House, in shades of gray

Despite all of the pain, suffering, and various bodily fluids that are displayed each week on House it’s generally a brightly lit show. There’s always plenty of natural light streaming through the hospital’s windows and the rooms and corridors tend to be light and airy. Even when a patient looks to be at death’s doorstep there is an unusual illumination to their surroundings that make the viewer feel that everything will be just fine.

There wasn’t much of that in this week’s pivotal episode. In fact, save for a few scenes prior to Kutner’s death (sorry, it’s no longer a spoiler), much of Princeton-Plainsboro was shrouded in darkness; a darkness that followed the other characters as they tried to deal with the suicide of their co-worker.

There were various shades of darkness, depending on who the focus of a particular scene was. For instance, when House and his gang were together, and when House was alone, there was a grayish hue to the darkness. This makes sense, since their was no black or white reason for Kutner’s suicide. It was a gray area that everyone was trying to get through. Plus, when it came to House, the shade symbolized the mystery as to how and why Kutner ended up dead.

The darkness was much greater when it surrounded Foreman. Always one to take things more on the chin then his companions, Eric was really shaken by Kutner’s death and it showed in the black aura that surrounded him. He took it so hard that he pushed away Thirteen’s requests to help him get through it all. This, in turn, made her aura darker as well.

The only member of House’s staff filmed in a brighter light was Taub. However, it was a filtered brightness that displayed both hope and despair. This was not only indicative of the emotions he was having about Kutner, who was as close to a friend as he got, but it was also related to the  week’s medical mystery, which was equal parts good and bad as Meat Loaf’s character got better while his wife slowing began to deteriorate. Only when the wife died was Taub filmed in darkness as the welled-up emotions of Kutner’s death finally burst to the surface.

Though the producers of House have used different camera tricks in the past to visually alter the series, the use of dark and light in this past episode was probably the best example of their talent this season. By altering the the shades of light the story took on an entirely different look. And, where we may have laughed or rolled our eyes at a particular moment in another episode, the shades of darkness gave this installment a feeling of despair that hung over us and the characters throughout the entire time.

Clacked by Richard Keller
on Apr 09, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT