Which Way Does Time Go?: The Spoiler-Free Speculation Thread
Welcome! I'd already posted this in another thread but am moving it here: I've been thinking about how the end of S3 could foreshadow S4. Am I the only one dreading the possibility that Cuddy and Wilson will get together as Bonnie described in 'Housetraining', Wilson will break her heart and House will punch Wilson in the nose to defend her honour and then console her? So Cuddy will see that he's The Better Man and ride off into the sunset with House? House and Wilson would reconcile, I just have this dread that they'll hurt their friendship and assassinate Wilson's character as means to make Huddy happen. I'm also wondering if Wilson's depression and living situation will be addressed. Maybe the former will be a subplot in S4, just like Cuddy's pregnancy storyline was introduced at the end of S2 and carried through S3 and into S4 (we presume). Another possibility is that Wilson will be shown moving into new digs and that will be a metaphor for "getting over" his depression (entirely possible if the only reason for introducing it was to compare and contrast to House's method of dealing with depression).

I wonder if the Ducklings will be brought back in ways that reflect how they left somehow. Foreman with his drawn-out, whiney-arsed "I don't want to be like you" made such a spectacle of his departure that maybe he'll come back with a whimper. Chase, forced to leave, but all zen-like about it. Maybe House will have to ask him to come back since he asked him to leave. Cameron... well, there wasn't much bang in her departure. So I guess that could go either way. Wilson's living situation really needs to be addressed. Even a doctor would go broke living in a hotel. They do have apartments in Jersey. Houses, even.

Am I the only one dreading the possibility that Cuddy and Wilson will get together as Bonnie described in 'Housetraining', Wilson will break her heart and House will punch Wilson in the nose to defend her honour and then console her? I also answered about this in the hoyay thread, but a separate thread is much better! I'm scared about that scenario. To be honest I don't believe it'll happen, they need to put the H/W relationship in the tracks again, not to create more conflict. What I think it could happen is one of the newbies will become a love interest for Cuddy and House will be jealous and bla, bla, bla... I also hate that, but I can see it happening. The hotel thing... I want them to talk about that and give some resolution, but at the same time I can see the writes forgetting about it... Chase, forced to leave, but all zen-like about it. Maybe House will have to ask him to come back since he asked him to leave. I really like the idea that Chase will come back because he is a good doctor and the hospital, not House, needs him. I'd love to see House go consult with him, listen to him. I'm sure Chase still has a lot to learn but it'll be great if he stays independent.

What I think it could happen is one of the newbies will become a love interest for Cuddy and House will be jealous and bla, bla, bla... I also hate that, but I can see it happening. Better some newbie than Wilson, that poor guy has suffered the wrath of House enough. The hotel thing... I want them to talk about that and give some resolution, but at the same time I can see the writes forgetting about it... I can see them forgetting about it too.:cry:

The hotel thing... I want them to talk about that and give some resolution, but at the same time I can see the writes forgetting about it... I can see that too, but part of me really wonders why they would have put him in one in the first place if they were never going to resolve it. After all it would have been a lot easier for them post-Grace just to shove Wilson in some anonymous apartment - instead of which they made a point about the (lonely) hotel. And they've remembered about it enough so far to give us a few scenes of him still living in it. The continuity monkeys haven't actually contradicted it yet. The writers can take their precious time about resolving stuff sometimes (viz Chase Senior) though, so I'm not holding my breath. Maybe they'll get to this in season 5 :wink:

http://media.tv.ign.com/media/826/826958/vids_1.html New House promo for the premier on Sept 25 - completely non-spoilery in content, which is why I didn't post on spoilers only thread, but thought folks here would be interested in seeing it since it doesn't contain any specific s4 spoilers. Its called "Rehab" & is a set of refs to the vicodin issues. When I saw it I thought that it was from last season & mis-posted until I saw the end ref to the s4 season premier. What puzzles me is that TPTB are using this (no refs to the newbies etc) when my impression was that they were putting the vicodin addiction stuff behind them. Comments? I'll delete if not appropriate to this thread.

why they would have put him in one in the first place if they were never going to resolve it. Just guessing here, but maybe they were trying to exacerbate the character's loneliness and later adressed his depression. You're right hwshipper, they remembered us about it a lot of times - quite different with the LLB revelation, if you think about it. That's why I hope some of his issues will get some resolution, and mind you, I'll actually like it much more if that happens in S5.

quite different with the LLB revelation, if you think about it Indeed, because if you'd happened to miss Histories you'd never know about LLB. Whereas you might've dropped in on various s3 eps and seen Tritter interrogating Wilson in his hotel room, or whatever. Maybe. Vicodin issues... I'd really rather they steered clear of this after s3... can't see H/W consequences other than anguish :(

If Wilson could accept that House changed and that "good tries are worthless" :wink: maybe we can be anguish-free!

The only way I could accept them revisiting the Vicodin issue (because it's all about me :wink:) is if they did it RIGHT. Clarifying the issues of addiction, physical addiction and pseudoaddiction, explaining how difficult it is for chronic pain sufferers to get proper treatment and the many reason why. I don't need or really want them to clarify House's own situation - how much of his problem is addiction and how much is untreated pain, etc - just the issues themselves. I just really dislike it when they bungle such important topics (all about me, remember?). They did make a point of bringing up the hotel thing over and over, so my guess is that they won't forget about it in S4. I'm also wondering if we'll get manipulative!Wilson and pawn!Cuddy getting House's team to come back behind House's back :sad:

I think the Rehab promo is more of a character showcase for people who don't watch regularly than a preview of season 4. "Hey! There's this doctor! And he pops vicodin all the time! Isn't that outrageous? Watch House!!" I fully expect to see this promo during the Emmy awards, or possibly a national sports broadcast (though those tend not to have 45 second promos for specific shows). Maybe during the "Damages" and "Rescue Me" finales as well. (Those are still to come, right? I get confused when TV Guide mag arrives an entire week early...)

I was thinking. They make one reference to Chase's dad a year/season. S1: Chase Sr. comes to visit. S2: The Mistake-all based on the fact that Chase Jr screwed up because Chase Sr died. (OK, and in Forever, but I'm not counting that) S3: Find out that Chase Jr got cut our of Chase Sr's will. Hmmm.*ponder ponder*

OK, since the specifics are now coming out in spoiler land, I'm backing away from those threads. I figure we can commiserate/support one another here. Quick question ... any thoughts as to whether this thread should be completely spoiler free -- as in absolutely nothing until the episode airs in the U.S. -- or are references to major sources -- TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, promos, coming scenes, etc. -- fair game?

My personal definition of spoiler is what isn't published in the media, in other words the secret stuff that spideysense and donkeykong supply on TWoP. But I've been burned reading TV Guide articles :shocked:, so now I don't know. I'd suggest that promos aired on TV shouldn't be considered spoilers for this thread. I respect this board's definition of spoiler, but for this thread maybe that would be okay? Even the most committed spoiler-phobe would see those in commercials anyway. Just my $0.02. ETA Hey, I typed the acronym Tee DoubleU Oh Pee and it was automatically changed to "That Other Place". That's funny. And yes, I agree that the Fox episode summaries shouldn't count as spoilers either.

And maybe the fox press release summaries of the episodes? (the ones futoncritic posts). I'm reluctant to include stuff like tvguide, because Ausiello is so often completely off base.