[H]ouse, M.D. Episode 8x20 "Post-Mortem"

A pathologist at the hospital who performs autopsies becomes seriously ill. Ironically, he would have been a member of House's team ten years ago had it not been for Chase's well known physician father calling House asking him to hire Chase. This doctor knows the life/death stats of every doctor in the hospital and he trusts only House to treat him. The trouble is House is out of town with Wilson, both have left their phones behind and cannot be contacted. The team lies to the patient telling him House is calling the shots when in reality he is not. Eventually the team confesses the deception to Foreman who takes over the case while Chase runs himself ragged trying to come up with the diagnosis, which eventually he does which leads to an epiphany for Chase.  Meanwhile House and Wilson's road trip proves to be more than they expected.

Here goes....

Chase

Chase took the lead in diagnosing the patient int his episode. While treating this patient, Chase is re-evaluating what he's doing at PPTH making the point that everyone else from the original team has moved on-- Cameron is head of Emergency Medicine in Chicago and Foreman as Dean of Medicine (though Taub reminds him that Kutner and Amber are dead and Thirteen is on an island somewhere). Chase is upset that he is seen for the great doctor he is, rather people see him as "not House". As long as he is in House's shadow at PPTH he will always be seen that way. Chase tells Taub that the fellowship was about teaching, it's time for him to go. I didn't believe him initially when he said he was quitting after the case was solved. I mean why all the sudden is he quitting? I thought the epiphany would have come after he was stabbed in the heart months ago. But no, it came now. It may seem quick but perhaps it just felt right to him. He didn't seem upset by it at all. When he smiled at Foreman when they said their goodbyes, I knew Chase was okay with his decision.

I also have to say that it annoyed me that Foreman, the man who is supposed to be leader of a distinguished University Teaching Hospital like PPTH just dismisses Chase's discussion of resignation and that it took Taub to force him to do something. I'll say this, I cried when Foreman and Chase shared that hug. Not so much for that moment but all the moments they shared in earlier seasons. They'd been through so much together. 

 

Chase and Foreman say goodbye.

House & Chase

There wasn't much interaction between these two but the end scene between them was perfect. Chase fully expected House to try and talk him out of leaving but House didn't do it. Why? He knew it was time for Chase to move on. In the past he would have given Chase a hard time partly for selfish reasons (Chase was part of his process) but also because he actually cares about Chase (I think he always has) and didn't want him making a mistake moving on before he was ready. I think about that episode in Season 6 where Chase chooses the team over Cameron and she leaves him. Did House push that because he was a jerk or did he know that Chase's relationship with Cameron was doomed? House may have had a feeling that Cameron would eventually leave Chase (especially after the Dibala incident) and perhaps he thought it was better that Chase be hurt sooner than later. By the way I cried when House shook Chase's hand and they exchanged pleasantries about their time together.

House: Did you come here so I would talk you out of it?  Chase: I came to say thank you.

Oh yes, about that handshake...that was a really important moment between House and Chase. House doesn't shake hands, not with his fellows, not with patients, not with other doctors, not even with his own stepfather earlier this season. But he shook Chase's hand without hesitation. That speaks volumes to me about the respect House has for Chase and vice versa. I thought that handshake was a fitting end for House and Chase. 

House & Wilson

Hugh and Robert were great together, as always. 

I loved it when House drove into the parking garage on his Repsol considering we haven't seen it since "Help Me" in Season 6. The look he gave Wilson when Wilson drove up in that corvette and tried to park it, had me laughing. 

House is looking at Wilson's corvette thinking "WTF?"

Wilson wants to go on a road trip and won't take "no" for an answer!

Wilson's armed and ready to drug House if necessary!

Wilson tells House at the beginning of the episode, 

"I spent my life caring, giving, searching for the profound. Now it's time for selfishness, indifference and embracing the shallow."

