I DO miss the Clinic hours -- the reference to them merely reminded us of what we've been missing. Yeah, using them every week as the spark for the POTW diagnosis got old. But there were also some great moments (remember the Chinese mom & daughter with the BCPs and cold meds?). I don't need to see it every week, but occasionally this season would be nice. Someone above pointed out that, in the early seasons, House said aloud what most of us think but are too polite to say aloud. I just loved that! Now -- and this ep was a case in point -- he seems to make comments just to be a jerk. That said, I do LIKE (yes, like something) that, beginning w/the end of last season and into this one, they are trying to show that House has a good reputation -- at least for diagnostics -- outside of PPTH. And, I think that, through Foreman especially, they're trying to show that House actually is a good teacher. The process may be painful, but his students do learn something in the process and ultimately become better doctors on many levels. What has (to date) been sacrificed are House's interpersonal relationships (Wilson, in particular) and dealing with his Vicodin issues and leg issues. I understand that you can only go to the well so many times, but it's as it they have forgotten so much of what made the show great to begin with rather than using that as a foundation and building from there. Here we are at episode 6 and I'm not sure where this show is going. :? Hi ggo85 - As per my post on the last page, can you please take this to the Season 4 General Discussion thread? Thanks so much, Fiddy xo

So, I liked this one, and that was all because of the final scene. The sexual innuendo was awful, but I think that House uses it to keep women, especially those he could be attracted to, at a distance. I mean which intelligent, attractive woman would fall for that? It is a sure way to scare them away, and that's what he's counting on. When this does not succeed, like in this epi, he is totally confused and out of his depth.

So little to say, so much time.... :( Yeah pretty much what most people said....a few reply comments: I watched MM in Homicide and ER and thought she was awful in both for all the same reasons I thought she was awful here: bland bland bland. She never opens her eyes all the way, she doesn't move her lips when she speaks and her intonation lacks expression, she moves like a zombie on valium and to me she's not even pretty. I actually thought she was better with HL than most else I've seen her in--I think he has that effect of people?--but that didn't make her good... I don't understand the position that House got it wrong and still got the credit...but I think a couple people explained it the way I see it too. For the first time I actually like CTB and Taub and 69 were some of my favorite things in the episode. Still don't find 13 and her little reveal about the agent not "packing" to be interesting. I'm like, yeah, who cares? So much Foreman was made only slightly tolerable by the fact that at least he he was an ass and seen to be an ass. Wilson's cameo was fun... I too did not hate Cameron though I still can't understand her attitude about Foreman stabbing her. I think her explanation for what has been going on wrt her involvement in House's team (insight prompted by Chase) is plausible and hope accurate rather than her still being "in love" with House. For me, the best thing in the episode was Chase's scene. JS brought the character depth and intensity and sheer acting ability the rest of the ep lacked. Not that HL or RSL didn't perform their parts with their usual skill and talent, they did, but only Chase's scene seemed like House classic rather than House light to me. He gave a very nuanced performance imo, showing that while Cameron thinks their relationship is all light and fine and playful, Chase still has some serious distrust and issues about her committment to him vs House but he presented it to her in such a way that she could take it personally or professionally and she chose the latter. But whether Cam is still romantically hung up on House or not, it's still an issue for Chase. This scene also showed that Chase is not completely removed from House's orbit, he has distanced himself in a way neither Cameron nor Foreman has. (Though with tonight's insight, Cam may be getting there.) None of the original ducklings has completely resolved their relationship with House/leaving the fellowship but only Chase didn't seem to be in a really superficial place with it. Or maybe I just love Chase and JS.... :blushing: I don't understand how people are saying "yay kickass Cuddy is back and calling House on his shit" when actually, he told her the truth--he was at the CIA--and she dismissed it as "shit" and punished him for it.... :huh?: To me, that shows Cuddy is just blowing hot air and doesn't really have a clue what is really going on but pretends she does anyway and using her power to punish without knowing whether it is really merited or not. Cuddy punishing House for what she mistakenly assumes is a pack of slacker, goofing off lies but which we know is the truth (and which I suspect House knew she would not believe) doesn't make Cuddy look good or kickass or powerful--it makes her look like a deluded, shrill, tin god waving her punishment stick in the face of a House wiser and wilier than she is. Obviously JMHO and YMMV.

