For me, this was one of the better arcs. I thought the Vogler stuff was silly, with Vogler far too much of a cartoon villain, and Cameron's stuff even sillier. The Stacy arc was a little better, but went on too long and suffered from Sela Ward's inability to move her face. I say that as fan of much of Sela Ward's work who looked forward to her guest arc. I liked the fallout from the arc, with House actually showing his hurt and turmoil, though that did mark the first outcries of House having changed too much and the series going downhill from some fans. The Tritter arc--yikes. What a waste of a good set up. The springing of the Cole/Kutner friendship--which didn't seem unlikely to me--pales in comparision to never showing House taking any more or even as much vicodin in season three and then springing Foreman expositing that he's been taking so much he's lucky he's not in a coma. The writing from there was just--illogical, ignoring not only medical and legal reality, but interesting stress points between Wilson, House and Cuddy that should have been germane to what was happening. Then a nice little "reset" at the end that ignores the high drama of Wilson walking out on House ODing the episode before. This arc made sense to me, given how House ended last season, and given that he loves to teach, despite his grumbling. Wilson thought he would choose people he had no feelings for, so he wouldn't risk getting hurt. But House developed feelings for all the key contenders--he can't help being interested in people, in reading them well, nor enjoying opening up people's minds to new possibilities. I liked seeing House go from refusing to admit he needs or wants a team to scheming to keep four instead of two because he doesn't want to give them up. I didn't think 13's mistake was House's fault, and I thought House legitimately thought Stark's case was solved when he made his foray into the unknown, so I didn't think he was overly cavalier--when things got serious, so did House. I found several of the POTWs interesting--Stark, Ukrainian Girl, Finn, and Jimmy Quidd--so I have no complaints on that score. And Ugly for me is one of the better eps of the show from any period. I don't mind that we got less visibly introspective House during the Game, because he was interested in the Game on a number of levels. We got a good look at House pondering what makes life worth living, which makes sense since he ended last season showing he was in a stronger place than Wilson thought he was. The relationship between the two was a joy to watch and I hope setting up some deeper exploration of what each means to the other for later. The biggest problem with the arc, I think, is that it set up some situations we may not get to see play out. Come on, studios, be reasonable and let the writers get back to doing their stuff. For CCF, I agree they were mostly backburnered this arc, though we did get Foreman back having lost his bee in his bonnet about being House and Cameron did move from looking like she had moved on from her crush to looking like she's back at PPTH because of her crush and Chase should be questioning why he's still with her. Not stellar stuff, but certainly not departing from past characterisation. The last ep gave us a little meatier role for Chase, which was what I was missing most from the old team. If we get more of the season, I expect we'll see more of CCF.

I'm wondering if House's choices and House's behavior with the newbies is supposed to reflect House's attempts to foster change in his life. If this started last year with recognizing that it really is okay for the team to move on, then maybe he's trying to start fresh with this new bunch, and even forestall some of the problems he had with the old team. In addition to Amber lacking the flexibility of thought that a doctor working for House needs (and hey, if he wants someone to just ploddingly stick with their answer for a whole case, he's got Foreman anyway), House would have to realize that Amber could make the Foreman/Cameron PaperGate look like a walk in the park. Chase couldn't believe House fired Amber and recommended that House hire her because getting things done - lie, cheat and steal if they have to - was the way things had worked when he was on the team. So in some ways, House might be trying to set up a different dynamic with this team. Maybe House respected Thirteen's privacy (in a parallel to Cameron's situation), not because of who Thirteen is, but because it's something House is actually trying to do. He didn't rat out Taub to his wife, either, when we know House has certainly enjoyed doing that in the past. Kutner hasn't been the target of 27 Kwik-E-Mart jokes, only called out for his outright craziness. He didn't keep Cole when his maneuvering broke the rules and he did what Cuddy asked, even if Cole would have been a "moral voice." He made peace with Thirteen instead of escalating – and I think he's well aware that she won't tolerate any further meddling. House isn't looking for the same team, which Amber represented on some level. House is looking for something new, and it looks like he got it with these choices. Most of what we've seen of the newbies is at a fairly surface level, so if House is seeking a change in the team, then time will tell if he's really gained it, and if the changes are satisfying. I'm very interested in seeing how the team actually works out for him. In general, the new characters have been enjoyable to watch, and having new blood should eventually freshen up the DDX sessions once the actors and writers have synced up on the characters' behavior. However, because the way we've gotten to know them doesn't really encourage emotional investment, so far it's hard to see them as much more than quip machines throwing out medical guesses. There's just not much emotional load to them yet, and that's the difference between a character I just watch, and a character I actually think about or want to talk about after the episode has ended. As the narrative shifts out of the survivor game, I'm guessing the writers can go deeper with the characters in that respect.

Wow, vita that isa great analysis. We used to see House's characteristics as being personified by the fellows (Chase=think outside the box, and such), but I hadn't thought about the new fellows personifying his need for change and growth more in how he treats them versus who they are (if that is what you were implying). Good food for thought! And yes, I think the season stopped just as they were getting to some meatier themes, both with the newbies and with House's issues.

