"Wilson's Heart" ...finally
I wasn't up to going to hang out with D and a good friend of his, so I figured I'd get something done...
Warning: Incredibly long fan-wank commentary on the season finale of House, MD follows.
First off, I don't really give a damn about the medical inaccuracies in this episode. This was much more a character study than a PotW story.
"Wilson, don't get lost."
I love how the episode starts with House pulling his usual stunts ("Her husband can.") and Wilson playing along when he feels it is in the best interest of the patient. It was a nice turn that Wilson came up with the unconventional idea in transport, though, that's usually House's bag. Although it is ambiguous as to why he defers, something we don't see very often: is it Wilson's relationship with Amber, or with House, or both?
"Why are we doing this?"
"Bought us time to think."
Okay, then why not do that to every patient in danger of rapidly dying? Just teasing. This was one of the only medical bits that bugged me.
I thought the panacea line was very funny, but HL is so great at letting us know things matter to the character without bashing us over the head with it. House is almost never that frustrated that quickly, unless it is personal.
Kutner again has the answer (House's brain), only 4 minutes in this time rather than 7.
"Is this a philanderer's anonymous intervention?"
Gah, the scene with Taub and House is pure fan love. Taub is totally right, though.
"Looks like she didn't travel very far."
There aren't many 'awww' moments in House, but that was one of them. Consensual deviancy always warms my cockles, even if it is just a mild kink.
"Not even close to relevant."
No, they shouldn't have been treating her, but otherwise we watch an episode where they treat her behind some other team's back, and this is already complicated enough. Damn, everybody gets to be right this episode, it seems. Which is kind of a nice change. Oh, and I have 13 necklace love -- although it looks like the watch is broken, which is probably good for the continuity editor. A security guard bugged me about my pocket watch last week, and it was an old guy, so I didn't expect it. Hell, a young guy I could understand. But he let me keep my cane and wand-ed me rather than make me walk through the detector, so I forgave him.
"Do I feel familiar?"
Okay, I geeked out on the reference to electricity occurring in the room House electrocuted himself in earlier in the season. That is a great subconscious tie-in. Fractured memories can be a little bit like that -- although I'd like to have a stacked blond with legs to Canada to put mine back together! The hallucination proves that even House doubts his own motives, something I don't think he would ever actually show. Oh, the electrical impulses in Amber's brain spiking as House talks about deep brain stimulation -- nice touch!
"When did we start assuming we're wrong?"
Even Foreman gets to be right tonight.
"A blow up doll would be more useful. And yes, that's the first time I've ever implied something negative about a blow-up doll."
But blow up dolls are fragile and fake feeling. If you're going to go that way, go Real Doll if you can afford it, 'kay? Anyway, 13 kind of stands in for real life here, letting the fiction be acknowledged and then excused away by House.
One question: how many patients on this show do not eventually get jaundice?
"Taking Wilson out for a drink."
Thanks Fred Durst, for making House out to be a bigger ass than he actually is... Although "I assume sputum means snot," was a much needed laugh at that point.
"He told me I was raised by wolves and that's why I use the same hand for my fork and knife."
I have never understood the 13 hate, I think she's great, although I was getting tired of getting hit over the head by the writers about how mysterious she is supposed to be. She's bisexual and has a degenerative illness, not all that mysterious to me. Again, though, even more so than Wilson, I find her as the representative of real life here.
"I know this is different, but its not."
Finally, some Kutner history! Also, a little bit of MagicCam action, which we haven't seen that much of this season.
"Oh, god, I get less rest when I'm asleep..."
These duo scenes make me wish Amber was sticking around. "Sorry, if I had known I would have started a break-away Jewish sect." Since Amber is an established proxy for House himself, she is the perfect representative of his own mind.
"We're never 100% certain."
Foreman gets to be right too. I think this is a record for a House episode.
"Sorry, wide stance."
Nice shout out to the show's actors that support Obama there. I heart House's version of hand-holding. I wish they had used Massive Attack's version of the title song. I enjoy that album and even sleep to it.
"House is going to kill the patient."
I am really torn on Cuddy and Foreman here. Yes, it gave them a new symptom, but Wilson was right, they went against both the "family" wishes and the attending.
