House Triple Play Day! Darth Vogler X 3

House, Triple Play Day

s1 ep 15, Mob Rules

Plot: A judge orders House to treat a mob informant. House does so under protest, but even when the patient recovers, he figures something is wrong with him and wants to keep treating him. When he butts heads with Vogler over the treatment of the patient, Vogler spends two days fighting with Cuddy over House's continued employment, resulting in Cuddy having to make a terrible compromise in order to keep House at the hospital. Meanwhile, House figures out someone on his team is keeping Vogler informed and takes steps to try to confirm who it is. 

you’ve got “Vogler the enforcer” and a federal witness in here; perfect fit. But there is no way a mob-connected atty is going to have that much access to the witness, even if it is his brother. I mean, are these writers only basing this script on what they've seen in “the godfather part 2”? (I couldn’t never figure how tom hagen got to frank in that army base lock-up. Did anyone ever explain that?!?!)

I know I promised to throw away all criticality w/r/t the ducklings but this violates my code of ethical detachment from existential living on the 21st century planet earth. And—yeah—I liked the corvette, like anybody else. But would the government keep him on the case with an obvious bribe sitting in his driveway? Oh yeah, and the IRS? Credulity can only stand so much strain…

s1 ep 16, Heavy 

 Plot: A morbidly obese 10 year old girl has a heart attack. House is intrigued, but the obvious cause of her problems seems to be her weight, and Chase won‘t stop mentioning it. Can the team look through her appearance to see the real cause? 
House is trying to deal with a conundrum. On Vogler's orders (backed by Cuddy), to make his department profitable, he has to fire one of his three staff members. House tries to stall for a few months, but Cuddy tells him he has a week.


now Darth Vogler ups the ante.
Cameron: “why are you telling me all this? Because you feel guilty?”
 V: “I don’t feel guilty. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel sad. I may be rich, but I’m human.”

FINE DISTINCTION. Isn’t “sad” when we are resigned to things over which we have no control? I distinguish this from depression, another animal entirely. Depression is rage/anger turned inward—usually over powerlessness and helplessness.) So why aren’t these Dr.’s smart enough to know they’re being manipulated? I mean, HAVEN’T THEY EVER HEARD OF MEPHISTOPHELES? DON’T THEY KNOW WHAT A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN IS?

Upper photo: Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) Below: Edward Vogler (Chi McBride)

s1 ep 17, Role Model

When a politician friend of Vogler’s collapses at a rally, he demands House at least examine the man. House soon takes an interest in the case, but his conclusions seem to end any chance the patient has of pursuing his political career. In addition, Vogler’s demands on House increase to the point where he wants House to shill for his new pharmaceutical. 
House goes to give his speech, with Vogler depending on House's reputation and integrity to sway the audience. He starts on script, but ends after one paragraph. When Vogler threatens his fellows unless he completes his speech, he goes back to the podium and just tells the audience that the new drug is good because is just the old good drug, only a lot more expensive and under a new patent. He also says that Vogler's company merely fools around with existing drugs to make them slightly different so they will get a new patent. Cuddy and Wilson are mortified. Vogler is stunned. House leaves the stage.
Cameron goes to see House. She agrees to resign so he won't have to fire her or Foreman. House asks why and she says it is to protect herself. She admits she likes him despite his faults because she thought he liked to help people, but she has now realized that he does what he does because he always wants to do the right thing. She thinks that the only way she can do the right thing is to quit.

this was how many years before Obama? (The politician is black.  He does not think he can win, but he is paving the way for future black candidates) not looking for a prediction, just a comparison. 2005?

OK. So, subplot is the blackmail for the drug endorsement. Uh—what? Like the medical establishment is going to believe this? Vogler owns the hospital and the drug company, and house is a known iconoclast offender, and NOBODY’S going to see the--- oh I give up!

(ok. no, i don't.)

Season One, Episode 11, "Detox" - Added Monkey With A Dildo

While trying to figure out why a young patient (Nicholas D'Agosto) will not stop bleeding after a car wreck, House accepts Cuddy's challenge and goes off Vicodin for a week in exchange for no clinic duty for a month. As House's withdrawal symptoms become severe, his methodology for his patient are more harsh and risky, and Foreman and Cameron are afraid he may not be thinking clearly enough in order to save the patient's life. 

& about time too! is this the 1st time addiction gets mentioned? why now? because the Vicodin is late? how is it he doesn't keep a stash in his office for emergencies? or would that be too much of an admission of an addict personality trait? YEAH? LIKE HE ISN'T ADDICTED TO TV AND MEDICINE? well, ok--the latter is harmless and (as discussed previously) more of a substitute for passion, while the latter is..
. 
"pills don't make me high. they make me neutral." 

 this is a hard argument to fight. the rest of the ep is devoted to him going cold turkey and trying to save another life/solve another puzzle. You are forced to wonder that, IF he had his meds, he would have gotten to the solution earlier. but that is unlikely: the patient history missed the pet, and as foreman said at the outset: "can't be environmental factors. the father had a team come in and test. replaced everything with hypoallergenic bedding too." 

