5.01 - Dying Changes Everything

For clarity's sake, the 3:07 post got the attributions reversed for my and sherlockjr's posts - I was the one who mentioned Wilson setting his own schedule.) Forgive the cut & paste error. I went back to my post and corrected the attributions of the quotes. :) It’s not surprising that Wilson would avoid what was seemingly a point of huge contention in all of his marriages the amount of time he spends with House. True, nor would it be surprising if he was simply swept up in new-relationship-itis. But either way, he should have been willing to take responsibility for his own decisions, not blame it on House and Amber being "scary". He could easily have denied, or accepted, or amended the custody set up; instead he chooses to pass the buck over to Cuddy, who shouldn't have been remotely involved. And to me it was predictable that Cuddy would side with Amber, so I do take the buck-passage as proof that he was looking to pull away from House (for whatever benign or nefarious reason). But he wasn't willing because he didn't want either to be angry with him or to be caught in the middle and receiving the flak, as he likely was three times before with the wives and House, since there's no evidence that the wives ever directly confronted House with their unhappiness about the time Wilson was spending with him. We know only from Wilson relating it to House that Julie hated House, something that didn't seem surprising to House. She then so tired of Wilson leaving her on her own that she found someone else (Granted that was also beacuse of Wilson being unhappy at home and not dealing with it). Bonnie didn't say anything directly to House about her feelings until years after she and Wilson had already divorced. It seems more likely that House chose Cuddy since he was the one front and center explaining the situation while Wilson hung back by her office door, eating. On what would you predict that Cuddy would side with Amber? Because she was the one that told Wilson that he and Amber were a bad match that would leave nothing behind but a Wilson chalk outline. By the way that Cuddy had House pick 13 over Amber when she insisted that he needed a woman on his team and he pick the one that "Cared about People." or by the fact that Cuddy will do almost anything to placate House even at Wilson's expense. I see no sign of any attempt nefarious, benign or otherwise of Wilson trying to pull away from House. He was simply willing to take part in a settlement of House and Amber’s devising (so they couldn't blame or complain to him later) that would be under someone else’s (Cuddy’s) jurisdiction to enforce and allowed him time with both Amber and House. he had no reason to feel secure that <snip> it wouldn’t prompt a dispute w/ Amber too. I wouldn't say no reason; unlike (presumably) his past relationships, Amber knew the importance of his relationship with House going into it. But with three divorces under his belt, I can see him being paranoid enough that he wouldn't want to discount the possibility. No presumption necessary the wives did know about House if Bonnie the only wife we have ever heard from directly is any indication. She knew how important House was to Wilson, how willing Wilson was to always be there for House and how intrusive that made House. She was so resentful of it early on that on her honeymoon she gave the puppy Hector a name who's anagram was a derision of House's name. That's was her way of confronting House. As for Amber knowing going in I don't think anyone could really know the extent of the connection between H/W and what that really means just from outside observation. She sure seemed incredulous at the request for shared time. If she understood their situation she probably should have seen that coming. And really when you think about it she likely didn't know a third of what had transpired between H/W over the years. She and Wilson hadn't been togther long enough to have the time needed to tell it all. :) Plus doing so probably would have scared her off.

I agree though, it did emphasize their physical distance and loneliness. Don't know if it was the sets or what but in that final scene, House looked physically so incredibly small and frail to me - I mean it was noticeable that he was...diminished. HL looked so skinny and broken. It made me really sad. I agree completely - his body seemed to collapse on itself. I also thought at the beginning of the episode (wondering about what might be the effects from the skull fracture), that even then he looked somewhat gaunt (and I hope that's not because the cast was working w/o a summer break). Or maybe it was the shorter hair.

I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to conclude that it was a good thing 13 was projecting onto the patient, just that it was understandable that she was having difficulty processing her news. She learned that what she needed for herself or thinks she needs right now is not what the patient needed. Kind of like Cameron, Foreman, Chase, . . . one thing the writers have been consistent with is allowing the characters' warts to show without softsoaping. It would have been more appropriate for 13 to have kept her concerns behind the scenes, but she wasn't supposed to be acting appropriately. I agree. Thirteen's projecting, but it's really obvious that she's doing that and it's not like we're supposed to think it's just wonderful. We're never supposed to think that. And really, I'd expect the patient to understand. Thirteen seems pretty mild compared to her boss. :lol: Where I think there was an issue is that while I liked this episode, the PotW section sometimes felt like a lot of talking but no discourse. Everyone else gets so busy wringing their hands over House that issues outside the patient's medical condition didn't really get discussed. There was no one telling Thirteen to get her head out of the proverbial baby's butt, and that by the way, penguins and ostriches do okay for themselves without soaring, or something. And with House out of the picture, who was really going to have the audacity to do that? That may actually be part of the reason Chase's scene went over so well - not just because it was Chase, but because he actually questioned what the heck the team was doing.

