In 2011, my beloved miniature pinscher Bucky died very suddenly. He had been my soul mate and my psychiatric service dog. Because of my grief, I was unable to leave the house.
Another writer, my friend Carle, decided to help me through this process. I was obsessed with the television show starring Hugh Laurie, "House M.D," about a misanthropic, brilliant, crippled doctor. Carle downloaded the first 5 seasons. Within a few episodes, he was as obsessed as I was. This blog is the correspondence we conducted, episode by episode. With a few digressions.
Carle's entries are in black; my contributions are in blue.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Season 1, Episode 8 "Poison" It's Getting Personal...
House and his team investigate the mysterious poisoning of high-school student Matt Davis (guest star John Patrick Amedori), until another teen is brought in with all of the same symptoms but almost nothing else in common with Matt.
Final diagnosis: Phosmet poisoning
i've had a minor revelation with regard to the soap opera watching. i think it was wilson who explained "he needs to think", to one of the duckling's astonishment, "is he going to watch tv?" Holmes would play the violin: house becomes absorbed in petty dramas...because it frees his mind to consider the larger ones. i've had this ongoing disc. w/ Ed [the guy i do media funhouse with] with regard to movies seen on tv are not movies. purist that he is, there is a point there; the wide-screen can never be matched by the small one.
but the fact that house watches on a hand-held portable when the maternity lounge is out or he's not in his office. i am of the opinion that any way you take in the information is ok, provided you know what you are missing. house, this is all about entertaining the imagination, for me. on the other hand, house would seem to be using General Hospital as a screen, something to filter away the soap opera of his desmense and concentrate on the problem without any other considerations, including the patient's life.
in his view, then, the survival of the patient is incidental to the solution to the problem. [or maybe i heard wilson say it, don't remember] BUT, again, this is a new way of looking at short attention span vs attention deficit disorder: the former could be nothing more than a refusal to give consideration to things not of one's interest; the latter is more like the choice in not optional--you can't remain focused no matter how interested you are...unless the object of your attention is itself a constantly changing one, like a videogame, but without any positive resolution.
OK. TO THE EP.
house watches the portable in from of the mother of the dying boy. this is really what i was getting at above. to show his interest in saving the kid's life, sure, but also to demonstrate the contempt he has for the mother's desire to control everything--all while filtering out the human noise of a life/death decision. omar epps (who's show name i can't remember right now--the black guy) doesn't seem to be living in the same universe as us. DOESN'T ANYBODY IN THIS HOSPITAL HAVE A MEMORY?
it gets irritating to find him always insulting house; i mean, OK? at first he seemed almost flattered to have been 'picked for the team', right? if he's so dissatisfied, why doesn't he transfer out. then? at the end, he gets called one of the "two egomaniacs who saved your life" by moms, and then they cut to the shoes. OK. you've said it already. the shoes are significant. right. i don't buy enough shoes to understand this, i guess, but i accept it. what bothers me is the way this becomes more ridiculous when they are asked to do these off-site searches for clues. the way the ducklings stick their necks out just on his say-so. they are still paying off their first-year loans! NOBODY WOULD SCREW WITH PAYING BACK THAT WEIGHT!
the comic relief with the old lady w/the hots for house--this is a really funny bit, esp. when wilson reads the love poem. so MAYBE that's their foreplay? making outrageous gesture in public? Naaaah! can't be, can it? i can't see house ever breaking his cool demeanor to camp.
########################################################
since this show is an alternate universe, breaking into people's homes is one of the things they do on a regular basis. House rarely does it himself. It's entertaining and it saves a lot of talky exposition. Yes, it is a definite suspension of belief. And the whole "Foreman is House Lite" is idiotic. I've never understood why the show keeps on insisting they're alike when they are nothing alike.
*Foreman - black guy
Chase - Australian pretty boy
Cameron - young female assistant
Cuddy - sexy boss
#########################################################
I DIDN'T SAY HOUSE HAD SAS OR ADD. i said this was a distinction BETWEEN SAS and ADD. or perhaps it isn't. i have no idea what the reference guide says about the two. it just appears to me to be interesting that there are two term so close together, that if they are NOT describing the same syndrome, they should be. as far as his use of the tools of technology, so far i have seen house watching GH in various settings, and there was one show in which he was playing a hand-held video game. the fact that he keeps these devices around (or more) is sufficient for my theory as stated above.
ME? i used, and still use, stuff like that so that i will not be considering the wreckage of my past and the gloom of my future. so far, all i can say with certainty is that house has more than a bad leg to make him a misanthrope. what else, i cannot speculate on at this point. (it surely isn't homosexual panic.) the only reason not to be polite or pay court or play games is THAT IT WASTES TIME.
now, remember what i said about you? how your being late was not a chronic disability to tell time as much as a chronic disrespect for other's time. house's TV time is more important than any consult? this is doubtful. but he can use it to demonstrate contempt for the other dr.'s time. that's also part of the anti-intellectual charm of his TV watching. its like when i talk about going to McDonald’s in every country i visit. you wouldn't believe how hostile some people get when i talk about them. nonetheless, the key word is FILTER, and it's salient point is distraction. some people put on a tie, sit at the desk and rearrange papers. some go running. some drink. these are all ways to get to think by removing the blocks to thinking--just different strokes. i would more likely diagnose house as a monomaniac--someone with the need to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else.
