5.01 - Dying Changes Everything

I think the reality is that House has to trust someone very much and consider that person to be a friend before he is willing use a person in that way because, even though it is selfish, it does leave him vulnerable. I think this is very important (and might be a large part of why I'm always confused how people can think House "using" Wilson is so bad -- it never occurred to me that this wasn't an obvious given.) I guess if you're used to a supportive environment full of allies, then it's easy to take advantage of someone's willingness to help you, because that willingness is devalued by its commonness. If you're used to having no one but yourself you can depend on, then admitting you want someone's help becomes a big deal, no matter how casual and practical the help required. Depending on Wilson the way House has shows a huge, huge trust and faith not just in Wilson's good nature but in Wilson's caring and commitment to House. And Wilson's just told him that trust was misplaced and their relationship was a burden all along. Namaste, it's not that the guys don't talk about their feelings that bothers me, it's that the stated text of the canon so often contradicts what we see in their actions while being the only part of the canon that isn't debatable.

Depending on Wilson the way House has shows a huge, huge trust and faith not just in Wilson's good nature but in Wilson's caring and commitment to House. And Wilson's just told him that trust was misplaced and their relationship was a burden all along. The destruction of that trust could easily make House even more misanthropic and bitter and closed off -- the opposite of what Wilson has always claimed he wanted for House. The man has just had his worst fears realized -- that if he really trusts someone, he'll get badly hurt. Not quite sure how TPTB are going to resolve this without making House look like a wuss for taking Wilson back. I hope they deal with the broken trust aspect before any kind of resolution takes place.

my show cut out early! Ugh, damn DVR! I missed the last bits of Wilson's lines and the upcoming scenes. I hate that.

Cripes, it seemed last night that OW had as many lines as Hugh. She didn't have as many lines as Hugh, DOB; she had MORE than Hugh. I did not sit down and count them all, so I'm not 100% certain that I'm right, but I am about 95% certain.

Namaste, it's not that the guys don't talk about their feelings that bothers me, it's that the stated text of the canon so often contradicts what we see in their actions while being the only part of the canon that isn't debatable. I don't see that as contradictory to canon, though. In the pilot it was established that people lie, actions don't. So for them to say one thing and do another is perfectly in character.

As to why no physical manifestations of the brain injury: (1) it makes it harder for Wilson and Cuddy (and the team) to get angry w/him and that's key to the episode and (2) makes it hard for House to make the incredible diagnosis. Not necessarily good or valid reasons, but . . . I struggled with the 2-month timelapse. It gives time for House to "fully" recover (see above). But we're to believe that Wilson took some time off for two months and House was ok with that. Then Wilson comes back and, for the first time, decides to leave, after another week. I understand pent up emotion and all that, but the timing seemed rather off. The best way I could explain it (to myself) is that Amber's death was the proverbial straw. Over the past few years, we've seen quite a bit of destructive behavior from both men, but especially House. I can accept the fact that Wilson fears that, if he stays with House, his life will continue in an unhappy downard spiral. So he needs to get away. I don't believe Wilson meant the words at the end in the manner he spoke them. I do believe he wanted to hurt House and also wanted House to believe that this was a final departure. So, in a moment of passionate emotion, he blurted out some stuff that probably has some elements of truth in it but doesn't fully reflect his logical considered views. As for the screentime of everyone but House, I say only the following: Writers, this is NOT an ensemble show. It's not "House and Company," or "House and Friends" or even "The Neighborhood." It's House. Providing some background on other characters is fine as long as it's minimal. Right now there are TOO MANY "extras" and trying to give them all air time and plots of their own is schizophrenic, not to mention distracting."

As to why no physical manifestations of the brain injury: (1) it makes it harder for Wilson and Cuddy (and the team) to get angry w/him and that's key to the episode and (2) makes it hard for House to make the incredible diagnosis. Not necessarily good or valid reasons, but . . . I struggled with the 2-month timelapse. It gives time for House to "fully" recover (see above). But we're to believe that Wilson took some time off for two months and House was ok with that. Then Wilson comes back and, for the first time, decides to leave, after another week. I understand pent up emotion and all that, but the timing seemed rather off. I think you've hit this right on the head. I had wanted to see a bit of House's recovery, but I think that this is a good starting point for what we need to see happen. Had everything happened in February as originally planned, I'm sure they couldn't get away with not showing his recovery, but as it stands, this is where we are. :) The best way I could explain it (to myself) is that Amber's death was the proverbial straw. Over the past few years, we've seen quite a bit of destructive behavior from both men, but especially House. I can accept the fact that Wilson fears that, if he stays with House, his life will continue in an unhappy downard spiral. So he needs to get away. So true. Hopefully this arc will be the final reckoning for these two. We'll finally see the fallout of Tritter and Vogler, even if they're not specifically mentioned. It's nicer to think now that not seeing this fallout wasn't shoddy writing, but in fact a characterization of their relationship. I don't believe Wilson meant the words at the end in the manner he spoke them. I do believe he wanted to hurt House and also wanted House to believe that this was a final departure. So, in a moment of passionate emotion, he blurted out some stuff that probably has some elements of truth in it but doesn't fully reflect his logical considered views. We were talking about something similar to this in the spoilers discussion thread about a week or two ago. In a way this is Wilson's final act of protection -- not letting him think that there's any hope for their reconciliation. Giving him an out, giving him a chance to get on with his life. Not that I think that House will take it...

