4.15 House's Head

I keep re-watching this because it's just packed with good stuff. I noticed two new things that I don't think anyone's mentioned yet (or maybe they have and I'm just a bad thread-reader). 1. In the bar/hypnosis scene when Amber shows up, her hair is blowing around her as if she's on the bus - I thought that was totally cool. 2. This next one is debatable: After the EMT wipes the blood off of House's right hand, he sort of curls it over like he's trying to hold his cane but it's not there. I just thought it was an effective little moment.

3) And the coolest thing. In each one of the hallucinations/hypnosis/dreams, House doesn't have his cane or a limp .... until, that is, the final one. At this point, when he's finally ready to accept all the clues he's been given, he has the cane in his hand. He's finally ready to embrace reality (quite literally) with his illusions. That's a great catch Namaste. On my second time through, I noticed that 13 stood in for Jane Doe #2 twice in the episode. I am resolutely (fingers in ears, la la la ing as loud as I can) spoiler free to the point that I didn't watch the promo for next week, so I can't speculate on what that might mean, if anything. But twice seems pointed, somehow.

Oh, and the EMT who briefly checks House and wipes the blood off his hands is Jim Vickers, House's stunt coordinator.

On my second time through, I noticed that 13 stood in for Jane Doe #2 twice in the episode. I am resolutely (fingers in ears, la la la ing as loud as I can) spoiler free to the point that I didn't watch the promo for next week, so I can't speculate on what that might mean, if anything. But twice seems pointed, somehow. I just pointed that out in my screencap post! If we both thought it up, maybe there really is something to this.

maybe he asked her to meet him at the bar, so her even being there is his fault; maybe he called for Wilson to drive him home when his keys were taken and got Amber instead. Oooh, thank you for this theory! I got the impression that Wilson might have known a little bit more than he let on, though he obviously didn't know that Amber was injured. This could be the perfect explanation; he didn't know that Amber got on the bus, maybe didn't even know that Amber went to meet House -- but he knew that he hadn't, so he might not have wanted House to remember that, especially if his absence led to House being injured. But I'm also not convinced that Wilson wasn't in the bar himself, at least for a while; maybe he threw his hands up in frustration and left the two of them to themselves. I'm also wondering if House's missing phone might prove relevant, or did it just fall out during the crash or did the concussion impair his pocket-patting skills? Um, during the MRI scene, did people interpret Wilson's "this is bad" to be about House having feelings for Amber or about something he'd just seen on the display? The first two times I thought it was about Amber, but on the third watch, I suddenly wasn't sure. There's two lines about House's condition that I keep coming back to; this ep seems too packed to have throwaway lines that don't mean anything. The first is Cuddy saying she was admitting House. Why would she say that and then not do it? It would be different if she said something like "Lie down and rest OR I'm admitting you", but she doesn't. She says "I AM admitting you" and we never hear him arguing the point. So why include the line in the script in the first place? The second line is when Hallucination!BusDriver asks why he hasn't had a CT yet and tells him to get treated. Now, I'm using to thinking of CTs as what you do when the more expensive MRI isn't medically necessary; I don't think anything would show on a CT that wouldn't have shown on the MRI, would it? And as far as I know, there isn't any treatment for a concussion beyond rest and monitoring, but the bus driver's vehement "get some treatment!" implies something more active than that. So what was he referring to?

A couple of things I noticed on rewatch: 1) The timing for the bulk of the episode seems to be within about 18 hours. House is in the strip club at 8:50 p.m., just before he does his "Altered States" thing, Foreman refers to the fact that it's 2 a.m. It's still nighttime when the nurse is at his apartment, and later when he wakes up Cuddy (because we hear crickets). Figure it's then sometime that morning by the time they get the bus over for the recreation. (And the bus they're in for the recreation is a different number.) Confirmation on the timing - the first time they're in the Diagnostics office Kutner:You left here at 5:24 pm. Your motorcycle never made it home. House: Well, that covers 10 seconds out of the 4 hours I can’t remember. And, early in the hypnosis scene Wilson says "Why’d you get so drunk at 5 in the afternoon?" So, in an episode full of hallucinations, time seems to be a fixed construct on House for a change. He can't remember anything from a little after 5 -- shortly before he left the hospital -- until about 4 hours later, when he comes to in the strip club. But I think you need to use a different word for the scene on the bus when everyone is wearing signs around their necks. When I saw "they get the bus over for the recreation" my reaction was that it was very serious -- there was nothing recreational about it. :lol:

But I think you need to use a different word for the scene on the bus when everyone is wearing signs around their necks. When I saw "they get the bus over for the recreation" my reaction was that it was very serious -- there was nothing recreational about it. :lol: I had the same initial thought, Poeia! Yes, hyphens are our friends, people! :lol:

What I don't quite get is why they have to wear the person's picture (or Jane Doe's lettering, no pics) around their necks during the bus re-creation. If they're in such a rush to figure this out, why take the time to locate the "id necklaces", insert the pics into the plastic, hang around necks, etc.? Why not just have the person hold the picture so House could see it? It just seems like a waste of precious time to me. Those id necklaces still remind me a lot of the numbers the 40 fellows had to wear at the start of the season.

