A short speculation about what we might see when House returns in the fall.
The finale episodes, "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart" left me (as I’m sure they left most of you) speechless and maybe even in tears (not in small portion due to the stunning performances of Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard, and Anne Dudek). And, as every good cliffhanger should, the final scenes left us with a lot of questions on our collective mind. For example, why was House drinking himself to oblivion at five in the afternoon?…
Article comments
26 - travlncarrie
I really enjoyed your article. Another aspect to the mantra that no one ever changes, I think anyway, is that it will eventually also hold true for Wilson. He won't be able to hate House forever; he will have to own up to his own actions as well. As a doctor, he must know what his request has physically and psychologically done to House (regarding the deep brain stimulation). It isn't a one sided friendship. House needs Wilson and Wilson needs House just as much.
27 - Pat
bliffle wrote:
"If the program gets stuck in the limited lives of a few repetitive characters it will soon fail. "
I think that is what the show wanted to avoid by getting rid of the old team. What happened was exactly the opposite, that the show had got stuck in the lives of the remaining characters, House/Wilson/Cuddy, and everyone else became disposable, even the patients. I couldn't help but notice that in your review and your questions about the upcoming season, it was all about House, Wilson and Cuddy, with Amber only as she affects the first three. No mention of old or new team, no mention of patients. The show has become a soap opera based on three characters and for me they are very close to being used up.
I think to blame the strike for the lack of Chase and Cameron fitting in or the unevenness of the season is to give the producers too much slack. As Lerner and Friend showed in your interview, more than a year after the old team quit, they still have no idea what to do with Chase and Cameron. Thirteen is little more than an extended patient story with House trying to figure her out and Taub isn't even that. A big problem for me is that I don't buy the diagnostic sessions any more. While Chase, Cameron and Foreman made the real, the new team seem like they have no idea of what they're saying so yet again, the effect of the medicine drops and we're left with the three person soap opera.
28 - sue
i agree with Marie that Wilson asking House to risk his life to save Amber will have a large impact on House next season. This point has been overlooked. House did not have to ask Wilson if he wanted him to risk his life to save Amber, because he had already volunteered. Wilson made a valid point that the rash might not have been the symptom that House saw. House was testing Wilson to see how important he was to Wilson compared to Amber. This had been set up in the episodes after the strike. In House's mind, he was downgraded and expendable to Wilson. In Wilson's marriages, there was always room for House. Wilson had changed; he chose a woman over House. Wilson was spouse and friend to House. All he has left is Cuddy. He cannot be himself with anyone else. He has to be gruff, arrogant and sarcastic to make people believe he really doesn't care (but he does, likely more passionately than others). He shared his feelings with Wilson. Now, he is a lost soul. He wonders if anyone really cares about him? Has he alienated everyone? These issues will turn up next season.
Next season, I think House will turn to Cuddy as a Wilson replacement. In the sixth episode, they will have sex, and then they will regret it. Wilson will be initally angry at House, but he will come around just after House and Cuddy sleep together. House will be harder on himself than Wilson will be. House will over-change, but ultimately, he will return to his old self. "Nobody changes," even House.
I think 13 is history. She said she would resign if she was positive. She messed up in the last episode. That was all a setup for her to exit. I am glad she is leaving. I would have been upset if one of the old ducklings was positive. I am glad she is. That should tell TPTB how fans feel about the newbies.
With 13 gone, and House in no position to hire someone new, I think Chase and Cameron will have larger roles in the beginning of the season. House will solve cases from afar, over the phone. It will be too hard for him to be at the hospital and see Wilson. Their offices are next door to each other. Gradually, over the course of the season, Chase and Cameron will break up and move on, as will Foreman. House will hire a replacement for 13, and later in the season, Taub will go back to plastic surgery. I think he has an affair with Cuddy, and he will leave. House will hire another duckling. Kutner will likely stay. I do not think Fox will allow at least two very unpopular actors/characters to linger.
