5.14 - The Greater Good

I think House being worried that Wilson is mad and leaving his tchotchkes alone is his version of respecting boundaries and is different than earlier seasons. And I think House was more respectful of how he approached Wilson when he had his information--he drew answers out of him rather than demanding. But yes, it's subtle. If we get a big scene showing more, all to the good. I still see a difference now.

Fair enough, I'm not convinced but I'll be keeping a closer eye on it now, hopefully it will come up again.

I'm don't necessarily think you're wrong, I just haven't seen a situation come up yet that shows House is respecting his boundaries. How about steering clear of the man he considers his best friend for two months after said friend's girlfriend dies and friend asks for time to sort things out? Seems to me that's a pretty dramatic show of respect for Wilson's boundaries. Especially considering that House risked his life for that girlfriend and never heard boo from Wilson about his sacrifice. I'm not a Wilson hater (or a Wilson lover), but there are certainly times when I think Wilson is at least as selfish and self-centered as House is. They're both screwed up, complex characters... which is probably why we can natter on for pages debating all of this. As long as I'm posting, I'd also like to point out something about Cuddy's behavior that no one else seems to have mentioned. Having House's utilities turned off got mentioned in this discussion as being less unpleasant as the elevator/tripwire stuff. But, actually, it is just as bad as tripping him or making him climb upstairs. It's New Jersey, folks. In the winter. Cold. Cold weather (turning off heat) and cold water (turning off water) are going to be quite painful to House's leg. What Cuddy did not only was cruel, but also violated the Hippocratic oath. By the way, I'm not saying House hasn't been cruel to her -- kid in the shower scene -- just that Cuddy has now displayed an unpleasant pattern of attacking House at his weakest point -- his leg -- a really nasty thing to do. (The laxative bit was also a roundabout way of attacking him at his weakest, as someone upthread already mentioned.) She definitely shows a sadistic streak. Who knows? Maybe that's House's cup of tea and he's a closet masochist. Another thing I just have to respond to from the initial comments. Several people seemed to have issues with House being "nice" -- expressing concern about Thirteen and Foreman. Yes, he doesn't do it often -- at least not to his minions -- but it is clearly not out of character for him. When a situation is really serious, he can rise to the occasion. He hasn't shown his empathetic side in quite a while (and interestingly, people then complained that he had lost a lot of the humanity he displayed from the early days of the show), but if you look back at earlier seasons, you'll see that he is often capable of kindness and empathy -- he just tends to show those sides of himself when no one he works with is looking.

As long as I'm posting, I'd also like to point out something about Cuddy's behavior that no one else seems to have mentioned. Having House's utilities turned off got mentioned in this discussion as being less unpleasant as the elevator/tripwire stuff. But, actually, it is just as bad as tripping him or making him climb upstairs. It's New Jersey, folks. In the winter. Cold. Cold weather (turning off heat) and cold water (turning off water) are going to be quite painful to House's leg. I was the one who said that turning off the utilities wasn't as bad as the other "pranks." You are quite right that spending the night in a cold, dark apartment in the middle of winter would not be good for his leg. But he didn't spend the night there, he went back to the hospital and slept on Wilson's couch. He could also have gone to a hotel for the night or crashed on Cuddy's couch (he's broken into her office before) or an on-call room. If he had been forced to spend the night in his apartment I would agree that having the utilities turned off was as bad as the direct physical assaults.

As long as I'm posting, I'd also like to point out something about Cuddy's behavior that no one else seems to have mentioned. Having House's utilities turned off got mentioned in this discussion as being less unpleasant as the elevator/tripwire stuff. But, actually, it is just as bad as tripping him or making him climb upstairs. It's New Jersey, folks. In the winter. Cold. Cold weather (turning off heat) and cold water (turning off water) are going to be quite painful to House's leg. I was the one who said that turning off the utilities wasn't as bad as the other "pranks." You are quite right that spending the night in a cold, dark apartment in the middle of winter would not be good for his leg. But he didn't spend the night there, he went back to the hospital and slept on Wilson's couch. He could also have gone to a hotel for the night or crashed on Cuddy's couch (he's broken into her office before) or an on-call room. If he had been forced to spend the night in his apartment I would agree that having the utilities turned off was as bad as the direct physical assaults. You're quite right. Perhaps I should have said it was potentially as bad. Either way, it was thoughtless.

How about steering clear of the man he considers his best friend for two months after said friend's girlfriend dies and friend asks for time to sort things out? Seems to me that's a pretty dramatic show of respect for Wilson's boundaries. When did Wilson ask for time to sort things out? I always figured he was staying away out of fear of facing Wilson's anger and rejection, not out of any kind of respect. That's not to say I don't think House respects Wilson, I just don't think that had anything to do with it. But, I could be wrong, I'm not the first to ever assume the best in House.

