3.15 Half-Wit

Or, since if he suddenly disappeared for a couple of days he'd have had a headache dealing with questions after the fact. So hide in plain sight & if Cameron asks about the mail he can just say he's going to give a lecture. The problems starts when Cameron doesn't ask - maybe assuming he's going to lie? - and goes off on the wild goose chase. I suspect they all assume he's going to lie. And if he fed them the excuse that he's going to a lecture they'd really know something strange was afoot since House has made it clear that he doesn't do speeches. If CCF thought that was the case, they'd probably all be booking tickets to Boston to see it happen. :-) But it is funny that Cameron doesn't ask why he's going to Boston and then Cuddy jumps straight into "I'm going to blackball his any and all future job prospects" mode versus just asking him if he's looking for another job and what she'd have to do to keep him at PPTH. One thing that struck me about Cameron in this ep is the astounding panic she goes into over House possibly moving from PPTH - and by extension her. I really don't buy that it was about her needing to find a job, its really about her need for a relationship with House and to understand that he can be quite that callous about her as part of her evolution to where she can walk away in Human Error (part of which is the following PPTH sexage - as in "well, if you don't want me, I'll show you I don't want you either"). Then again, who wants to be stuck in Jersey if they don't at least like their job? :wink: Re Chase, I thought the writers did a nicely subtle job of the parallels between the situation with Rowan & House not telling Chase about their real/fake illnesses & yes, his reaction was sincere (goodness knows why he likes House, but its that same thing he mentions in Cursed, you still love your father no matter what they lie about. I thought they did, too. Personally, I didn't need to see follow-up for Chase because I thought Chase's scenes were follow-up to Finding Judas, at the very least. Other than Singapore. True, although that burst of travel was post-Half Wit, so no one would have taken that into consideration. Not to mention, House probably wasn't going to go to a global conference without Cuddy babysitting him.

I thought they did, too. Personally, I didn't need to see follow-up for Chase because I thought Chase's scenes were follow-up to Finding Judas, at the very least. I agree. Chase's evolution has been with really wonderful call backs to previous important moments. I didn't think we needed any more follow up with Chase than the scene in The Jerk where Chase shows how well he can read House, and House acknowledges that one reason he hired Chase was his sharp intuition. Chase would be able to figure out House's real interest in the study and not judge him for it.

Or, alternately, his deception could have been established once he was enrolled in the program and he could have been persecuted for fraud. Really? Is that legally fraud? I'm curious. It's certainly messing with a clinical trial, AGAIN, which as a researcher annoys the hell out of me (and it's all about me, of course). Chase would be able to figure out House's real interest in the study and not judge him for it. Assuming that "House's real interest in the study" was chronic pain treatment, which again is not canon. It wasn't mentioned on the show during the ep or afterwards, or even on the DVD commentary. I'm not saying that it's wrong, I'm saying it's not a given fact. We can believe it, but we don't know it.

Quote: Or, alternately, his deception could have been established once he was enrolled in the program and he could have been persecuted for fraud. Really? Is that legally fraud? I'm curious. It's certainly messing with a clinical trial, AGAIN, which as a researcher annoys the hell out of me (and it's all about me, of course). Yes, it is. As a patient in a trial in return for not paying cash for the drugs/medical care etc, the patient agrees to provide all their relevant medical history (past & future, on going tests etc) and that it is all theirs, completely accurate & contains no material omissions. Basically, the patient (House) is then misrepresenting material facts as an inducement to the people running the trial to provide medical services & include them in the trial. That's the fraud, and its not difficult to go after a patient if this happens. The patient usually has to sign a big honking warranty as part of the documents that acknowledges that if they provide fraudulent information the drug company (or hospital for physician-sponsored INDS) has the right to seek damages from the patient & that the patient is automatically liable. Given the risks (you're sick, you lose your house etc etc), its rare that this happens though. Most patients aren't House & able to even attempt to fake their way into trials like this.

