Did you see the Wilson/House scene when they were playing knock-hockey in this episode? And ode to the bloopers, if you get my drift...

If I hadn't read that Cameron and Chase weren't in the episode I wouldn't have noticed. Even after having that pointed out to me I can say I do not miss them. If Chase was in no way tied to Cameron, and he was a separate entity of the Wilson or Cuddy variety I would wish he got more screen time, but as long as he's shackled to Cameron (and her self-righteous smirk) I can't say it's a loss when he isn't in an episode. WORD to this and your whole post except I still think the blood type thing was weird. It's not weird that House knows, I would expect him to know, it was weird how he tried to cover it up, YMMV.

Anyone else here seen The Prestige? Loved that movie... I really enjoyed that the writers played with the idea that the 'magic' part of the trick is in the not knowing. As soon as you know how it's done, the 'magic' goes away. I enjoyed the contrast to what House does: as he says, the 'magic' is in knowing exactly how he got the diagnosis, because the diagnosis is all that matters. But I also think House can appreciate both sides - he does enjoy magic tricks, after all, even if it's only because they're cool tricks. The parallel to 13's story is interesting. HC is a terrible disease - barring contemplating having children, I don't know why anyone would want to know that they're going to die a horrible death, so I sympathize with her. In her case, the 'magic' really is in not knowing because it allows her to live her life more 'courageously'. I think House realized that he agreed with her. In her case, it really is better to not know because the 'trick' is worth more than the 'truth'. I see the comparison to Cameron's case, of course, but they are pretty different. Cameron had almost no probability of being sick, while 13 has a 50% chance. Plus, House had known Cameron before she had her scare, so knowing would basically restore her to her 'normal' self. On the other hand, House only knows 13 as she is - in a kind of limbo, not knowing whether she's going to die or not - maybe he doesn't want to change that. Random things I liked: "He trekked through the forest of crustaceans to bring us treasure." House's magic tricks The patient - I really liked him. Though I did hate his little psychoanalysis of House. I'm going to have to fanwank that the nurses really love to gossip about House to patients. The blood typing thing was all kinds of screwed up: you have antigens for the blood types that you are, and you make antibodies against types that you're not. AB+ people (like me!) make no antibodies and have A, B, and Rh antigens, so they can receive all blood types. While O- people make all the antibodies and no antigens, so can receive only O-. If the patient was making antibodies to both A and B antigens, he would've been typed O and given O blood. I think, anyway. It's been awhile since I've taught blood typing. edit: I think it is weird that House knew Wilson's blood type. It's not routine. I only know mine because I got typed when I was tested to be a marrow donor for my mom. No match :(

olivia720: It seems really OOC for 13 to have drugged House. Did she actually drug him? I thought, from the conversation with Cole before House regained consciousness, that she was trying to figure out who had done it. Sure, she didn't deny it when House accused her, but I figured that fit her previously established "selfless" personality - not taking credit for figuring out how to give the patient oxygen in "The Right Stuff" for example, or not trying to manipulate Cole into keeping her in the game in this episode. 13 doesn't bother me much at the moment, but I can see her possibly heading that way unless the writers tread lightly. And don't give her any more speeches like the one at the end of this episode - I just don't think OW is a strong enough actress to make it convincing that what she said could sway House from his usual hyper-curiosity. Really, the only actors on this show who can really nail the monologues are HL and RSL, and arguably LE and OE and JS, in my opinion. It's possible that they're planning on upping the original ducklings' involvement after this story arc is over, but at this point I kind of wonder why the actors are even under contract. If they can't figure out a good reason to keep them on the show, it'd probably be better to write them out and let the actors find other work. Or, hey, spinoff! Chase heads up his own diagnostic department at another hospital, Cameron goes along, and his team are Henry and Cole and (omitted for spoilers - the other to-be-eliminated wannabe). *I'd* watch.

