3.02 Cane & Able
From tv.com: House and the team treat a young boy who claims there is a tracking device in his neck and believes he has been the subject of alien experimentation. Cameron is outraged when she learns Cuddy and Wilson have been lying to House about the diagnosis on his last case.

This is a really disturbing episode. I hadn't watched it in full since it aired almost a year ago. Just got the DVD set yesterday and watched this ep today, and OH MY GOD it's depressing. Most of us have dim recollections of Wilson and Cuddy lying to House about Richard McNeil's Addison's Disease being cured by a cortisol injection. I know I dimly remembered this. But seeing this episode explains SO much of mid-to-late Season Three. Wilson's enabling and seeming doormat-y behavior looks pathetic when all you're watching and rewatching are the Tritter episodes or the post-Tritter episodes, but they're cast in a new light when you watch the pre-Tritter episodes. Wilson guilt-trips House like CRAZY, and it's totally nuts the way he's lying to him. The frustrating part is that the writers seem to have used the character of Wilson to further this plot point (about Cuddy teaching House humility and failing), and it actually makes the character kinda schizoid. It's hard to see the inconsistencies in Wilson's character because RSL is such a great actor, IMHO. But watching these episodes again makes me think very long and hard about the differences between the Wilson of S3 episodes 1-4 and Tritter-arc!Wilson. They're gigantic!

I think what creeped me out the most from this episode was the brain and the big "Chase staring right at you with a surgical mask" thing.

I think that while it may have started as a Wilson idea Cuddy however reluctantly was on board. When Cameron finds out about Viagfra crip, she goes and confronts Cuddy about it. Cuddy doesn't defend herself or the decision to tell House by saying it was Wilson's idea, she says, "He needs to learn humility." Not," Wilson thinks he needs to learn humility." So while the idea may have beenm Wilson's Cuddy was as equally liable.

I'm not saying Cuddy's blameless: it was a dumb idea. She should not have listened to Wilson. But to say that the writers decided to make Wilson schizoid to further a plot idea they had for Cuddy makes no sense at all. Especially when it is made clear to viewers that it's a Wilson idea that Cuddy went along with. Why does Cuddy have such a difficult time telling House the truth in the parking garage toward the end? Ostensibly she's going there to keep him from giving up on the kid. Cameron has already confronted Cuddy and (presumably) goes off to tell her again when House announces to the team that the kid should just be sent home. And yet that's not what Cuddy leads with in the parking lot. She's trying to hold on to that ridiculous lie as long as she possibly can. It's not until House figures out that something's up with her that she finally comes clean. Just because it was Wilson's idea doesn't mean it wasn't something that Cuddy agreed with. She didn't appear particularly conflicted to me when House was at her window explaining how he wanted to give the guy a cortisol shot. None of these moments looks good for her, IMO. Cuddy hiding behind the fact that it's Wilson's idea doesn't make her look like a strong character. She's supposed to be the Dean of Medicine. Nor does it equate with Cuddy's desire to later instill House with humanity in OD,OR or her taunting him with the parking space in Needle in a Haystack.

It was Wilson's idea but I don't recall him putting a gun to her head and forcing her to go along with it. She's his boss, she did not have to do anything he says. The fact that she did means that either she's just that weak or she agreed with him. Just thought I'd throw in my two cents. *runs away*

Simple. She trusts Wilson. She wants the plan to work. Wilson says this is a good plan because he knows House best, so Cuddy goes along with it. She gives up pretty damn easy if you ask me. Within, like, 3 minutes of talking to House? But I'm wondering, why does it have to be 3 minutes? She goes down to the garage knowing that the lie is a bust and that's its adversely affecting House. Why does she even attempt to string it along? What she does is further complicate matters by trying to spur House into thinking outside the box in risky ways---the exact opposite of what she was telling him just the week (?) before. And yes, turning down House when he recommended the cortisol shot was before the lie was revealed but presumably not before the lie was in place based on the conversation that she has with Wilson. Everything about their conversation makes it seem as if shutting House's unorthodox treatments down was their game plan. Wilson reminds her that she turned him down for a reason. (Granted, a really stupid reason given the conceit of this show, but whatever.)

It was Wilson's idea but I don't recall him putting a gun to her head and forcing her to go along with it. She's his boss, she did not have to do anything he says. ITA LMC. Cuddy knows how much Wilson is emotionally involved with House. She shoud be a little more smart (and competent) and didn't go along with such a stupid idea. The Lie was a low point in both characters profiles. *runs way with LMC*

Cuddy doesn't defend herself or the decision to tell House by saying it was Wilson's idea, she says, "He needs to learn humility." Not," Wilson thinks he needs to learn humility." Cuddy, unlike Wilson, didn't try to weasel her way out of her share of the blame by putting it on someone else. Which is how it would have appeared if she'd mentioned Wilson's part at all.

Quote: Cuddy doesn't defend herself or the decision to tell House by saying it was Wilson's idea, she says, "He needs to learn humility." Not," Wilson thinks he needs to learn humility." Cuddy, unlike Wilson, didn't try to weasel her way out of her share of the blame by putting it on someone else. Which is how it would have appeared if she'd mentioned Wilson's part at all. True, but we the viewers know it is a part of Wilson's plan, Cameron doesn't. Cameron is sitting there and chewing Cuddy out. Cuddy should have told her if for no other reason than to get her to back off.

She doesn't know the lie's a bust; she knows only what Cameron told her, so she goes to talk to House. Why does she attempt to string it along? Because lying to someone sucks and getting caught lying to someone also sucks. She tries to spur him on into taking risks, because I think at that point she knew their plan wasn't working. Knowing that House gets the successes that he does because he takes risks. She SHOULD know the lie's a bust because Cameron has told her twice. She knows that House is looking for easy solutions, is depressed and is in pain. (That much, she's seen for herself, although it seems she's so wrapped up in the lie that she doesn't want to believe what her own eyes are telling her. She even falls for House's most obvious lie about his level of pain.) Lots of viewers cheered when Cuddy snapped of Cameron "she's not so delightful as she thinks she is." I wanted to backhand Cuddy. She was so insanely wrong and so awfully damaging at the time. Actually, I don't even know what we're arguing about. I agree that Cuddy went along with the plan to lie to House because Wilson thought they should teach him some humility. She must have agreed. Maybe somewhat reluctantly, not because she doesn't think House could use more humility, but because I don't think she thought the plan would work or was ethical. I think Cuddy is responsible for the lie, but Wilson is more responsible. Well, we're not actually arguing, are we? I think were we differ on opinions in how much culpability Cuddy has. For me, I see her behavior as consistent with a pattern of controlling actions vis a vis House. As a viewer, it actually makes me quite uncomfortable on many levels. Or rather, it makes me uncomfortable with the implication in season 3 that not only is Cuddy this (sometimes) disturbing character, but that she's now also an object of romantic fixation.