Season 1, Episode 5, "Damned If You Do"

Description:

It's Christmas time in the clinic, but there's no occasion for joy when Sister Mary Augustine is brought, apparently suffering from stigmata. Figuring that it is nothing more than an allergy, House treats the nun accordingly--and as a result she nearly suffocates. As the other nuns set up a prayer vigil (much to House's annoyance), the clues to solving this medical mystery are painstakingly pieced together, leading unexpectedly to an incident in the Sister's distant past.  She was once a free spirit, and has had a copper IUD inside of her for decades, causing a copper allergy. Ho ho ho!

i bet you like this one if only for the fact that it is his 1st confrontation with organized religion, which i do not equate with "god". what i don't get is how the cute M dr. could say under his breath, "i hate nuns" and then become her best buddy. flies in the face of his blanket statement. i hate nuns, but i have a very good reason. he went to seminary school. ok. so what part about seminary school has ANY contact with a sisterhood order? the answer is: NONE. so unless he has grade school experience, which would make him as bitter and resentful as i, then he has no business not being even more arch than house.

this is the third allergy and 2nd to use copper as a villain. [actually, i probably remember "star trek" much too well. but copper was also the basis of spock's blood, in case you'd forgotten, didn't know, or didn't care. now, as for me? i'm basing an entire novella/novel ungothic vampire story on the use of tungsten in the place of molybdenum... figure that one out! heh-heh...] i bet that a lot of this stuff was very good for big pharma to get more people ordering prescripts from their docs after these shows and astro-zenca-zyrtec-zipcar-type commercials that end with 10 second speed-readings of hazardous side-effects.

 
how many times have you said to yourself: IF ONLY I COULD OUTLINE ALL MY PROBLEMS IN DRI-ERASE MAGIC MARKER ON AN EASEL-MOUNTED WHITEBOARD, I COULD BE HAPPY!

now, i think it's time to say something about the deep tissue eye-massages we get from the sf/x people. [bet you didn't know i was a big fan of isaac asimov when a tad. i remember reading "fantastic voyage" in the boy's life scouting magazine and was smitten by its passages through the circulatory system.] does that site of yours, the one where doctors discuss the shows, ever say anything about the representation of the organs, and the way they inflame, or contract or pulsate like gushy icky bags of mucus-covered goo-traps? it is cheesy and surrealistic at the same time, sure, but is it more than shock value...and a chance to ramp up the dramatic music? [by the by: soundtrack by massive attack. that's verrry hipulatic.]

Chase bonds with nun

The admin bazoomer--after something like this, any rational person would have said 'i owe you a big one' but all she says is thanks. and that he let's her get away with it...you know, human beings, in general, behave pretty much, as heretofore mentioned, like wild monkeys. they don't really vary their habits [like diet, say] unless forced to. house must have some ulterior motive for not tearing her a new one, like he would with anyone else. i'm not saying "vindictive"; i'm just saying that his "triumph" over her, well, it could have used a little more "mounting", if you catch my drift, unless he was saving it up for later use. but that seems improbable too, as these things happen all the time at the shop; how come he's never called in favors before? or is that yet to come?

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I have no idea how accurate the representations are, and the special effects people have admitted they are WAY too much in love with the stuff. Most of it is to give the viewer a sense of what's happening in the body while the doctor is rattling out the medical jargon. One regular commentator calls the effects the Magic Schoolbus Cam!


The doctor site, which you SHOULD check out, is politedissent.com It doesn't cover just House, but many other aspects of media. Oh, yeah, they love allergies, and they adore heavy metal toxicity.

As for Chase's feelings about religion, I have no idea about that part of his life, other than he went to seminary school and he's the only one of the three ducklings (or Cottages as some call them) with any religious feelings of substance. Cameron's more or less an atheist and Foreman is a lapsed Baptist or something like that.

[bytheby: soundtrack by massive attack. that's verrry hipulatic.]

 Hugh Laurie chose that. He's hip-tastic. 

This is a sucky episode, and the wig the nun is wearing...well, I'd rather watch the squishy goo. Are you trying to extrapolate deep literary thinking and depth of character from a television show? Beyond a certain point, ain't gonna happen. If at some point you feel yourself screaming "I can't take any more of this shit!" I'll resend you my favorite episodes.

the admin bazoomer

On the Tropes site, this character is called Ms Fanservice (any character obviously there to gratify the viewers' sexual fantasies). 

Male characters are called The Estrogen Brigade. You really should check it out. Last night's episode truly blew goats. (Season 7, ep. 10, Carrot or Stick) 

housearbeit? 

