4.16 Wilson's Heart

But the situations are different. In Insensitive Wilson had time to read the files, to learn of House's intentions, to talk it over, and the risk was not on House so Wilson could be completly logical about it, leave the decision to House yes, but Wilson got a chance to actually deal with the situation before it happened. Both the electrocution and the tainted blood issues came to him out of left field. For the electrocution he was probably home (by his casual clothing),he gets a page telling House was admitted, he gets to PPTH and gets this horror story about the knife, the CPR, the stopping heart, I was actually surprised by his restraint. "You are an idiot" seem quite mild after that. With the tainted blood, he also finds out after the fact. There's no discussion, there's no here's my opinion, there's no are you sure this is the only way? And it also touched one of Wilson's fears the possible damage to House's liver, so if the first words he heard about it was "liver biopsy", well he probably ran all the way to the lab. So, in that scene there's relief as the liver is ok, but also a sense of why do you keep doing this? what's wrong? And also the frustrating knowledge there's nothing he could do. So yeah, it would be great if Wilson knew before hand about House's dangerous stunts so he could offer an opinion or some other option but that's not very likely. In other not-life treating schemes, I agree that the Insensitive way is the better option.

So, in that scene there's relief as the liver is ok, but also a sense of why do you keep doing this? what's wrong? And also the frustrating knowledge there's nothing he could do. I actually think Wilson did remarkably little lecturing after the electrocution, so I agree his "You're an idiot" was restrained. Rather than read House a lecture on what his failings are and how he must feel, he told him his opinion in a short statement and then helped him with his pain. If he moves on from there to making "I" statements about such a situation: "I feel like X when you do this," I'm with him on whatever boundaries he wants to draw. The tainted blood was a different beast. By the time he sees House, he knows House is fine--he's not operating on adrenaline. I think what we got was the questions you list: why do you keep doing this? What's wrong with you?". That's very different from the reaction in 97 seconds and Insensitive, and I think it makes sense that he gets less of an honest emotional response from House. When you add in that last statement to the situation as it is now, it really stands out as ironic--Wilson was frustrated there was nothing he could do until he decided to call on that very quality because of his own needs. He went from lecturing about dangerous risks for a patient to asking House to take one. I think it would take a lot of hypocrisy to bring up that point again. That doesn't mean he can't use "I" statements in how he feels, connect with House the way he did in 97 seconds or give him the kind of feedback with room for House to reach his own decisions as he did in Insensitive. Just can the lecture on how House shouldn't risk himself for patients. Since House was evaluating for himself whether he should risk himself further in Wilson's Heart, he's capable of caring about that aspect and he clearly cares about Wilson. Letting House know you care while giving him room to make his own decisions is the most likely route to change. Not only is that what worked best in Insensitive, it's the way Wilson handled getting House to accept Amber. He told House to have at it with challenging his relationship and the result was House deciding he'd live with it.

This may or may not be relevant, but I watched this episode on the DVD with subtitles on last night. I realize that sometimes the subtitles are not completely accurate, but I got some new dialogue in the white bus scene at the end. House says, "Because... because it doesn't hurt here. I don't wanna be in pain. I don't wanna be miserable. And I don't want him to hate me." Where I placed that X, I always thought House just said something transitory/unintelligible, like, "I, uh." On the DVD subtitle, it read, "I lied." It's sort of weird, because his mouth looks like he's saying "I, uh." If you watch his mouth carefully... it doesn't entirely match with "I lied." But knowing that the subtitle says "I lied," I can "hear" those words now, even watching his mouth carefully. It's almost like they enhanced it in post, like he re-recorded the voice track for "I lied" and they dubbed it over. So anyway, this sort of adds something for me. The line now becomes: "Because... because it doesn't hurt here. I lied. I don't wanna be in pain. I don't wanna be miserable. And I don't want him to hate me." I don't remember him ever really lying about this. When has he ever said he wants to be in pain or he wants to be miserable? Wilson has expressed those sentiments about House, but Wilson is not always right. Or maybe the subtitle is just wrong.

"Because... because it doesn't hurt here. I lied. I don't wanna be in pain. I don't wanna be miserable. And I don't want him to hate me." I don't remember him ever really lying about this. When has he ever said he wants to be in pain or he wants to be miserable? Wilson has expressed those sentiments about House, but Wilson is not always right. Without re-watching (via subtitle or not) I'd have to say that Wilson has never told him he wants pain (with the exception of the referred pain post-Stacy, in which case he'd noted that House's psyche preferred physical pain rather than admitting to emotional issues). But to me, I think lines in the episode referred to House admitting to himself -- perhaps for the first time -- that he truly is miserable. Wilson has said it to him many times, but he's never admitted to it. Here in the bus, since he's actually having a conversation with himself, because he knows Amber isn't actually there, he's finally admitting that he's lied to himself for years. That he actually does know he's miserable outside the parameters of medicine. At least I've always thought that was one of the most significant moments of that scene ... that House is finally accepting that he's miserable -- and in both physical and emotional pain -- after years of denying it.

