Excellent analyses of the first dozen episodes of Season Two, Barbara!

I generally agree with your ratings of each episode, with 'Autopsy' being the best of the entire season. The Stacy arc did not outrage me as much as it did others, but I did find some of it uncomfortable to watch, knowing that it wouldn't or couldn't end well for either of them.

As far as House and his invasion of Stacy's privacy by secretly reading her therapy files, I'm not sure I would go as far as to say that it was out-of-character behavior for him. Usually there is an ulterior motive for his behavior, outrageous as it can be occasionally, and this time the search to find out as much as he could about Stacy's state of mind prior to committing any further to his pursuit of her could be viewed as benefiting or protecting him. Selfish, yes, but House has been known to be selfish and childish, as well as noble and caring.

Thanks for your comments HL_L. You could be right about House's motivations in stealing Stacy's file, and he could have been protecting himself. But I think it was one of the very few times in the show's run that I've been angry at his behavior.

I've been devouring each word you have written. It started with a simple google alerts for everything "House, MD" related. I don't doubt that I received other alerts from your blog, but it wasn't until a review of Lines in the Sand, (revisited), because that's one of my favorite episode, that finally payed attention.. oh! What I have missed! After that, I subscribed to the feed, because I didn't want to miss anything you might to say about House or Hugh Laurie (I'm obsessive with both).

I absolutely LOVE everything I've read -so far :)- I'm catching up like crazy! And also I'm looking forward for the continuation of the Season Two Episode Guide part 2. In fact, I hope that you "revisit" all episodes of all seasons - at least the one that you haven't done the review :D You've done an amazing job reviewing the series; you're a truly dedicated -and obsessive- fan! I'm very happy I found you, now we can obsessive together! Woohoo!

I have to take issue with Forman's behavior in Deception. I hated to watch House having to grovel to him to get what he wanted for the patient. And what did Forman expect to accomplish in a month's time? To completely overhaul the entire department and put House in his place, and show Cuddy how competent and efficient he can be? And why did Cuddy dangle the carrot in front of him as a possible new dept head? Did she believe, like Wilson did, that House was just a lucky guesser and any competetent doctor could do it just as well? This episode blatantly showed the extent of Forman's arrogance, love of power and prestige, (and the true bastard on the show but shown in a more socially acceptable light)and Cuddy's lack of understanding of what House needs to work his magic? Overall it just irks me to no end. House was right to call Forman on his ego at the end of season 3. On a positive note I loved the scene of Cameron and House on the bike. I think it is a bit of a classic. But Deception also showed a flaw in Cameron of wanting to act too quickly after a partial diagnosis (Munchouser) but not get at the root of the cause, which she did later by overriding House and got the father's approval to remove the pituatary gland of a young girl when the cause was the hormone cream. She might also have to learn thru a patient death. My fantasy "what if" for the show is having House gone for a few months and he was absolutely not available for consult. What would happen to patient treatment and the hospital death rate? I have a notion that House probably meddles with other doctors' patients. There was a great scene where House told Cuddy that she can see the world as it is and how it could be, but not the deep chasim in between, otherwise she would not have hired him. Would Cuddy finally see how wide and deep that chasim truly is if House was not there to bridge it? A different point I want to make is House's choice of women (Cuddy, Stacy, Cate). They have all been classy, highly intelligent, and knew how to banter with House, and not be overly emotional. House looks for a near equal which says alot about him. I really appreciate your postings compared to most House sites. It is a thoughtfull discourse without the emotional extreme love/hate of characters or plots I find elsewhere. In Spin I don't think it was out of character for House to steal Stacy's file because Wilson just had a obligatory mild chastisement but was not shocked. Sorry about the rant.

Dear Barbara,I have been impatiently waiting for your comments on series 2.You often highlight insights I have missed and it is a pleasure to share ideas with a fellow enthusiast.For instance I hadn't quite seen the bearing of Stacy's initial suggestion that they merely have a secret affair, on House's decision to say no to her.
One of the great pleasures of House is that it poses questions on relationships, morality and philosophy in an adult way that provokes reflection long after the show.And in House himself they ( both writers and Hugh Laurie ) have created a character that lives outside the boundaries of the drama.
One of my favourite moments is in " Autopsy", where everyone has been praising the child's bravery and maturity but House is the only one to take that seriously. The grave courtesy and respect with which he explains the proposed procedure and offers her the choice of ending her suffering makes me cry every time I watch it.
Looking forward to further comments, Ann

And also I'm looking forward for the continuation of the Season Two Episode Guide part 2. In fact, I hope that you "revisit" all episodes of all seasons - at least the one that you haven't done the review :D You've done an amazing job reviewing the series; you're a truly dedicated -and obsessive- fan! I'm very happy I found you, now we can obsessive together! Woohoo!
Heidi--I'm glad we found each other :) And I'm delighted that you're enjoying my reviews, etc. I appreciate the kind comments. I do hope to post the second half of season 2 sometime this week, and season three in April as well, before the new episodes commence. As far as the revisited reviews, I will write those as FOX shows them at the regular prime-time time-slot. I guess I am pretty obsessed :)

have to take issue with Foreman's behavior in Deception. I hated to watch House having to grovel to him to get what he wanted for the patient. And what did Foreman expect to accomplish in a month's time?

