“I need you to spread your legs so I can do an ‘H’.” – House to Cameron as he’s miming the diagnosis to Foreman
When I first started watching tonight’s episode of House, I was feeling decidedly “meh” about the case of the week. Politics, blah, blah, blah, moral dilemma, whatever. I just wasn’t into it.
By the end of the episode, I was hooked. And not because of the Chase thing, which I won’t mention until after the jump because it’s a huge spoiler. I mean the incredibly clever way being strong enough to act on your beliefs wove itself through the episode. Who would have thought, though all the psychological issues House is having, that he would prove to be so strong in his knowledge and convictions? He’s better than the old House, and now we’re getting to see why.
I loved that House finally met someone who was a bigger dick than himself, and that House recognized that it was chronic pain that made him that way. The way he went about curing the man was so sick and twisted, even for House: he pulled a Dexter! That was such a deliberate shout-out, and as a huge fan of Showtime’s Dexter, it was one I adored.
Now that we’re past the awesome Dexter reference, House was so strong and sure about the situation with the neighbor that he didn’t back down. It had a different feel than before his therapy though. He would be argumentative in his convictions before, but this time, he honestly tried to be nice about it. Man, the guy is still clearly messed up, but I love that he can be working on himself and still we get the flawed House.
OK, dude: Chase killed James Earl Jones! Another character strong enough to act on his beliefs, but in contrast to House, it’s so misguided. You just can’t kill someone who kills people and have it be okay. Hey, look, there’s another Dexter reference.
This was all in stark contrast to Cameron’s ever-weak character. Or, was it just another foil to House’s over-the-top behavior?
And how about Foreman? He didn’t even know what he believed: was it right to fire Thirteen? What was ailing the President?
The writers took the theme of strength of character and wove it through the entire story so seamlessly and effectively. This episode is going to be used in a college class someday, I just feel it.
Other stuff:
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Oct 05, 2009 @ 22:13 EST5EDT
I like how the storyline is going to go on for another week.
However I’m watching the episode and the whole time I felt “Is it done yet?”, I keep looknig at the clock. This episode felt as long as the other 3 episodes combined.
1) I think Cameron killed Dibala, and I even wrote a post defending myself. Coming soon.
2) I didn’t miss Taub.
3) Thirteen makes an excellent case that Foreman could have stepped down. However, given Foreman’s inability to get hired with the stain of House, maybe he was right to fear for his job.
4) Yes, Foreman was right to cover for Chase (er, Cameron): Dibala was a mass murdering f*ck. Remember Cuddy saying she would rather feel guilty about a pin prick than mass genocide?
Sorry, not mass genocide from the Cuddy quote– but the death of the woman’s family members.
Chase shouldn’t have killed Dibala. It was not his place and his actions could have produced unforeseen consequences.
I refer you to Stephen King’s _Dead Zone_.
Would you kill Hitler when he was a baby?
A lot of people would. Twenty million people died in World War II. Joseph Stalin killed millions. Idi Amin killed by the car lot. In this episode, Dibala was clearly going to. So what unexpected consequences could by worse?
typo above: “by worse” should be “be worse.”
I think we will get a twist. I think the old mass-murderer actually died from something they never figured out, but Chase thinks Cameron is responsible. So it may turn out that Chase is covering for Cameron even though she didn’t actually kill him. It will all be a misunderstanding in the end (sort of like every episode of “Three’s Company”).
am I the only starting to get tired of Foreman?
he is a wimp with a sorry sad face all the time, he never smile and he is always unhappy
I think have seen to much of him already this season, duh.
Getting sick of him? I was sick of him a long time ago. The point is now he is supposed to be House, always pissed, but he isn’t nearly a good enough actor for the role.
Past time to ship Foreman off the show. He hasn’t done anything new/interesting since the first or second season. Enough already.
I haven’t really liked Foreman since the episode where he got sick cause of the bad cop,
I think that Omar Epps is a great actor(not as good as Hugh Laurie) and to play
Foreman, a guy who almost died, had an epiphany and became a saint, got bored of it and became a sulky old man, to a guy who feels obligated to be a leader and fill some
huge shoes, hes got to be talented, which he is, but i’m hoping he becomes the same as
he was before the whole”i’m a man who almost died” thing.