6.01/6.02 - Broken

Plus this being the House team you kinda know whatever progress House is supposed to have made will be negated in 2 episodes. But will it all? I mean, yes, House being House, they're going to have to deal with "The Vicodin Question," as pill-popping has become such ingrained part of our characterization of him, as well as his being a smart ass jerk because without it we as an audience would twiddle our thumbs for 45 minutes. On the whole, I think House and David Shore are right that people generally don't change. That's why therapists are able to stay in business, after all. Yet, when one goes through an experience like what House went through this summer, it's harder to negate it because the experiences weren't all physical but instead emotional. Pain can come back, addictions can resurface, but the discovery that you have the self-efficacy to put yourself out there and not immediately get stomped on can't be taken back, really. There can be setbacks, definitely, but I don't think that we will ever really see the House of the Tritter era or of the Wilson/Amber era again. That's not to say that House won't ever cause pain again, since we all cause pain to ourselves and others, but I don't think that we can really say that all of House's progress will be negated.

Plus this being the House team you kinda know whatever progress House is supposed to have made will be negated in 2 episodes. No,no, no don't say that. If you say it out loud it may happen. I really want to believe that the reset button has been pressed and we'll get to see a slightly evolved House. I will be seriously bummed if it's business as usual by episode 4.

House is pretty much Sisyphus, as are we all, I suppose. We get better but we are pushing a heavy weight (of our own making) uphill. Eventually, we'll take a step or two back, regroup, push harder make better progress, get tired, fall back, and so on. I agree with chippers that now that the cat is out of the bag, House has more knowledge of himself and how people can accept him just for himself and that even if he fails, he can forgive himself and move on. And he's not stupid: knowing that will change him. But then he'll step back into the old routine and maybe old habits, so, as it is with all of us, I expect it to be a balancing act: some good days, some not. But it's a new area and I think they would be foolish not to explore it. And they're mostly not foolish.

Am I the only one who took issue with the Lydia story line? Now, it was done beautifully, it showed that House can connect with people and love and get hurt etcetc. But taking away the storytelling-art, if this was real, Lydia really really bothers me. I feel like she took advantage of him. I feel like if it was about a male visitor to an asylum hooking up with a girl who has hallucinated and is depressed... it would be seen as 'wrong'. But the fact that she was woman made it ok. I feel like she was a sane woman, with some issues for focusing on the sister in law so much, but she wasn't depressed enough to be in an asylum herself. And House was a guy STRUGGLING in an asylum, finishing going through Vicodin withdrawel, being depressed... and she just wants to have fun with him. She admited she didn't care about the long term, just wanted to have fun right now and didn't seem to worry or care about anyone getting hurt later, as long as it was nice now. Her intentions totally remind me of high school boys who want to 'have fun' right now and have no intention of long term relationships. Or take advantage of girls who are craving for any kind of connection with a human.. kind of like Lydia did. House was 'broken' and she took advantage of that, had no intentions or discussions about leaving her husband or long term life. And didn't even have then decency to sit down and discuss with House why she has to leave. Am I putting too much into this? I know House needed her to show him he can love and get hurt, and it was nice in a storyline way. But as an actual person and analyzing this as if they were real.. she really bothered me. Am I the only one who is thinking this way? I didn't read her that way. I don't think seducing him -- or being seduced by him -- even crossed her mind. She said she liked him because he has a good heart. She said she kissed him because she thought that was a "nice" way of showing him that. And it was a very chaste kiss -- I've kissed my male friends on the lips like that. Heck, my male friends have kissed *each other* like that. She had no way of knowing he'd react so strongly to it. And her speech about enjoying their relationship while it lasted even though it would end ... that wasn't about sex, although she might have been thinking it could end up there. But at the time all she wanted them to do was play a piano duet and enjoy each other's company. The sex happened when she was feeling vulnerable because she was upset over Annie, and he was feeling vulnerable because of all the daddy issues the visit to Nolan's father stirred up. They took comfort in each other's arms, then the Trope Fairy took over and they would up doing the wild thing (proving that preacher in "Footloose" correct -- see what dancing leads to?). And we don't know who initiated the sexing, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was House. So ... I'd call Lydia's actions impulsive, but not those of a female "playa" who was only out to take advantage of him. Their relationship -- such as it was -- reminded me a lot of the Bob Franke song "That's What the Waltz Is For": I know you're confused, I can see in your eyes You're helpless yourself as you tell me half-lies If we lived in childhood, we might run away But children don't feel this way Don't run away, dear, don't hide what you feel Hold me a few measures more We dance but a moment, but the moment is real That's what the waltz is for The danger and the promise rush on through the night And living in fantasy does't seem right Our separate lives call us to go separate ways But for now, how the music plays Don't run away, dear, don't hide what you feel Hold me a few measures more We dance but a moment, but the moment is real That's what the waltz is for