Okay, I'm back and have now seen the whole thing. As I expected: Crapola. I hate speculating about Hugh. I obviously have no idea what's going on inside his head. But a small part of me can't help wondering if he didn't zip off to London abruptly after reading a few more of some really woeful scripts. I mean, seriously. What. The. Fuck. I'll start off by saying that I didn't particularly miss Cameron and Chase in this episode, either. At no point did I get distracted wondering when they might pop up in a rather obvious, forced way. But at the same time, since the overwhelming majority of episodes that I actually like on this show include those characters, maybe I really do miss them, whether they're germane to the story or not. Over the years reviewers have been rather fond of pointing out how Hugh carries the show. This is undoubtedly true, but even the great Hugh Laurie wouldn't have been capable of making this show fly without great supporting characters. I think I've probably given JS & JM short shrift in the past because I'm certainly not getting that same sense of enjoyment out of the people surrounding Laurie these days. Cuddy? Yeah, she's virtually dead. Once in a while she does something redeeming but then they keep managing to set the limbo bar lower for her character to slither under. Regardless of how badly Cuddy might have wanted to get rid of Kuttner (a sentiment told and not shown, btw) I'm trying to imagine in which universe season 1-3 Cuddy would have voluntarily given up her underwear to a fellow working at the hospital for 8 weeks. Last year I recall House lecturing Cameron to respect Cuddy's authority in Fetal Position and now we have him instructing fellows to steal her underwear. Okay. Likely this is all some big, long mating call from House to Cuddy but it is increasingly becoming not only embarassing but just plain unwatchable. Spare me from more scenes of Cuddy bending over in tight, tight clothing. Are there no adults around on set to call bullshit? I'm also seeing a Sara Hess trend....Spin and Sleeping Dogs Lie feature 2 of the 3 scenes that people who don't like Cameron get up in arms about. Perhaps the administration of vigilante medicine is less a Cameron thing and more a Sara Hess thing. Regardless, I found House's reactions to being drugged by his "team" completely unlikely. Unlikely in that he seemed perfectly okay with it. Again, there's 3 years worth of characterization tossed out the window. Can I also just add that I loved that they dosed him and did nothing to really control his environment? He could have crashed anywhere, landing on his bad leg, hitting his head on the table, whatever. Although those realities might not matter too much, given that House has become a comedy series. The comedy turn is what makes it more understandable as to why a character like Kuttner was written in. I guess I'm not on the Kal Penn love train. I'll be honest and admit that I've never seen him in anything else before--perhaps that's a requirement--but as a character on House, I don't think he's bringing anything at all interesting to the table. He strikes me not so much as a qualified doctor but a goofy sidekick. Consider me complete underwhelmed by 13 and her great mystery. And consider me naseauted by her "you're miserable" speech to House. Perhaps all this amazing insight from 13 into House's character happened off-screen. Otherwise, it was putting Wilson's words into 13's mouth without a whole lot of explanation as to why. Especially considering that from the newbie's perspective, House has been anything BUT miserable this season. More to say, but no more time. Alas, this show is making me very sad this year. It seems to me with each passing week they get more and more mired in the muck. I hope they can figure out some way to logically turn it around. As a side note, House might not need to put alot of pressure on his bad leg to propel the scooter, but he sure needs it to stop and get off of it. (Unless running into walls or toppling over is his preferred method of disembarking.) This season has been full of magical uses of House's supposedly bad leg. Really infuriating.

Did she actually drug him? I thought, from the conversation with Cole before House regained consciousness, that she was trying to figure out who had done it. Sure, she didn't deny it when House accused her, but I figured that fit her previously established "selfless" personality I think that in this case she was admitting it to him. I don't think there's any real question that she is the one that did it. Tit for tat. If they can't figure out a good reason to keep them on the show, it'd probably be better to write them out and let the actors find other work. There is nothing keeping them from working elsewhere in their time off. See: Jennifer Morrison in the new "Star Trek" film. I assume that once they've solidified their new team that the second half (assuming that there is a second half) will consist of them merging all of the people in House's life. Chase and Cameron will be to them what Wilson was to Chase and Cameron. Foreman will be their Cuddy. Everyone's roles will be more clearly defined and will lead up (again, assuming there's a second half of the season at all) to a climax of some sort in the last couple of episodes. I don't think they're flying blind and I really don't think they're just keeping Jesse and Jennifer under contract because they just don't feel like letting them go. Chase and Cameron are still a part of the PPTH world whether they're on screen or not and it's never really crossed my mind that there *wasn't* a plan to fold everyone back in together midseason.