German for homework. [actually s.b.= hausarbeit] 

"I can't take any more of this shit!" > I'll resend you my favorite episodes. 

no need. still in my system. all this blather is by way of saying: 'so, you must have considered this at some point or other, or read it in the blogs, and how did they answer/approach dismiss/dispense it?' i figger if you spent so much time with this, you probably hit the same notes. or am i really not getting it at all? 

i mean, we're used to comic strips existing outside of time and space, but i'm sort of wondering if there is any bit of all the trauma that has gone down previously coming to a head. if house's back story is what gives him his brooding depth, you assume there is some sort of accumulation in experience that leads to a richer one to come? 

like the admin-bazoomer thang here. in any real world this would amount to a blank check, a maker to be called in w/no questions asked. but here it is just another dissociated day at the orifice?

Season One, Episodes 3 & 4: Occam's Razor and Maternity

Description:(Occam's Razor)

After calling in sick at work, 22-year-old college student Brandon (Kevin Zegers) spends the morning having wild sex with his fiancee--and then lapses into unconsciousness. It's obvious to Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) that Brandon wasn't lying about being sick, but his symptoms are mysterious and contradictory--and worse, they keep multiplying. As he tries to figure out this puzzle, House saves time by treating all of his other patients in a record five minutes.

this is a gimme. Occam's Razor  first became popularized via the jodie foster film "contact" from the book by carl sagan. since then, it has become the 'go-to' concept used by everyone as shorthand for critical thinking, and because it sounds sooo cool...which is part and parcel of the essence of this particular episode: teenage sex! yes, starts off with a bang! and why? so the cute F asst. can tease the cute M asst. with saucy asides as she thrust out her prodigious headlamps at him in the lounge. and, as well, the whole 'defiance-in-the-face-of-authority' thang gets the patient a full body scan and medical just because house identifies with her attitude. see? it pays to be cool!

ok. i'll bite. who IS Wilson? seems to be an administrator who's always around but doesn't work for the uber-she. 
 

Description:  Maternity

After checking on two neonatal infants who have suffered mysterious seizures, House (Hugh Laurie) concludes that the clinic has become the breeding ground for a deadly epidemic--which is rapidly spreading to the other newborns. In order to isolate the reason for this outbreak and to stop it in its tracks, House is faced with a difficult choice: One of the babies will have to die to save the others. As it turns out, the source of the epidemic has little to do with babies, but neither House nor the audience finds this out until the very last moment

Maternity. you know, when i think about the Paternity episode, i think it really ought to have been called, Parenting, because it didn't have anything to do with a paternity suit and the fact that the kid was adopted makes it more about a 'family matter' than anything having to do with who was the sire and who was the dam...and who is the parasite. which may have been the major point of this ep, as house gets to show his contempt for children as well. as for the treatment? no way. never in 1000yrs. this is the stuff that trial lawyers' dreams are made of. sorry, uh-uh. violates credibility

House agrees: everything is better with bacon!

so, why is he in the maternity lounge? to watch the TV? he doesn't seem to mind watching his portable, so why would he change his habits? as you know, habits aren't hard to break, they're fucking impossible to break--they can only be substituted for or curbed, but only with FULL SELF-KNOWLEDGE! and he doesn't ever make a comment that his M asst., the blonde guy, is a dead ringer for the one on GH?

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Wow,  you're getting obsessed!  I STILL cannot believe you are watching every episode of this show from the beginning.  Once you burn out, I'll give you a list of the particularly good episodes.  Bear in mind that in the first season they're still working out the kinks.

Remember, this is television, not reality, so there's a lot of shorthand.  Also, the titles usually mean several different levels (maybe not Occam's Razor, but it became standard later on and gave the analysis monkeys something to dissect).  The reality is that a real hospital would NEVER keep a doctor like House for more than three weeks. But this character is the springboard for 1,000 snarky main characters. Check out:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/House

This site...well, you have to see for yourself.  I think you will really, really like it and not just because of the show. The beginning of the shows are called "teasers" for a reason.  Last season and this season have had overreaching teasers that strain credulity to the breaking point.  What's a gimme?

 catchall for 'been-there/done that' etc. simply that any episode with that title is going to be a cultural hitchhike upon the fender skirts of greater minds...

Wilson's character didn't really come together until Season Two.  He's the head of oncology but who seems to have plenty of time to hang around House and his crew.  Last season they did an episode called "Wilson" in which they explored his day, more or less.  The parts involving House's team was pretty funny, because you saw how completely insane it looks from the outside.  Wilson both works for the uber-she, but also conspires with her to control House.

so, why is he in the maternity lounge? to watch the tv? he doesn't
seem to mind watching his portable, so why would he change his habits?
as you know, habits aren't hard to break, they're fucking impossible
to break--they can only be substituted for or curbed, but only with
FULL SELF-KNOWLEDGE!