Chase would be able to figure out House's real interest in the study and not judge him for it. Assuming that "House's real interest in the study" was chronic pain treatment, which again is not canon. It wasn't mentioned on the show during the ep or afterwards, or even on the DVD commentary. I'm not saying that it's wrong, I'm saying it's not a given fact. We can believe it, but we don't know it. I think it's not something everyone is going to view the same, but despite the ambiguity on this show, we all at some point are making decisions for our own readings and going forward with them, unless the writers give us info that definitely contradicts our view. I think the evidence that House was interested in chronic pain management at that point in time is strong enough for me to accept it and therefore to assume that Chase could put it together. I know others may not, but I'm prepared to go with it. If we wait for indisputable concrete facts on this show, we'll all be old and grey with canes of our own before we know anything about anything :D . I freely admit that there are other reading possible.

I just rewatched this episode and have a few thigns to ask: ~ Do you think House went into the restaurant at the end of the episode? It's nice that he took Wilson's words to heart and was (apparently) going to enter the restaurant to 'reach out' and spend time with the ducklings, but I can't imagine CCF allowing him to sit with them after the stunt he pulled. ~ Was House's unfinished piano piece really an original piece? Just thought I'd add that I liked Wilson's speech at the end of the ep. (I noticed a few posters on the first page said they didn't like it). I'm a fan of Wilson so I may be biased, but that bizarre laugh he gets when he's really pissed off fascinates me because its so out-of-character. How does the saying go?- 'Men who laugh when they're angry are secretly insane?' (or something to that effect). It's like, any minute I'm expecting him to finally snap and start throwig punches at House! LOL

On the first element, I think they intentionally left that scene open to interpretation, rather than specifically show him going inside. However, while I go back and forth as to whether he went in, I think the very act of considering going in was a step forward for him. As to the second ... in the DVD commentary, they said that the piece House played was something that the music supervisor had written when he was a teenager to impress girls, but he'd never finished it. For the show he pulled out the piece and did so.

I rewatched this and I have to say that, aside from the way Cameron was written :wacko:, this remains one of the most brilliant episodes of the series. I think the first time I watched it, my expression probably matched Cameron's as she said, "You FAKED cancer?" A very long period of time passed for me between being really surprised again by anything House did. I think that the faking cancer plot was one of the most brilliant, wretched, uniquely House-like things he ever did. I loved Chase in the episode. Jesse gave a wonderful performance, especially in the scene with House and Wilson where he had to have just enough of a catch in his voice on the word "cancer" and just enough pain in his eyes to make it believable that House would know that he knew about the cancer. That scene wouldn't have worked with a less expressive actor. I loved the hug because it was a significant and sincere gesture. I also loved that Chase pressed on and found whatever it was that shouldn't have been there that let them find the real diagnosis for the patient. It was a great twist that House had trained a team that could foil his scheme.

Did anyone else catch the fact that House was getting the patient to give up his gift for a more normal, happier life? Interpretation?

Yes. That was pretty much the point of the episode! The patient's gift was a fortuitous accident. His father was pretty old and the son was dependent upon him for everything. Was the son happy with his gift? It was all he knew. The removal of part of his brain caused the removal of the gift, but allowed the son to do other things he was previously unable to do, and hopefully not be so dependent on his father. This presumably led to greater happiness. Are you asking whether this has any relevance for House's life?

Yeah that. I mean it's a similar theme to the ketamine experiment isn't it? What's the significance?

Yeah that. I mean it's a similar theme to the ketamine experiment isn't it? What's the significance? Quite a few of House's episodes play around with the idea of the value of normality. John Henry Giles talked to House about being alone but having a gift back in the first season. House, of course, has questioned for years the value of Vicodin and pain relief v. genius (Painless, Softer Side and Help Me are just three examples from multiple seasons.) Last season there was the genius physicist who preferred to numb his mind and be "normal." It's one of the central themes of the show and the character, I think, that continual questioning about the price of genius, the value of happiness, the pleasure of normality.

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