I think everyone reacts to the damaging influences in their lives differently. House had a nomadic childhood and an abusive father. He's a loner who believes he is incapable of doing anything right unless there is empirical evidence. Chase's father walked out, leaving him to care for his mother who drank herself to death. And, despite Rowan saying he left her, not Chase, he never showed up at football games, remembered Chase's birthday, etc. Chase is very self-contained. Over the years, House has picked on him more than on the others combined but, unless it's a real criticism of something he did wrong (e.g. the angio on the wrong leg), it seems to roll off his back. His question to Cameron about whether she ever really loved him is in keeping with this. Once she said she didn't know, he was able to accept the divorce because it wasn't something he did. (Killing Dibala, who Cameron also wanted dead, was the catalyst but if that hadn't happened, Cameron would have eventually found him wanting for another "sin" and left.) Foreman's childhood poverty and his ultra-religious parents (Everything I do right is God’s work; everything I do wrong is my own damn fault) explain him. He has a massive inferiority complex and needs to put everyone else down to feel good about himself. Kutner was a people-pleaser. Of all the characters on the show, the reason for his psychological make-up was the most simple and, therefore, the best explained (he saw his parents murdered and was adopted -- at a later age than most children are adopted.) Cameron lives under the delusion that she can fix everything that isn’t perfect and she has a rigid definition of what isn't perfect. We never learned why, but we also don't know Wilson ended up needing everyone to think he's Mister Nice-Guy. Yes, he hung up the phone on his brother who then disappeared. But Wilson was in his twenties at the time. If that had caused a complete personality change, his parents would have dragged him to therapy decades ago. That incident may have intensified those traits but he was already the "go-to" member of the family -- the one Danny turned to when he needed to talk. Why is it okay to be in the dark as to why Wilson is the way he is, but it's not okay that we don't know what caused Cameron's damage?

That Wilson was afraid to get back into a relationship because it might hurt House is interesting. But didn't Thirteen call him out on the fact that he was only using House's feelings as an excuse, because in reality he's afraid for his own feelings? And since Thirteen is so wise and omniscient, I assume we're supposed to believe her assessment to be true ;). That, and the fact that Wilson immediately jumped at the chance to justify his reluctance to date Sam, which came across pretty clumsy to me. Also, I thought the cut to Cuddy's face when the mother was talking about her fears about being able to love her adopted child as much as her biological child was interesting. I liked that too, they haven't adressed that topic, unless you count Cuddy's "delayed bonding" with the child, so that was a nice glimpse. lol, the way Taub stuffed the pills into his mouth, like he's eating candy ;). I loved Foreman's "Hit me. You know you always wanted to", so true... ;) I have to say, for me RSL and PJ really outshone their acting partners. Concerning the others, I didn't entirely buy their performance. For instance, OE's "being high" seemed a little fake. Usually it's not that apparent, but pairing them off with actors that have more charisma and a much more convincing body language, kind of emphasised that. It was so sad to see such a hopeless House who's struggling that much. When he admitted that he only convinced himself that he's better off alone, but has changed his opinion at some point, and one sentence later he does it all over again. Or when his leg was obviously hurting and he tried to force drugs on the patient, I know that was supposed to be a statement about House's general state of mind, but it was also an immediate need for House in that moment. Since he couldn't take any drugs himself to help with the actual leg pain and the only way to deal with the urge was to at least have someone else take drugs ;), I loved how annoyed he got about it.

poeia wrote: Why is it okay to be in the dark as to why Wilson is the way he is, but it's not okay that we don't know what caused Cameron's damage? I agree completely and would add, why is it o.k. to be in the dark about why Wilson is the way he is, but it is not o.k. to be equally unclear about what caused Cuddy's damage?

