Wilson being gay for House and all. This season, for me, has felt a bit like they're pandering to all the House/Wilson fans and trying to make all the fans' dreams come true, esp since House/Cuddy are kaput. But I guess this is the kind of situation you would have House/Wilson being really intimate and close (Seriously. It was the emotional equivalent of House and Wilson having sex.) but I do miss the House/Wilson of prior seasons when everything was really subtle and shown and implied, not proclaimed.
It was a lot of melodrama, and I hope they're actually going somewhere with this instead of building tension then releasing it all and making everything deflate like a balloon. And the ending... God, the ending. I am just going to assume that it's photoshopped. It was Houseian, but to imagine that it really happened is to ruin my own characterisation of House and negate the emotional turbulence we went through. I'm also hoping that House and Wilson did not return to the hospital immediately after the treatment because Wilson's WBC counts would not bounce back up that fast. And my friend, a casual viewer who doesn't have all the Wilson feels, also felt that it was a little too Wilson-centric for a show called HOUSE going into its final four-episode arc (the promo suggests it's gonna continue). You can argue that Wilson is an essential part of Gregory House, but yeah, I can see why she felt that way.
And, this show is doing a slightly better job at continuity this season. At least they remember that House is on probation and has actually been to jail.
OKAY ON TO THE GOOD THINGS. The above was the logical me and the below is the emotional I LOVE THIS SHOW part of me.
Taub: House taking time off is a bad sign.
Adams: A bad sign... You think the apocalypse is coming because House wants to be there for Wilson?
Taub: Yes... You're new.
Loved the matter-of-fact tone of voice of Taub. I mean, it just sums it up perfectly. It's always good to see the other characters acknowledge the relationship between House/Wilson, and to see that it's not only House who can read them - they can read House too, and they know he's "not a bully" (as Taub asserted in a recent episode).
Chase seems to be stepping into House's position - pacing around, telling everyone what to do, and even having a little epiphany moment of his own. And it's his voice during the whole fancy animation telling us what's wrong with the patient. It's one of the good things about having Foreman off the team (less screentime for him, I like it) I wonder if this is a set-up for what is to come - House leaving and Chase taking over?
Yeah and they chose about the most adorable little girl ever to be the POTW so that we can't hate her. I would have loved for House to interact with her, actually. But she was the most blatant use of emotional manipulation there is - going on the carousel on her own for the first time, whether her parents are going to get back together when she dies etc etc etc. And wow, a geneticist with a child with a genetic condition. It's the episode of ironies.
Loved Drunk Battleship. B9, Be-nign.
It also hurt to hear Wilson blow up at House - he basically said that House would totally deserve getting cancer, and that he, a good man who has tried hard, didn't. It's a fact of life all cancer patients have to grapple with, and it's a nice change to hear it coming emotionally and angstily from Wilson, the good boy of the show. And House actually didn't fight back. He took it all, extremely subdued. And House looked like shit, even from the start of the episode. And I really enjoyed the conversation about House dumping Wilson's body, and House's last ditch attempt - so desperate, you could tell - to dissuade Wilson from the treatment with his cold, harsh monologue about the realities of what was going to happen. I enjoyed the raw, naked close-ups of House's and Wilson's face as they conversed with each other. HL and RSL pulled it off spectacularly.
I loved House counting his Vicodin pills while obviously in pain, and choosing to take alcohol instead so that he can save the pills for Wilson. And RSL is too good at crying and acting sickly. I felt like I was watching In The Gloaming all over again and it physically hurt to actually watch House watch Wilson. Hugh Laurie's face and eyes are just so expressive. He never ceases to amaze me, really. It was so evident that House was scared throughout the entire episode. House was scared. His hand on Wilson's back as Wilson puked. Him wiping Wilson's mouth. My heart couldn't quite take it.
Actually, it was just wrenching to watch RSL all the way because the last time we saw him act his guts out was in Wilson's Heart. But yeah. Wilson the good boy has cancer, and not the misanthropic bastard. His lash-out was realistic, because the resentment is understandable. Just shows us viewers how pain and sickness can bring out our dark sides. And in the end, he apologized. I also like that Wilson came to an understanding of what House lives with everyday, and mentions how he can understand why House is the way he is.
So, since David Shore mentioned C standing for multiple things, what else was it? Chemotherapy? Care? Concern? Conflict of Interest?
So it seems Wilson is going to try do some bucket-list, live life to the fullest thing, especially after his rant to House in this episode about how he shouldn't have tried so hard if it all ended up with him having cancer. Reminds me of "Dying changes everything. Almost dying changes nothing."
And can I just say,
Wilson: Am I dead?
House: Not yet.
a la Wilson's Heart. This show is too much.
And. I have a completed fic that involved House choosing NOT to take morphine when he actually does need it so that he can care for Wilson BUT THIS EP SHOT IT TO HELL. Hated that scene, by the way. Gonna pretend that it didn't happen. Even though the "You have everything you need right here. We both do." line was lovely and perhaps my favourite.