(Warning: spoilers for the episode that aired Jan. 10)
The first House episode in a month (thanks FOX, my withdrawal symptoms are starting to ease) was Tuesday's "Failure to Communicate," written by another newcomer to the writing credits, Doris Egan, who shows no signs of failure here.
While House and Stacy are away defending his Medicaid billings – a daunting task that shows House's flair for digging his holes even deeper, and Stacy's flair for getting him out of them - journalist Fletcher Stone is admitted to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in the absence of the teacher.
After passing out and hitting his head, Fletcher has started to speak like a random-word generator for spam subject lines, in sentences such as "Why disqualify the rush?" The "kids" take on the case, but the attempt by Foreman, Chase, and Cameron to work together towards a consensus proves that maybe House's dictatorship is better than their sad attempt at democracy, and their tendency to be shockingly polite to patients demonstrates that maybe House's extreme methods are better for the extreme cases he takes.
This episode also has far more fun than the previous one with the concept of Foreman at the helm of the diagnostic department, part of House's punishment in "The Mistake". He antagonizes Cuddy like the mini-House he aspires to be ("House is easier" she says in exasperation at one point) and tries to herd the flock towards a more radical, if less likely, diagnosis that would better explain all of Fletcher's symptoms, just like House might do. He even orders them to break into the patient's house when all else fails. His shaky leadership, however, dissolves to the point where he admits to Chase that it's easier to be confident when House is around to overrule him.
Though Wilson and Cuddy get very little screentime, this is a rare episode where all the characters had at least a shade of depth added, whether it was Wilson being the shoulder to cry on for a woman who's not his wife, or Cameron's softness and slyness used to great advantage to crack the case.
The show has used the catchphrase "everybody lies" in what seems like every conceivable way, until they come up with ways I hadn't conceived. With suitably twisted cynicism, "Failure to Communicate" tests the hypothesis that the more Fletcher loves his wife, the more he's lied to cover up his failings ("That gives us another lie. He must be really devoted"). Of course unravelling those lies holds the key to his current condition. And, House is the master of unravelling lies, even if he has to do it by speaker phone in the deserted airport, retrieving a kid's lost ball to replace his favourite office toy/nervous energy releaser, and using Stacy's makeup on a wall in lieu of his beloved whiteboard.
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Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
dammit! sela ward shows up on the night i go out to dinner and forget about house.
maybe i should get a tivo after all.
maybe there's a replay?
boo hoo...
2 - nanfont
A nice and sweet House! I *knew* he was in there somewhere! It works so well in this episode, too. Do you think it would soften the character too much if he was shown in this light more often?
3 - Trish
It was fascinating to watch them work out the details of aphasia (my dad had this, and it's so frustrating, not to mention heartbreaking). It was also interesting to see House get a little vulnerable around Sela Ward -- he pretty much turns to jello when they get close. Endearing.
And I love Sela Ward, but did she have some dental work done? she was talking kind of funny, no?
4 - Diane Kristine
Oh, that’s too bad Mark. Boy, she looked really good, too. You should have seen it ;-) As far as I know, Fox doesn’t usually rerun episodes right away, but eventually …
Nanfont, I think sweet House worked so well for me because we’ve gotten to know how deeply he feels for Stacy, and he’s had such a long road to acknowledge that to himself. I don’t think it would work as well if it was a frequent thing, but the writers seem to be able to bring out his nicer side out in small enough doses that it makes him all the more interesting " he’s truly a jerk, but not just a jerk. He was still abrasive to her " she just seems bemused by it " so he wasn’t a completely different person.
Trish, I didn’t notice her talking funny " maybe too distracted by a House turned to Jello? The aphasia case was one of my favourites so far. They did a great job of unravelling it, with no trace of the “it’s this " oh no, it’s this " oh, no, it’s THIS” pattern they sometimes fall into. My minor in university was linguistics, and I took the usual psych courses, so it was pretty much my dream case, too. I don’t know anyone who’s had it, though, so that would have made it even more heartbreaking " sorry to hear about your dad.
5 - nanfont
I actually don't think House need be *such* a jerk for his sweeter side to work. He *should* be a jerk about treating patients, that's his gift, and it works. But when reads Stacy's therapy chart so he can manipulate her, or when he induces a seizure on the street and walks away, that is SO over the top he becomes repulsive, lacking in human decency, bordering on psychopathic rather than heroic.
I know the show's creators are concerned about making House too nice, and I know he's modelled on Sherlock Holmes, who never had a cuddly side. But there is a difference between telling the ugly truth and pushing the system, which we saw in the first season, and some of the stunts we've seen this season. I think the writers that make House mean really don't get him. Thank goodness there are writers like the one of this episode, who do.
Did that make sense?
6 - Diane Kristine (deekay)
Makes sense to me, Nanfont, though I don't look at it quite that way. I've heard people complain that House is too mean this season. I've heard people complain that House is too soft this season. I'm still in the happy place where I see a great balance of this guy who is definitely not a misunderstood sweetheart, but is a blend of nasty and nice. He sometimes does horrible things for a noble end, sometimes does nice things for a devious end.
He has withheld oxygen from a patient to make him talk (some might call that torture), treated people against their will (which he didn't like so much when it happened to him), and yes, injected someone and left her for someone else to find " all, he would argue, for the patients' good. On a personal level, his curiosity to know things about people comes at the expense of their feelings, but that's his completely screwed up way of caring, too.
The only time I thought the writers went too far in pushing the nasty side of him was the episode where he broke into the therapist's files ... and even with that, it wasn't because of what he did, it was because that balance was lacking. His motives were purely selfish, his actions were illegal and immoral, and we didn't see him being conflicted or tormented about it.
In this episode, I felt like it was one of the first times where he wasn't manipulating, wasn't hiding his vulnerability, and he was finally reacting to Stacy honestly, as someone who loves her, doesn't want her to want him just because she had a fight with her husband, knows he can't change for her, etc.
7 - Diane Kristine (deekay)
Sad scheduling update: expect the next new episode Feb. 7, not Jan. 31.
8 - nanfont
I like your analysis and theory of balance in the character, Diane, and I find your arguments convincing intellectually. It's just that the "softer" House touches me and hooks me. I confess.