He tells House the reason for the road trip is he wants to meet Julie Christie who is doing an animal benefit in Ohio. (If you've watched RSL over the years you know his biggest crush is in fact Julie Christie.)  Wilson wants to go from mild-mannered, huggable teddy bear James Wilson to crazy, insane, rebel-without-a-cause James Dean...or rather Kyle Calloway overnight. Wilson thought doing wild and crazy things was supposed to make him appreciate life more. Is this the real James Wilson's bucket list? Driving fast cars? Having threesomes with hookers and barmaids? Eating 80-ounce steaks till he throws up? (PETA must have hated that scene!) Is this the Wilson we know? No. It's not. At first I thought "this is so out of character?" and then I realized that maybe it was done this way as a means of teaching Wilson a life lesson. Wilson needed to do these things, take on this alter ego,  in order to realize that the life he's led has been meaningful and important. I just knew when they were at the bus stop that Wilson would not leave that old lady sitting there all by herself. I just knew it and I was glad because that's the Wilson I've grown to love over the years, the kind, meddling, good-natured teddy bear.

House attempting to talk to Wilson about the "elephant in the car" but Wilson not wanting to discuss it. I kept thinking, "Is it Freaky Friday? Did they switch bodies?" because for eight years now it's been Wilson trying to get House to talk about his feelings and get things out into the open (the last time that happened was in Season 7's Moving On where Wilson tried to get House to get his anger out and talk about his feelings, look what happened...). In this episode, House is trying to get Wilson to deal with it but Wilson refuses. The role reversal continues and it's very interesting.

House wants Wilson to talk about the cancer but Wilson refuses

I enjoyed the road trip scenes, the steak eating competition, Wilson throwing up, and the bathroom scene when Wilson says to House:

"I'm glad I did it. Did you see those people out there cheering for me? I was a hero. For one fleeting moment, for an incredibly stupid reason, for a bunch of morons I'll never see again. God it felt good."

That scene reminds me of the scene in Season 7, episode 16 "Out of the Chute" when House jumps from the fifth floor balcony (while Wilson watches horrified!) and lands in the pool. He did it just to feel something. All the college kids cheered him on and he drank beer in the pool with them afterwards. The thing is I don't think House felt anything.

I cringed at the whole "threesome" thing that came later on, I mean seriously...Wilson? Wilson wanted to experience a threesome and House was happy to set him up. But hey at least there were no scantily clad women.  I mean of all the things in the world Wilson would want? Sex with two women at the same time? Oh wait, that wasn't Wilson, it was his alter ego which makes it okay!

Later on when they hit the funeral procession, the look on House's face made for quite a somber moment. As Wilson watched he must have been thinking about the fact that could be him riding in a black hearse soon.

House and Wilson view the black hearse and funeral procession

The bus stop was a nice touch. Who didn't think Wilson would opt to keep the sick old lady company? 

Wilson and House keep Ina, an old lady with Alzheimers, company until her bus arrives

Later on the bus, Wilson talks to House. He never had a crush on Julie Christie, just a girl in high school who looked like her. He liked this girl and wanted to take her to the senior prom but she asked him if it was okay if she went to the prom with someone else (Kyle Calloway) and he told her he was okay with that. He chastises himself for being a nice guy and just being okay with that. Now that he's facing the end of his life, Wilson is thinking about all the stuff he missed out on because he was such a nice guy. He tells House, while near tears, that he doesn't want to go back to the hospital. He just wants to keep being Kyle Calloway. Thing is, it's not who Wilson is. 

"I don't want to go back there House"

 

House reaffirms Wilson's decision to just be himself by telling him that Kyle Calloway would have abandoned the old lady at the bus stop, he would have dumped House long ago. Early in the episode you get the feeling that House really likes this new Wilson but in the end, he doesn't. He admits he can live without Kyle meaning he'd much rather have plain old caring, compassionate Wilson. I cried during the scene on the bus, it was so meaningful to both of them. It reminded me of all the shit these two have been through over the years.

