House is a self-described atheist. He says he does not believe in God. He sees faith and religion as the opposite of science, which, to him, can explain everything ultimately. Even the things we don’t know the answers to, we only do not YET know. They are not unknowable. It’s only that we do not yet know. Not “inexplicable,” but simply “unexplicted,” as House has said.
But I believe that there is another side to House, one that can be awed by nature and its vastness; one that can be moved or touched or awed by the touch of a fetus’ tiny barely-developed fingers. I find it ironic that House, for his vacation in "Fetal Position" sought out places of Awe (with a capital “A”). I think that these two sides of House fight occasionally for position, and the House who cannot see the possibility of a God in “crack babies” and (in his own experience) abusive parents; and who in his professional life (especially as an infectious disease specialist) has seen the horrors of epidemics and terrible, devastating disease, often wins out against the other side of him.
Hugh Laurie has recently said that he believes that House is “an old soul” — and someone who has seen a great deal of human suffering in his life. House’s world view is colored by those experiences.
When House goes to visit this week's patient, Stark, and Stark tells him to not do the surgery because it is time to shed his sick body and move on, House wonders angrily. “Go to where?” For the second time in a short period, patients, in House’s mind, are making life and death decisions based on something that cannot be proved and that likely does not even exist. “Leave him with his fairy tales,” Wilson admonishes House. But House cannot do that. I think that if House had not already been thinking about this, with the issue preoccupying his thoughts, he might not have done the outlet thing. But as it was, House sits in his office, considers whether the risk is worth knowing. We then see another two battling forces in House fight each other for control. House is drawn to disprove the clinic patient’s assertion that there is an afterlife.
House is drawn to the outlet like a moth to a candle flame. We’ve seen him in this sort of internal battle before. In the episode "Skin Deep", after Cuddy has told him that she had dosed him with a placebo, House begins to doubt himself and the “reality” of his pain. The closing scene of the episode has House, filled with self-doubt at the piano, playing Bach, trying to stay distracted enough to not take a Vicodin. The pill bottle sits atop the piano, daring him. But House continues to play until the pain is enough to make him hit a duff note. He stops playing and reluctantly spills out the pills on the piano. You can still see him trying to battle the urge and even when he ultimately takes the pill, it appears to be almost against his will. This was the battle I saw raging across House’s face as he sat in his office. In this case, it wasn’t something to stop his pain (I do not think he was trying to either commit suicide or express a suicidal gesture in order to get attention, to use House’s own speculation about the clinic patient). As impulsive as the move was, he planned it so that he would be found almost immediately.
Article comments
1 - Ann
Thanks, Barbara. I loved your review and look forward to what you'll have to say about future episodes of House. What are your thoughts about the first two episodes?
2 - Barbara Barnett
My first comment! Thanks Ann. Glad you liked my review. My earlier reviews are housed (as it were) at my LJ. I've posted reviews for the first two seasons there as well as reviews for the entire third season and some of the first season and second seasons as well.
3 - HouseFan
Nice commentary, makes me look forward to reading your thoughts on more episodes.
As the seasons have progressed and we've learned more about this guy House, and perhaps because of the episode involving the autistic boy, it seems to me that House is living with Aspergers as many adults now do without having a pinpoint explaination of why they are how they are.
It's just my opinion, and hopefully this show will last a few more seasons and we'll learn more about House's past. Remember, it's been said that he was the way he is before his leg problem.
4 - Barbara Barnett
Thanks, House Fan. The question of House and Aspergers comes up all the time in the various fan forums. Does he have it? The show played with notion in the Season 3 episode "Lines in the Sand," in which the patient was an autistic child. House was seemingly fixated on his office carpeting in the aftermath of his near-fatal shooting at the end of Season 2. Wilson went to Cuddy with the idea that maybe House had Aspergers syndrome. Cuddy disagreed. I'm not sure one way or the other (I don't even play a psychologist on TV :)). The main character in the BBC show Wire in the Blood (who is a psychologist, actually) was diagnosed with Aspergers and it is part of the show's canon. Tony (the main character) has a lot in common with House, so... I do think it's going to be something that will be debated by fans until the series is over the issue is addressed head-on. But it's an interesting idea.
5 - Terri
I loved your in depth review and agree wholeheartedly with it. When I consider what the afterlife would be for House if you don't mind indulging me, I would like to quote a few lines from my own fanfic that deals with just that. AFter House dies mysteriously he has a conversation with 'God', or whatever supreme being you wish to consider....
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"He felt remarkably well. So well in fact that he began to feel a touch of anger at not having felt this way in life.
“So a person has to die to feel alive?” he muttered to himself shaking his head in the process. “Where am I anyway?” the thought was immediately met with a response.