Am curious to watch the evolution of our use of "13" change into "Hadley." I for one plan to keep calling her 13 as long as she lives.

Am curious to watch the evolution of our use of "13" change into "Hadley." I for one plan to keep calling her 13 as long as she lives. As will I'm sure House and probably the other newbies. However, I'm sure the "joke" of it has worn off for the other characters. If everyone else has to go by their last names, so does she.

This scene has been floating through my head all day, the pre-date exchange between Wilson and Cameron from "Love Hurts": It's been a long time since he opened up to someone, and I... you better be absolutely sure you want this because if he opens up again and gets hurt, I don't think there's going to be a next time. And guess who he opened up to, and guess who hurt him. Damn.

Yep, me too, Old Hamster. There was a lot of resonance with previous House eps. And I love that the House folks went where they really had to go, painful as it was. Not only does love hurt, truth does too.

On a different note. I thought two things were very subtle and very powerful in this episode. During the first DDX in the conference room, House glances out the window in the direction of Wilson's office twice. Blink and you'll miss it. During the next DDX, when House is standing at the sink seemingly not paying attention to what's going on, he's actually watching for Wilson again. As soon as the light turns on in Wilson's office, House storms out of the conference room to go see him. Gah! I love it. It's always the little nonverbal things that really sell the character for me. To add to your list of little subtle things... When Cuddy came to House's apartment, she said (not an exact quote, unless my memory's better than I realize), "You're doing the exact same thing he is -- running away. Except he isn't killing anybody!" Cue a shot of House, standing alone in his apartment. Was I the only one to interpret that as a comment that Wilson is metaphorically "killing" House? Or am I just thinking a little melodramatically?

Re: 13/Hadley -- It's very intentional on my part. Partly it's a response to promo material that refers to all the guys as Dr. So-and-So but her simply as Thirteen, as if she's not a doctor too, and partly to both promo stuff and fans that refer to all the guy newbies by their surnames but the two women by nicknames and a first name. Once Amber was established in the girlfriend role, it made sense (cf. Bonnie and Julie), but not before. And now that we know her name, it makes no sense for Hadley. he wasn't willing because he didn't want either to be angry with him or to be caught in the middle and receiving the flak Well, yeah, no one's denying that. It doesn't excuse him from owning his own decisions about how to spend his time. Not many of us enjoy having people angry at us, but adults accept the consequences of their choices, and sometimes that means people we love being angry with us. If we think our choice is right, we do it anyway. It seems more likely that House chose Cuddy since he was the one front and center explaining the situation while Wilson hung back by her office door, eating. It's possible, but I think he would have tried to be front and center pushing his position regardless of whose idea it was. And Wilson's explanation about Amber and House being scary seemed to say it was his choice. But regardless of who chose Cuddy to play Solomon, it was Wilson's choice not to state his own decision and stand by it. On what would you predict that Cuddy would side with Amber? On two things. One is her willingness to conflate House's personal, professional, and patient lives in ways that they shouldn't be. I don't think Amber-as-Amber, or even Wilson-as-Wilson, were really relevant here in her decision -- neither of them mattered to Cuddy. The only thing that mattered was she had something she wanted House to do and they had just handed her something to hold over House's head to get him to do it. The other is her tendency to assume that House is always in the wrong (as when she blamed him for the PCR that Wilson had done). She asked what Amber's proposal was, took a moment to confirm that it wasn't insane, and then didn't even bother asking what House's proposal was. It was House's, so therefore it must be insane. I don't think she was really siding with Amber so much as siding against House. I see no sign of any attempt nefarious, benign or otherwise of Wilson trying to pull away from House. Not in the events of the "custody battle", no; I didn't bring that up. I was talking about the off-screen time before that, when Wilson was MIA enough for House to be actively seeking Chase's company and to have complained about it to Chase more than once (since Chase refers to Wilson being busy "again"). I don't see how anyone but Wilson can take the credit for Wilson's choice to spend less time with House before the custody deal, especially since Amber seems surprised at the idea that she controls Wilson's schedule. the wives did know about House if Bonnie the only wife we have ever heard from directly is any indication. She knew how important House was to Wilson By the time of the honeymoon. We don't know how much she knew when they first started dating. The HT conversation sounded to me like she was aware House existed when they started dating but House wasn't around that much until after she was "hooked" (since he wasn't "paying attention"). Whereas we know that Amber had an actual relationship with House prior to dating Wilson and knew they were close. As for Amber knowing going in I don't think anyone could really know the extent of the connection between H/W and what that really means just from outside observation. She sure seemed incredulous at the request for shared time. Again, I saw her reaction as a response to the implication that she controlled Wilson's time, that he couldn't simply spend whatever time he wanted with his friend because it was his time to spend. As for what she could tell from observation... normally I'd agree with you, but this is the group of newbies who apparently got a copy of the Insider's Guide to House along with their parking permits and name badges, and in particular the newbie who knew to play up Cameron and Chase in 97S and how to go about it. And she had plenty of time to watch House and Wilson in action before she was fired. I can't believe that she wouldn't have paid close attention in hopes of finding an angle that would help her get hired. No, of course she couldn't have understood the true depth and intensity of their relationship... but she understood it was deep and intense. She understood enough that she was only slightly upset and slightly surprised when House showed up in her apartment. Edited to add numerical bits -- I need sleep