House: "I can live without Kyle"

Remember all the times in the past where House has mocked Wilson for being "caring"? Looking back I realize that House actually likes and respects that Wilson. Oh there were moments he tried to toughen him up (the milk carton in the fridge and the banana incident with Sam and Wilson in the condo in Season 6--remember he deliberately provoked fights between them so they could work out the differences that split them up years earlier) but he did those things to help, not hurt Wilson. The looks and the slight smirk shared between them said it all.  

Did you notice how everything Wilson set out to do in this episode failed?  He wrecked the fancy new car, he threw up the 80-ounce steak, the sex with the hooker and barmaid was confusing not to mention one of them stole his wallet and he never got to see Julie Christie. But...was it a failure? Maybe not. In the end, Wilson reaches an epiphany and realizes he'll never be a Kyle Calloway, and maybe he doesn't want to be. In the end he's just James Wilson and maybe that's okay.

In the final scene, we have Wilson in the MRI machine and House viewing his scans.

House views Wilson's MRI

Wilson asks House what he sees. House doesn't answer. Wilson knows.

House can't believe it.

If ever there was a look...

Hugh Laurie just nails it here. Just nails it. What more can I say? His facial expressions speak an entire script worth of dialogue and then some.

What's the lesson in the House/Wilson road trip?

One has to wonder...if Wilson did all these things and in the end, he didn't "feel" anything, what does that say about House? House has engaged in insane and risky behavior for years, and yet he still feels nothing.  Every time he faces an emotional life crisis he indulges in this behavior and it never gets him anywhere, in fact, it seems in the end, he is just more miserable. Will House learn, through Wilson, that this isn't the way to live life? 

Wilson is scared of dying and engages in all sorts of risky behavior in an effort to find meaning in his life but really his life has been meaningful all along. Just because he doesn't have a wife and family (as he mentioned in The C-Word) doesn't make his life any less meaningful.  He's a caring and compassionate man and doctor and has helped a great many people. Living life on the edge doesn't make life more fulfilling or meaningful, it just provides a quick rush and when it's over, you're where you were before.Wilson experienced the quick rush and where did he wind up? On a bus headed back to Princeton to face a possible death sentence. So really the lesson he learned was to appreciate what he has in the here and now because really that's all he's got.

House is scared of losing the only friend he has left. When House went over the edge after the breakup with Cuddy, Wilson was there for him. If he loses Wilson, who will be there for House? It could be that House will have to learn to let go of his comfort zone, just as Wilson will do in letting go and accepting his impending death, and just as Chase has done by leaving the hospital and moving on.

What's next?

I saw the promo for next week's episode "Holding On" and it seems that House is yelling at the patient telling him to "stay alive!". That's meaningful. Why? Perhaps Wilson decides to give up rather than fight the aggressive cancer. Perhaps he'd rather spend his remaining time living a meaningful and fulfilling life as long as long as he can rather than spending that precious time in and out of a hospital undergoing treatments that will leave him weak and sickly and with little chance for survival, until eventually he wastes away from the disease. the Wilson I know is a fighter but he's also a realist. One one hand I can see him fighting this thing with everything he has until the end, on the other hand I see Wilson resolved to live the best life he can while he still can. If this is the case, how will House handle it? How will he handle watching his best friend opt to live his final days in happiness without fighting with every breath?

Hugh has said about House:

"There is something defiant about him, and I think the worst possible thing would be to see his spirit broken. I would find that depressing and that would make me unhappy."

I've always seen House as a fighter. He comes so damn close to ruining his life and yet he manages to bounce back somehow.  There's also another side to this character--under that brash, crude, asshole exterior is a sensitive, caring, needy person who is just afraid to be vulnerable and afraid to feel. All of those things make up the House we've come to know and love all these years. 

No doubt House has learned some valuable lessons from his experiences of the past couple of years, and towards the end here he will continue to do so, at least that is my hope. I'll say this---I'd like to finally see the changes I've suspected House has undergone all along. It would be refreshing to not have to infer those changes but actually see them. House is a man of actions over words. I want to see and feel how he's changed in the form of his actions.   