Ooh, thanks for the Princeton General info, OldHamster! maybe he asked her to meet him at the bar, so her even being there is his fault; maybe he called for Wilson to drive him home when his keys were taken and got Amber instead. This gets my vote...

I haven't read every page of this thread, so maybe someone else mentioned this. Did anyone else think it unrealistic that everything was going on normally in the strip club? That bus crash must have made a godawful noise. I've heard a car crash one block away from my house, and everyone on the block was outside a few moments later to see what was happening. That collision between the garbage truck and bus and then the bus tipping over and sliding along the street should have awakened the dead for miles around.

I've never experienced a strip club myself, but according to a male friend the commonality with all of them is 1) extremely loud music and 2) no windows. Also I imagine they're not exactly populated by Good Samaritans. Or very many sober ones. Like casinos, I think they're deliberately designed to be their own little neon cocoons and to make the patrons forget about time and the outside world in order to spend more money. But I'm also not convinced that Wilson wasn't in the bar himself, at least for a while; maybe he threw his hands up in frustration and left the two of them to themselves. Wilson was not in the bar, as confirmed by the first flashback. Wilson is incredulous that House was drinking so early, and asks him why. If Wilson had gone to the bar with House, he would obviously not be shocked to learn House was there in the first place, much less be trying to figure out why. Wilson also would be adding to or confirming House's information about the bar, he wouldn't be sitting there wondering what House is seeing. Wilson was also shocked that House was seeing Amber in the bar, and immediately asked questions. Again, not something he would be doing if he had been there with both of them. He'd say, "Yes, House, remember Amber and I met you for drinks" or whatever. But most importantly, there's no way - if Wilson had been there and left, then knew that when House left he was involved in a horrible accident - he wouldn't immediately try harder to get in touch with Amber, knowing that she had been with House. In the final scene, it couldn't be clearer that Wilson is shocked and panicked that Amber was with House. It's not something he knew, thus the denial and then the horrified realization. In the bar scene, House also said to Wilson, "When I'm drinking without you, what am I running away from? Hmm," meaning that he was deliberately drinking alone and that early because he was running away from Wilson, or something to do with Wilson. When Chase instructs him to scan the crowd for anything important, House first sees a faceless crowd then asks for something to make him focus. That's when Amber suddenly appears. It was a faceless crowd save for the one person he knew (Amber) and the bartender (who took his keys).

Very late to the game, but what an episode. I was very very spoilered, but it only enhanced my enjoyment I think. I prefer to know the solution, it makes dramatic build up all the more palpable, to me. Sad face of "the Answer" as she asked House her final questions was very touching. I really liked how she played the role, that's how mysterious is done, 13! Not that I mind 13, I'll take her over Cam every day. At least this one is a "pretty girl" who is actually pleasant to look at. I really loved dramatic beat of the questions, all Answer scenes were wonderfully melancholic and eerie. On other shallow note, I always found LE attractive and striking woman, but I can't say that she turned me on, but woooo, I loved the scene. I expected to be weirded out, but it was actually hot, I couldn't concentrate on dialogue at all. Also loved the scene afterwards when "Cuddy" notes that House would rather solve the puzzle that watch hot striptease.

I think this was the best episode of the season but I'm usually a sucker for the "lets-go-inside-the-character's-mind" thing. And I think the Camera crew (or the special effects people?) should get an Emmy for the hypnosis and the crash scene, both were shot in an unbelievably cool way. I think they've overdone it when they cut to the CPR scene, though. They made it look a little odd with the Cuddy B&W close up. And House did have his Cameron sexual fantasy -- robo sex. Interesting that both the fantasies with Cameron and Cuddy involved no touching, which goes straight to his issues with social intimacy, in my opinion. (Social intimacy as in sex with a hooker is fine, but sex in which emotions are involved is a whole different issue.) And this is probably why the Cuddy fantasy reminded me of the robot!sex. Its been a while since I watched "No Reason" but I think he was more interested in the case (eventually) in that one too.

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