I've watched the House /Wilson scene 5 times where blood type is discussed and I don't see the mystery. I don't think House actually knew (or in fact cares) what type blood Wilson has. It was a guess on his part. When House told Wilson he was type AB, Wilson sniped :"Of course you're AB - The universal recipient, you take from everyone". A digging reference to House's self centeredness and all it has cost Wilson over the years. With little thought, House then returned the snipe saying "And you're Type O - the universal donor. No wonder you're paying three alimonies". But then Wilson got all weirded out that House "knew" his blood type. House then twice denied "knowing" saying it was a guess "to fit the metaphor" which Wilson had begun. I think Wilson so totally buys into House's mystical diagnostic powers and/or his devious methods that he's reading way more into House's comments than is appropriate. Meanwhile House stays focused on his patient and has his epiphany. It was a lucky guess. That's how I read the scene.

Alas, this show is making me very sad this year. It seems to me with each passing week they get more and more mired in the muck. I hope they can figure out some way to logically turn it around. Excellent post. I hear ya bailey, although I did love Alone and Ugly. Very good point about how they dosed him and then didn't do anything to control his environment to prevent him from injuring himself. At least when he did it to Mark, House knew he'd be sitting down. Regarding Sara Hess - she did write two eps. that I do like - Finding Judas and Act Your Age.

The Kutner and Cole thing didn't seem forced to me; it also didn't seem to me like they were setting them up as "really good friends". We've seen hints all along of Cole being friendly with Thirteen, and he and Kutner are the only two younger guys left among the candidates, so it didn't seem odd to me that they might take an evening out together. I liked seeing it -- the characters' lives outside of the hospital are another thing that seems to have gotten lost this season (not that the original ducklings ever had much, but at least House did; have we seen his apartment at all this season?). Personal, non-plot-driven interaction between characters has also been rather lacking overall (though there've been a few exceptions), so it was nice to see the newbies relating to each other as people rather than just competitors. The babysitting/zoo bit did seem a bit sudden and random, but still believable given that Kutner is supposed to be the "overeager former foster kid" and Cole is supposed to be struggling as a single parent. And the ending scene felt just right to me -- Kutner seemed personally hurt, Cole seemed worried and regretful that he'd done a generally crappy thing but not overly concerned about Kutner personally. I don't think House "went back on his word" about Cole's immunity. Cole technically didn't fulfill all the requirements of the challenge, so it's debatable whether he'd earned his immunity. The deal did surprise me, though -- I expected Cole to win by getting one from Cuddy's house. I never heard House specify "the one she's wearing today", although he apparently meant it. I agree that the magic stuff, especially the interaction between House and the magician, was the best part, and they should have done more with it. I was a little torn going in, between wanting House proved right and wanting the show to leave open a little window that the magician was real, but they did manage to do both. But I definitely could have done with at least one more scene playing up the similarities and differences between House's magic and the patient's.

At least when he did it to Mark, House knew he'd be sitting down. They had him sitting in a chair in his office. House dosed Mark at a table in a restarant. House stood up because he's annoying and stubborn. Mark, just as annoying and stubborn, could have easily stood up at the table and fallen. House got lucky. The newbies didn't.

Thanks, Tenna. Really. :) Agree that last night's ep was the first time I ever felt like the show really had jumped the proverbial shark. IMHO it got quite close during the CIA chick arc, but between the thong and the lack of the old cast, this feels like a completely different show. It really did used to be more sophisticated, didn't it? That's not just our lofty imaginations, is it?