I liked the episode but mostly the House/Wilson interactions and the Chase epiphany. House and Wilson are always good together and while the acting is great, the plot that feels forced because it's the end. If only this had happened awhile ago. The Wilson cancer arc is a good idea but I wish it had come earlier and not thrown at us so quickly.  I am sorry that it comes so late in the game and I am sorry that Cuddy is not a part of it. 

Shout out to the peeps!

In closing, I'd like to thank the "usual suspects" aka House peeps who have made this long experience more memorable than I ever imagined:  Anne, Kate, Beth, Veronique, Michelle, Maya, Freya, Meg, Katie, Amy, Tammy, Alta, Zosia, Mindy, Gaia, Max, Ana, Elisa, Mila,and company.

Want to read more great reviews?

You can find great reviews of this episode here:

Maya at the Voice of TV: http://thevoiceoftv.com/recaps-and-reviews/house-8-20-post-mortem/

Lisa at TV Fanatic: http://www.tvfanatic.com/2012/05/house-review-realizations/

[H]ouse, M.D. episode 8x19 "The C-Word"

We debated for weeks what the "C-Word" meant. Some said cancer, others (like me) said change because cancer was too obvious.  In my opinion it stands for both Cancer and Change. Because both are here.

In this week's case, the illness hits close to home. The POTW is sick with an illness her mother specializes in and her mother is desperate to find a cure. The mother joins the team temporarily to help them diagnose her daughter. In the end, she finds she can't be objective.

In our parallel plot, Wilson, head of Oncology and expert in his field is sick with an illness he specializes in and he's also desperate to find a cure. Wilson goes to four specialists, well known oncologists at four major hospitals and finds that all of them concur on his treatment but he disagrees with them. He doesn't want the traditional safe route, he wants a more radical approach that can likely kill him. Like the POTW's mother, Wilson is too close to the patient because he is the patient. He can't be objective here. In comes House to try and talk some sense in to him. I thought for a moment "Wait a minute--they've switched bodies!"

It seems the shoe was now on the other foot. Wilson, the usually calm and rational one was about to do something insane and dangerous and it was up to House to talk him out of it.  Knowing that Wilson was going to find a way to do this without him, House agrees to help him in his apartment. Knowing the risks of going to jail if Wilson should die, House was willing to help him anyway. House's actions remind me of the many times Wilson has enabled House.

Hugh Laurie directed this episode and I must say that he did an incredible job. Hugh is known as the actor's director and for good reason. He pays attention to detail, he understands the actors, he's focused and he has a vision and creativity that is all his own. It paid off for the direction in this episode was outstanding. 

The good moments:

• House sacrificing his few remaining Vicodin pills for Wilson. Notice that House lied to Wilson telling him he had stashes all over the apartment. When he told Wilson that all I could think of was "not again House!" but I was proven wrong when it urns out while House is taking Vicodin he doesn't seem to be doing it in an irresponsible manner as he did in earlier seasons and after the breakup with Cuddy. Surely we all thought he'd have a stash of thousands hidden in textbooks and walls in his apartment. Not so.

• House helping Wilson into the bathroom. There was something beautiful about the crippled House leaning down and taking Wilson into his arms and helping him to the bathroom that just made me want to cry. It's always been Wilson doing these things for House, and now House is doing this for Wilson. Make no mistake, House has been there for Wilson in the past. Remember, he gave Wilson a place to stay when his wife kicked him out, he helped Wilson realize his marriage was over and that he had to get a lawyer and move on, he risked his own life to try and save Amber, he brought Wilson out of his post-Amber funk during the trip to John House's funeral, he was there for him after Wilson donated part of his liver.  The things House has done for Wilson have been subtle, yet to Wilson it meant a great deal.

