568
in which i rant about house the tv show.
after the finale of season four, my interest in house was very low. i stuck around because of cuddy but also because i had four years invested in the show and i wasn't quite ready to let go of that just yet. episode 5.07 angered me because it featured a severely agoraphobic man who, at the end of the episode, simply opened his door and went outside for a walk. which, you know, just HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. we crazy folk just need a good doctor to come and fix all our ills and we are MAGICALLY HEALED.
but then 'unfaithful' (i'm not sure which number it was) absolutely restored my faith in the show. it was a truly solid, satisfying episode. it was interesting and the POTW challenged house and it was good. and then came some more very forgettable episodes including one in which house decides to quit a treatment that leaves him pain free not because it's endangering his health but because being happy MAKES HIM LESS BRILLIANT. i am unable to enumerate all of the myriad ways in which that is ridiculous and illogical and did i mention ridiculous?
so now we are winding down to the end of the season and of course we have to make the episodes all about house and his terrible, terrible trauma. oh, woe, how he suffers, etc. dear writers, can you please get some new ideas?
cue episode 22. deaf people! says i, because i have an interest in deafness due to kathleen's influence. thirteen even got a boost in my esteem when she talked about deafness as a culture. but, lo, what do we have but house calling the mother stupid because she allows her son to make his own decisions about his body - the horror! we have a young man who wants to preserve his culture so much that he RIPS AN IMPLANT from his own head. that seems like a pretty serious and definite decision to me. and, finally, we have the same mother who for all these years has respected her son's right to make his own decisions but who now all of a sudden decides that his body really is under her control and it's her decision to make.
THE FUCK. DO NOT WANT.
that's really all i can say because it makes me ill.
the worst part is that it's so hypocritical. house is always trying to force 'normality' on people yet he clings to his own identity as a 'gimp'. he claimed this boy had a choice (implant vs. no implant) but the show has clearly demonstrated that house also has choices. choices that he has given up for his own reasons. he hates hypocrisy in others and embraces it in himself and in entirely self-serving ways. why do the writers do this? his character could be so much more than it is. there is so much depth and room for nuance, particularly when paired with hugh laurie's immense acting skills. but, no, they go for the cheap melodrama and recycled cliches.
and, unfortunately, that seems to work for most people.
after the finale of season four, my interest in house was very low. i stuck around because of cuddy but also because i had four years invested in the show and i wasn't quite ready to let go of that just yet. episode 5.07 angered me because it featured a severely agoraphobic man who, at the end of the episode, simply opened his door and went outside for a walk. which, you know, just HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. we crazy folk just need a good doctor to come and fix all our ills and we are MAGICALLY HEALED.
but then 'unfaithful' (i'm not sure which number it was) absolutely restored my faith in the show. it was a truly solid, satisfying episode. it was interesting and the POTW challenged house and it was good. and then came some more very forgettable episodes including one in which house decides to quit a treatment that leaves him pain free not because it's endangering his health but because being happy MAKES HIM LESS BRILLIANT. i am unable to enumerate all of the myriad ways in which that is ridiculous and illogical and did i mention ridiculous?
so now we are winding down to the end of the season and of course we have to make the episodes all about house and his terrible, terrible trauma. oh, woe, how he suffers, etc. dear writers, can you please get some new ideas?
cue episode 22. deaf people! says i, because i have an interest in deafness due to kathleen's influence. thirteen even got a boost in my esteem when she talked about deafness as a culture. but, lo, what do we have but house calling the mother stupid because she allows her son to make his own decisions about his body - the horror! we have a young man who wants to preserve his culture so much that he RIPS AN IMPLANT from his own head. that seems like a pretty serious and definite decision to me. and, finally, we have the same mother who for all these years has respected her son's right to make his own decisions but who now all of a sudden decides that his body really is under her control and it's her decision to make.
THE FUCK. DO NOT WANT.
that's really all i can say because it makes me ill.
the worst part is that it's so hypocritical. house is always trying to force 'normality' on people yet he clings to his own identity as a 'gimp'. he claimed this boy had a choice (implant vs. no implant) but the show has clearly demonstrated that house also has choices. choices that he has given up for his own reasons. he hates hypocrisy in others and embraces it in himself and in entirely self-serving ways. why do the writers do this? his character could be so much more than it is. there is so much depth and room for nuance, particularly when paired with hugh laurie's immense acting skills. but, no, they go for the cheap melodrama and recycled cliches.
and, unfortunately, that seems to work for most people.