"Inside voices."
This sequence is interesting. House is oddly meek, and just lets Cuddy do her job without opinion. "It’s not an argument at all," shows that he understands the logic in warming Amber. It was hard not to notice that when Wilson is in the hallway, he gets the Look of Plot Resolution (TM) usually reserved for House and then goes back into the office. The following dialog breaks my heart a little. One hand, Wilson is clearly stating which life is more valuable to him; on the other he is well acquainted with House's willingness to do anything to solve the puzzle. Since I identify more with House, Wilson gets to be a bastard, but I know that is a case of interpretation rather than fact. As for House, what can he do but say yes: both his friend and the puzzle (may) depend on it.
"As long as I'm risking my life, I might as well be watching a talkie."
More heart-break as we get to see that the whole thing was an accident from start to finish: Amber coming out, House forgetting his cane, following House onto the bus, and the flu medication. Just accidents, not even a string of bad decisions, no infidelity of any kind (which would have been a cop-out plot-wise, in my opinion). I wish I could see the sign by Wilson's head in the bar for some reason, though. Hey, maybe she likes a sea breeze every once in a while, I do, and they take cranberry juice. I like the unspoken acknowledgement that being Wilson's SO means dealing with House. Not many people get a toast before they die, even in fiction. Okay, there's the uncle in I Remember Mama, but you get my point. I really like that the House-Wilson eye-line on the bus is about the same as it is in the operating theater, nice touch that.
"I'm so sorry."
Wow, just wow. I mean all through this two-parter these three actors kick ass, but here's where the stops get pulled and even I start to get all sniffly. I like the soft way Foreman and the team talk the audience through everything. RSL and LE are fantastic here. Wilson is more acquainted with death and dying as part of everyday life, but it doesn't seem to help him here. And Cuddy is great, although I think her logic is kind of crap: how would she know what Amber wants? I think she knows what Wilson needs, and uses faulty logic to get him to do it.
"I'm dead."
Damn, note to self: replace heartstrings. AD and RSL are at perfect pitch here.
Aside: I hate the Panda commercial too. That will teach me to watch things as they air. Thank you DVR, for only making me go through that crap once.
"We do now."
I like the team standing in for Amber's never-mentioned family. They had been colleges, and probably knew Amber's personality better than any casual acquaintance. They also fought like hell to save her. I also like that it was awkward. It is in real life, and I've done more death-bed vigils than I care to think about. You don't need to say anything; you just need to be there. That says everything.
"That's not the last feeling I want to experience."
Alright, too close to home. RSL just kills me here. If you have filled out a DNR, you've had to imagine what it will be like for them, and he is spot on.
"Am I dead?"
I like this music, and how/when it stops. "Life shouldn't be random." True, but it is, and we all know it.
"I'm branching out from self-loathing and self-destruction."
Here we get what we've always suspected is in House's head, and it is a tremendous pay-off. Again, way too close to home -- except I don't actively abuse my friends.
"Get off the bus."
He does. Is Cuddy there for him, for her, or because she knows someone should be? Nice music here too, with our coping montage. We saw 13's results coming from a mile away -- it would have been disingenuous for her to be negative. But now she is coping rather than evading. Finally, we see Taub's wife, and understand something about him that he knows how to seek comfort from her without disturbing her. Interesting painting on their bedroom wall, too. I like Kutner's segment, he knows that this is just how life is, and that it goes on. Still, he seems to have surrounded himself with what he considers normalcy to help him cope. More "aww" with the old ducklings together again, supporting each other like they used to do.
The “looks” scene leaves us with so many questions that I am already itching for the next season to start airing. I like that ambiguity. It was almost like you could hear the characters wanting to say “Goodnight, House,” “Goodnight, Wilson” but just could not. Honestly, I am more interested in that than I am the Cuddy hand-holding, but that is interesting as well. Wilson in the bedroom was like a parting shot.
I felt like the music in this episode was good, but heavy handed. The actors could have carried it without the help, and sometimes it felt intrusive.
So I nailed the blood thing, and the guilt thing, which makes me feel good. After that emotional roller coaster, you need a little of that. But that’s part of the appeal of the show: you never know when a character will turn in an unexpected direction, and you never know when they will lose a patient.
