4.15 House's Head

Just noticed what an excellent thing the producers (or whomever) did...the fit all the commercials in towards the beginning and middle of the episode so that the last bit was one long, continuous piece of story. Brilliant idea. Usually longer commercials are reserved for the end, knowing viewers will wait through them to see the end of their show. Just goes to show how good House is...they moved the commercials earlier, knowing how gripping and good the ending was. A side note...I just finished watching it again but this time with my sis and her bf...neither watch House. Both were so into it that at the end of the show, they were asking when they should be here next Monday so they won't miss it. Love fresh converts! LOL

I would just like to let y'all know that I was innocently driving to work. Japan is known for its narrow roads. I was turning and this bus was right there on this narrow road, and... all I could think about was this episode. Thanks, House, for scarring me for life. I used to just be worried I'd get one of the diseases on the show. Now I'm worried about buses. *g*

Another thought about the episode: when House first sees the Answer, he says: "you weren't on the bus." Maybe that's true. Maybe she wasn't on the bus, maybe she was in the SUV that hit the bus. Though how that changes anything I don't know. Be afraid of buses. And SUVs. They are giant metal machines that move and are driven by people, and you know what they're like. ETA: injuries and an impalement. On rewatch noticed that 13 says "laceration" not "impalement," which is such a strong word it would likely have jarred his memory. OK, I've seen it three times now and am just beginning to fully grasp how ambitious this was on all fronts: acting, directing, special effects, stunts, writing, sound, the whole enchilada. And yet, it is utterly seamless and rich. Beautiful, beautiful job with this one. And I can't believe how far away next Monday is right now...

The problem is Wilson didn't STAY shut up though! LOL Of course, it would have made for a much shorter broadcast. One reviewer (at nj.com, I believe) brought up the question of why they didn't stick with hypnosis. It was working and was far less dangerous than the other methods House used to invoke memories. I don't think this is a plot issue (and I was very unimpressed by that critic's review of the ep). The session showed why it had limited success for House--he wasn't ready to face the answer, and Chase is not skilled enough at therapy to get past House's deflections. That is not in any way a knock on Chase--I'm not sure anyone would have been able to force House to get to the answer any faster than he did--subconsciouses are not fond of forcing, and Chase did very well at getting House started on his journey. I think House was conflicted during the entire episode--both wanting and not wanting the answer, because, ultimately, he knew the answer and it wasn't just the knock on the head that made him bury it. The knock was the catalyst but even when The Answer is staring him in the face, pointing at the amber, House is doing everything he can not to name it. I saw a few posts where people were knocking the writing because House didn't know what amber was. Of course he knew what amber was--he supplied the stone from his subconscious! But at one level he does not want to face what happened in that bus, possibly because of more complications than just the injuries, and on another level, he has to know the answer. He's fighting himself. He had to go through a process to allow himself to know the answer, and I think he needed all the steps he took to jar it loose. He needed the immediacy of the sensory input to force him back into the moment without deflections.

Wow. This episode was fantastic! I am kind of glad that they had to wait to air it. Can you immagine being all revved up from the Super Bowl and then having to watch this? It would have been too much. I watched it again last night with the family and watched them for reactions. They've watched too many procedural shows and are sometimes very good at solving 'mysteries' in shows. I told them to stop trying though after they guessed that House himself was the patient lol. Wilson screwed Chase up by annoyingly inserting himself into House's brain. For the first time in a while Wilson really annoyed the crap out of me ... and simply for not minding his own business. I thought the lighting was fabulous, Cuddy's pole dance was awesome. :D Overall I thought it was a great episode. I don't think that < spec... > House and Amber are having an affair. I think when you see Amber in his office, it's a hallucination. I also think that the color red is a big clue for 'clues' next week. < end spec >

was dreading the Cuddy striptease scene, but I loved the fact that House was too preoccupied with the diagnostic stuff to get into it, and that it ended up being about as erotic as root canal -- although Lisa does have a magnificent body. I actually thought that the scene was hot, with the H/Cu sexual chemistry turned all the way up. I don't ship them at all, and as more of their "beautiful, complicated, adult relationship" unfolds, the less I care for it. I liked the scene only because it highlighted an aspect of House's personality that I have missed and loved -- his devotion to his One Thing. I've wondered on and off for some time now what happened to the man who jokingly commiserated with John Henry Giles over the loneliness that is attendant to each's pursuit of his respective One Thing. It was nice to have that man back in this amazing ep, in all his glory. And that he couldn't squash this trait even as as Fantasy!Cuddy unfastened her bra for him, well, I'm fine with that! Regarding Chase's hypnosis -- did Kutner know beforehand that Chase had trained in this? Or did he just go to Surgery with the idea that one of the staff must know hypnosis?