Was I the only one to interpret that as a comment that Wilson is metaphorically "killing" House? Or am I just thinking a little melodramatically? I guess you could interpret it that way, but I believe it was literally meant as Cuddy being pissed that House wasn't at the hospital concentrating on his dying patient. Well, yes, I know how it was meant literally. I know that Cuddy was just expressing her frustration and was trying to convince House to go back to work. I was just musing about any possible underlying meanings that maybe the writers intended. It just seemed very conspicuously shot, from a visual point of view -- after Cuddy spoke her line, there was a lingering shot on House as he took a drink from his mug. It set off an alarm in my head. Usually when there's an obvious pause after a line, it means that line was significant. Usually.

But, at this point, she doesn't have Huntingtons. What she does have is a guarantee that she'll get it. It may be a decade or more before she develops any symptoms. Knowing that her lifespan will be shortened and that it will end with a really nasty disease, she needs to decide whether she wants to spend her time in a fellowship, being a doctor at all, traveling or whatever. She got the DNA results 2 months ago. If she is planning to discuss her life expectancy with every patient and what her prognosis means in terms of their diseases, I will start taping the show to fast forward through her scenes. She got the result 2 months ago, but this is our first chance to see her reaction, so it makes sense to me that they included the scene. I think it would have been unnatural not to. Talking to the patient isn't ideal, but they set it up reasonably IMO, and it did come off as spontaneous. Given all the circumstances, I give 13 a pass on this one. Other characters have done similar things, and I'd definitely cut some slack to anyone going through this in real life.

Just finished watching, late to the party as always.... Hadley: It did not bother me as much as I thought it would. Having said that, I hope it takes a while before we spend so much time with her. We got the set up, let's take it slowly and sparingly. I liked the POTW, I would have liked to have seen her interact with the others and more with House. Bedawyn I think her surname is Hadley and her first name is Remy (or Rena or Rema, did Fox.com ever fix that?) but yeah, let's stop the 13 nonsense (except House who would continue because it's nonsense) Cameron: For the first time in almost two years, I liked her (yes, the Tritter mess casts a long shadow). Messy canon aside, her advice was heartfelt and she seemed to care about Wilson. It's part of the Tritter bitterness that their mentorish relationship was destroyed in that mess, but I could see them developing a true friendship. Cuddy: For me she still is all about House. I didn't get the feeling that she had tried to understand Wilson. However the scene at House's door and the scene at the nurse's station were both quite effective and revealing, she might not get Wilson but she gets close marks on House. House-Wilson: God, that was painful but so necessary. They need distance from each other, they probably had needed it for the last couple of years. Both HL and RSL were impressive throughout the episode, it was heart wrenching to watch both of them struggle with the weight of their feelings. I know some people are ready to throw Wilson under a train but I understand all the confusion, pain, anger, regret he must be feeling and RSL did a wonderful job of being restraint while really showing all those conflictive emotions battling under the surface. As for HL, just when you think he can't amaze you any more, he gives the kind of performance that is totally tears apart. For all that this separation was needed, I truly hope that we are given a chance to not only see House coping (or not coping) but Wilson too. This is probably my biggest fear in this storyline.

Cuddy: For me she still is all about House. I'm going to stand on my soapbox for two seconds. I hope you'll oblige me. This characterization of Cuddy annoys me just ever-so-slightly because every character is all about House. The show's called House. Everything that happens on-screen to any character can be drawn back to House. Even when things happen to people that don't seem to affect House, a parallel can be drawn between their situation and his (Thirteen's story this week case-in-point). Wilson is all about House. The man can't even resign without everyone relating it to House. Yes, Cuddy is all about House. Yes, she gives in to him much more than any real-life administrator should or would. Then again, the only time we see Cuddy is when we are watching her interact with him or when she is cleaning up his messes. We don't actually know how she is with employees who have nothing to do with the Department of Diagnostics. When it comes to how she related to Wilson in this episode, what did you (or anyone) actually want her to do? What should she have said while on-screen during the show House to Wilson to make it seem that it wasn't all about House? It's always all about House. *Sigh*

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