I'm enjoying this season very much! Seems that many people didn't like the "Survivor" beginning. I loved it! I thought it was so something House would do; he loves playing games with people and the more people involved, the more fun the game is. To be honest, I don't see the connection to Survivor. I've never seen Survivor, cause I think it's a completely stupid concept, but as far as I understand Survivor is about literally surviving and whoever's the best at surviving wins I guess. The fellows weren't trying to survive but to win the games. Whoever solves the case fastest wins, whoever takes the most risks wins, whoever's helped curing the patient or solving the case more wins. It's more like Project Runaway; whoever's the best at what they do wins. As for the final selection, I'm quite pleased. I love Kutner! He's my favorite. He's so funny. ^_^ I don't see that much of a Chase connection. There's a little something but he's WAY more interested in the cases and how to solve them then Chase was. I highly doubt Chase would've thought that the grave-robbing was "cool". CTB: The guy's already been buried. KUTNER: We dig him up. As for "13", I seemed to be in the minority cause I like her. Again, I don't see the huge connection to Cameron. She's female like Cameron and she believes in honesty like most people do. She's mysterious and makes it as difficult as possible for people to find out the truth about her and she's not scared of House at all but not cause she thinks that deep down he's a sweetie or cause she's in love with him. That's how Cameron saw House but 13's willing to smack House around a bit. ^_^ Taub is ok; he's not bad but I would've preferred Cole ("Big Love"). I think people are being MUCH too harsh in their judgement of the new fellows. I think some people are much too attached to the old ducklings. It's time to let them go. Don't judge the new guys based on the old ones and give them a chance to prove themselves. I've also seen people talk about how they don't like how the new fellows seem to already understand House. OF COURSE they already understand him a bit! They just spent 3 or so weeks being part of House's games! But we know House. There are going to be many times when he shocks them. It happened to the ducklings even well into the 3rd season. Things I Miss So Far: --Wilson psychoanalyzing House every episode. I loved when he did that, especially cause he was always right. ^.^ Remember these gems?: FOREMAN: I thought he liked rationality. WILSON: He likes puzzles. FOREMAN: Patients are puzzles? WILSON: You don’t think so? FOREMAN: I think they’re people. WILSON: Yeah. Well, he hates them, and he’s fascinated by them. Tell me you can’t relate to that symptom. (Episode: 1x06) WILSON: Several researchers have proven that psychological pain can manifest as physical pain. HOUSE: You think I have a conversion disorder? You want me to see a shrink. WILSON: Brilliant idea, sending Stacey away, it’s really done wonders for you. HOUSE: Listen none of this has anything to do with Stacey. WILSON: Right; giant coincidence that you’ve gone completely off the rails since she left; inducing migraines, worsening leg pain-- (House whacks him with his cane.) Ow! (Episode 2x13) WILSON: You're not autistic; you don't even have Asperger's. You wish you did, it would exempt you from the rules, give you freedom, absolve you of responsibility, let you date 17-yr-olds. But most important it would mean that you're not just a jerk. (Episode: 3x04) WILSON: I thought this was gonna be fun. I mess with you, you mess with me. Eventually, you give in. But you've shown a startling lack of humor, which got me thinking. HOUSE: Oh, god. (Episode: 4x01) WILSON: I think you're going to choose people for reasons that have nothing to do with their skills. I think you're going to choose people just because you can't stand them. Because if you like them, well, that's just, stressful. (Episode: 4x02) They need to do more. I miss them. --I also miss House's motorcycle. It was awesome! Damn you, Tritter! Personally, I'm very excited about this new season. And I'm enjoying all the episodes.

I think if I could schedule the last 3 episodes over again, I would have put 4.10 last week, have this Superbowl one, and put the last one next week. That was we could spread it out.

I would have put the Christmas episode closer to Christmas. This was just weird.

Even though last Tuesday's episodes wasn't during the February sweeps, it gave them a chance to remind people that there were new episodes coming up, setting the stage for tonight and Tuesday's episodes to do very well. Otherwise, there are always people who forget that a show is on.

Yup. Like my godfather, who asked me during the game when the new episodes of House were starting. :lol:

I was wondering about the writing process of this season. We've heard many times that the final 3 newbies didn't get picked until the very last. Does that mean that they only thought of this whole Amber/Wilson storyline after that decision was made? I believe it must have been part of the 'blueprint' they did for the whole season, as a part of growth/change House is going through. I'm extremely interested in how the writing works, especially this season, with the strike(s) looming.

Here's a random and superficial question: do you think that they deliberately cast a tall woman to play CTB? This show tends to hire tall men to play House's equals/nemeses (Vogler, Tritter, Vegetative State Guy), so if they wanted a female House, wouldn't it make sense, from TPTB's perspective, to also hire a physically imposing woman? ETA: I'm not saying that acting ability wasn't the primary concern, but casting sometimes does specify physical type.

I don't necessarily think that they were looking for anyone tall. For that matter, I don't think they were saying: "female House" when they were casting, and doubt they were thinking about Wilber at that time. I could be wrong, but ... Anne Dudek's been around for a long time in a lot of guest spots, much like Peter Jacobson. It makes sense that they'd both be in the talent pool considered for the spots, at least to me.

Well, I'm quite certain that they plan the entire season ahead of time. Each story arc is planned the spring/summer before, and then the writing of the episodes is assigned to each writer. So, I never bought KJ's story about narrowing down the newbies as they went along based on whoever was most fun with Hugh. I think that's silly. The writing process for this show is long; episodes are written simultaneously by different writers. Likewise, the production and post-production processes are long. There is no way they were having House fire newbie characters based on how the newbie interacted in the previous episode. There isn't enough time built into the production schedule for something like that. Thus... I do think they had planned this Wilson/Amber arc from the beginning. And I don't know if they would have necessarily specified a physical type for the role of Amber. But I think her height does add something to her character. I mean... JM is not tall, and she is thin and petite. She does not have an intimidating presence. Anne Dudek, however, can pull off an intimidating presence.