Final diagnosis: Phosmet poisoning
i've had a minor revelation with regard to the soap opera watching. i think it was wilson who explained "he needs to think", to one of the duckling's astonishment, "is he going to watch tv?" Holmes would play the violin: house becomes absorbed in petty dramas...because it frees his mind to consider the larger ones. i've had this ongoing disc. w/ Ed [the guy i do media funhouse with] with regard to movies seen on tv are not movies. purist that he is, there is a point there; the wide-screen can never be matched by the small one.
but the fact that house watches on a hand-held portable when the maternity lounge is out or he's not in his office. i am of the opinion that any way you take in the information is ok, provided you know what you are missing. house, this is all about entertaining the imagination, for me. on the other hand, house would seem to be using General Hospital as a screen, something to filter away the soap opera of his desmense and concentrate on the problem without any other considerations, including the patient's life.
in his view, then, the survival of the patient is incidental to the solution to the problem. [or maybe i heard wilson say it, don't remember] BUT, again, this is a new way of looking at short attention span vs attention deficit disorder: the former could be nothing more than a refusal to give consideration to things not of one's interest; the latter is more like the choice in not optional--you can't remain focused no matter how interested you are...unless the object of your attention is itself a constantly changing one, like a videogame, but without any positive resolution.
OK. TO THE EP.
house watches the portable in from of the mother of the dying boy. this is really what i was getting at above. to show his interest in saving the kid's life, sure, but also to demonstrate the contempt he has for the mother's desire to control everything--all while filtering out the human noise of a life/death decision. omar epps (who's show name i can't remember right now--the black guy) doesn't seem to be living in the same universe as us. DOESN'T ANYBODY IN THIS HOSPITAL HAVE A MEMORY?
it gets irritating to find him always insulting house; i mean, OK? at first he seemed almost flattered to have been 'picked for the team', right? if he's so dissatisfied, why doesn't he transfer out. then? at the end, he gets called one of the "two egomaniacs who saved your life" by moms, and then they cut to the shoes. OK. you've said it already. the shoes are significant. right. i don't buy enough shoes to understand this, i guess, but i accept it. what bothers me is the way this becomes more ridiculous when they are asked to do these off-site searches for clues. the way the ducklings stick their necks out just on his say-so. they are still paying off their first-year loans! NOBODY WOULD SCREW WITH PAYING BACK THAT WEIGHT!
Dr. Foreman in a leisure moment
the comic relief with the old lady w/the hots for house--this is a really funny bit, esp. when wilson reads the love poem. so MAYBE that's their foreplay? making outrageous gesture in public? Naaaah! can't be, can it? i can't see house ever breaking his cool demeanor to camp.
########################################################
Tell
Ed he can blow me. Movies seen on tv are still movies, but they are
MOVIES SEEN ON TV. Of course you lose something in translation. I'm
old enough to remember revival theaters. Ask Ed this: if movies seen on
tv are not movies, then what are movies made for tv? Are they still
movies?
House
doesn't have a short attention span when he's involved in a case or something
else that obsesses him. That's one of his problems; all or nothing at
all, in which case soap operas, etc. provide relief from the constant
thinking. (Ala Sherlock Holmes)
since this show is an alternate universe, breaking into people's homes is one of the things they do on a regular basis. House rarely does it himself. It's entertaining and it saves a lot of talky exposition. Yes, it is a definite suspension of belief. And the whole "Foreman is House Lite" is idiotic. I've never understood why the show keeps on insisting they're alike when they are nothing alike.
*Foreman - black guy
Chase - Australian pretty boy
Cameron - young female assistant
Cuddy - sexy boss
 |
| Dr. Cuddy in a leisure moment |
I DIDN'T SAY HOUSE HAD SAS OR ADD. i said this was a distinction BETWEEN SAS and ADD. or perhaps it isn't. i have no idea what the reference guide says about the two. it just appears to me to be interesting that there are two term so close together, that if they are NOT describing the same syndrome, they should be. as far as his use of the tools of technology, so far i have seen house watching GH in various settings, and there was one show in which he was playing a hand-held video game. the fact that he keeps these devices around (or more) is sufficient for my theory as stated above.
ME? i used, and still use, stuff like that so that i will not be considering the wreckage of my past and the gloom of my future. so far, all i can say with certainty is that house has more than a bad leg to make him a misanthrope. what else, i cannot speculate on at this point. (it surely isn't homosexual panic.) the only reason not to be polite or pay court or play games is THAT IT WASTES TIME.
now, remember what i said about you? how your being late was not a chronic disability to tell time as much as a chronic disrespect for other's time. house's TV time is more important than any consult? this is doubtful. but he can use it to demonstrate contempt for the other dr.'s time. that's also part of the anti-intellectual charm of his TV watching. its like when i talk about going to McDonald’s in every country i visit. you wouldn't believe how hostile some people get when i talk about them. nonetheless, the key word is FILTER, and it's salient point is distraction. some people put on a tie, sit at the desk and rearrange papers. some go running. some drink. these are all ways to get to think by removing the blocks to thinking--just different strokes. i would more likely diagnose house as a monomaniac--someone with the need to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else.
Bemis is judging you. Harshly
By
the way, in terms of memory, the folks at "House" brag that they
don't have a "bible," which is what it sounds like for every
show. Characters, timeline, storylines, etc. Unfortunately, this
makes for whopping continuity errors (esp. the past two seasons) the longer the
show goes on. We crazed fans scream a lot when the show chooses to ignore
an important back-story, which has been happening a lot.
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