Robin--I could not agree more about Foreman. I have never liked his character and cringe when anyone from the creative team suggest that he is "just like House." Where Foreman has an inflated self-view; House is brutally honest with himself; where Foreman is arrogant, House can be in a manner of speaking, but realizes that he doesn't have all the answers all the time (which is why he does listen and need his team). I appreciated Wilson's remark in Human Error that Foreman doesn't want to to become what he THINKS House is. the operative word being "thinks".

But Deception also showed a flaw in Cameron of wanting to act too quickly after a partial diagnosis (Munchausen) but not get at the root of the cause, which she did later by overriding House and got the father's approval to remove the pituitary gland of a young girl when the cause was the hormone cream.

Excellent point. House, for all of his brashness and his more experimental way of diagnosis, is not one to jump to conclusions. His mode is start treatment and confirm the diagnosis. Always. He avoids (even at the cost of admitting he's wrong, something that an arrogant person would not do) doing anything that would harm a patient. He wants to be sure before condemning a person to a less than "normal" life (he knows what that's like)-- but he covers that concern well with his outrageousness. He's a lot more meticulous a physician than he would want anyone to know.

I love your idea about the House being absent scenario. He is their ace in the hole at PPTH, a brilliant mind -- and brilliant at synthesizing others' ideas into a cohesive whole.

In Spin I don't think it was out of character for House to steal Stacy's file because Wilson just had a obligatory mild chastisement but was not shocked. Sorry about the rant.


I wondered about that too, but it still felt "off" to me. Not so much he reading, but the break in and how he did it (his "pathetic cripple" act) Thanks for the kind words, and rant away whenever you want!

One of my favourite moments is in " Autopsy", where everyone has been praising the child's bravery and maturity but House is the only one to take that seriously. The grave courtesy and respect with which he explains the proposed procedure and offers her the choice of ending her suffering makes me cry every time I watch it.
Thanks, Ann, as well, for your kind words. I also love that moment. And I think it's another consistency in House's character that he tends to take people who are vulnerable, seriously ill, outsiders...and children very seriously. Of course the ill, outsiders and children are vulnerable, so maybe that's all one category. House has capacity in him, maybe borne of personal experience, to really give the vulnerable ones his best attention. Generally his staff and others tend to ignore or dismiss them, and House calls them on it. He's done it over and over, and the connection he made with Andie went even above that. I think House tries very hard to not feel, but can't quite escape who he is.

Great summary!

I'll step out of the "House" mode for a second. That famous scene from Autopsy shows the charisma, acting chops, and intensity of Hugh Laurie. Without extreme facial expressions, raised eyebrows, body language and snarky comments, Hugh Laurie enraptures the audience, compels you to give him your utmost attention, draws you in as if you are a participant in the story, and shows you why he is such an incredible actor. Every time I watch that scene, sometimes just that scene, I am spellbound. This scene made me aware of an aspect of House that we had not seen before, and made me crave more of it in future episodes. It is my absolute favorite scene of the series.

This half of season 2 showed how TPTB do not pay attention to the time line of the show. In the middle of the first season, in Cursed, Chase's father said he had "three" months to live. In the middle of the second season, in The Mistake, House comments that Chase's father told him he had "two" months to live. Cursed and the Mistake were about a season apart, and we know that the overall time line of each season is a year (the ducklings had been in their jobs for three years after three seasons), Chase's father would have died during the first season, not halfway into the second. TPTB can do anything they want regarding what happens in the show. I find it disconcerting that the longitudinal time frames don't jive with what happens between the characters.

Did House turn Stacy away because he wanted a long-term relationship and she wanted a fling? I don't see it that way. House knew Stacy was having a hard time telling Mark because they had a life-long commitment. That is what she would be looking for with House. House was hurt by what happened with Stacy years earlier. As a result, he did not want to be emotionally vulnerable in a relationship with anyone. Instead of finding another woman to love, House turned away from all women. The wall he put around himself was so thick, no woman could penetrate it. House made a hole in the wall himself for Stacy to get through, but he came to realize he didn't have it in him to be what she needed. If he thought Stacy wanted a fling, she may have made it through the wall. By definition, a fling has an end point. House feared the end would come too soon, and Stacy would be left with no one. House walked away for the sake of both of them.

The first half of season two is where Hugh finally let loose with House. He was no longer reserved, allowing the snarky, sarcastic, more demonstrative parts of the character to be revealed. It was not just about the dialogue and the attitude. The physicality he added enlivened the character. The House/Cuddy relationship seemed to gel at this time too. There seemed to be a familiarity that didn't exist in the first season. The whole cast seemed to be more in sync with each other. There were more story lines between the characters at the beginning of the second season.