"You are were you always expected to be. This is your idea of the afterlife Greg. It is what you always expected to find."
“But there is nothing here!” he yelled out to his invisible companions.
"Exactly"
The realization hit him hard. He understood what they meant. He didn’t believe in an afterlife so consequently there was no pearly gates, no tunnel of light, no ‘anything.’ Essentially he got exactly what he wanted.
“So this is hell then?” he asked out loud to his invisible and growingly annoying companion. Almost before the question left his lips an answer shot back.
"No, for you this is heaven."
House pondered that for a moment, trying to grasp its meaning.
"All your life you’ve believed that there is nothing after you die. And all your life you have pushed people away in an effort to be alone. Hell for you would have been pearly gates, overwhelming joy and long lost friends here to greet you. If that is what you had found it would have meant that you were wrong and you couldn’t bear that, could you? That would have been hell.
Gregory, this is all you have ever dreamed of and the best you could hope for. Aren’t you taking pleasure in your faultless reasoning?"
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I don't think House would be happy if there was an afterlife simply because he would be proven wrong.
Terri
6 - sdemar
I have had the pleasure of reading your commentaries over the past few years, and have always felt that you truly understand the nature of this very complex man called House. I look forward to visiting here and commenting on your reviews.
7 - Barbara Barnett
Thanks Terri and Sdemar for your lovely and welcoming comments. Terri, I'm not sure what House may or may not have seen this time, or after his infarction as described in Three Stories. He said he chooses to see his experience as the brain shutting down, so as not to believe that life (his life--as harsh as it's been, and with his disability--and maybe even his addiction issues) is not simply "a test." I liked the clip from your story. Thanks for sharing it.
barbara
8 - HouseFan
Barbara,
I wasn't aware of debates about whether House is living with Asperger's, that's just what seems to explain the character more than anything else if you look at the progression of the character over the 3 seasons and even the few episodes into this 4th one. I'm not a psychologist or anything of the sort, nor do I watch Wire in the Blood (reminds me of all the CSI and Law & Order shows, which are all the same to me). I like Waking the Dead and Cracker more, better characters and stories.
The thing is that even though Cuddy disagreed with Wilson at that time regarding House's fixation on the carpet, it's not just about the carpet, it's much more than that. It's House's relationships with people in general, not just women problems. It's that Cuddy puts up with him because he's brilliant at the diagnostics. It's that Wilson is his friend because Wilson tolerates him. In the one with Larroquete (apologies for the wrong spelling there) House talked about why he wanted to be a doctor, and if he was telling the truth that's another clue among many. The drug use itself, if he was an addict before his leg problem, could be connected since the first resort most doctors take is to suggest drugging up anyone who seems "different" socially. For example, if someone doesn't enjoy large crowds of people, a doctor tells them that they need antidepressants or something similar to make them "feel good." Not liking large crowds of people cannot be carelessly equated to being depressed. It's complicated, as is the House character.
As I stated, it's just my opinion at this point in the run of the show. It could make for interesting storylines if the writers/producers went more into House's past. Just hopefully in a more Three Stories way than a cheesy TV drama way.
9 - Barbara Barnett
HouseFan,
I agree a storyline that delved into the idea of Aspergers would be very interesting. I don't know enough about autism or the Aspergers variety of autism to say for certain. I do know that House has many of the traits of people with this type of autism. But some things do not seem to fit. Several people I've talked with who have AS see themselves in the character of House; but some have said that he doesn't fit enough of the criteria.
A webpage that has several sets of diagnostic criteria for Aspergers syndrome can be found here.
10 - HouseFan
Barbara,
Thanks for the website link, and for your comments. Sorry mine were so long, but it is an interesting area to debate for the House character. I think it would make for a great storyline. Possibly a role for Stephen Fry as Autism/Aspergers expert from England who just happens to be doing work at Princeton Plainsboro?
11 - sassydew
I always enjoy your thoughtful reviews and this one is no exception! I'm delighted to see that they will now be posted here at blogcritics! :)
12 - Barbara Barnett
Hi Sassydew,
So glad that you found me over here ;) I'm looking forward posting regular reviews and commentary on the show. Enjoy.
Barbara
13 - hl_lover
Sasmom,
Congrats on an excellent review of an excellent episode of "House".
I would lean in the same direction as yourself concerning House and Asperger's. His antisocial behavior seems too intentional and can be turned off at will. But I can see how the idea could be entertained that he carries this diagnosis.
Anyone who cultivates the aura of being a jerk and prides himself on it (outwardly) would not be in this subclass of autism.
14 - Nancy
I'm so glad you admitted outloud that you don't like Foreman. I don't like him either. I wish he would leave the show. This is not a personal attack against the actor, just the character.