6.04 - The Tyrant

I had no problem with Wilson telling House he had to move. I had no problem with his being upset that House went into the neighbor's apartment. My problem is that he never, for one minute, considered it possible that House had made any progress at all. If, after House met the neighbor at the mailbox, when House said he had been nice, Wilson indicated that he appreciated that House was trying but there was no winning with this neighbor, I'd be fine when he got didn't believe House after the second, third or umpteenth encounter. Of course he's going to be suspicious of House and be wary that House is backsliding. But if he doesn't believe there's one iota of a shred of a chance that House has changed at all, why not have House go back to his own apartment as soon as he left Mayfield? I don't expect Wilson to believe in miracles. But if he doesn't have an open mind about House's recovery, I would at least hope that his mind wasn't double bolted and clamped shut. Yeah, I cringed when House stood there in Wilson's office, saying that the neighbour was a jerk. I cringed because there was no way Wilson was going to believe him. I mean, no sane person would believe House, after all the stunts he's pulled, and Wilson's reaction is understandable. But I can't help but wonder how the writers are going to play this out. What does House have to do to regain Wilson's trust? Certainly contrition, four months in a psychiatric ward, and the recommendation of Dr. Nolan, isn't enough. (Certainly cracking brain open, applying DBS, didn't seem to be enough, at least for three months. But we won't rehash Season 5.) So what will be? Well, Wilson did say, reluctantly, at the end of the episode, that he was going to give House the benefit of the doubt, now that House had "made nice" with the neighbour. That's progress, and it shows that Wilson's mind is not shut against House's recovery. He'll need more proof, though. Let's hope House is prepared to give it to him.