Talking about Cuddy. I also think her scenes were the weakest parts of the episodes. What were the cops doing? House's scenes were good but only because of the actors. I liked how Chase pushed Cameron to her boundaries about her feelings. But I didn't understand why she is so unfixable. Hello, just go talk to a shrink. You're not unfixable because you have issues with love. Foreman/Taub and 13/Wilson scenes were pretty good and really funny. I found myself liking Foreman so much more than usual. It makes me think of season 3 Foreman when he had a few scenes with Chase. The snark was good at the time. I wish there were more snark. I also found myself liking 13. It's weird but I found her more bearable this season. Oh, and Taub is the man. I found this episode refreshing. We had less House and I know it's unpopular but I think we need episodes like this. I know it's "his" show but well, too much House is no fun at the end, it's just too much. The other character are very important, for me at least. Why is it okay to be in the dark as to why Wilson is the way he is, but it's not okay that we don't know what caused Cameron's damage? I will speak for me of course but I have no problem with the causes of Cameron's damage but more how it was done and showed during 5 years. I think we are going to agree to desagree on this because it's also a question of "feeling". Writers wanted us to see/think that Cameron was damaged but it just felt flat I never had the impression they wanted to show us that the other (except House) character was damaged maybe because it was more subtle. I don't know. By the way, all the characters don't need to be damaged either.

Talking about Cuddy. I also think her scenes were the weakest parts of the episodes. What were the cops doing? We didn't see the cops searching for the same reason we don't see radiologists running scans or nurses administering meds -- because we're more emotionally connected with the story following the main characters than nameless peons, and it's easier to tell the story with established characters rather than introducing a bunch of people for one scene. (Cheaper too.)

So, what he was trying to say by mentioning Lydia is that Real Life is disappointing and he was better off in AU fic (Mayfield) and in Huddy fic (Vicodin-induced hallucinations)? Or something like that? What was this whole crappy season for? Absolutely nothing?

First of all, bravo to Hugh Laurie on a stellar directing job. Everything the guy does, he does perfectly. I want to know when he will direct the next episode. So, what he was trying to say by mentioning Lydia is that Real Life is disappointing and he was better off in AU fic (Mayfield) and in Huddy fic (Vicodin-induced hallucinations)? Or something like that? What was this whole crappy season for? Absolutely nothing? I think it boils down to Lydia making an impact on House and how he realized he doesn't want to be alone. As a Huddy, that doesn't insult me in the least. He wasn't saying Lydia was the love of his life. He was saying she made a positive impact on his life and made him realize he doesn't want to be alone. This is a good thing and that is a huge step for House. As he told Lydia, he pushes people away when he gets scared. He realizes doing that results in a very lonely life where chances of him reverting back to the numbing drugs is more likely. I think this bodes well for him in the future because it tells me he may be ready for a relationship (yes, my fingers are crossed). House has definitely grown this season. Instead of pushing people away, he has made a real effort to jump inside the circle.

We didn't see the cops searching for the same reason we don't see radiologists running scans or nurses administering meds -- because we're more emotionally connected with the story following the main characters than nameless peons, and it's easier to tell the story with established characters rather than introducing a bunch of people for one scene. (Cheaper too.) But Cuddy could have been a suspect too. I mean, in place of showing two new nurses (actress I've already seen in other stuff), I just think it could have been interesting to show us a few minutes only, just a cop doing his job. I do understand they haven't a lot of time to do it. Part of that is that no well-adjusted person would choose to work with House every day. I used to love Cuddy because she seemt "normal" at the time. Maybe, it's because I don't care about her, but I don't see a "damaged" character in Cuddy.

Why would Cuddy be a suspect? She apparently was never in the room, since she had to introduce herself to the family. She led the hospital's response because, as House noted back in Season One, the hospital is her baby.

I just think that everybody was a suspect. I know they needed Cuddy to do something during this episode and that they haven't time to introduce a cop and all but that just make me feel like her scenes were just there to show us that Cuddy is still alive.

I'm not bitter because he said that he loves her and not Cuddy. Although it is true that I didn't think he would say that Lydia was so speshul and he loved her so much but she left him... Whoa, wait. He never said he loved her so much and she was so special. Just that he met someone and she left. I think she had a big impact on him. I don't think he loved her. I honestly don't. She had a positive impact on him, but love? No, I don't think so. YMMV.