I could not believe how much the actor who played House's father in Daddy's Boy looked like Hugh. The actor who played his father is only 10 years older than Hugh. He was perfectly cast, and he and Hugh played off each other brilliantly.

If you imagine House the character now without the benefit of the arc of episodes with Stacy, there would not be as much balance to him. As House's relationships with the supporting characters have evolved, we have been able to accept House's affection for them because we know he is capable of a more intimate relationoship. When House let go of the ducklings at the end of last season, we could feel his loss of the emotional connection he had with them. It was believeable due to Stacy's presence and loss in his life.

Barbara, as usual, I love your review. I loved the Stacy arc, too. It breaks my heart when he tells her he can't go there again. Hugh (as always) did a fabulous job displaying a whole range of emotions regarding Stacy. Autopsy is one of my favorite episodes. Ann uk was right, House was the only one to take Andie seriously. Really, how much does it say about House that he just can't hug her back at the end?? I think he just doesn't feel he's worthy, he doesn't deserve it. That scene makes me cry every time. I'll be watching for part 2.

I have recently gotten addicted to watching House M.D. There is only one of them episodes I can recall seeing (Humpty Dumpty). I currently have all episodes in my Netflix query so I am going to work my way through every episode!

I really enjoyed reading the review, I can't wait to hit season two!

I have been thinking about House and sex. His comments on sex are notoriously rude, crude and even brutal, yet his relationship with Stacy reveals how capable he is of love, how tender and how vulnerable. This makes the final scene of " Distractions " ( 2/12 ) when he cannot even bear to let "Paula " speak to him, one of real tragedy.

His relationship with Cameron reveals another point : many men - " nice"," kind " men - would exploit Cameron's feelings for him. House refuses to do this.He protects both her and himself by his apparent unkindness.

Excellent sumary Barbara.

I have to make note that there were a lot of non hameron shippers that hated stacey's character mainly because of the way she treated House at times like her barging in on the clinic patient and yelling at him. I cringed in that moment. I did like her though

All in all I like the stacey arc and my heart really broke for House and HL does a fantastic job using those facial expressions and tone of voice to project what his character was feeling. He was the emotional/vunerable one in the relationship and I aboslutely hated stacey when she dismissed wilson and faling to acknowledge how much emotional suffering that he went through. I have the feeling that this is just one of the main reasons he can't and refuse to open himself up to a lot of women even though they feel something for him (cuddy and cameron).

I had the feeling that she may be looking to have both ways: to be in a relationship with Mark because there was room for her in his life but when it got to difficult she had House on the side for her to fall back to. In the beginning of Need to Know she just dismissed House's feelings on the issue saying that is was one kiss and not concerned how vunerable House really is that is why I don't buy that she understood him the best. I liked how he decided to let her go because he just didn't want to go there again and nothing has changed between the two of them.

I think House has an old fashioned traditional idea of love and sex which reveals the vunerable romantic side to him that he covers up.

I loved Cameron on that motorcycle with House. It seems so cute to me.

Well anyway great summary. Always a pleasure to read.

I would agree that the dislike of Stacy knew no actual "ship" boundaries. Obviously (;))I liked the arc. I also agree that House was absolutely the vulnerable one in their relationship. Remember, he had been pining for her for five years (he had even kept a photo of her in his wallet -- "Love Hurts") His expectations were also far different than hers, so he was setting himself up in a way (despite all of the games he was playing to be absolutely sure that he could finally approach her in FTC). We saw such a different side of him in that arc--not out of character, not changed, just another layer. We saw another glimpse of that in Frozen in his dealing with Cate.

I'd like to second what Ann UK had to say about House's public "rude and crude" public persona about sex contrasted with his behavior, and add one more example which Barbara's review of "Lines in the Sand" reminded me of. When the 17 year-old stalker comes to the clinic and, without any preliminaries, opens her blouse in the examining room, he never once touches her. Even though he'd be perfectly within professional boundaries to put his hands on his oh-so-willing patient, his hands are firmly on his stethoscope throughout.

I can't say I was ever one of those who hated Stacy; I don't hang out on websites where people spend their time detailing what they dislike about a story. As others have noted here, House's interactions with her showed a romantic side of him, but I hated some of the things she did. Her "You were the one" speech was, for all the tenderness of her voice, more cruel than any of House's sarcastic comments have ever been, and I'm glad that the writers had him call her on it immediately.

Just a thought inspired by Sue's observation on the resemblance between the actor who played House's father in "Daddy's Boy" and Hugh Laurie.

We know from "One Day, One Room" that House was emotionally and physically abused as a child by his father. Genetics being what they are, we resemble our birth parents. What must it be like for an abused child, now an adult, to see the face of his abuser every time he looks in a mirror? What kind of effect can that resemblance have on his self-esteem?