4.15 House's Head

I believe Cuddy sent House home with a nurse (and a guard, and an IV and blood pressure machine) because if he was at the hospital, even as a patient, he'd still be running around trying to solve the case. Still, if a guy's bleeding from his ears, you don't send him home. Stick him in a hospital room with a lockable door and security guard if necessary, but you don't send him home. Also, although it didn't occur to me that most of the ep could be a hallucination, I did originally think that the first scene with the nurse was a hallucination. The oddness of it, these strangers in House's home, the fact that it wasn't immediately recognizable (at least to me) as House's apartment, the vaguely-Stephen-King-like nurse in street clothes, the fact that after collapsing House woke up there with neither he nor the audience knowing how he got there... it all just seemed unreal. Plus, Wilson had no reason to think anything was wrong with Amber. <snip> As far as he knew, up to when House remembered, she was safe at work. Sure, for the first several hours. Up to the time of the crash, Wilson could have assumed she was safe at work. Then, say, he got distracted with House being injured, didn't notice her not at home because he wasn't at home, and didn't think about her again until the next day (he tells House in the ER that the accident happened "last night", so I'm assuming the ER scene took place in the early morning). Then, for another 8 hours or so, he could assume she was safe at work. And then.... what about that evening? My impression was that the reenactment was supposed to be the next day, with two full nights between it and the crash. And Wilson wasn't hovering over House that whole time, and he supposedly lives with the woman. You'd think in all that time he'd notice her absence. House was able to remember that the necklace was made out of a resin but not that it's amber? I took both the "resin" and "ointment" as signs that he didn't want to remember, that some part of him was refusing to recognize the obvious. The fun for this summer will be debating why. I also think the hypnosis scene tells us all we need to know about SPOILER whether House and Amber were sleeping together: I can't even have a conversation with you in my subconscious without her butting in. Kutner: House's skull fracture extends all the way down to his ear canal. Yeah, that's a weirdness. Normally, they throw all sorts of medical stuff up into the air, on the assumption that most of the audience won't notice the medical errors, and most of us don't, and all is well. If TPTB need us to understand some of the medicine, they do an exposition dump. In this episode, though, they were throwing things at us that most of the audience would surely think are horribly important -- bleeding from his ears, an apparently huge skull fracture -- and beyond telling him to shut up and rest, everyone seems to brush it off, with no explanation for the audience's benefit about why we shouldn't be worried. It was just... odd. I don't think it was all a hallucination, but if I did think that, I'd be pointing at this as one of the proofs.

I thought House was on the bus cause he was too drunk to ride his bike, so if Amber was with him, couldn't she drive? How did she get to the bar? did he pick her up on his bike? Yeah Olivia, why would House even want to spend time with Amber outside of work? If they were together in the bar what did they discuss? Was the tone of the conversation so unpleasant to House that he needed to get drunk to cope with it? Anwers! I need them now!

Mod Note While we appreciate everyone's enthusiasm about House, I would like to remind all members of HHoW that while we can link to sites that discuss and/or give information about the show (such as IMDb, Fox, etc...), we really shouldn't link to sites that provide access to copyrighted material that is posted against copyright laws. Even though we all do it, we all also supported the writers during the strike earlier this year. By linking to the illegal streams online, all we're doing is keeping those writers from paying their medical bills, buying food for their children, etc.... Legal internet streams of this episode will become available online next Tuesday both on Fox.com and Hulu.com, the latter being a commercially sponsored legal site that has contracted with the networks to stream various shows online. If you are unsure of the legality of a link, please feel free to PM a moderator to check it over before posting. edited by arizonamyrie 7:47 am, May 13, 2008

I also think the hypnosis scene tells us all we need to know about SPOILER whether House and Amber were sleeping together: I can't even have a conversation with you in my subconscious without her butting in. Okay, I'm dense. Does it tell us that he was or wasn't?

Maybe she came into the bar for some reason totally unrelated to House (doesn't explain why she wasn't at work though) and while they're both there, they have some argument, he leaves to take the bus, she follows to continue the argument. And, maybe that's another reason he blocked her, because she wouldn't have been on the bus if it wasn't for him? And, since that's not a rational belief, he probably rejected that from his subconscious, and forgot her along with it. Or I'm barking up the wrong tree. It's been known to happen :roll: But again House says he followed her so she was the reason he got on the bus. We can't be sure it was in the bar or whether House saw Amber on the street after he left the bar and instead of getting on his bike he followed her to the bus. If they did run into each other at the bar and fought why would Amber who was on call so probably wasn't drinking get on the bus instead of going to her car? Wasn't she due back at work? Slow way to get there.

We also don't know why House was in the bar getting drunk so early or if or how that will play into things. His best friend's abandoned him for CTB, leaving him to the degradation of bowling with wombats -- who are better bowlers than he is. And this week he didn't have a soap star to distract himself with. Does he need another reason? while they're both there, they have some argument, he leaves to take the bus, she follows to continue the argument. And, maybe that's another reason he blocked her, because she wouldn't have been on the bus if it wasn't for him? I like that theory. Based on the hypnosis scene, I can easily believe that she showed up at the bar, and she seems more likely to follow him than the other way around at this point, IMO. Okay, I'm dense. Does it tell us that he was or wasn't? Well, outside of the crash scene, when she'd just become a patient, a fellow survivor, and a Wilson-heartbreak-in-the-making, House doesn't express anything about or to Amber other than his frustration over losing Wilson and a teeny tiny bit of his usual objectification of women. It's Wilson who comes up with the (IMO, ridiculous) notion that House has "feelings" for her beyond a simple "yeah, she's hot, big deal". I can't see his reaction to her appearance in the bar as that of someone who's slept with her. On the House-bisexuality front: What was the line, you want to see everyone naked? Noticeably not "all women naked"? I was very happy that Hadley chose House over Cuddy. Now that she's been named onscreen, can we please stop with the silly 13 business?