Upon second watch, let me get this straight: Foreman and 13 have been dating for two weeks--a time span in which 13 felt free to tell Foreman she wanted children but totally wasn't ready for him to go switching drug trial medication on. Additionally, within the span of being on the actual drug for one whole week 13 develops a noticeable brain tumor while other patients--presumably on the same drug for weeks/months--are not showing those same signs. 13 has some sort of radiation treatment that leaves her hair still looking shiny and amazing. Oh yes, and it cures the brain tumor in a matter of 1-2 days. Cuddy declares with real resentment that she wanted to be a mother that stayed at home with her child instead of balancing the work/home life yet has put such a minimal amount of thought into delegating her responsibilities that she can only come up with Cameron to cover her duties. This show has gotten amazingly stupid. Or else the characterization has gotten so poor that I'm unable to look past absurd plot holes to the larger story.

It struck me that "Greater Good" -- and to an extent "Big Baby" -- didn't feel as disjointed from the six-act structure as others have this season. Did I just not notice and have grown accustomed to it? Did Fox cram in fewer commercials? (since they're not against the "Fringe" "limited commercials" crap) or are they beginning to fine tune the storytelling to the new structure?

13 has some sort of radiation treatment that leaves her hair still looking shiny and amazing. Oh yes, and it cures the brain tumor in a matter of 1-2 days. Interstitial radiotherapy (which is what 13 got) doesn't cause hair loss ... and yeah it is fast acting, so that's not unrealistic.

13 has some sort of radiation treatment that leaves her hair still looking shiny and amazing. Oh yes, and it cures the brain tumor in a matter of 1-2 days. Interstitial radiotherapy (which is what 13 got) doesn't cause hair loss ... and yeah it is fast acting, so that's not unrealistic. I could be wrong, but doesn't that type of radiation, in fact, result in hair loss at least to the area being treated? Given that 13's tumor was somewhere behind her eyes, you'd think that the scalp/temple area would show some effect.

Foreman and 13 have been dating for two weeks--a time span in which 13 felt free to tell Foreman she wanted children but totally wasn't ready for him to go switching drug trial medication on. Additionally, within the span of being on the actual drug for one whole week 13 develops a noticeable brain tumor while other patients--presumably on the same drug for weeks/months--are not showing those same signs. 13 has some sort of radiation treatment that leaves her hair still looking shiny and amazing. Oh yes, and it cures the brain tumor in a matter of 1-2 days. Cuddy declares with real resentment that she wanted to be a mother that stayed at home with her child instead of balancing the work/home life yet has put such a minimal amount of thought into delegating her responsibilities that she can only come up with Cameron to cover her duties. While the show is obviously compressing some things for dramatic purposes, which is par for the course, I don't find any of these things outside the pale. Thirteen and Foreman have only officially been seeing each other for two weeks, but they've worked very closely together for a year and a half. They aren't just getting to know each other. I think it was fair for Thirteen to give Foreman a heads up that despite her HC, at that point she wanted him to know she didn't consider kids out of the picture. She wasn't asking him to have kids with her right then. She was just letting him know at the outset that kids were on the radar. Taub's wife did the same but with the opposite choice with Taub very early on in their relationship. It's the kind of thing that can be a relationship breaker, so lots of people bring their desires up early. Thirteen's radiation would not cause hair loss and even the kind that does, does not cause it overnight. Even in real life, she'd look just the same the next day. Also, it was mentioned that the tumour was the kind that suppressed cell death, so it would be very fast growing. House brought this up specifically. And in terms of how fast the radiation worked, I think this stuff is pretty variable even in real life, so I think dramatic license can be taken. My sister had a tumour shrink enough to stop pressing on her windpipe and causing incessant coughing in just one chemo session. No one knew in advance whether that would happen or not. Thirteen's tumour didn't disappear, it just shrank enough to stop pressing on whatever it was pressing on in the optic centre. And the point of having as big a clinical trial as possible is because people do respond differently to the same drugs and something like a tumour may be a very rare side effect. I don't think people running clinical trials find having a few people respond differently to a drug a rare thing. The hard part in those instances is deciding if the problem happened because of the drug or was a coincidental happening. It's far from unbelievable that a drug trial would have only a few patients develop the rarest and worst side effects. I also thought Big Baby did a good job of establishing that what Cuddy had an issue with was who to delegate handling House and there weren't a lot of candidates. Cameron was a good choice for that job.

I could be wrong, but doesn't that type of radiation, in fact, result in hair loss at least to the area being treated? Given that 13's tumor was somewhere behind her eyes, you'd think that the scalp/temple area would show some effect. No ... normal "external" radiation does cause hair loss around the area it's applied ... because you radiate everything from the top of the skin down to the tumor. Interstitial radiation is applied directly to the tumor and doesn't affect anything but the tumor.