I also think it could refer back to 97 Seconds HOUSE: There is no 'after', there's just 'this'. WILSON: House! WILSON: You can't let a dying man take solace in his beliefs. HOUSE: His beliefs are stupid. WILSON: Everybody lies. Some for good reasons, some for bad. This would have been a fantastic reason to lie! HOUSE: Hi! Greg House. WILSON: Why can't you just let him have his fairy tale? If it give him comfort to imagine beaches and loved ones and life outside a wheelchair.... HOUSE: Are there 72 virgins too? WILSON: It's over. He's got days, maybe hours left. What pain does it cause you if he spends that time with a peaceful smile? What sick pleasure do you get in making damn sure he's filled with fear and dread? HOUSE: He shouldn't be making a decision based on a lie. Misery is better than nothing. For the first time he's thinking that death might be preferable to continuing to live in pain.

Without re-watching (via subtitle or not) I'd have to say that Wilson has never told him he wants pain (with the exception of the referred pain post-Stacy, in which case he'd noted that House's psyche preferred physical pain rather than admitting to emotional issues). Wilson told House he wanted pain in Distractions. Of course he meant the headache not the leg, but still... it's been in my head since that episode aired (just like Cameron's comment about people being able to handle pain without medication from Words And Deeds). It's interesting that the subtitles have House saying "I lied". I re-watched the scene and still neither hear nor see it. I always heard a 'cause I. As in: "Because... because it doesn't hurt here. 'Cause I... I don't wanna be in pain. I don't wanna be miserable. And I don't want him to hate me."

I hadn't made the connection before but it was interesting how Foreman was the one ranting that they should treat Amber without waiting for confirmation. Kind of an about face from his reaction when House wanted to treat him (e.g. give him Legionnaire's) in Euphoria. You know, I've been thinking lately about Foreman's behavior in this episode. I think he was supposed to represent the "voice of reason" to the audience, to show that House was not acting objectively on this case. I was actually quite proud of him in this episode -- I think it showed how much he's grown as a doctor, or at least as a Housian physician. It wasn't just an about-face from Euphoria; imagine how different he was in the Pilot! Then again, there always is a big difference in being a patient and being a doctor.

Granted, I have reached the point with Foreman where if he said the ceiling was up, I'd argue, but I don't know if a neurologist telling the fellows to ignore their boss's skull fracture so they can diagnose the bus driver (who may or may not be ill) qualifies as growth. But Foreman wasn't working as a neurologist at that time. He wasn't overseeing House's case. He was, in fact, running the diagnostic team. The diagnosis of the bus driver needed to be his prime concern. House had already been diagnosed. House didn't need the team's attention -- the bus driver did. That's on par with any number of times that House has told the team to ignore one issue to focus on what hasn't been explained.

The House marathon is on right now (USA) and in "Whac-a-Mole", Wilson had to take a bus to work because his car was towed (whole Tritter thing)...and he says that buses suck. Yeah, if he only knew how much.

I can't believe I never noticed this before, but I was rewatching this episode and in the Thirteen/House bathroom scene, there's a "Vote for Change 2008" sticker in Thirteen's stall.

I can't believe I never noticed this before, but I was rewatching this episode and in the Thirteen/House bathroom scene, there's a "Vote for Change 2008" sticker in Thirteen's stall. If you look closely, there is also one (blurry in the background) behind Kutner's bike during the montage where he's eating cereal.

So we finally got to watch the final episodes of the season, too. I haven't read all 38 pages of the thread, yet (I will at some point) so forgive me if I repeat stuff that has been said before. I genuinely disliked Amber from her first moment on screen, but oh did I cry my eyes out. It was incredibly heartbreaking that the harder House tried to remember and then to figure out how to save her, the more it became obvious that in a way he had caused the situation. And that even though he was willing to risk his life to find out how to save her, this would still not be enough for Wilson to not blame him. That Wilson finds her note (that she's on her way to pick up House) under the pillow at the end of the episode was so horrible. It was interesting how everyone dealt with the knowledge of her having to die, especially as she wasn't exactly loved. I loved the 'riddle' of the pendant. As we get the dubbed version it is a bit harder to understand and I bet it gave the translators a massive headache. Well me and my sister are fluent in both languages, so we knew straight away that it was 'amber' in the original and that 'Harz' or 'Bernstein' in the dubbed version was just the translation. The episodes were really well written, with a love of detail. Two of the best episodes of the season.

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