• House wanting to take Wilson to the hospital but abiding by Wilson's wishes that he did not want to die in the ambulance or in the hospital. Surely I thought that House would break his promise because he cared more about Wilson than some stupid promise. I was wrong. It's not often he could make promises to Wilson so maybe this was his way of making the sacrifice. He knew damn well if Wilson died in his apartment, he'd have to explain himself and likely go to jail. They even talked about it. House seemed resigned to putting his friend's well-being first.

• House and Wilson sharing the painkiller morphine together. Joking about the cemetery near the park with the lake view.

• Wilson hallucinating his 8-year old dead cancer patient. That was Wilson's guilt complex taking hold. Amazing scene.

• Wilson telling House about why he wants the radical treatment. They're in his office and Wilson points to the memorabilia he has related to three patients, all different ages, all who had extremely high rates of survival yet they all died anyway despite the survival rates.  You would think that as a doctor Wilson could be clear-headed and objective but this is his life now. He knows the risks, for him it's all or nothing. 

• Wilson screaming "WHY ME?" and talking about how House makes everyone miserable and is an ass and implying House should be the one dying of cancer, not him. I was taken back by that amazing scene. The guilt House must have felt in that moment...for all the things he's done in his life and it's his best friend, the kind and caring one who is dying.

The not-so-good moments

• The patient of the week. I liked this little girl and her case but this case should have been in another episode where it would not be overshadowed by the secondary plot. Also, I would have liked to see House's interaction with the mother as she sat in with the team. House has an issue with parents and the fact that this parent was also the patient's doctor would have made for interesting interaction. 

• The ever-so-present misogyny on this show. If it's not hookers it's strippers. If it's not hookers or strippers it's women in some sort of undress. The only thing I liked about the very last scene it is how it made Wilson laugh really hard and for a moment he was able to forget about his impending death sentence. Other than that though, more young scantily clad women? Seriously? Could there be just ONE episode?

Other thoughts

• Was Wilson's behavior out of character? We know Wilson has always been a pretty rational and well-thought out guy. He's not one to make hasty decisions (unless you count marriage proposals). He's careful and weighs his options.  That said, the Wilson we have seen for years never would have underwent such a radical treatment as he did in this episode. It's just not like him. However, given that Wilson has always been a calm rational guy, is it completely out of character to freak out over being diagnosed with the disease you've spent 20 years trying to treat and eradicate? Is it out of character for Wilson to be scared to death of this disease now that he's afflicted with it? Is it out of character for a normally cool and rational guy to suddenly do insane things? Make insane choices? Participate in risky acts? I can't answer that. In my opinion it could go either way. It would make sense to me that the normally rational Wilson suddenly be scared to death. He's watched so many patients die over the years, he's been by their bedside, he's even helped some of them along in the end. The doctor is now the patient. That can't be easy to accept.

• House and Wilson swapping roles.  Normally, Wilson is House's conscience. Now House has to be Wilson's conscience and he's going to find it's a big responsibility. We see in this and upcoming episodes that Wilson's doing some pretty un-Wilson like things and House has to either talk him out of them or be there with him to make sure he doesn't get himself into trouble. Roles have reversed. How will House handle it? Will House realize what it's like to be in Wilson's shoes? Being calm, cool, rational and preventing Wilson from doing insane things. And will Wilson suddenly realize for a moment what it's like to be in House's shoes? In pain all the time, worried, scared and fearing the inevitable?

• How will House react seeing Wilson behave in a reckless manner? Can House handle this? Watching his best friend imitate his own behavior? If he has to be Wilson's rock and support, he can no longer put himself first. That's hard for House. Can he do it? What will it mean for his future? 

•  Did David Shore put plot before character?  Did Shore throw Wilson and House out of character in an effort to go out with a bang? Some say Wilson would never act this irrational after his own cancer diagnosis. Ask anyone who has been watching this series for a long time and they'll tell you that putting plot before character sounds eerily like what took place in Season 7. 