Foreman and 13 have been dating for two weeks--a time span in which 13 felt free to tell Foreman she wanted children but totally wasn't ready for him to go switching drug trial medication on. Additionally, within the span of being on the actual drug for one whole week 13 develops a noticeable brain tumor while other patients--presumably on the same drug for weeks/months--are not showing those same signs. 13 has some sort of radiation treatment that leaves her hair still looking shiny and amazing. Oh yes, and it cures the brain tumor in a matter of 1-2 days. Cuddy declares with real resentment that she wanted to be a mother that While the show is obviously compressing some things for dramatic purposes, which is par for the course, I don't find any of these things outside the pale. Thirteen and Foreman have only officially been seeing each other for two weeks, but they've worked very closely together for a year and a half. They aren't just getting to know each other. I think it was fair for Thirteen to give Foreman a heads up that despite her HC, at that point she wanted him to know she didn't consider kids out of the picture. She wasn't asking him to have kids with her right then. She was just letting him know at the outset that kids were on the radar. Taub's wife did the same but with the opposite choice with Taub very early on in their relationship. It's the kind of thing that can be a relationship breaker, so lots of people bring their desires up early. I agree. It was the juxtaposition of her laying on the kid-wishes early but then turning around and saying she wasn't ready for Foreman to take such an action. Frankly, I don't care because their "relationship" breaks the scales on my yawn-o-meter but since it's being shoved down my face on a weekly basis. Thirteen's radiation would not cause hair loss and even the kind that does, does not cause it overnight. Even in real life, she'd look just the same the next day. Also, it was mentioned that the tumour was the kind that suppressed cell death, so it would be very fast growing. House brought this up specifically. And in terms of how fast the radiation worked, I think this stuff is pretty variable even in real life, so I think dramatic license can be taken. My sister had a tumour shrink enough to stop pressing on her windpipe and causing incessant coughing in just one chemo session. No one knew in advance whether that would happen or not. Thirteen's tumour didn't disappear, it just shrank enough to stop pressing on whatever it was pressing on in the optic centre. There is a certain absurdity, however, in speeding up one element (growth of a tumor that no matter how fast would not be that fast...just wouldn't) while sticking to the guns and declaring the targeted radiation would not cause hair loss overnight. (Whereas the tumor would shrink overnight and this all makes sense because????) I am happy that your sister's treatment went well, though I suspect while it only took one chemo session, it certainly took more than the next day to discover the success. I also thought Big Baby did a good job of establishing that what Cuddy had an issue with was who to delegate handling House and there weren't a lot of candidates. Cameron was a good choice for that job. I thought Big Baby did nothing of the sort. The only search we saw Cuddy make was dragging herself down to the ER to approach Cameron--rather spontaneously--with the offer. But I admit there may have been 3-4 scenes left on the editing floor.

i liked this episode. :) i didn't find cuddy's pranks to be too evil, maybe i just don't sympathise with house too much because as much as i love the character, he is still really mean at times :lol: he deserves a taste of his own medicine, sometimes. the wilson bits were touching. the foreteen was blah (as per usual). i didn't think the final diagnosis made a lot of sense... okay i know nothing about medicine but i just didn't find it one bit believable. for example, how come the patient never started bleeding uncontrollably in the 8 months after her surgery? are her periods that irregular? :lol: well good episode anyway.

It was the juxtaposition of her laying on the kid-wishes early but then turning around and saying she wasn't ready for Foreman to take such an action. I don't see a rather normal desire to make clear that kids are on her radar and Foreman risking his license, the trial's validity and her health as being on the same level. She wasn't telling him she wanted to be trying for kids with him immediately. There is a certain absurdity, however, in speeding up one element (growth of a tumor that no matter how fast would not be that fast...just wouldn't) while sticking to the guns and declaring the targeted radiation would not cause hair loss overnight. (Whereas the tumor would shrink overnight and this all makes sense because????) I am happy that your sister's treatment went well, though I suspect while it only took one chemo session, it certainly took more than the next day to discover the success. I think cancer has more variable presentations than you're allowing for. Cancer can be very fast growing and aggressive--one week for a tumour to show up is not unheard of and having the cancer be very fast growing was established in the storyline. It made dramatic sense to have it be a problem very fast, so I don't see anything absurd about the choice to compress a bit. Thirteen's radiation would not cause hair loss at all, so the show is not being at all absurd in not showing that, and it wouldn't be absurd in any case, because it takes time for the hair loss to happen even when it's applicable. I am happy that your sister's treatment went well, though I suspect while it only took one chemo session, it certainly took more than the next day to discover the success. No, the greatly lessened coughing was noticeable the next day. And the type of radiation Thirteen got, as Reckless noted, is fast acting.

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