Warning: Incredibly long fan-wank commentary on the season finale of House, MD follows.
First off, I don't really give a damn about the medical inaccuracies in this episode. This was much more a character study than a PotW story.
"Wilson, don't get lost."
I love how the episode starts with House pulling his usual stunts ("Her husband can.") and Wilson playing along when he feels it is in the best interest of the patient. It was a nice turn that Wilson came up with the unconventional idea in transport, though, that's usually House's bag. Although it is ambiguous as to why he defers, something we don't see very often: is it Wilson's relationship with Amber, or with House, or both?
"Why are we doing this?"
"Bought us time to think."
Okay, then why not do that to every patient in danger of rapidly dying? Just teasing. This was one of the only medical bits that bugged me.
I thought the panacea line was very funny, but HL is so great at letting us know things matter to the character without bashing us over the head with it. House is almost never that frustrated that quickly, unless it is personal.
Kutner again has the answer (House's brain), only 4 minutes in this time rather than 7.
"Is this a philanderer's anonymous intervention?"
Gah, the scene with Taub and House is pure fan love. Taub is totally right, though.
"Looks like she didn't travel very far."
There aren't many 'awww' moments in House, but that was one of them. Consensual deviancy always warms my cockles, even if it is just a mild kink.
"Not even close to relevant."
No, they shouldn't have been treating her, but otherwise we watch an episode where they treat her behind some other team's back, and this is already complicated enough. Damn, everybody gets to be right this episode, it seems. Which is kind of a nice change. Oh, and I have 13 necklace love -- although it looks like the watch is broken, which is probably good for the continuity editor. A security guard bugged me about my pocket watch last week, and it was an old guy, so I didn't expect it. Hell, a young guy I could understand. But he let me keep my cane and wand-ed me rather than make me walk through the detector, so I forgave him.
"Do I feel familiar?"
Okay, I geeked out on the reference to electricity occurring in the room House electrocuted himself in earlier in the season. That is a great subconscious tie-in. Fractured memories can be a little bit like that -- although I'd like to have a stacked blond with legs to Canada to put mine back together! The hallucination proves that even House doubts his own motives, something I don't think he would ever actually show. Oh, the electrical impulses in Amber's brain spiking as House talks about deep brain stimulation -- nice touch!
"When did we start assuming we're wrong?"
Even Foreman gets to be right tonight.
"A blow up doll would be more useful. And yes, that's the first time I've ever implied something negative about a blow-up doll."
But blow up dolls are fragile and fake feeling. If you're going to go that way, go Real Doll if you can afford it, 'kay? Anyway, 13 kind of stands in for real life here, letting the fiction be acknowledged and then excused away by House.
One question: how many patients on this show do not eventually get jaundice?
"Taking Wilson out for a drink."
Thanks Fred Durst, for making House out to be a bigger ass than he actually is... Although "I assume sputum means snot," was a much needed laugh at that point.
"He told me I was raised by wolves and that's why I use the same hand for my fork and knife."
I have never understood the 13 hate, I think she's great, although I was getting tired of getting hit over the head by the writers about how mysterious she is supposed to be. She's bisexual and has a degenerative illness, not all that mysterious to me. Again, though, even more so than Wilson, I find her as the representative of real life here.
"I know this is different, but its not."
Finally, some Kutner history! Also, a little bit of MagicCam action, which we haven't seen that much of this season.
"Oh, god, I get less rest when I'm asleep..."
These duo scenes make me wish Amber was sticking around. "Sorry, if I had known I would have started a break-away Jewish sect." Since Amber is an established proxy for House himself, she is the perfect representative of his own mind.
"We're never 100% certain."
Foreman gets to be right too. I think this is a record for a House episode.
"Sorry, wide stance."
Nice shout out to the show's actors that support Obama there. I heart House's version of hand-holding. I wish they had used Massive Attack's version of the title song. I enjoy that album and even sleep to it.
"House is going to kill the patient."
I am really torn on Cuddy and Foreman here. Yes, it gave them a new symptom, but Wilson was right, they went against both the "family" wishes and the attending.
"Inside voices."