House will do ANYTHING to keep from being bored.  Everything is a substitute for his basic addiction: medicine.  Without medicine he is nothing.  Well, he's a drug addict, too.  Pills, video games, television...as for the latter, House watches it all over the hospital as long as he can be left alone.  Mostly in the wing where the coma patients are.  For the medical, etc., you should check a great site, "Polite Dissent," in which a doctor analyzes the medicine in each episode. There are several doctors on the staff, but still, the show plays fast and loose.  This show in some ways is as formulaic as "Law And Order"; patient shows up, the staff nearly kills him a few times before finding the disease--although sometimes they die. 

no way. never in 1000yrs. this is the stuff that trial lawyers' dreams are made of. sorry, uh-uh. violates credibility 

As I wrote earlier, in real life House would never sustain employment.  But this is a tv show called "House, MD," so...

right. answers the above. understood. this is "medical lite" like law&order is "legal lite". so the idea is to ignore the contrivances [after all, this is listed as a mystery] and concentrate on adapting the acerbic comments to any public discourse i might engage in, yes?

Season One, Episode Two: "Paternity"

Synopsis: Suffering from double vision and horrible nightmares, 16-year-old Dan (Scott Mechlowitz) traces the source of his problem to injuries sustained during a Lacrosse match. As usual, Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) has other ideas, first diagnosing Dan with MS, and then declaring that the boy is being sexually abused. By the time House has figured out the real reason (maybe!) and has scheduled Dan for brain surgery, the boy disappears from the clinic--and the chase is on.


I like the use of the word "fungible". don't know if it applies, but it is one of those words that makes a conversation smarter, if frequently less clear.

ok. already i have a continuity problem. likes to sit up with feet on desk. fine. bad leg, makes sense. HOWEVER!--UNLESS THOSE SHOES ARE BRAND NEW EVERY EPISODE (and given his personality, the likelihood of him popping butter down on fresh kicks is remote) THEY DO NOT REFLECT A PATTERN OF PROPER WEAR FOR A MAN WHO FAVORS ONE LEG! (i know: how many times have you heard THAT before?)

"Stupid to have two 'I's in a mnemonic."--really great aside on "MIDNITE" acronym.

off the top, by now i am wondering what they do about malpractice insurance there. this touches on that briefly. never really thought of pain as pornographic, but then again, orgasm and invasive procedures--with the proper close-up of delicate, star-quality features--are interchangeable  this is the one where he ends up caring and watching the kid on the lacrosse field as rickie lee jones tears your heart out with piano keys. ok. so he cares. well, why not? as said above, certain things are interchangeable and do not differentiate unless described in greater detail. so then, his nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude is merely a mask so that his imperturbable calm in life-or-death situations, and cold, calculated rationalism holds sway when all others might have concerns beyond the immediate solution? yes, we like that. yes, we want to be manipulated, wrung out like a hankie after an ocean of tears. or by someone with their hand down our pants.

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Oh my god, are you going to watch ALL of the episodes???  In Season 1 the show was finding its feet, so to speak.  House's sneaker obsession is repeatedly referred to (that, and close-ups of grody used shoes aren't sexy).  At one point he says to (I think) his ex is, "I'm gay.  It fits.  Obsession with sneakers, always with Wilson..."

Also, later on there are numerous references to the hospital having a large budget simply for House's malpractice suits.  Robert Sean Leonard in an early interview said, "House is designed to be attractive." There's the whole tormented genius thing, repressed inner pain (remember Spock's meltdowns and much fans loved them?  Neither do I).

However, this show has a lot of continuity/believability problems.  Like the fact that the doctors do everything nurses, aides, etc. do.  It's to give the cast more to do and cut down on casting costs.  There is a real nurse, Bobbin Bergstrom, who is the ONLY person besides Hugh Laurie to be in every single episode.  She's there to help the actors make what they do look right.

this is the one where he ends up caring and watching the kid on the lacrosse field as rickie lee jones tears your heart out with piano keys.

That's the kind of ending they stopped using (thank God) in favor of more depressing endings.

 

Robert Sean Leonard Agrees: Everything Is Better With Bacon!

My Overview of Seasons 1 Through 7 of House MD - The Best Episodes

January, 2011

Dear Carle -

Thanks for your exploration of my obsession.  Actually, the show's creators were up front about creating the characters based on Holmes and Watson (House and Wilson).  However, the show ended up diverging from the formula in that his team became his Watson.  I like the original team the best--they were the team for the first three seasons. The original premise was "a doctor who hates his patients."

Speaking of Holmes, there was one season finale that had House shot by a patient who never had a name, but his name in the script was Moriarty.

A large part of my obsession comes from identifying strongly with House, particularly during those periods when I am forced to walk with a cane.  And also downing large quantities of pills.  House is easily bored, and yes, retreats into drugs, booze and music (Hugh Laurie is a practiced musician so they wrote that in).  If I had to pick one episode from the first season to watch, it would be "Three Histories." It's brilliantly done and tells House's back story.