Chase may have adequate reason to question why she continually seeks House out, but I think that Cameron truly is over House romantically. The intensity of that experience, as negative as it was at times, seems to have functioned like a drug that she will crave at times in the future, even knowing how destructive it can be. Like vindaloo curry? :blink: I don't understand how people are saying "yay kickass Cuddy is back and calling House on his shit" when actually, he told her the truth--he was at the CIA--and she dismissed it as "shit" and punished him for it.... To me, that shows Cuddy is just blowing hot air and doesn't really have a clue what is really going on but pretends she does anyway and using her power to punish without knowing whether it is really merited or not. Cuddy punishing House for what she mistakenly assumes is a pack of slacker, goofing off lies but which we know is the truth (and which I suspect House knew she would not believe) doesn't make Cuddy look good or kickass or powerful--it makes her look like a deluded, shrill, tin god waving her punishment stick in the face of a House wiser and wilier than she is. Obviously JMHO and YMMV. And wouldn't ya think that if the CIA wanted to borrow House, they'd clear it with his BOSS? Yeah, secrecy and all, but still ... just sayin'.

Like vindaloo curry? Ha. No. Stacy talked about craving House. I suggested in my post that Cameron would crave the experience of being a fellow, diagnosing and treating some of the most interesting and baffling medical cases under extreme pressure and time constraints.

I almost forgot this, but in an episode with references to continuity: "Only one assassination attempt" for "No Reason," and the tainted needle, we also had a reference to Lady, the maid from Season Two. When House was told that "John" had been in Bolivia, he wondered who'd want to kill anyone there -- except for his former maid. Hee. And I enjoyed that despite the fact that it negated my fic about Lady -- and consoling myself over the implication that House is familiar with Brazil, since I had him visit Brazil in an earlier fic.