This sequence is interesting. House is oddly meek, and just lets Cuddy do her job without opinion. "It’s not an argument at all," shows that he understands the logic in warming Amber. It was hard not to notice that when Wilson is in the hallway, he gets the Look of Plot Resolution (TM) usually reserved for House and then goes back into the office. The following dialog breaks my heart a little. One hand, Wilson is clearly stating which life is more valuable to him; on the other he is well acquainted with House's willingness to do anything to solve the puzzle. Since I identify more with House, Wilson gets to be a bastard, but I know that is a case of interpretation rather than fact. As for House, what can he do but say yes: both his friend and the puzzle (may) depend on it.
"As long as I'm risking my life, I might as well be watching a talkie."
More heart-break as we get to see that the whole thing was an accident from start to finish: Amber coming out, House forgetting his cane, following House onto the bus, and the flu medication. Just accidents, not even a string of bad decisions, no infidelity of any kind (which would have been a cop-out plot-wise, in my opinion). I wish I could see the sign by Wilson's head in the bar for some reason, though. Hey, maybe she likes a sea breeze every once in a while, I do, and they take cranberry juice. I like the unspoken acknowledgement that being Wilson's SO means dealing with House. Not many people get a toast before they die, even in fiction. Okay, there's the uncle in I Remember Mama, but you get my point. I really like that the House-Wilson eye-line on the bus is about the same as it is in the operating theater, nice touch that.
"I'm so sorry."
Wow, just wow. I mean all through this two-parter these three actors kick ass, but here's where the stops get pulled and even I start to get all sniffly. I like the soft way Foreman and the team talk the audience through everything. RSL and LE are fantastic here. Wilson is more acquainted with death and dying as part of everyday life, but it doesn't seem to help him here. And Cuddy is great, although I think her logic is kind of crap: how would she know what Amber wants? I think she knows what Wilson needs, and uses faulty logic to get him to do it.
"I'm dead."
Damn, note to self: replace heartstrings. AD and RSL are at perfect pitch here.
Aside: I hate the Panda commercial too. That will teach me to watch things as they air. Thank you DVR, for only making me go through that crap once.
"We do now."
I like the team standing in for Amber's never-mentioned family. They had been colleges, and probably knew Amber's personality better than any casual acquaintance. They also fought like hell to save her. I also like that it was awkward. It is in real life, and I've done more death-bed vigils than I care to think about. You don't need to say anything; you just need to be there. That says everything.
"That's not the last feeling I want to experience."
Alright, too close to home. RSL just kills me here. If you have filled out a DNR, you've had to imagine what it will be like for them, and he is spot on.
"Am I dead?"
I like this music, and how/when it stops. "Life shouldn't be random." True, but it is, and we all know it.
"I'm branching out from self-loathing and self-destruction."
Here we get what we've always suspected is in House's head, and it is a tremendous pay-off. Again, way too close to home -- except I don't actively abuse my friends.
"Get off the bus."
He does. Is Cuddy there for him, for her, or because she knows someone should be? Nice music here too, with our coping montage. We saw 13's results coming from a mile away -- it would have been disingenuous for her to be negative. But now she is coping rather than evading. Finally, we see Taub's wife, and understand something about him that he knows how to seek comfort from her without disturbing her. Interesting painting on their bedroom wall, too. I like Kutner's segment, he knows that this is just how life is, and that it goes on. Still, he seems to have surrounded himself with what he considers normalcy to help him cope. More "aww" with the old ducklings together again, supporting each other like they used to do.
The “looks” scene leaves us with so many questions that I am already itching for the next season to start airing. I like that ambiguity. It was almost like you could hear the characters wanting to say “Goodnight, House,” “Goodnight, Wilson” but just could not. Honestly, I am more interested in that than I am the Cuddy hand-holding, but that is interesting as well. Wilson in the bedroom was like a parting shot.
I felt like the music in this episode was good, but heavy handed. The actors could have carried it without the help, and sometimes it felt intrusive.
So I nailed the blood thing, and the guilt thing, which makes me feel good. After that emotional roller coaster, you need a little of that. But that’s part of the appeal of the show: you never know when a character will turn in an unexpected direction, and you never know when they will lose a patient.