The feeling that there has not been enough time to develop the new team character-wise is not valid. CC & F needed no time to "fit in" and be interesting. Cameron was great in the pilot when she asked House why he hired her. The problem is not the characters. It is the actors. There has been plenty of storyline for these actors to show their stuff. OW and PJ are not up to the caliber that a top show requires, not even close. When a show has great actors, you cannot replace them with less than mediocre ones. The fans won't accept it. You also cannot put them in scenes with the greatest actor who ever lived, by an infinity shot (much longer than a long shot). When they are on camera without House, the scenes fall flat. If you could easily replace the actor with another one without missing anything, the actor is insignificant. 13 and Taub are insignificant. Kutner is better, but I don't care about him. He could be positive, and I wouldn't care. Fox cannot be happy with this casting. They can get anyone they want. Why should they stay with these actors?
I don't watch any of the CSI programs because there is a lack of characterization in the show. The procedural part is too much of the show. When you don't care about the regular actors, the procedural is less interesting. This is why the last two episodes were so great. There was heavy involvement of the regular actors in the procedural story line. It made me care a lot about what happened to the POTW. Would Wilson's Heart have been as good if the dying scene had been between two actors we were not familiar with? If you took House totally out of the procedural part of the show, would it be as interesting? I judge episodes on how well I like the POTW. I did not like Words and Deeds,One Day One Room, Needle in a Haystack, Informed Consent, Que Sera Sera, and Whac-A-Mole as much as the other episodes, because I didn't care for the PsOTW. What saved these episodes for me were the B stories, and the acting by the regular cast. In life, people grow and change. That is natural. Why should a tv show be different from real life? Static characters become uninteresting over time. The reason the clinic scenes are so good is that the patients are interesting and idiosyncratic. Think of what you remember about those scenes. Is the diagnosis, or how the actor presented the character?
I call the first 21/2 seasons of House, MD a "perfect storm." Great actors and an exceptional actor, intricate story lines, flawless integration of the A, B and C storylines, humor, characterization, interesting medical procedurals, explanations for the layman, ....everything else-- this show has it all. A testament to a good show is how many times you can watch it and not get bored. For me, it is limitless. I cannot say that about any other show.
Hugh Laurie is the best actor I have ever seen. It is hard for me to call the others "actors" when cast in the same light as Hugh. They seem to be just "pretenders." I cannot name another actor who can hold my rapt attention with just a facial expression. He is a treat for the eyes, ears and brain. Every time I watch him in an episode I see something I did not see the last time I watched. I love the masculinity of House, as opposed to the relative femininity of another male doctor on a popular tv show. The contrast is striking. Hugh has kept up the intensity of House to such a degree that I buy everything that House does and says as natural to that character. Hugh has not won an Emmy because of the jealousy of the other actors. When everyone is shocked that he didn't win, there is something going on behind the scenes that prevented him from winning. Is there a difference in who votes for a SAG award and an Emmy and who votes for "Best Actor in a Drama Series?" If so, that should tell who is jealous of Hugh.
I was shocked to see that the cost of the season 4 DVD is listed at $59.99, the same price as prior seasons. That is wrong. We are getting 2/3 of a season and they are charging just as much as for a full 24 episode season? I will not buy the season 4 DVDs until around Thanksgiving, when it incredibly discounted. If others do the same, we are telling TPTB that "we won't take it anymore."
29 - Barbara Barnett
Again, thank you all for your well-considered comments, and for your kind remarks ;)
Having said that, the one problem I had with the finale was that I didn't feel that the Amber/Wilson relationship was all that convincing to begin with, and I have some problems believing that all of the sudden she is his big love. So to see how Wilson was willing to sacrifice House for Amber was a bit of a stretch, though I guess the shortened season may have had to do something with the fact that their relationship was stuffed down our throats rather hastily. The only thing that saved this aspect was the truly convincing acting by RSL and to some degree, AD. And HL's overall brilliant acting helped too, of course. Not enough can be said about HL's acting here...
I would agree that it would have been better to develop their relationship over time. It seemed that just when House had accepted Amber in wilson's life...