Dr. Spaceman: If Wilson had wanted House gone, I don't for a second believe that he wouldn't just tell House that he needed his own space, it was too much etc. and it was time he go back to his own apartment. If Wilson wanted to be nefarious, he would have told House about the problem with the neighbor before and let House loose. Instead, he begged House to avoid the neighbor. Then he made House write a letter of apology, all to preserve their comfortable living situation. I also saw a Wilson who was very sad and disappointed when he had to tell House to leave but who was backed into a corner with the only other option being House (fresh out of the mental hospital) landing in jail on breaking and entering charges. And when the issue was resolved and House could stay, I saw Wilson as happy, relieved and deciding to believe that House actually acted decently with the neighbor. I, quite simply, didn't see it this way at all. You say that telling House about the problem with the neighbor would have been nefarious; I say it would have been honest. Tomato, tomahto. There’s no reason why Wilson couldn’t then have asked that House stay out of the situation, but he simply doesn’t give House that option. For me, it's a little like the problems between Foreman and Thirteen. Yes, you heard me correctly. I am comparing Wilson and House to Foreman and Thirteen. Like Foreman, Wilson did not have merely two choices: tell House to leave or allow him to go to jail. He had a number of other choices, none of which seems to have occurred to him, the main one being that he could have at least attempted to hear House's side of things, and possibly used those dangly things between his legs to stand up for his friend, not only to the admittedly annoying and unreasonable neighbor but also to the condo board. In the past, Wilson has prided himself on his ability to play politics (and has lectured House on the same subject), and yet he can't figure out how to finagle a fountain because of one idiot? Sorry, doesn't fly. Ironically, he has been willing in the past to stand up for House when House was at least partly in the wrong, but he can’t tell the difference between those situations and this one, when House is in the right? And yeah, I’ve heard the argument that Wilson has been burned in the past yada yada yada or that you just can’t trust an addict, and that but doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t justify, for me, treating a friend either condescendingly or like crap. Let me get into the specifics here, starting with the very first conversation Wilson and House have in this episode, right after House enters and they chat about his day. House notices that Wilson has not used garlic on his Chicken Florentine. Right at this moment, Wilson has a choice. He could be honest, but instead he chooses to hedge, which he ought to know—after nearly 20 years of friendship—is going to pique House’s curiosity and lead to something more complicated. Thanks to Wilson’s abnormal behavior, House is now in diagnostic mode, so he ventures, “You seem to be losing your sense of smell.” Here’s where it begins to get unpleasant. Wilson knows full well why he hasn’t used garlic and what he’s hiding from House. House has done nothing wrong, and yet this is what Wilson says in return: “I think you’re losing your sense of mind,” which is neither witty nor a nice thing to say to someone who is struggling to regain his life after having literally lost his mind. Now House has not only the clue about the garlic to ponder, but also Wilson’s peculiar reaction. House makes a minor joke, then reaches for the remote, at which point Wilson gets visibly exasperated and says, seemingly seriously, “Are you inventing some big medical mystery here, because if you’re imagining things again…” He lets it drift off at this point. Wilson knows full well that he’s created an anomaly that House is bound to notice, so he doesn't get to play innocent and then accuse House of imagining things again. Gaslight, anyone? By lying through omission, he sets up a situation where House’s curiosity will pretty much ensure that he’s going to want to continue the conversation. And, of course, that’s what happened as House begins to put the pieces together, and to test his theory, bangs on the floor with his cane. That’s how their interactions in this episode begin. Then Wilson begs House to avoid the neighbor, which House tries very hard to do in the scene at the mailbox. After the neighbor is insufferable and nasty to House with no provocation, and despite House’s sincere attempt at appeasement, here is Wilson’s very next line to House, spoken unbelievingly, in the scene in Wilson’s office: “It’s just a wild coincidence that he thought you were a rude jerk.” Given House’s past behavior, this is not totally unreasonable. But when would the Old House have answered him the way New House does: “Come on. Give me the benefit of the doubt. You said he’s a jerk. I barely talked.” Wilson not only doesn’t want to hear House’s side of the story, he’s already made up his mind what that side is: “You talked!” he says, as if that explains everything, and then he completely ignores House and goes into his little pipedream of sipping espresso by a peaceful, burbling fountain. He's also making it clear what the conditions are on his friendship: He will be nice to House only if House becomes invisible, and if House does exactly what Wilson tells him to do. It’s only after Wilson has refused hear House’s side of the story that House slips back into old behavior patterns, and starts coming up with his hair-brained scheme to prove the guy is a liar. Wilson’s next step is to “make” House write a letter of apology and leave it on in front of the door without engaging the neighbor in conversation. Again, House attempts to fulfill Wilson’s wishes. If he hadn’t slipped in the spilled water—now there’s a lawsuit in the making (one Wilson could have used as leverage to get his fountain if he had bothered to shut up long enough to hear about it)—he would have done just as Wilson asked. Every step of the way, House tries to do the right thing, tries to do what Wilson asks him to do, tries, if you will, to trust Wilson. Their next interchange just makes things worse. “You broke into his apartment?!” yells Wilson. “I didn’t break in,” says House, truthfully. “I wish I believed you,” is the response he gets. “I can fix this,” says House, trying again, and we know—even thought Wilson clearly doesn’t, because he hasn’t bothered to get House’s version—that he will try to make it better. (And, in fact, he ultimately does.) “I already did,” responds Wilson, shutting him down. Then he says, “He was going to press charges, but I promised him you’d leave.” “You’re kicking me out?” says House, clearly stunned by this. After all, he’s being punished, in a sense, for doing what Wilson asked and for trying to do the right thing and change decades of behavior patterns. But does he get positive reinforcement for that? No, he doesn’t. “I’ll explain it to your psychiatrist, but yeah. You’ve gotta go somewhere else,” says Wilson, as if telling his side of this story to Dr. Nolan is going to make this astounding lack of trust all better. I don’t know what Wilson would or wouldn’t have done if he actually wanted House gone, because I don’t honestly know if Wilson wants House there, or what Wilson’s motives are. What I do know is that, from the beginning of this episode—actually from the beginning of last week’s episode—Wilson has made it very, very clear that he doesn’t trust House, and both his choice of words and his body language/tone of voice are representative of someone who is annoyed to have House living with him, except when it's convenient for him. It’s only after House has done something completely outrageous and—by the way—solved the neighbor problem, that Wilson decides he will choose to trust House, although he still doesn’t want to hear the truth. The solution not only benefits the neighbor, it has enabled House to solve a medical problem and help someone who has become cranky because of chronic pain. In addition—and at least from my armchair, this is why Wilson has decided to “trust” House—it suits Wilson, giving him what he wanted. I can’t help but wonder if, on some conscious or subconscious level, Wilson was using House to solve his condo board problem for him, and at the same time taken a false high road, absolving himself of any responsibility or blame in the situation. In the meantime, Wilson has repeatedly kicked House when his friend is down, and it’s not the first time Wilson has done this (beginning of Season 5, for those who are keeping score). It’s a nasty trait, couched in pleasantries, as if it is being done for House’s benefit by someone who knows so much better than House what is good for him. Clearly, he doesn’t. For now, things are relatively calm between these two, but I’d be willing to bet money that next week, Wilson will be back to his old behavior of not giving House the benefit of the doubt, even as House is attempting to change his own behaviors. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t this the same Wilson who regretfully hung up on House at Mayfield because he wanted his friend to get better? What happened to that guy?

everything that sherlockjr just said. Except that you're much more eloquent than I am, and I couldn't have done the analysis any better.