Didn't he also say the bartender took his keys away so he couldn't drive? Or was that a mistaken memory of his?

Ok, I vehemently argued at first that the entire episode was a hallucination/dream-state, except for the actual bus crash. I just watched the whole thing again, and I'm backing off that theory, despite all the weird stuff that Bedawyn points to as evidence that it was possibly all hallucination. I now do think that the dreams are indeed interspersed among scenes of reality. This came to me toward the end of the episode. House gets into bed at home, and Cuddy turns off the light in his room. He goes to sleep, and then he "wakes up" and walks out to the living room, but he's not limping. So that's clue #1 that he's dreaming here. And it's not Cuddy sleeping in the living room; it's the mystery woman in black. That's clue #2. So of course he's dreaming here. And what I did not notice the first time around is that there are strobe-y lights flashing during that scene.... just like in the hypnosis/hallucination bus scenes. So, he talks to the mystery woman, ties up her leg. Then, he wakes up again and goes out to the living room again—limping. Clue #1 that this time it's real. And it is Cuddy sleeping there this time. Clue #2 that it's real. And the lighting is normal; there are no strobe lights flashing. So I think that the strobe lights are the key. Strobe lights=hallucination Regular lighting=reality (The first time I watched, I didn't notice the strobes anywhere except during the bus hypnosis scenes. I thought the strobes were there just to indicate bus accident/nighttime/emergency vehicle lights.) Maybe someone mentioned this already, but I hadn't noticed. Or maybe it was so obvious that it didn't need to be pointed out for most people, and I'm just now getting it! :lol: I still don't think House and Amber were having an affair. But I am insanely curious about why they were on the bus together. The bus crash scene was horrific and very realistic-looking. It's absolutely terrifying, even more so upon second viewing. Really amazing job all-around by everybody on this show.

there has to be a reason house and amber were on the bus... the mysterious lady said that "technically you're stalking me" hmm..

Didn't he also say the bartender took his keys away so he couldn't drive? Or was that a mistaken memory of his? You are right Bessie Mae. We may have to wait to see if that was an acurate memory or not, I think it may be but it could have been another way for House to avoid remembering Amber and then Amber was in that memory. Trying to "make" him remember her. So then perhaps House headed out of the bar and he saw Amber on the street, he followed her and got on the bus with her. Otherwise House could have called a cab.

AMBER! Nooo! I'm going to cry if they kill her off. That was an amazing episode. I loves all the trippy flashbacks and everything, and even though I don't ship Huddy, I thought the Cuddy-staying-at-House's-appt scene was really nice, and the pole dancing thing made me laugh. As did a lot of things on the episode. And I spent the entire Chase hypnosis scene going "Squeeee!" because that was really cool.

Absolutely fantastic. I loved it. I wasn't spoiled at all, and I was riveted, my stomach in knots. Have to watch it again to digest it all, but so much goodness. And what really gets me is that this is the ep we were supposed to get in early Feb. In terms of how TPTB planned the season, this fit so well--thematically--reality/illusion now the main theme instead of embedded--and I've no doubt next week hope will feature prominently--and also emotionally. One of the characteristics of the Survivor arc was that we had far fewer invitations into House--it introduced the main themes of the season, but in a more philosophical way. I suspected the second half of the season would look at them more emotionally, and wow, this ep certainly delivers. I think the main issue with the way this season has unfolded was the interruptions, reshuffling and truncation of the planned season. Man, if the strike had not interfered, and this was just the half way mark, with eps like Frozen still to come . . . on the other hand, these last two eps seem like perfect season ender, so I guess everything happens for a reason! I certainly can see why DS fought so hard to get these last four eps on the air. There was such a vision for this season, and stopping part way through just doesn't work.

there has to be a reason house and amber were on the bus... the mysterious lady said that "technically you're stalking me" hmm.. Good call. That sounds like a big hint. He followed Amber to that bar, she upset him and he got too drunk to drive .. . but then why would she be on the bus? oh fck it I have no idea!

SPOILER Aaaahhh...so House has to donate a kidney to Amber? They wouldn't go that far, would they? I liked this epi a LOT. Loved it, really. Need to rewatch to fully take it all in. If Amber was on call, and House was drunk...how the heck do they wind up on the same bus together? SPOILER I don't think they're secretly seeing each other. I'm wondering if he sees something in her medically (at a chance meeting? Or maybe he goes to their place to confront her about Wilson) and talks her into going to the hospital? But the bus? I don't know...weirdness there. Ok, so House's heart stopped yet AGAIN?!?!?! I have a hard time believing Wilson would ask House to risk his life for anyone when he was so recently nearly angry with House for not taking it easy after the bus accident.

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