Okay, I had forgotten about that line. It's just that out of all the emotions going on at that time, I have a hard time believing that respect was the reason House stayed away.

This wasn't a bad episode overall. 14 was much less boring this time around. The biggest problem I've seen was with the pacing. We got the POTW, then she vanished for some fifteen to twenty minutes of 14 and drug trials and finally came back as background noise, being treated by Kutner and Taub. The POTW had so much potential with the pursuit of happiness storyline and instead we got to see House being weirdly paternal to Foreman. I'll second (actually I think I'm thirding) what someone said about the contrast between Wilson's "mug shot" and the melodrama. Cuddy's pranks were boring and she herself was nothing but annoying. The best part, however, was "thank you, Rationalization Man, you've saved the village". It's been a while since House made me laugh.

It's funny you mention that Triteness... I just rewatched the episode and was about to write that it seemed like Foreteen (and House's concern for them) was the "A" plot, the POTW and Wilson were the "B" plot, while Cuddy's pranks on House were the "C" plot. I think the reason that House's concern over Foreteen seems OOC is because it seemed more important to House than his case. It's not unusual for House to take an interest in his employees lives, but he never treated it as being more important than solving a case. House used to be all about his job and solving puzzles. But now he doesn't seem as invested in the puzzles anymore. Dare I say, lately it seems like his cases are an inconvenience to him, as though they're getting in the way. Am I the only one who has been feeling this way? (Actually, I'm going to take this to the bitterness thread. I have a bit more to add to that.) -

cases
It's true. I just watched S2 and S3, and the cases really are critical to the show. Right now, not so much. I speculate that perhaps the lessened focus on the case mirrors House's evolution as a character. He's brilliant, and focused, but not as single-minded now. He shows some emotion for his employees--and he's aware that Cuddy is angry enough to need a punching bag. The medical brilliance is still there, but...it's like House is (very subtly) paying more attention to the emotional states of the people around him. Of course, when he gets what he wants (from Cuddy), he goes back to being a jerk...Well, Rome wasn't built in a day. This intensifying focus on character development is either good if you're a die-hard soap-opera fan like me, the kind of person who laps up Wilson's contorted face, the lipstick on the cup, and every little detail of the characters' emotional lives. Or it's bad if you hate soaps and dread how the show losing its acerbic medical edge. As for me, I say, Good show; carry on.

That's the thing though .... I enjoy the character development more than the medical aspect of the show. Yet I feel as though we learned more from the characters when they weren't the main aspect of the show. (if that makes any sense?). I mentioned that in the Spoilder Discussion thread a few days back ... Despite the focus on the soap and the characters, TTK's development feels like a bit of a mess at the moment. We know their deeper issues, but we don't know the simple stuff about them. (like Adriane said, we don't know their specialities, their names, or even the basics about their lives). I think that's part of the problem with many fans not liking them (or at least feeling indifferent towards them). Rather than slowly introducing us to who the characters are, we've been thrust into their problems and made to give a damn. They've been on the show for over a year, yet we still barely know much about them as people or as doctors.

It's not unusual for House to take an interest in his employees lives, but he never treated it as being more important than solving a case. In Euphoria, House was very very concerned indeed with saving Foreman, to the point of almost being paralyzed and unable to diagnose. He's actually less involved in this one, but it's in character that he cares that Thirteen has a tumour and that Foreman caused it and he's about to trash his career. In Euphoria, the writers just eased the POTW from the cop into Foreman, and the POTW became the B plot. In this one, the two plots remained separate. But I would say that when Foreman fell ill, House's emotional involvement in the case climbed considerably. He cared about solving the cop's puzzle, but he cared a lot more about solving it when Foreman was at stake.

yeah
Yeah, TPTB used to be much, much more subtle about character development. Right now they are kind of hitting us over the head. Character development used to be interwoven with the POTW storyline in a more subdued way. Now it's like we're compelled to draw the parallels between the POTW and the main characters, whether we like it or not. Take, for example, Wilson's heart-to-heart with the POTW. I felt it was...forced, because we haven't seen any build-up about Wilson's feelings. Nevertheless! HL and RSL can do no wrong by me. Both could be declaiming in Latin and I'd still watch.

Yes, plenty of us share this point of view. I'd say it's like we had this very good cookie with amazingly tasty drops of chocolate. Then, in order to sell more cookies, our dealers (the cookie was that good) listened to us praising the chocolate drops, saying how they were the best part and how we couldn't wait for desert, and decided to up them in content. So they went and made them bigger and more numerous. Then they covered the cookie in chocolate, added chocolate filling and what we ended up with was a chocolate disc. That is no longer to be eaten, but shoven up our recta. During our meals. I... may have carried it too far, but it still makes sense. Some.

I think Foreman will continue to act like a jerk for the rest of his life. I think House might have made him unemployable. I almost like watching 14 these days because it is almost like watching Saw or Hostel, you know something really disgusting is going to happen but you have to keep watching to see what it is (almost like slowing down to watch people getting loaded into the ambulance at a car wreck). I almost have to wonder if OW's is actually brilliant, in that she's basically just a female cypher for Foreman and his behavior. She's like the perfect woman for a creepy guy who doesn't like committment. Is there something in the Actor's Guild charter that requires all bisexual characters to go to night clubs and do drugs at some point in their developement? HL and RSL can do no wrong by me. Both could be declaiming in Latin and I'd still watch I, for one, can't abide creation in a vaccum. Even great acting within a poor narrative is essentially uninteresting to me. eta: I deleted the gagging part and the Showgirls comparisons because I was trying to be funny and it didn't work out, obviously.

No offense, but if it's uninteresting to you, why waste your time with it? I don't really understand what you mean. All I was saying was that the plot has to be interesting for me to enjoy the acting.

Mod Note: We're starting to get posts that have nothing to do with the episode and would be more appropriate in the Bitterness or Crack threads. That's why they're there. If you have a complaint about the episode, by all means post it here. If you have a complaint about the general direction or tone of the series, this is not where they belong. Thank you.