• Why now? Why is House able to be there for someone he cares about now?  We're all wondering the answer to this one.  When Cuddy feared kidney cancer in "Bombshells" House had a hard time being there for her. Whether it was making jokes, having his team sit with her instead of his being there, or playing video games with Foreman, House could not bring himself to be there for Cuddy. We know why. He loved her and he was scared to death of losing her and scared to death of the pain he was feeling. Thing is, no matter what he was feeling, he needed to be there for her because she was scared too.  He was finally there for her when he got the news the tumor cells had spread and she was dying (or so they thought). But it took a Vicodin for him to have the courage to be by her side. How is it that House couldn't be what Cuddy needed then (though he did try) but he can be there for Wilson now? 

Here's my random thought on this...House is remorseful, he lost the woman he loved and he knows he did some things wrong and he regrets them. Outwardly he's the same ass we've always known and still hides his pain and his fear. He's opened himself up a few times and gotten so hurt that he just can't do it again. Inside he hurts just as he always has, it's what we love about him. We know he's changed but...   

The problem with the above explanation is that while we believe it because we want to believe it and because that's how it should have been, we've never actually seen it, not this season anyway.  David Shore never shown us any real change in House. We're having to assume he's changed, it's inferred but this is crazy for if the viewers have to assume, what's the point of writing?  For me, Hugh's expressions as House say so much but we need more than that, we need Shore to show us and tell us in House's actions and words. We need to see it for ourselves, we should not be forced to use our imaginations as to what the character is thinking or feeling. We should have been given real hints at House's changes that would lead us to believe that the reason he can be there now for Wilson while it was much more difficult for him to be there for Cuddy is because he has changed, he has learned  from his mistakes and yeah he wants to do better, just like he told Cuddy. Without those steps, it feels incomplete, like we were cheated out of watching this character grow and evolve.

•  Where are the strong and intelligent women of [H]ouse?  There are no strong women characters left on this show. With the departure of Lisa Edelstein, the show lost its only strong, intelligent, vibrant, sassy, and sexy leading female character.  With the loss of Lisa, the show lost part of the dynamic that balanced the main character, she was part of what made him whole.  Cuddy was House's foil, he needs her as much as she needs him, as much as he needs Wilson or Wilson needs him. These three depended on one another for different reasons, different needs.  Olivia Wilde, Charlyne Yi, and Odette Annable were never strong characters, they weren't meant to be, and they do not make up for that loss.  And while we're at it, where the heck is Katie Jacobs? She was the other half of the dynamic duo that created this series. She hasn't done an episode since early Season 6. None of the directors are women. There are a few women writers left and you'd think that these women (Lingenfelter, Hess, Friedman) could write strong women characters but it's just not happening. Either they're not interested or Shore put a lid on it.

Again, the acting/directing in this episode was terrific. Now, going into the final three episodes next week, I feel like something is missing. I was talking with my friends aka "the usual suspects" (as I love to call them) the other day and we all agreed that it would have been phenomenal if Cuddy had been a part of this episode and those that follow. Can you imagine the three of them arguing over Wilson's treatment, the legal and moral ramifications? Can you imagine House, Cuddy, and Wilson going through this cancer experience together? Trying to balance each other? It would have been Emmy winning material, not to mention amazing closure to the incredible triumvirate dynamic of this show.

I won't stop saying I miss Cuddy. I can't help it! She was an important part of the dynamic and the lives of its two leading male characters. As we're coming down to the wire, where House and Wilson are facing some really incredible life-changing events, I just wish she'd been a part of it. Alas, she is not (unless a miracle happens!) and so I keep watching, because I really want to see this through to the end.  Despite what the writers and Shore have done to change the dynamic of this show, something still binds me to House and his journey. I'm the kind of person who roots for the underdog, wants him to succeed, even after all he's done to others and especially after all he's been through...all the hurt and pain that he has endured in his life. Why? Because in some ways he's me, he's you, he's all of us!

It's this little thing I like to call hope.


In closing, this blog wouldn't be complete without thanking the usual suspects! They know who they are and they better be reading this. Without them laughing, crying, and ranting over this show all this time would have been no fun at all!