Even though I liked last night episode, I have to admit that this is the first time that House's story felt as if it was the b story instead of the a. I hope that is not a trend.

Even though I liked last night episode, I have to admit that this is the first time that House's story felt as if it was the b story instead of the a. I hope that is not a trend. The Mistake was the other real exception. Depending on whether you count words or lines, Chase's part was a little bigger than House's and his story was the main one. The difference is that even the main story told us things about House. I don't see that Thirteen's crisis had anything to do with House. Oh, and while his part was smaller than House's, I definitely felt like there were about 35 episodes at the end of S3 that were all about Foreman quitting and quitting and House's story was the B one (and the more interesting one by a very long way.)

I'm looking for High-Def screencaptures of this episode.Can anyone help me?

Which might just confirm my other theory -- that it's when Wilson is trying to avoid enabling House that he does the most damage. If Wilson's distance (without explaining to House why he was being distant) triggered House's drinking binge, then Wilson may be at least as culpable in Amber's death as House may be. Wilson knows he was culpable because he had enabled House for so long and Amber was there because she was taking on his role for him because he was unavailable. Wilson's fault was that he had been enabling House for a long time, like providing an addict with his drugs, but it's not Wilson's fault that House was there drinking and couldn't drive his bike home. For all we know, this could have been a power play on House's part to show Wilson and Amber that Wilson cares more for him than he does for Amber because he would be willing to leave Amber's bed to pick up House. Yes, House liked her, Taub thought she was hot and Kutner tried to date her. So Wilson was at his most bitter there. With House, he wasn't bitter, just unleashing all that repression in one well-aimed dart. House tried to break them up repeatedly and he got Cuddy to talk to Wilson about dumping Amber and Cuddy obliged, trying to talk Wilson out of his relationship with Amber and telling him that Amber was no good for him. Thinking someone is hot or trying to date them is not the same as liking them as a person and Thirteen actively fought with Amber. The only person who might have liked Amber (besides Chase) was Kutner and he likes everyone. Wilson was right, none of them really liked Amber or supported his relationship with her and he needed to get away from the lot of them to grieve properly. Son of a Coma Guy- I am sure some people will disagree but House telling Wilson he didn't want him involved in what was clearly an illegal move was pretty self sacrificing. What was House sacrificing? Getting Wilson into trouble along with him for something Wilson didn't do? I thought there was more a lot sacrificing on Wilson's part, letting House take his car, letting the coma guy drive, providing House with an alibi, than on House's. I definitely felt like there were about 35 episodes at the end of S3 that were all about Foreman quitting and quitting and House's story was the B one (and the more interesting one by a very long way.) I think it was 11, from House Training to Whatever It Takes but there it was also about House and how House was having trouble dealing with Foreman's rejection of him, and what Cuddy was doing to get Foreman back for House's sake. This was only about 13. I've thought for a couple of seasons that the show should spend more time on the secondary characters and telling us about them apart from their relationship to House but I meant Wilson, Chase, Cameron and Cuddy. This isn't what I had in mind.

This was only about 13. I don't agree. While 13 was at the center of those scenes, it was also about how the team functioned without House -- about Kutner still trying to think like him, about Foreman trying to run the team (and finding that it's not easy putting up with someone trying to shoot down all your ideas -- Taub -- as Foreman himself had done for so long), about Taub realizing that it was nowhere near as easy to do House's job as Thirteen seemed to think. To a certain extent, I think the team represented by committee the varying aspects that House brings to cases: atypical approaches, certainty that he's right, mocking and derision of his team ...

I don't agree. While 13 was at the center of those scenes, it was also about how the team functioned without House -- about Kutner still trying to think like him, about Foreman trying to run the team (and finding that it's not easy putting up with someone trying to shoot down all your ideas -- Taub -- as Foreman himself had done for so long), about Taub realizing that it was nowhere near as easy to do House's job as Thirteen seemed to think. To a certain extent, I think the team represented by committee the varying aspects that House brings to cases: atypical approaches, certainty that he's right, mocking and derision of his team ... I think I already saw this episode in season two. The fact that Foreman has apparently regressed (after Cuddy offered him a department of his own to run and he was hired at another hospital entirely running a department) is just plain crappy writing. And 13's issues--13 the feminazi, apparently--had precious little to do with House.

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