But I think Wilson's personality is such that he is very impetuous when it comes to love. After all he was married three times. He probably falls easily and hard in love--and we don't know if he would have done the same thing to Amber that he has done to his other wives over time.
Because Amber was different, perhaps the relationship would also have been so. Yes, Wilson was ready to sacrifice House's life, and House was ready to give it. House, perhaps, also was learning (a bit) to allow change in his life (not that he had any chance.) He had flown the white flag in "live the Dream" when he told Wilson his "secret" only to have him blab it to Amber. That was, for House, a test of Wilson's loyalty to him. And I wonder, Wilson having failed that, with House acknowleging that Amber trumps him, led to him realizing just how alone he really was. Did that lead to him getting plastered? Hmmm.
As far as teams old and new, I think everyone has an opinion: whether they should have done it; did it work? Should they have done it differently? Who is better? Etc.
I think the old team worked more easily into the show because all of the characters were new, even House. We were dropped into their scenario.
this time, the newbies were dropped into our view, expectations and rhythm of the show, so they may have felt forced onto us. I don't think so, but many do. They really have only (as a team) been in play for a few episodes at this point. We have to exclude episodes 2-8(?) because they were not yet a team. They are all new to the team. In the Pilot, Chase had been with House for at least a year, Cameron for six months, Foreman was the new guy in town.
Would the show and stories have been better served and the actors better honored to have been cut entirely? Possibly yes. Although I like chase in his role. and I wonder if Cameron's hanger-on inklings may foretell her rejoining the team, with 13 departing? Time will tell, and I have no inside information. So we shall see.
30 - stephen fan
Dear Barbara, Thanks for setting off such exuberant debate. I agree with several of the comments that the House/Wilson/Cuddy dynamic is occasionally repetitive but they have been slowly positioning them for change. Now is the time. House will force himself to let in more light. He has been inching his way toward it. He is, deep in his heart, a brave, old soul. This tragedy will release some of that courage. By contrast, this tragedy will cause Wilson to absorb more darkness. He will never again be such a lightweight. Before, if you put House and Wilson together in one man, you got the perfect man. Now each will separately be more satisfying to themselves and to us in a new way; more complex, compelling, and complete. Neither will be as predictable or repetitive as in the past. And Cuddy will stop playing it so safe. But House will only initially lean on Cuddy and then pull away. In terms of relationships House believes himself to be a killer. The pulling away would be for her own good in his eyes. The only situation that would enable House to invest himself in Cuddy is one where he held the key to healing her emotionally and ,perhaps, physically. That would require a good two more years of setup by the writers. Being a woman, I do identify with her and wish they fleshed out her life in simple but obvious ways. That doesn't mean another striptease.
31 - Andi A.
Lovely analysis as always, Barbara.
There have been several times over the past three years when I thought House was going to change and become more reflective, but it hasn't happened yet. I thought he would change (or at least see the need for change) after the Stacy arc, the Tritter arc, after "Half Wit" when he realized the truth in what Wilson was saying about having people who cared about him, and after "Human Error" when he rashly let his team go. While many people believe that Dr. House changed considerably this season, it certainly didn't seem as if he had changed for the better. With that in mind, I'm hoping to see a more reflective House this coming season, but I won't hold my breath. I want him to realize how much his actions have hurt Wilson and as "rtlemurs" so wisely expressed in an earlier post, "What is House going to do about it?" I don't want to see the extended House-Wilson angst that we saw during the Tritter arc, nor do I want it to overwhelm each new episode, but it will definitely be interesting to see what becomes of their friendship. I disliked much of this season, and the House-Wilson friendship had been the one constant joy to me, so I'm hoping that it will be restored.
I'd like to see a return to the medical mystery as the focus, clinic patients for the comic relief, and the old team back in House's world where they belong to provide the balance and stability of earlier seasons.
