Meta discussion on 'Acceptance' episode

[starhawk2005]

Before reading this post, be warned that it definitely contains spoilers for last night’s ep., and may contain spoilers for future S2 eps. SO TURN BACK NOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED.

Comments

[yutamiyu]

he rakes her over the coals for using his own methods of diagnosis....and then after ALL THAT, it turns out that she's wrong!

In his own snarky way...perhaps he's teaching her? House's method is House's method, unorthodox as it is. As we all have clearly seen, House doesn't seem to have hang-ups or ethics (on the surface, at any rate)--given that he will stop a surgery by spitting on a fellow surgeon or threatening Koreans with their own stereotypes ("nail salons and dumpling shops"). Cameron is the untouched beauty, the doctor who values human life and emotions, and he seems extremely reluctant to subject her to it. He is somehow safeguarding her emotions by being cold, calculating, distant.

I would have looooooooooooved for it to have paid off, instead of turning into yet another showcase of Wimpy!Cam and Always!Correct!House.

As much as I would have enjoyed it...in the end, it would have felt cheap and dirty and not in the good way. To see such a drastic change in a character with no setup is a mark of bad writing, I think...and while I would like to see Cameron prove House wrong, it's just not going to happen for a while. Not until they both grow up.

I think that's about a buck fifty. Your move?

[starhawk2005]

given that he will stop a surgery by spitting on a fellow surgeon or threatening Koreans with their own stereotypes ("nail salons and dumpling shops"

I think House DOES value human life. He stopped the surgery because if the patient was stuck in bed recovering after surgery, more poison was going to get dumped into his system from his fat cells, and he'd die. And he threatened those Chinese parents because he needed them to sign a surgical release form, again to save the patient's life.

In this case, I think his beef with Cameron was that she was treating this patient because she was trying to come up with excuses why the patient wasn't terminal/didn't want to tell the patient she was terminal and delaying the inevitable. Which, given this is Moran!Cam (Wimpy!Doc!Cam) we're talking about, is probably true, although it still may have been the case that Cam may have been right. But the point is, it SHOULDN'T be true. Any doc with this problem would've dealt with it back in med school/residency/internships, or would've been kicked out or placed in a different field of medicine.

and not in the good way.

*giggle*

I don't think Cam's efforts 'paying' off would've been 'cheap or dirty'. Hell, knowing House, he wouldn't even have praised her for it, just shook his head and said something to the effect of "So, you got lucky this time. Doesn't mean you aren't still damaged. You going to test EVERY terminal patient that staggers into the clinic?" Or something to that effect. Watching House's own sleuthing methods paying off for another member of the team would strengthen House's own 'theoretical' position, methinks.

[yutamiyu]

I think House DOES value human life.

I never said he didn't. He's just very...unorthodox. Forceful. Not-by-the-book. Which is effectively what Cameron did -- she KNEW the woman was terminal and incurable. She ran tests anyway. In this way, this is how she basically screwed up House's method. House only does this when he knows the person is still treatable. The woman was not, and therefore House got snarky.

And you're right about dealing with death. But there's something there, hidden under the layers. And I want to know what it is.

Watching House's own sleuthing methods paying off for another member of the team would strengthen House's own 'theoretical' position, methinks.

True, and with the added effect of making him insufferably egotistic for a while. ::chuckles:: But I think that this move of Cameron's is a step in the right direction, and hopefully sometime this season she'll actually prove House wrong.

And awestruck!sex will ensue.

[starhawk2005]

And I want to know what it is.

Me, too. I don't know if the 'excuse' will be enough to justify the character butt!rape, but...

she'll actually prove House wrong.

I. Would. So. Pay. To. See. That. And then dance with joi!

And awestruck!sex will ensue.

*prays loudly to TPTB*

[katakombs]

In his own snarky way...perhaps he's teaching her?

One of the things that really bothered me about this episode was what a bad teacher he really was. For the past year, he's been encouraging her to be more agressive in standing up for her beliefs and he's been teaching all three of them not to accept the easy diagnosis but to dig deeper.

Now that she's finally doing what he taught her to do, he's shutting her down. How hard would it have been to take 5 minutes to brain storm alternate diagnoses as she wanted and to come up with tests to have a conclusive diagnosis?

[starhawk2005]

Now that she's finally doing what he taught her to do, he's shutting her down. How hard would it have been to take 5 minutes to brain storm alternate diagnoses as she wanted and to come up with tests to have a conclusive diagnosis?

This is exactly my beef. I agree with you to the letter. He could've, as you said, taken a little time, and then they could've moved on. Instead, he makes it about her death issues (which, while true, does not excuse his behaviour, just as him tormenting Mark in the MRI isn't excused by the fact that he discovered the key to Mark's dx that way), makes it about her being angry with him, and about her putting a higher premium on the life of a girl vs. a multiple murderer.