He's also making it clear what the conditions are on his friendship: He will be nice to House only if House becomes invisible, and if House does exactly what Wilson tells him to do. Yes, this is the part that I don't understand at all. Wilson agreed to take House in, after House's stint in Mayfield. Let's stop and think about this. A trained medical doctor agreed to allow a friend, who was recently discharged from a psychiatric ward, to live with him for a few months, presumably on the advice of the friend's psychiatrist. At the same time as making this decision, this trained doctor expects his friend to behave: (1) with decorum (2) to not disrupt his schedule. (3) to not disrupt his relationships with his neighbours And this guy is a doctor? When I take in a normally functioning friend into my home for a few months, I actually expect that my routine is going to be disrupted. If I were to take in a former mental patient, I would actually anticipate things like extra noise, extra disruption with neighbours (maybe my friend can't sleep?), extra problems in general. Did anyone else cringe when Wilson described the initial behaviours that were disruptive? (1) Cooking. The one behaviour that House needed, at least in the beginning, to take his mind off his leg. (2) Walking with a cane. (I wonder what Wilson's alternative response would be if the neighbour said "cane-walking" was unacceptable.) Might as well tell House not to breathe while you're at it, Wilson. But Wilson can't handle it. House has gotta go. If you want to draw the boundaries, Wilson, for the love of heaven, make up your mind and draw the boundaries. Don't invite a former mental patient into your home and then make it all his fault that he can't cut it . *** Stepping away from House world for a minute, I do realize that my views and Sherlockjr's views are probably in the minority here -- and I also realize that I'll (happily) agree to disagree with others. After all, this is what makes the show so freakin' fantastic! One character leads to strongly held opinions on what makes this character great (or, in my case, strongly held opinions on what makes Wilson creepy, yo!). My writing professor went through the analysis of a short story this week, in which the entire class, all twenty of us (young, old, of various races, genders, and professions) vehemently disagreed with each other about the short story's interpretation. What she said resonated with me: "You know that the mark of a fantastic short story is when there are different interpretations of the character's actions." (Main character was either an abused woman, or a masochist who "got off" on her husband's cruelty. We couldn't decide which.) So is it with this show. Long live Wilson, the manipulative bitch, and the fact that he can mindtwist with both House and us in the same episode...

But I can't help but wonder how the writers are going to play this out. What does House have to do to regain Wilson's trust? Certainly contrition, four months in a psychiatric ward, and the recommendation of Dr. Nolan, isn't enough. (Certainly cracking brain open, applying DBS, didn't seem to be enough, at least for three months. But we won't rehash Season 5.) So what will be? For me, the real question is, what does Wilson have to do to earn House's distrust? Even before Mayfield, House continually has given Wilson the benefit of the doubt, and has put Wilson's needs before his own, apparently having learned from what happened in the Vogler and Tritter arcs. He's apologized sincerely at times, and now he's changed his behavior quite dramatically, and yet Wilson keeps hurting House where it really counts, and still House keeps coming back for more. If you want to draw the boundaries, Wilson, for the love of heaven, make up your mind and draw the boundaries. Don't invite a former mental patient into your home and then make it all his fault that he can't cut it. Yup. edited because RachelSue and I posted at the same time.

Another interpretation of events would be that Cameron did the deed and Chase signed the morgue paper to cover up for her. To me, character-wise, it seems more likely that he would risk jail to protect her than actually kill his patient. Her sudden change of heart could be masking her wrongdoing and the indirect method of misdiagnosing strikes me as something she would be more likely to have done rather than actually cause his death directly. I dunno but somehow this scenario rings true to me. Except Chase explicitly tells her he'll get her the blood. With hindsight, this scene foreshadows Chase's action. When Cameron comes up to him, he's sitting in a brooding attitude. He seems to question why she would be working for a diagnosis. He is unusually serious, and when he says, "I'll get you the blood," it seems kind of intense. On second viewing, I take it he is already brooding on the various things he's heard in the patient's room: Dibala's words about how men take a stand, his ominous-sounding statements about his intentions. The funny thing is that Chase ends up doing something similar to what Cameron did when she tried to undermine the second-in-command's confidence in Dibala. He didn't pull the trigger; he put the gun into unwitting hands. His stand wasn't all that clear-cut.