I also agree with "Emma" and "Sea" that we will learn nothing about House from his interactions with the new team. Somehow I can't imagine that House invited Chase bowling because Kutner and Taub turned him down first. We've never seen him eating lunch with any of his new team as we saw him with Foreman on his first day on the job. We've actually learned the most about House from clinic patients (in "One Day, One Room" when House revealed that he had been abused) and from another patient in "Son of Coma Guy" when we found out House's reasons for becoming a doctor. House told Wilson about cheating on an exam at Hopkins in "Distractions," had a small heart-to-heart talk with Cameron about his parents in "Daddy's Boy" and revealed that he hated his mother to Cuddy, but that's about all I can remember right now of any personal information he has shared with anyone. He has only allowed Cameron, Wilson, and Cuddy into his home.
I am looking forward to seeing more of Chase and Cameron. There have been times this season when they've been thrown in superfluous scenes just for the sake of letting us know they are still around, and that's a shameful way to use their talent and charisma. It would have made MUCH more sense to me to have seen more of them in the last episode. It seems logical that House, Wilson, and Cuddy would have DEMANDED that House's best and well-trained team - Chase, Cameron, and Foreman - be in on the sessions to save the life of someone as special as Amber. With House unable to function properly due to his head trauma, why would her life be placed in the hands of the young, inexperienced team? I hope the writers can do better than that next season.
32 - stephen fan
Thanks Andi A. for an excellent question of the writers about why Amber's care was partially placed in the hands of the new team. House's care was placed in the hands of Wilson and then Cuddy with an unidentified other doctor assisting (or was it Taub?).
The new team does add interesting texture to House's interactions. House has three levels of intimacy; Wilson/Cuddy, the old team, and the new team. He reveals himself variously to each. I think the medical stories are at their best when they directly reflect on the human drama of the main characters. Otherwise, not so much.
After Stacy, Tritter, "Half Wit", and "Human Error", House did change in incremental ways that have added up to some distance. So did we change as viewers. Knowing his specific history, we saw him in a new way, also incrementally. But now House's loved one (Wilson) has lost a loved one, partially because of House's actions. As an adult, I have yet to lose a loved one or live through one of my loved ones losing such. But I imagine I will never be the same; so with House and Wilson. I think RSL must be very excited about the new possibilities.
I agree with Andi A. that House and Wilson are the best thing on the show but because of the acting, not the writing of their parts. My center of gravity dwells on House/Cuddy as the place where House has the largest latitude for development. They have already come a very long way. At this point House trusts Cuddy more than anyone because of all her past loyal actions.
But more House/Wilson in season 5, now that the intensity of Wilson has been increased, cannot help but be very good. Andi A., I'm going to have to rewatch "Daddy's Boy" to see House tell Cuddy about his mother. Thanks.
33 - Andi A.
"stephen fan," unfortunately I could not go back and edit my own post. I should have said that House told Cuddy that he hated his FATHER, not his mother. I think House loves his mother.
34 - Barbara Barnett
Stephen fan, one of the things I really had hoped for this column to do was to do exactly as you say: set off exuberant debate. I've been gratified over the last eight months that I've been writing this column, how much intelligent discussion has gone on in the comments section! So, thank you (all) for contributing!
There have been several times over the past three years when I thought House was going to change and become more reflective, but it hasn't happened yet. I thought he would change (or at least see the need for change) after the Stacy arc, the Tritter arc, after "Half Wit" when he realized the truth in what Wilson was saying about having people who cared about him, and after "Human Error" when he rashly let his team go. While many people believe that Dr. House changed considerably this season, it certainly didn't seem as if he had changed for the better.
Andi, I think (for what it's worth) that it's less a matter of House changing than letting other aspects of his personality come to the fore. Hugh has said (as had David Shore) that House (or rather people) don't really change. But heretofore unseen aspects of the personality may emerge depending on the situation. For example, after he was shot and had a bit of "normal" in his existence, House wanted to find "meaning." He was disappointed that he did not, although I think his assumptions and criteria were wrong. He didn't need to find "meaning," he simply had to understand that what he did was already meaningful--he simply cannot appreciate it--doesn't know how to feel fulfilled and happy, because he is not happy. the fact that he reflected and was moved by the child in "lines in the sand" was an indication that he could experienced "meaning" but remained bewildered by it.