House is pretty much Sisyphus, as are we all, I suppose. And he's not stupid: knowing that will change him. But then he'll step back into the old routine and maybe old habits, so, as it is with all of us, I expect it to be a balancing act: some good days, some not. But it's a new area and I think they would be foolish not to explore it. And they're mostly not foolish. I really, really hope you're right. I hope the writers take this somewhat-changed House and "run" with it in the next Season, because I was getting tired of the emotionally shut-down House and the snarky House. The best part of the show is the conflict within House to be a more rounded, gentler character. He's always fighting to become invulnerable, and he almost has us convinced at times, but not quite. I mean, the best part of the show is that the character fights himself. If Season Six can take that and run with it, I think We Have A Winner, in terms of the season.

If House didn't relapse, I would consider it an After School Special. He learned some things about himself, he didn't have a personality transplant. He's going to work toward being happier and being able to enjoy the good things. He's not going to achieve it this week -- or even this year but it will be fascinating watching him inch closer. I think it's interesting that people dislike Lydia's personality. This is a woman who married her best friend's brother because he understood what she was going to as the friend mentally slipped away. She has a child (or more) but she spends every day visiting her catatonic sister-in-law. She's just as fucked up as the rest of them -- just in a more socially acceptable way. When Lydia meets him, he's a crippled trouble-making patient in a psychiatric hospital (albeit a gorgeous one). Why on earth would an emotionally healthy, giving, sensitive woman be interested in him?

Plus this being the House team you kinda know whatever progress House is supposed to have made will be negated in 2 episodes. Don't forget that just a couple of months ago people were bitching that everything that happens to House -- Stacy, his leg, Amber, his Dad's death, Kutner -- doesn't affect him. But in reality, they were gradually building up to the point where it was clear to everyone exactly how much it had affected him -- and even more importantly, it's evident to House as well. Despite the insistence that "nobody changes," they have, in fact, been willing to show House changing despite himself. Or because of himself. They're slow changes, they're minute changes, or, as David Shore put it in a recent interview they're on a "glacial pace," but they haven't negated anything he's been through in the past couple of years. They may take their time building up to something, and that something may not be what some cadres of fandom wants, but they do have an affect. And, as Poeia and others have noted the real story will be what comes next. House isn't "cured." He's merely been directed back onto the path where he needs to be. What happens on the journey along that path will be something I'm very much interested in seeing.

But in reality, they were gradually building up to the point where it was clear to everyone exactly how much it had affected him -- and even more importantly, it's evident to House as well. But was it really clear to everyone that House felt his losses keenly and almost lost his sanity over them? You're assuming Cuddy tells the ducklings that House voluntarily committed himself to a psychiatric ward to undergo both rehab and psychotherapy to deal with all of the losses he's suffered in the past year, including the death of his father, Amber's death, and Kutner's death. I don't think Cuddy will say anything about this matter to the staff. I think she'll say House is on medical leave, and everyone down to the janitor will assume that someone forced House into drug rehab (perhaps some patient's lawyer) only, and that the only matter wrong with him is his drug use. I don't think everyone will know how much the past year has affected him, or that he became so depressed that he had psychosis. Heck, I don't even think Cuddy will know how badly affected House had become by the events of the past year. It's going to be interesting to see what people say, and how they treat him. You may be right. It could be a violation of privacy law to tell people where he is, and why-not that HIPAA plays much of a role in House. I don't want to see a mild-mannered House, but the House of the last 2 seasons had grown harder to watch. He was too extreme, and often extremely unpleasant. Elsewhere someone suggested that they were maybe resetting him back to a S1 level, where he obviously had deep issues, and was snarky, but with a purpose. He didn't just needle people for the sake of it, he didn't play around with people's lives for "fun." He was into his one thing and didn't suffer fools. If that's where they go, I for one will be grateful.