He's apologized sincerely at times, and now he's changed his behavior quite dramatically, and yet Wilson keeps hurting House where it really counts, and still House keeps coming back for more. Remember "Mirror, Mirror," when the patient told House that Wilson was the alpha in the relationship? If you can kick out your friend, who was hallucinating four short months ago, and justify it to yourself as being in your friend's best interest, and not experience any flack from your friend....you're definitely the alpha in the relationship. The fact that House does Wilson's laundry is both a callback to "Mirror, Mirror" and hilarious.

Let's stop and think about this. A trained medical doctor agreed to allow a friend, who was recently discharged from a psychiatric ward, to live with him for a few months, presumably on the advice of the friend's psychiatrist. At the same time as making this decision, this trained doctor expects his friend to behave: (1) with decorum (2) to not disrupt his schedule. (3) to not disrupt his relationships with his neighbours Let's add: a) that Wilson knows (and has at some point presumably liked) House's outsized personality, and yet expects him to sublimate it on Wilson's whim (and how well does he really think that's going to work?). b) that House's actual diagnosis, once he detoxed, was severe depression. Not schizophrenia, not some kind of manic disorder, not delusions, not... fill in the blank. Depression. Depression severe enough for him to be institutionalized for months. Since depression is what Wilson himself has suffered from, you'd think he'd have a little sympathy for a fellow sufferer... especially one he unethically attempted to treat by dosing him with antidepressants a while back. Does he really believe that the way he's behaving toward House is going to make him less depressed? I'm pretty sure that none of these is part of any recognized treatment plans for depression: - refusing to listen to what the depressed person has to say - telling the depressed person you don't believe them - trying to control the depressed person's life (with the implication that the person doesn't have the ability to make reasonable judgments) - blaming the depressed person for things they haven't actually done - and always always always assuming the worst. Dear God! If I had a friend like that, I'd be depressed, too. Long live Wilson, the manipulative bitch, and the fact that he can mindtwist with both House and us in the same episode... Despite everything I've said, I still agree with RachelSue, because watching Wilson outdo House in the nasty department makes for mighty good TV. I, too, love the manipulative bitch... even when I feel like slapping him.

I'm finding all this House/Wilson analysis so fascinating. I agree with both rachelsue and sherlockjr. I don't really trust the show to do this, but in the real world, I'd expect House to call Wilson on his jerky and condescending behavior. They could have a "breakup" scene where they air their grievances and promise to change for the better. I know it wouldn't stick, but it'd be entertaining to watch. But I think House is far too needy to risk losing Wilson's friendship again. That's why I enjoyed "Broken" so much. Dr. Nolan and Lydia are characters who take House as he is. They didn't expect him to change, and didn't constantly doubt his intentions. Dr. Nolan, in particular, is an impartial observer. The way Wilson (and Cuddy) treat House, he could easily backslide into Vicodin use again. What point is there in trying to change if your friends don't believe you're capable?

I don't really trust the show to do this, but in the real world, I'd expect House to call Wilson on his jerky and condescending behavior. They could have a "breakup" scene where they air their grievances and promise to change for the better. I know it wouldn't stick, but it'd be entertaining to watch. But I think House is far too needy to risk losing Wilson's friendship again. That's why I enjoyed "Broken" so much. Dr. Nolan and Lydia are characters who take House as he is. They didn't expect him to change, and didn't constantly doubt his intentions. Dr. Nolan, in particular, is an impartial observer. The way Wilson (and Cuddy) treat House, he could easily backslide into Vicodin use again. What point is there in trying to change if your friends don't believe you're capable? Kinda makes you wonder how House might have turned out if people had been supportive of him years ago instead of trying to change him. Now, he simply seems to expect it, and perhaps feels that the only way he will be allowed to interact with anyone in an interpersonal manner is if he lets them treat him like crap, which on some level he thinks he deserves. In turn, he has developed bad-boy behaviors that have caused people to treat him poorly, creating both a vicious cycle and a self-fulfilling prophecy. This may be what made "Broken" so touching - once House's defenses started coming down, his reaction to human affection was like that of an abused puppy. I'm thinking in particular of the way he teared up after he and Lydia made love. Which somehow prompts another thought: Is it possible that Wilson is subconsciously putting House down in order to keep him needy... which in turn makes Wilson feel superior and therefore good about himself? If Wilson lets House change, then House may not need Wilson so much. If he doesn't need Wilson, then the relationship changes in ways that are outside Wilson's control, perhaps feeding into Wilson's own fear of being abandoned. Better that he should let House believe that, at any moment and for any reason, he might dump House again, and therefore ensure that House will be dependent on him and won't be the one to walk away. Edited to add one more thought: But I think House is far too needy to risk losing Wilson's friendship again. Maybe this is why Wilson is the alpha; he knows that House needs him a lot more than Wilson needs House. (Speaking of which, have we had any indication from Wilson that he's even pleased to see House, or that he missed him?)