But much of season three focused on House's reflecting on "normal." He'd had a tast of it in Meaning, and then it was ripped away. In Lines in the Sand, he derided "normal," yet was disappointed that he couldn't make his patient "normal." In Merry Little Christmas, Insensitive and Half-Wit, we saw House trying to deal with and be reflective about what it is to be normal, and to even yearn for it. His very telling words to the dwarf mom about not putting her daughter through a lifetime of "not normal" (as he sees himself, the dwarf mom, etc) suggest that House is terribly unhappy about his situation, but even though he attempted both in Insensitive and in Half-Wit to "do something," he ultimately failed. So we saw House trying to change his situation (awkwardly) or at least thinking about it--as he did in Human Error as well (and also in Fetal Position--as he tried (and failed) to "do something"--in that case, take a vacation).
Whether the events of WH drive him further, we'll see.
I agree with (was it you, Stephen fan?) that we learn different things by his interaction with the different groups that surround him. He reveals himself differently to different people (depending on their distance from them, and his trust in them). We tend to learn the most from his interactions with complete strangers. He reveals himself much more since the long-term emotional cost is less for him: One Day One Room, the Pilot episode, Autopsy are all examples of this. Of his fellows, he revealed things to Cameron (but mostly deflects)--the best example is "daddy's boy." With Cuddy, his reveals are more oblique. His protectiveness and his possessiveness of her comes through a shield of leering only occasionally--who's your daddy, Insensitive, Fetal Position, etc. The fact that he allowed chase to hypnotize him is also revealing in its way. His big reveal with Foreman was when foreman was sick--House revealed himself to care (too much, almost) and showed us why he tries to keep such a distance from his patients. I think that House's problem is not that he doesn't feel, but that he feels almost too much (his sensitivity is evident in his music and in his artifacts)--that his distance is a shield against that. When he gets too close, he tends to become much more affected than even the other doctors around him.
I think another good example of this (and then I'll shut up ;)) was when Cameron was exposed to AIDS. Everyone was concerned, but House took the step that he knew she would not, and faked her out into being tested. She didn't want to know. House knew that that wasn't good enough. No one else seemed to anything to push her into getting the test. House not only talked a good game (in Need to Know) but actually did the test. It was awkward and invasive of her privacy, but the way House's caring comes out is always awkward and a bit peculiar (since he tries so hard to suppress it!) Anyway, carry on. Great discussion!
35 - blacktop
I really like stephen fan's astute observation that House interactions derive from three levels of intimacy: with Wilson-Cuddy, the old team, and the new team. The textures of the new team are yet to be revealed as we have actually had very little time for House to work directly and only with them. I am quite happy to patiently wait for the extraordinarily sharp writers to slowly reveal more of House through his interactions with Kutner, Hadley and Taub.
Each of them brings lots of promise to the mix: Kutner is a profoundly displaced person separated from his roots and his past who retreats into juvenile behaviors as a way to avoid confrontation; Hadley is the first female character who has not fallen in love with House and is therefore able to stand strongly against him at times as she struggles to establish her own identity; Taub is middle-aged, a sceptic with considerable professional experience, already tested and traumatized by life, now struggling to find his bearings again.
There will be lots to learn about House as he continues to interact with these new characters in season five and I am confident that the writers are up to the task. I love that TPTB were bold and confident enough to launch the show in a new direction this year rather than take the safer route of letting the old team continue on its improbable dead-end path as junior doctors. The great ratings and tremendous performances of season four were a satisfying reward for this show's brave venture into the unknown.
If the heart of the show remains exploring House's challenged and changing relationships with Cuddy and Wilson that will provide both the emotional continuity and the depth of insight and experience that will fulfill my hopes for the next season. I. can. not. wait!