Now that I've finally gotten a chance to see it... I have to say I fall into the camp that really didn't care for this ep. I thought HL was brilliant, but I spent the last 20 minutes glancing at the clock to see how much longer it was going to go on. ~ Lydia - that was just weird, and hopelessly contrived. I just don't buy that House, who has been badly burned by past relationships, would willingly enter into something even approaching that territory. I would have thought that House meeting this woman while institutionalized, during a period where he's extremely vulnerable and fragile, would have set off warning bells in his head about what happened the last time he was involved in a relationship while suffering a serious health crisis *cough*Stacy*cough*. It would have been more realistic to me that House would realize that parallel/trap and steer clear, regardless of his progress in learning how to open up to people. Also, I couldn't even watch the sex part. It was just ridiculous and silly and very non-sexy. YMMV. ~ House laughing, and singing/rapping, and - being nice to people? What? I think House smiled more in this episode alone than he has in the past 5 seasons I don't even know how to interpret this in the context of what we've been shown about House's character. Also, what the heck with the re-birthday cake? I'm sorry to say I spent half of this episode rolling my eyes over all the nonsense. ~ Coma!Cello!Chick! (CCC) and Superman storyline. Ugh. Given that House has previously been resistant to treatment out of fear that it would interfere with his diagnostic abilities, it would have been more interesting if perhaps he had been asked to consult on a real case and had to struggle with that fear that getting better would make him lose his edge. Dr. Nolan brought that up at one point, and I wish they had run with it. Perhaps they will in the episodes to come? ~ Could someone on this show deal with their issues about Amber and Kutner's deaths in a real way ON-screen? Too much to ask? With all the wealth of issues in House's background for therapy fodder, could we actually see him address his childhood abuse/guilt over Amber/self-loathing over his leg/bewilderment about Kutner on-screen? For all that this show is about House, he continues to be a complete enigma. Instead, we get vague psych talk about opening up to and trusting people and reaching out for help. Which is fine, and useful for House, but it would be nice to have had a deeper look into his issues. Oh well. This show has a pattern of weak premieres that develop into great seasons and jaw-dropping finales, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.

Page 8! I'm always late to these discussions because I have to rely on eztv for watching the episodes. As a result I may be just a tad repetitive, so I'll try only to reference my already voiced opinions in an effort not to overly bore any eventual readers. I agree with Kerry as to the predictability of the episode. I myself wasn't able to predict a thing, but that's mostly because I never expected House M.D. to play like a bizarro Fantasy Island. I was half expecting one of his fellow inmates or doctors to be a hallucination. That'd be a bit lame, but it would be better than ignoring the apparitions altogether after the doctor made that seemingly sound "it-wasn't-just-the-Vicodin" speech. On that point I agree with peggy06. And again when she points out how underwhelming this episode felt after the dramatic ending of S5. Unworthy. And I'll join the choir that's calling out the creepiness of a woman dating a mental patient. Worse - lending her car to a recently acquainted mental patient. Worse - lending it as a tool for kidnapping another mental patient. Really, she should be locked up herself. I'm not expecting extreme realism from teh show, but come on. A woman so reckless as to do that would have qualms about breaking up her family? If so, then her backstory became more interesting than the whole rest of the show, because I want to see how the hell she became such an unusual woman. The rapping was pretty awful, as already commented. Not so much because of House's behavior - by that point, he had already taken Superboy flying in an amusement park, which was far more disturbing - but because it really sucked. For a guy with such a sharp tongue he could have done better. I believe it would have made the scene a little less cringeworthy. Back to the flight, I believe a WTF? is in order. We've seen bastard!House (S4-S5), pissed!House (S2-S3) and a new kind of happy-go-lucky!House all in one episode. Fine, he was experiment and yes, he was in a mental hospital, but when did he start to care for people? I could see why he'd have a problem with the doctor who engaged in a public, vicious altercation with a patient and subsequently drugged him, but from there to taking the boy to an amusement park to fulfill his fantasies? And having a good time at it? Seemed very, very weird to me. Oh, and everything shadowcat said. Especially about Nolan. I hope that reminded House of why he didn't trust shrinks in the first place. They're all nuts themselves! The catatonic patient recovering was disturbing and I have nothing to add to that. And then we have the coup de grâce: the final re-birthday cake. Really, everything, from the smile to hugging his roommate. I swear I was expecting House to comment something along the lines of "If I shoved my head on the cake now, would you think me a lunatic?" when he actually did it. At least I felt it was a little bit in character - that's how a happy House would act, in my opinion. Enough bashing, there were also great moments. Particularly some scenes that were very well shot. House throwing stuff at Alvie was priceless. Some of his antics upon arrival were also entertaining. And we had some few good dialogues with the highly disturbed black psychiatrist. The tear during the sex scene I actually thought to be very interesting. So, overall, I have two things to say: I've failed to be succint (and I think that's excusable, given that it was a two-hour episode and after such a long break) and it was mildly entertaining. The change of venue helped a lot. Were this a regular episode at PPTH I believe it would have completely tanked. We had new characters for House to interact with and episodes that depart from the usual formula are always a relief. Then again I liked One Day, One Room. I'm a little disappointed, but not that much. And I think we can all conclude that House is now the farthest he's ever been from his original persona, so we're not rebooting. I'm a little anxious to see his return next week.