Watched this episode again this morning as I got ready for work and I liked it even more than on first viewing. House was so light on his feet literally, (no Vicodin in sight, right?) so fluid and funky with his relentless flirting, so soulful and troubled in the softer moments with the CIA patient. I adored the fact that the ultimate twist in this episode was that while PPTH was rife with skulduggery, betrayals, poisonings, and deceit, the CIA was relatively straight-forward and simple. Even House's hilarious and rude flirtation was part of the unabashed directness of the CIA scenes where there was in fact no conspiracy at all and stood in high contrast to the conniving and treachery of every one of the candidates back at good old PPTH. I absolutely loved all of the rapid-fire reversals of the last few moments of this show, I was completely surprised by each of them: -- I had no idea that Brennan had been such a nasty double-dealer throughout the episode. I guess we got a strong foreshadowing hint from House at the conclusion of "Mirror,mirror" when he told Brennan that if he didn't stop believing in ideals, he would end up crazy. Which is pretty much what happened. On watching again, the staging of each scene with the candidates also hinted effectively at Brennan's position as a renagade. In almost each scene, he is standing apart from the others and in the final, rather ugly confrontation, he towers menacingly over the seated cowering Foreman. Watching again, it is easier to see that Brennan is consistently singled out and set apart by his body language and scornful facial expressions just like Judas in those medieval paintings of the Last Supper. Still the betrayal came as a satisfying shock. I loved that TPTB could pull this one off so effectively. -- Nor did I have any idea that House would so stoutly and definitively support Foreman at the end. I had assumed that House would chide Foreman for having lost control of the candidates (even though House spent all of "Mirror, mirror" working hard to ridicule and undermine Foreman's authority). Instead, he pointed out with utter simplicity that Foreman was right all along and that since he was in charge, it was the job of the candidates to follow his lead not challenge it. This was quite a welcome surprise coming from the master of rebelliousness. But I think House's point was that where Foreman had earned the right to challenge House over the years of their work together, the candidates had not reached that level at all. Their rebellion was in the petulant form of schoolchildren facing a substitute teacher rather than the informed challenges of professionals. -- I also was surprised to see Michael Michele turn up at the end to make House an offer he may not be able to handle. I loved all of their flirting and heated euphemisms, but I did not see how she could interpret his reference to "learning new techniques in a fellowship under him" as a serious job offer. I believe that maybe she was giving House a graceful way out of his disconcerting dilemma when she saw the marvelously conflicted face he pulled upon discovering her. I think she came to take up his offer of a romance, but skillfully changed her approach when she saw his reaction. I was so tickled with the way the lousy doctor brought in by the CIA acted as a perfectly horrid third wheel on the House/Michael bicycle! This was especially evident in their final corridor walk when we first see the two kids exchanging ramped up sexual euphemisms. Then there is the funny camera pull back to see that the other doc is tagging along behind, whining about the flirtation! Michael did seem to get House quite rapidly. She appreciated his direct appeals and correctly understood them as not really so crude as he might have hoped they would appear at first. She also got that his being right was more important than anything else and she warmed the cockels of his heart (as well as other parts) with her declaration to this effect at the elevator before his departure. I was distressed to see Cameron getting into the middle of things again, but glad that she seemed to absorb Chase's advice and come to a realization about her unfinished business with House and his team. I don't think that RSL can get any better with his hilariously nuanced performance in even the slimmest scenes -- his outraged befuddlement is priceless. I think that Cuddy did indeed get that House's parting non sequiter about being able to kill a man with his thumb was in fact some kind of wierd sexual metaphor. Her retort put him in his place nicely and set up the following scene in which his fantasies about Michael seem to be coming true. Hugh blinking in wonderment at the lovely vision in front of him was a masterful scene. This scene, with its blindingly rapid emotional shifts was a glorious piece of acting on Hugh's part. And I thought he was well supported by MM throughout. She was surprisingly subtle and effective in this episode, I thought. Now as the season unfolds, House seems to be strengthening his positive sense of himself as a man, widening the scope of his professional reach, burnishing his reputation, reshaping his relationship with Foreman in a supportive and positive direction, cheerfully chiding Wilson about being his Jiminy Cricket-conscience, and reasserting his dominance generally. The game-show search for new fellows seems to have energized and motivated him. I don't think House is becoming a frolicking extrovert, the life of the party is not ever going to be his stance. But he is cautiously re-evaluating how he moves through the world and how its rude and buffeting winds affect him. Maybe all that fevered flirting with Michael was a revving up of his engine, testing the machine, taking the neglected jalopy out for a spin to see if it still has a kick. If a babe as overwhelmingly hot at Michael could be attracted by his off-kilter approach then this gives him renewed hope that his mojo is still working.

But I did find Chase's accusation that Cameron is way involved in House's new team to be a bit off. It's not like he's been Mr.-Rise-Above-It-All, he's been fairly involved in team-forming efforts himself. Aside from dropping by the OR observatory to offer up an unrequested consult in "The Right Stuff" to helping out CTB/men's team in "97 Seconds" to running the bet in "Mirror Mirror"---Chase ain't exactly leaving it all behind, either Dammit, Bailey, I was just logging on to point this out and you beat me to it. Once again, I end up sounding like your groupie. :lol: Question: Was Cuddy's blouse all the way unbuttoned in her last scene, or did it merely seem that way? :roll: I spent at least 10 minutes trying to figure out why the other doctor visiting the CIA looked so familiar. I finally realized he played Tom Everett Scott's dad in "That Thing You Do!" He's great at sarcasm. I watched the episode again last night and fast-forwarded through nearly all House's scenes because he was so obnoxious, although I loved and re-watched his last three scenes. If he had merely made the double entendre about "a place on my staff," I would probably have chuckled, just as I did when he made the remark to 13 about holding his "metaphor." "A place on my penis" just sounded terribly crude to me. My daughter and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes and turning up our noses. I realize House is not a subtle person, but he's usually not that obnoxious. If he needs to get laid that badly, I hope the CIA woman will provide that service before she quits, and then House can go back to his normal level of vulgarity. I'm not crazy about MM. House has beautiful expressive eyes which contrast sharply with her dead eyes, in my opinion. Oh wow! I got censored! I did not type "little Jimmy." :oops:

Oh wow! I got censored! I did not type "little Jimmy." Not just you, LogicalLilly - all of us. The board has automatic censors. :-) Thank you for such a lovely and thoughtful recap of the episode, blacktop. You've given me a lot to think about - it's nice to see the episode from a fresh perspective.