36 - stephen fan
I should have said that House told Cuddy that he hated his FATHER, not his mother. I think House loves his mother.
Andi A., thanks for the correction. I am relieved that he loved his mother.
I've been gratified how much intelligent discussion has gone on in the comments section!
Barbara, yes indeed. As I live in a foreign country I especially value such good english conversation.
Hugh has said (as had David Shore) that House (or rather people) don't really change.
Barbara, I should have said evolve not change. I know we do that.
I am quite happy to patiently wait for the extraordinarily sharp writers to slowly reveal more of House through his interactions...
blacktop, I agree that the writers are a highly exceptional group. Every time I rewatch an episode there is something more to connect and expand on from episode to episode, season to season.
37 - ann uk
Last night I watched a repeat of " Forever" ( Series 2 ) and it reminded me of why I admire " House " so much.Unlike so many TV shows, House does not present us with neat choices between black and white but with the complex tangle of moral obligations that we face in real life. The way House strips the facade of niceness from the young husband is brutal and shocking ,but itis a neccessary exercise in truth telling which parallels the daughter's rejection of comforting lies.It reminded me too of the episode in Series 1 in which House ,under imminent threat of loosing his job, takes the time to prove thet another young couples " niceness " is genuine and saves them from loosing their baby
I admire Greg House for his intransigent refusal to see the world as other than it is, which hurts him much more than anyone else and I hope Series 5 will let us see more of the inner House than Series 4 has done so far.
( I haven't seen all of it yet )
38 - stephen fan
ann uk said,
"House does not present us with neat choices between black and white but with the complex tangle of moral obligations that we face in real life."
"I admire Greg House for his intransigent refusal to see the world as other than it is, which hurts him much more than anyone else..."
ann uk, thanks for reminding me why I like him because he can be exasperating too!
39 - Mary
The following is speculation only on my part, but...
People seem to believe that we've seen the last of Amber. However, in "Wilson's Heart," Amber has a lively presence in House's subconscious. And, as House himself has recognized, Amber is something of a female version of him.
The writers may not be willing to let go of this complex character or the talented actress who portrays her. We may see Amber come back to haunt House's dreams and fantasies in Season Five.
40 - ann uk
PS I think my last entry was rather muddled , the bit about the daughter referred to " It's a Wonderfull Lie "- viewing series 4 AND series 2 repeats has really scrambled my brain !
Your speculations on series 5 are most tantalising as I am only up to 4/12.
I gather that House has taken yet another Quixotic risk and as usual noone will thank him for it ( another literary parallel )
You will gather that I am a diehard House supporter !
41 - ann uk
I have been re- reading some of other people's comments above, all of them interesting even if I dont always agree with them. I can't imagine any other TV drama provoking so much serious discussion.
I agree with Sue that Hugh Laurie is the most mesmerising actor I have ever watched. To me acting is a mysterious art- how far does the actor become the character he plays ? Where does Hugh end and House begin ? HL says that he has had no training and maybe that is why he seems to inhabit House not merely " act " him: there is no technique to get in the way.
In any case ,it seeme to me that HL must be as perceptive as House himself to express such a complex, contradictory character that can make us laugh out loud one minute and weep the next.
42 - cuddy
Hallo Barbara,
thanks for your comments, they are really helpfull and I appreciate them greatly.
One thought about the further development:
the whole show is developed around the central character, being a genius in diagnostics. People from all over the place come to see him. Even the FBI seek his advice, when they are at the end of their witts.
So the brain injury of House at the end of season four is bringing the writers in a very difficult situation. They have to somehow make it believable that their central figure has had this: brain bleed, but they can't have him brain-damaged, because then the show is gone.
I wonder how they get out of it.
But I guess they won't be that realistic and just let him recover. They let him run 8 miles without problems, then again loose this ability, then he can run up 3 flats of stairs later on, then he can go bowling, just pointing out a few flaws in their writing.
Nevertheless, I guess these are minor points.
Thanks again for your reviews, I am looking forward to the next one.