But it is hard for the more vengeful side of me not to wonder when was the last time House cut one of his fellows (not just his team, but all the people around him) some slack. He cuts them slack. He just doesn't cut them slack in a way that they can appreciate. Which, I guess, is the point. Taub wanting to quit -- and House saying, Your job (basically) is still waiting for you, because quitting is the wrong idea. Thirteen wanting Foreman to go immolate himself on the altar of self-sacrificing love -- and House saying, He loves you, he made a mistake, phone him and get him back here so he doesn't lose his license. Thirteen partying and puking her way through denial -- and House prevents her from getting suspended by Cuddy. House looking the other way even though he knows Foreman and Thirteen are back together again. And this is despite the fact that a relationship with a colleague in such a tense working environment is a bad idea. House telling Cameron that she's making a mistake with Chase, by not giving up the dead husband's sperm. "If your condo rules didn't let you buy fire insurance, would you go homeless?" House going to support Wilson when Wilson has to see Danny. Even that very subtle point, in which he orders a bone biopsy for the young girl, instead of going straight into chemotherapy. As Wilson points out, "He's being kind." So, House was taking steps to improve. His environment -- his colleagues -- didn't recognize his efforts. There's no reason to think that they'll be any more supportive or recognize the steps he's taking to change in this season. This is going to be fun but painful. Looking forward to next Monday. Maybe I misunderstood the meaning of "cutting somebody some slack" and failed to use the expression in an appropriate manner. If it is so, I am sorry. In my mind, cutting somebody some slack means letting tgem deal with their issues on their own, giving them the extra and non-mandatory space and freedom they need to make their own mistakes, gather their own thoughts and come up with their own solutions, without further nagging or judging. To me, a perfect example of cutting somebody some slack would be Dr Nolan allowing House to visit Lydia at the end of the episode, even though he disagrees with the idea and could effectively stop House from doing it. All the examples you gave are perfect proof that House is willing and able to help those around him when the opportunity presents itself, that he cares. Nonetheless, all but two (Thirteen's drug problems and relationship with Foreman) lack the "taking things at face value and not interfere" behaviour that I, possibly erroneously, associate with "cutting somebody some slack". House helped by probing, by trying to make sense out of his fellows'/friend's/patient's behaviours, by trying to behave as their alternative brain. And it is a behaviour that has permeated every single relationship withing the group of main characters. I partly blame it on the glass walls everywhere in the hospital : when and how do people get a little privacy in this God-forsaken place ? The atmosphere is one of suspicion and constant questioning. The characters are now at a point where they cannot just go "Oh, you're happy ? Good for you !". They have to know why you are happy, how you got happy, check if you are indeed happy and start placing bets on how long it is going to last. You are right to say that it is very probable all the other characters do not know the real extent of House's problems pre-Mayfield. But the reason is that House didn't want them to know and possibly was not even aware of it himself. At Mayfield, he learnt to give a shot at trust from time to time. Maybe he should try to teach this trick to his colleagues when he comes back.

Just enjoy the episode!Sorry but I had to say it because I tought it was one of the best ever.Yes,I said it.It seem that hald the fandom likes it and the other hates it I am going to go back to lurking after this, but I wanted to respond to you first. I didn't hate Broken. I didn't even dislike it. I found the errors jarring, which is why I began writing them down, which I'm sure is weird but it works for me--I wasn't sitting there trying to be negative and critical, I was sitting there trying to enjoy the show. So, anyway, I'll add a little positivity to the mix. I loved the phone call between House and Wilson, I thought it was a great nutshell of their relationship. I loved Alvie, I loved the lovemaking scene--and IMO it really wasn't about House and Lydia, it was about him allowing someone in even though he knew they'd hurt him later, which I think argues for a House/Cuddy hookup this season. I liked the rebirthday cakes, and I liked the rapping, which was lame and I liked that about it.

But was it really clear to everyone that House felt his losses keenly and almost lost his sanity over them? It was to me. I've been one of the people saying for some time that they were building up to something, even if I didn't know what that would be. Since this is a series that always takes it takes its time letting things pay off (Chase's father's death, which was upcoming in season one, not being mentioned again until midway through season two, for example). I also said earlier upthread that some of the reaction to House will depend on what the others know about what he went through. Cuddy obviously knows where he's been, but we don't know about the others at this point. But what's going to be interesting is House's reaction and his journey, regardless of whether the others sympathize with him or not. (This goes back to his having helped create the "toxic" atmosphere around him at PPTH.) The team's reaction will have its own journey, but as always I'm more interested in House's journey.

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