It makes me sad that the weak link of this episode was the House-centered plot, because otherwise it was pretty solid - all of the mini-ducks were interesting and likable (well, with one obvious exception), as were the original ducklings. Not nearly enough Wilson, but, you know, that's every episode, and he was entirely great in every scene he had. It makes sense that since Foreman is (presumably) sticking around for the long haul he'd need a redemptive episode and I think this was it. And can I say, I kind of love season 4 Cameron? She was adorable and charming and fun with Chase and...I have nothing negative to say about her this season so far, at all. Yay! Although her sitting around with Foreman being all "lolz remember that time you tried to kill me? Ah, memories," was weird. Between that and psycho!new duckling telling Foreman he needed to realize he could be wrong, I have to wonder if they were consciously getting meta about all the things about Foreman that'd bothered fans in the past. As for the House + CIA part...yeah, kind of made of fail. Dear House creative types: it's nice that you're not making the show as punishingly bleak as it sometimes got last year, but I think you may be overcorrecting. Theory to make that plot more palatable: CIA chick taking a job at the hospital could be an excuse to investigate whether they should recruit him for a job with their organization, right? It would make more sense than someone immediately leaving a job with a top-secret classification to take a job with a pay-and-title cut, that was offered almost entirely in jest by a guy who was mostly just hitting on you. And otherwise, Wilson saying to House "they investigated you, they investigated everyone around you" was kind of an odd throwaway line. If it doesn't happen, I donate that plotbunny to you, internet!

Theory to make that plot more palatable: CIA chick taking a job at the hospital could be an excuse to investigate whether they should recruit him for a job with their organization, right? It would make more sense than someone immediately leaving a job with a top-secret classification to take a job with a pay-and-title cut, that was offered almost entirely in jest by a guy who was mostly just hitting on you. And otherwise, Wilson saying to House "they investigated you, they investigated everyone around you" was kind of an odd throwaway line. If it doesn't happen, I donate that plotbunny to you, internet! I don't think I could buy any of that. It's kind of...random. More random than usual. My opinion is that they've added another unhappy person to the mix, whether it was just for last week, for a couple of weeks or indefiniately. Afterall, House's team, past and present, is a bit of an Island of Misfit Toys. Sometimes all people need is one tiny little piece of encouragement to dump their lives and move on from a stifling, stagnant situation. Ironically, that's why Cameron left but MM will probably learn that if she really is sticking around. Whether House really has a job for her or not, I don't have any doubt that he'd make one for her and either way, assuming that she really did need to get away from the CIA gig for her own well being, she might not care about the outcome so long as she was anywhere but "there". And the Cuddy that we saw last night (which was a very disappointing Cuddy) would probably jump through hoops to sign the former CIA doc. That's something to brag about at the "people who run hospitals but don't notice when a helicopter lands on top of them" meetings, right?

I thought this ep was the best of the season, although it's a little too light for me. I really didn't know the ending to the CIA mystery at all - the twists were really good tonight. I thought a lot of the stuff was legitimately funny, and even the sexual humor was amusing. Much more amusing than the laxatives. I agree, that love interest seems a bit much. Too crowded already.

we also had a reference to Lady, the maid from Season Two. When House was told that "John" had been in Bolivia, he wondered who'd want to kill anyone there -- except for his former maid. Hee. I thought he said "housekeeper", so I never even associated that with Lady. If you're right, that's a really good catch. OT, but I love that the automatic censor changes it to "Little Jimmy", of all things.