As a Hameron shipper, I was dreading the Cuddy striptease scene, but I loved the fact that House was too preoccupied with the diagnostic stuff to get into it, and that it ended up being about as erotic as root canal -- although Lisa does have a magnificent body. :lol: :lol: :clap: :clap: I've had my share of root canals ( or is it roots canal?). Too funny. But, of course, had it been Cameron, it would have been the hottest thing this side of the sun, right? :wink: I think what I found the most interesting about his hallucinations/fantasies was that, aside from Amber at the beginning, that scene with Cuddy was the only one where he was conversing with a regular, major character in his mind without them actually being in the room/sensory deprivation tank with him. I don't know if it has any significance; I just found that interesting.

Didn't the bus driver say he was hit by a garbage truck, not an SUV? I get the feeling that the episode we saw was quite different from the one they were working on prior to the strike. The bus crash, House losing his memory, the hallucinations and the major themes would have been there, but the specifics must have changed. We didn't find out that Wilson was dating Amber until Frozen (February 3). If this had been the post-Super Bowl episode, House had fired Amber two weeks earlier. He wasn't competing with her for Wilson's attention. There's a lot more suspense this way -- because next week is the final episode of the season, we don't know if Amber will live or die. If it had been post-SB and Amber died the following week, we would never have seen the dynamics of how House is dealing with it (or his decision that Amber is a female proxy for him). On the other hand, if House saved Amber's life, gratitude to him would have become a factor in how their rivalry over Wilson played out.

I think maybe I need to get more root canals. I can't say that I'd turn down a pole dance from someone who looked as incredible as LE---and I don't even play for that team! But arty's comment once again reminded me that the more I see of the "adult" relationship between House and Cuddy the more turned off I get. Even in his subconscious, House calls Cuddy "mommy." I sense that maybe this is supposed to be sexy, although I find it quite squicky. ETA: That's not the first time House has called Cuddy "mommy". In "Alone", at the end after House had solved the case, Cuddy walks into his office and he says it (after mistakenly saying it to Dr Buffer first). Yes, I know. It's a trend with them. It feeds that whole stern mother/naughty child dynamic that they have between them, which has its amusements, I suppose, but taken beyond into the realm of romantic or sexually teasing and I get turned right off.

That's not the first time House has called Cuddy "mommy". In "Alone", at the end after House had solved the case, Cuddy walks into his office and he says it (after mistakenly saying it to Dr Buffer first).

It feeds that whole stern mother/naughty child dynamic that they have between them, which has its amusements, I suppose, but taken beyond into the realm of romantic or sexually teasing and I get turned right off. Does it equally turn you off when House calls Cameron and the rest of his team the kids and refers to himself as daddy, as he did in several eps? Especially when the age difference and power differential works with the daddy thing? Neither case turns me off because in neither case do I think the people involved actually feel familial.

Does it equally turn you off when House calls Cameron and the rest of his team the kids and refers to himself as daddy, as he did in several eps? Especially when the age difference and power differential works with the daddy thing? Neither case turns me off because in neither case do I think the people involved actually feel familial. No, because I've yet to see the episode where House calls himself "daddy" and then fantasizes about Cameron grinding on a dance poll. Maybe that's coming up next season.

Moved to the spoiler section. I saw only one word that made it spoilery, my fault...sorry for that. The rest of it was taken directly out of the current episode, and a past episode.

House certainly wasn't fantasizing about Cuddy as a mommy figure! :D . He has fantasized about Cameron already, and in the same season as he referred to her as one of his kids and himself as daddy. I don't think we're meant to take that any more seriously as a psychological bar to romance any more than we're supposed to take the mommy stuff with Cuddy. We'd have to disqualify Wilson, too, if we're taking this stuff seriously. He's called House an 8 year old boy and I think House has referred to him as "daddy" when Wilson was lecturing him (not absolutely positive on that last one, though). I actually wouldn't be surprised if we get a "mom" reference in regard to Cameron, actually, since House uses that when someone tells him no, something Cameron's getting better at doing. Perhaps, as you say, next season! I don't see House and Wilson ever being romantic with each other, so I'm not as squicked by that dynamic. However, the aspect of the House/Wilson, House/Cuddy relationships that I like the least are when they presume the parental role over them. They refer to him as a 6-year-old and intend to treat him like one in the Tritter arc. House likes to throw the daddy/children dynamic out there--the difference is that he doesn't much act like a parent and Cameron balks at the charge that she's a child. (I'm thinking of the scene in "Forever" where they argue in front of Cuddy, specifically.) With House/Cuddy, I see both emphasizing the roles. Cuddy never balks at being called "mommy" and obviously feels comfortable treating House as though he were a child in need of minding.

With House/Cuddy, I see both emphasizing the roles. Cuddy never balks at being called "mommy" and obviously feels comfortable treating House as though he were a child in need of minding. I've always felt that Cuddy never balks because she knows that House is just yanking her chain, just complaining. He does need to be kept in check, and he'll even say as much, as in LTD. Where you may see Cuddy treating him as a child, I see her asserting her authority and doing her job. As in all things, YMMV.

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