Thank you fffaw for telling me about Mos Def's career. His monologue was the core of the episode, and he did it so natural, and eloquent. Yes, yes and yes! He did sound exactly like Wilson, and I noticed the no limping thing too. And before this episode aired, I thought maybe we'd learn House had locked-in syndrome because of the similarities...Mos Def crashed his bike, House crashed his, etc., and that somehow by the end, the whole story would turn around and we'd learn that House had hallucinated or dreamed the potw and that it was actually him being treated for locked-in syndrome. Glad I was wrong, but still...it was a little odd. I think your version of the story is quite fascinating, travlncarrie, that it's House who was trapped in the locked-in syndrome, and the PotW was his hallucination. That'll be a kind of "where is House?" episode Hugh wanted, and I'm pretty sure he'd love to lie on the bed whole episode, and do the monologue in the booth!:D

I haven't read through all the posts in this thread yet, but has anyone else tied House's opening-scene comment about locked-in syndrome to the final shot? The opening scene closes out with House saying to Lee, "I do know something about locked-in syndrome. Things are either voluntary, or involuntary."' Think maybe he's heard that before?

@ meruhl: It's interesting you pick that quote, because it did seem to almost suggest something else, but I think if the writers were going to pick apart at it they would have done it by the end of the episode. Neat, though. I think it would be absolutely traumatizing for House to have something like Locked-In syndrome, because he's the type of person who hates incompetence, never shies away from telling someone they're wrong and loves to voice his opinion. Could you imagine being completely unable to communicate? D:

Cameron's scene was great too, and I'm not even a Cameron fan. I loved how she didn't even seem all too phased or surprised when House took all 4 Vicodin when she was dressing his wounds. I loved the Cameron scene. She seems to take all his crap in stride these days, and I like that. There seemed to be a comfort level there between the two characters. He wasn't making sexual comments; she wasn't cooing or fussing over him. Alan Sepinwall had said in his review before the show aired that Cameron wasn't in the episode, so it was a pleasant surprise to see her in such a nice little scene.

I think the Cameron scene was a contrivance to keep her fans from giving up on the show since she'd been missing in 4 of the last 5 episodes but that's not unusual, there were a ton of contrivances to write Wilson and Cuddy into an episode during the first seasons and even still some now. I like the way they played the scene, like two people who know each other well, respect each other and accept who they both are. As for why Cameron came to change the bandage, it's consistent with how she's been since season 1 in knowing what House isn't going to do and handling it for him e.g. the paperwork in seasons 1- 3, ordering flowers in Birthmarks (also written by David Foster) and now changing his bandage because she knows he's not going to do it when he should. She's no longer shocked or disapproving, even when he takes all four vicodin at once, and he respects that she's good at diagnostics. I've missed their interactions.

I liked the Cameron scene too. She's seemed to mature a bit and has found a way to "mother" House like she wants to without being creepy or obnoxious. She really annoyed me in earlier seasons for those reasons. I could understand a young resident getting a crush on the older, wiser, brooding, dominant department head, but come ON, she took it way too far. Running around like she was 14 telling everyone she likes him? Gag. She's actually showing House real respect now too, instead of blind adoration. Like Adriadne mentioned, she just knows him extremely well, and knows that he's going to get obsessed with the case and not with "small details" like his own personal care, so she stops by just to make sure he's OK, help him out a little, but doesn't scold or criticize. I think that helps House respect her for who she is more too. This was MUCH better than they've been in the past and I'm actually getting some respect back for her as a character.

I finally got a chance to watch this and I thought it was good. I like it when they play with the narrative. On a side note, I really like Mos Def and I watched him on Real Time on HBO, he seems like a really nice guy in person, as well. I always liked Cameron's character and I think she has been the one that has been the most consistent with House. This is just the evolution of this particular relationship and I think they have done a good job with it, also his relationship with Chase has been handled well. I don't understand how they can make Cameron and Chase look good in their dealings with House but fail so horribly with Wilson, Foreman, and Cuddy. I think much of it is a screen time issue. Wilson gets pretty much all of his screen time with House. If they hang out so much, he shouldn't be so clueless.

Well yeah, but if he's his only friend, there really aren't a whole bunch of people to fill that position. What I don't understand is, Wilson had a big meltdown during the Tritter Arc but was right there with House afterwards and the aftermath of the Amber thing was similar but again they didn't really resolve it. If I was House, I would naturally assume that I could just do whatever I wanted and Wilson would keep crawling back. I don't see a great deal of respect there.

Some interesting things I must share. So my AP English class just finished taking our AP exams, and my teacher thought she'd let us relax and watch a movie and do some film study (still work, but a little more bearable.) She informs us that we're going to be watching a French film about "Locked-in Syndrome" where a man gets into an accident and finds himself in the horrible state and can only communicate through the blinking of his left eye. Already I'm on edge, it's almost the exact same thing as House. We start watching, not even exaggerating, it's almost a mirror image of "Locked in". He's regaining conciousness, everything is blurry, the camera is blinking, the patient is "talking" and doing that monologue voice over as he looks around and wonders what's happening. The camera focuses in on the doctors who talk to him, especially at their eyes, mouths, not full facial view. Deja vu to say the least. The movie's called "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly". It's a french movie (we're watching with dubbed English which isn't half bad) and apparently won some movie accolades. Came out in 2007, curious as to maybe this was the actual inspiration for the episode, I feel like it almost has to be, the direction is just too close to be coincidental. I'll try and find some clips and let everyone else be the judge. Anyways, that's my little random connection of the day :P

I didn't see the film but I thought of it during this episode. I had never heard of the syndrome until I saw the movie reviewed. That man didn't recover and, if I remember correctly, he dictated his biography, which the movie is based on, by blinking it out. I guess, if you're going to show what the person is going through, filming from his POV with people coming into and moving out of his field of vision is the only way to do it.