2.24 No Reason
From tv.com: As House and his team are working on the diagnosis of a man with a giant, swollen tongue, the husband of a former patient walks into House's office and shoots him. House continues to treat his patient from his ICU hospital bed with the shooter, who has been shot by hospital security and hand-cuffed to his bed, as his roommate. When the after-effects of the shooting begin to impact House, he starts to question his own ability to diagnose properly. As his patient's body deteriorates, House struggles through his self-doubt and must trust his team to find a way to solve the case.

I propose that it is interesting to think of "No Reason" as providing a template for things to come in season 3. Here are some of the elements and themes introduced in "No Reason" that did come to pass in season 3: -- Cuddy and Wilson conspire to trick House and make him question his intellectual abilities; -- House punches somebody (Wilson in the hallucination, Chase in reality); -- House has an "erotic" moment with Cameron (robot!play in hallucination, robotically duplicitous kiss in reality); -- House and Wilson intensely argue and experience rift in their friendship; -- Chase displays enhanced diagnostic skills; -- House's near death: suicide or suicide attempt or accidental overdose I am sure there are there more moments and that "No Reason" is a template for season three in many ways. Of course "No Reason's" over-arching theme of seeking meaning in human connections beyond professional preoccupations is one that both House and Cuddy independantly (and together?) follow throughout season three.

Not even Camron's undeserved attention and the not-enough-Wilson factor could ruin this episode for me, and I think it's brilliant, one of the best. I watched it yesterday to remind myself House can be a unique, insightful drama, and not just fun, games and kitchy banality. (Hey, if I mentioned this ep in the bitterness thread, I should bitch here a bit for good measure). I think the shooter was written and played ingeniously, and what a pity that TPTB think continuity is a rude word. And something has occurred to me in my last viewing - do you think the hallucination woman was in (Houseverse) reality connected to the shooter? His wife, probably, that killed herself or whatever might of actually happened?

We don't know that Jack's wife was a patient of House's or that she killed herself. Before shooting House he said "I was a patient of yours" not that his wife was. All the rest was hallucination. And, if House had talked to Jack while somebody was a patient in Diagnostics (so that House could tell the wife...) then Jack wouldn't have had to ask which one was Doctor House. That's the fascinating thing about the fact that the episode was mostly hallucination. Every time you think you've figured something out, you realize that House dreamt it.

if House had talked to Jack while somebody was a patient in Diagnostics (so that House could tell the wife...) then Jack wouldn't have had to ask which one was Doctor House. My god, you're right. How do we know his name is Jack btw? I don't remember it being mentioned in the episode. I wonder if not addressing the shooter's motive (no reason..) afterwards, was (and is) a creative decision, or made out of laziness. Did TPTB ever talk about it publically?

How do we know his name is Jack btw? We don't. His name was never given in the ep, as you said, but he was called Jack in the closed captioning and in the credits he's listed as Jack Moriarty. Another Sherlock Holmes' reference FTW! As for his motivation for shooting House, I remember an interview with DS where he said that it didn't matter because anyone who would shoot another person is crazy no matter what.

I always felt conflicted about this episode. I don't hate, but I'm far from love it. I found it... pretentious is the best definition I got. But also a little unemotional for the most part. I liked the Moriarty character and his insights about House (or I must say, I liked House's subconscious insights about himself), I liked their conversations and I liked the scenes between House and Wilson (even the punch), but other than that, it felt a very cold episode. I can't really explain why, so if anyone else feel the same way, I'd love to hear their reasons.

Bear with me, as this is one of my favorite episodes. I liked the Moriarty character and his insights about House (or I must say, I liked House's subconscious insights about himself), I liked their conversations and I liked the scenes between House and Wilson (even the punch), but other than that, it felt a very cold episode. I can't really explain why, so if anyone else feel the same way, I'd love to hear their reasons. Everything that happened was in House's mind (save for the very first and very last scenes, obv) so I think it's right that it felt very cold. House's brain is not going to be a warm, fuzzy place. I'm actually surprised that this episode seems to get little attention in analyses of the show: after all, it's the only episode we'll ever spend completely inside House's brain. His hallucinations give us a window into his subconscious: shows us that he feels some guilt for the way he treats people (imagining he's responsible for a woman's suicide and that a callous way he treated a patient destroyed her and her family's lives). He imagines that, to a good extent, being shot was what he deserved. It confirms that he has a lust for Cameron. And it shows us that his greatest fear is still having control over his own body taken away - only there's no Stacy around, so now it's Wilson he fears will betray him in that regard. Most importantly, Moriarty's speech is House's feelings about himself. It was the naked truth, because we're getting it straight from House's brain vs. emotions or manipulation that might color any revelations made consciously, out loud to others. And man, were those feelings bleak to say the least. In all the discussions about whether House is really depressed or suicidal, we know via his (Moriarty's) speech to himself that he has those feelings: "You turn the one decent thing in your life and you taint it, strip it of all meaning. You're miserable for nothing. I don't know why you'd want to live." All accompanied by the image of House imagining himself in a car, letting the carbon monoxide wash over him - perhaps thinking how easy it would be just to let go. Then, of course, he snaps out of it: right after that, he says, "I know what's wrong" and realizes he's in a hallucination. He makes a conscious and frantic choice to rejoin the living. So I love this episode for showing all facets of House. He really is depressed and miserable but no, it's not just because of his leg. He seems to truly loathe himself yet still has a fight in him not to be wholly self-destructive. He was given the ultimate destruction (death) handed to him on a silver platter and chose not to take it.

DrSpaceman, I would like to discuss the points you make in your post but I think it would be better in the Huge Ego, Sorry thread. Would you be willing to move it there?

Fine with me.