This is also a reminder to the odd couple arc : they can be mean to each other. After all, House was willing to kick Wilson away after one night...(and without counseling :wink:

After two days, I'm still feeling bad about this episode. I watch it again yesterday and I was interested to note that this episode was quite "violent"... physically but above all psychologically. I mean, during all the episode, I thought that Chase was really harassed by the case and the people around the case. I'm no trying to find him excuses but just something I noticed. The pace was heavy so the funny scenes were very very usefull. House/Chase charade remind me of the beginning of the third season. Sookieeeeeeeeeee... ahah. I didn't mind Boreteen at all. I don't really get this couple so I just feel it's a waste of time. But the last scene between Foreman and Chase made me like Foreman and OE for once.

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything Wilson did as being mean or evil or a jerk, or whatever. He's not perfect, and it would have been nice if he'd stood up to the building's tyrant, but his reaction to said tyrant was part of showing the examples of the ways we all respond to the petty tyrants in our lives. It was part of the greater overall story. And Wilson is a guy who's still dealing with his own losses. This is a guy who couldn't even bring himself to wash Amber's mug for months after his death, so I think that Amber's apartment is a big sentimental issue for him that's he's going to be dealing with. House is more outward and demonstrative in his failure to handle change well. Wilson internalizes it. It eats him up and rockets around his brain for a good long while before he'll address it. This is the guy who couldn't even tell House about his brother for more than nine years. You expect him to automatically adjust now? But then I don't think that Wilson made House into what he is. Anyone else would have shed House long ago, and Wilson willingly (and often happily) went along with House's shenanigans. He actually likes House, despite everything that House has done. House's issues are of House's own making. Wilson's issues are Wilson's. Neither is to blame for the other's.

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything Wilson did as being mean or evil or a jerk, or whatever. He's not perfect, and it would have been nice if he'd stood up to the building's tyrant, but his reaction to said tyrant was part of showing the examples of the ways we all respond to the petty tyrants in our lives. It was part of the greater overall story. And Wilson is a guy who's still dealing with his own losses. This is a guy who couldn't even bring himself to wash Amber's mug for months after his death, so I think that Amber's apartment is a big sentimental issue for him that's he's going to be dealing with. House is more outward and demonstrative in his failure to handle change well. Wilson internalizes it. It eats him up and rockets around his brain for a good long while before he'll address it. This is the guy who couldn't even tell House about his brother for more than nine years. You expect him to automatically adjust now? But then I don't think that Wilson made House into what he is. Anyone else would have shed House long ago, and Wilson willingly (and often happily) went along with House's shenanigans. He actually likes House, despite everything that House has done. House's issues are of House's own making. Wilson's issues are Wilson's. Neither is to blame for the other's . Thank you. I am sick of Wilson being blamed for House's problems. House is a grownup and a drug addict. The first thing a drug addict learns in recovery is to take responsibility for their past and current actions. House wants to be with Wilson and Wilson wants him there. Wilson was only trying to protect House. House to his credit took responsibility and fixed the situation. And that ending House/Wilson was totally and completly awesome and sweet. They are so married :)

The excellent and detailed analyses of RachelSue and SherlockJr have underlined for me an interesting trend I am sensing in these last two episodes: it seems to me that in several small but strongly delineated scenes, the writers are taking deliberate measures to show clear distinctions between the way that Wilson and Cuddy are reacting to House's attempts at recovery. "Thanks for dragging me into this," was Cuddy's sarcastic retort to Wilson in "Epic Fail" as she was forced to join him in rebuking House. In that same episode, Cuddy clearly and without hedging told House that she missed him. She asked him plainly if she was being narcissistic. House replied with equal simplicity in describing their rocky relationship in season five. In "The Tyrant," this new form of plain speech continued when House told Cuddy without embellishment or jibe that he needed his old job back. She responded with directness and authority to both House and Foreman in that scene, with House delivering the honest explanation that his recovery was an on-going "process." These moments are small, to be sure, but the tone and language here stands in considerable contrast to the scenes with Wilson. I don't know where this is all headed, but I think that this is certainly a different Cuddy from the one who agreed to go along with Wilson in deceiving House in season three's "Meaning."

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