(actually having a mold case here at the law office wherein the plaintiff is accusing the first "remediators" of doing such a poor job that they missed a major part of the infestation and made them sick all over again. so i can see a major lawsuit vs. the ones who did the job on the show.) 

as usual, it is the last bit of casually tossed-off info that breaks the case. but that doesn't negate his argument. when cuddy ("that's double what you were taking when i hired you") and then wilson ("remember? i was there! i know!") allude to watershed moments--she to the actual risk she decided was worth it; he to some precipitous event, either the thrombosis(?) or something equally catastrophic that made him the bitter cynic he is--neither, at either end of this "intervention" (of sorts) really address this issue: neutrality. 

the pills ARE NOT destroying his life. they may be part and parcel of damaging his view of the human race, but that's something we all struggle with--"let he who is without sin," etc. there were mentions of other treatments, palliative care is the term i believe, and he dismissed these outright. and why? 

probably because they would have meant an interruption to the one thing that drives his existence. and PURPOSE is also a drug. give a man a dose and he can move mountains, topple regimes. if palliative care DID NOT interfere with his work, he'd probably opt for it. 

you know, it just struck me the other day, the reason why "House" is so great for you, may have to do with all the time you've spent under physician's care. i listen to the terminology and realize that i am going to have to spend more time at that polite dissent site. i lack basic vocabulary. but i digress... i remember that one pharmoneuro(cologist?) you had who was reading your mood swings like flowcharts. Must've felt like housarbeit. 

AND NOW FOR THE MAJOR REVELATION! 

surrender. you ever heard "sweet surrender" by tim buckley? one of his best, and & that's saying something. 

my quibbles with character flaws must cease; they profiteth me not and naught. in a real world, the way house works miracles would not be seen so much as reason to repel lawsuits as a drawing card for alumni donors. he'd have new yorker profiles and local headlines as "the doctor who saves lives...or people he can barely stand" and even have loveable curmudgeonly portraits painted by his patients on Live at Five. yup. 

[Foreman:] the formula! streetsmart kid who bootstrapped himself up & out and is now probably one step from clarence thomas in his view of that past. 
[Cameron:] Ms. straight-A, goody-two-shoes who was all-varsity field hockey captain while volunteering for meal-on-wheel for AIDS victims, has her mayfly romance/tragedy to give her preternatural wisdom beyond her tender years. 
[Chase:] Aussie dreamboat transfers his desire to aid the afflicted from god to darwin but still can't get over his (probable) jesuit training to accept an authority figure as the Last Word. that's yr. ducklings. 

as for Wilson and Cuddy? jury's still out. PS. comic relief with the masseuse--i may have actually laughed.

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As long as we're talking Darwin, have a stuffed monkey with a dildo

& about time too! is this the 1st time addiction gets mentioned? why now? because the Vicodin is late? how is it he doesn't keep a stash in his office for emergencies? 

In later episodes he does, can't remember which. A season or two later. It was played more as a joke than anything else. I'm not sure if this is the first time "addiction" is mentioned. House's habit is front and center but I can't remember if there's been any sort of conversation about it, other than his liking to pop pills in front of people whenever he can.

You also see, in this episode, that even though House is incredibly manipulative, Wilson is just as manipulative in his own way. After all, Cuddy presented the detox idea as hers, but it was Wilson's. Wilson believes House is an addict, so he has House put through this to "prove" Wilson's point. But it doesn't really "prove" anything except, as we talked about, that it makes it possible for House to function normally. 

i listen to the terminology and realize that i am going to have to spend more time at that polite dissent site. i lack basic vocabulary

Most viewers who aren't obsessed as I am--the majority, actually--have no idea what the doctors are talking about. That's one of the reasons for the Magic School Bus Cam. Have they had anyone go into anaphylactic shock yet? That's one of my favorites. The throat closing together like fast elevator doors. 

that's also the one caused by peanuts? maybe. i mean, I've seen a couple that they may have said it, but it goes by so fast when they get into those "trauma ward chase scenes", to coin a phrase. (Or not. for all i know that may be another of your clan's tropes.) 

i remember that one pharmoneuro(cologist?) you had who was reading your mood swings like flowcharts.  

That was when my psycho-pharmacologist had me in that study of bipolar women and their reproductive cycles. So truly a flow chart, hah. Since my lady parts came out of the factory broken, apparently my moods were never affected by my cycle. Life events, yes, menstruation, no.

Aussie dreamboat transfers his desire to aid the afflicted from god to darwin but still can't get over his (probable) jesuit training to accept an authority figure as the Last Word. 

Actually, Chase is a weaselly rich kid whose father made a phone call to get him on the team. Yes, his seminary training gets in the way, but Chase looks out for Chase, first and foremost. And his lips are super-glued to House's butt.

am i missing something or is that not a contradiction? "me first" but "House first"? 

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, 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.