Season 2 has an amazing amount of good episodes.  My absolute favorite (you won't have to guess why) is "House Vs. God" Ep. 19 or so. "Autopsy" is also great; based on the idea of doing an autopsy on a living person. The other episode from Season 2 is "All In," which uses a swanky hospital do as a background.

You'll note that while there is some sexual tension between House and Cameron (his employee) and Cuddy (his boss), there is also a strong homoerotic tension between House and Wilson.  The writers have played around with this concept ever since Season 2.  That is the aspect that has caught my heart, like any pre sexual fan girl.

From Season 3, my favorite episode that can be taken out of context is Ep. 9, "Informed Consent", co-starring Joel Grey.  He is incredible, as is the entire episode.

Finally, the episodes that got me hooked in the first place: the Season Four two-part finale "House's Head/Wilson's Heart." You'll notice some cast changes, because at the end of Season Three all of the regular team (Foreman, Chase, Cameron) left and House formed a new team.  Foreman came back to work for House, while Chase and Cameron worked in different areas of the hospital.

These are some of my favorite episodes, and I would guess the ones that reveal the most about myself.

Last season (#6) House kicked Vicodin and became a "nicer" person, which means considerably less interesting.  Suddenly he was madly in love with Cuddy for twenty years  (the earlier premise for the first five seasons was they had a one-night stand in college) and at the end--literally THE LAST FIVE MINUTES OF THE SEASON FINALE--she showed up, declaring her everlasting love.

This season (#7) shows them in their relationship.  The "Patient Of The Week" is now a throwaway part of the episode so we can concentrate on the soap opera of the characters' lives.  House is now happy happy happy, and I can only hope that somebody important dies.

 Season 7, Episode 1 "Now What".

Oh, and as for realism, he was drinking while he was on Vicodin, he kept drinking after he was off of it, was drinking until he blacked out at the end of last season (his therapist didn't seem particularly perturbed) and is happily drinking like a normal person now.  There's a lot of other things I could rant about--the show's treatment of mental illness is, pardon the pun, crazy-making.

Carle's Opening Salvo: January 2011

House, Pilot Episode

Synopsis: The alternate title for this pilot episode of House is "Everybody Lies", which neatly sums up the philosophy of the brilliant but thoroughly obnoxious Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), infectious disease and nephrology specialist at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Convinced that none of his patients will ever tell him the truth, House responds in kind by refusing to talk to them beyond the bare necessities--and he certainly wastes no time being friendly, comforting or supportive. Right now, House's patented indifference is being directed at 29-year-old kindergarten teacher Rebecca Adler (Robin Tunney), who for no discernible reason has begun suffering seizures and speaking gibberish.

{in order to more fully understand your neurosis, i must, perforce, go to the source. hence, an exploration of the roots of your obsession. i will send these dispatches as i have a chance to view them, then you may, at your leisure, or not, reply and tell me how many times you've heard the same thing from the fan base, with much greater insight and depth, and how much i have missed in my cursory examination.]

ok. never actually got it until today: HOLMES and HOUSE. wow. these guys weren't even trying to be subtle in their theft were they? but hey--if it's out of copyright, right? so, this is how you get a cynical nihilist (with tenure!) to do his job: take the one case that interests him and blackmail him into making up clinic hours. why do i get the idea that deep down inside he was looking for someone to make him do just that? because that's what sherlock was always waiting for: not just the case coming over the transom, so to speak, but also inspector lestrade of scotland yard coming by with an unusual request.

the diff is, holmes would always acquiesce with victorian gentlemen's grace and aplomb. house evades every trap with a savage wit and gallow's humor and enjoys being a cad and a bounder; it only makes his triumph that much sweeter. but, then again, we all wish we could be onstage and have our own brand of yocks become the subject of adoration. probably the way you've extended your performance style into the twitter realm. [i see the faint glimmerings of a thesis in this.] or, as the eagles put it so succinctly: "i know my life/would look all right/if i could see it on the silver screen"

the other parallel, is, of course, the Vicodin ("because they're yummy") but also his addiction to General Hospital. soap operas are no less a drug than any other. (by the by, you might try watching some after your mourning period. can't hurt.) i had originally thought of this as simply another ruse by which he would belittle the concerns of his chief bodacious admin lady. then it comes on at the end as he relaxes watching an operation. telling point: TV DR IN OR--"...because we're doctors! When we make mistakes, people die!" and house gives half-grin and near-chuckle. 

(of course, we learn by others mistakes as well, just hopefully not our doctors...) like the bit about the last, most insignificant observation being the most important clue. good avert for a vegan lifestyle.