Well, that wasn't what I was expecting.
House the show, like House the character, is a master of misdirection, and this episode was full of many tantalizing examples. Even knowing all was not what it appeared, the episode left me admiring the show's ability to piece together this heartbreaking, infuriating character I'd like to kiss and then stab. Kind of like Cameron.
A media release ruined the first bit of misdirection by revealing that House wasn't talking to another hospital as a job candidate, but as a patient for a brain cancer clinical trial.
Because it seemed an unlikely direction for the show to take, and because I'm a big baby who can only handle one life-threatening event against House each year, I basically took advantage of our interview to get Katie Jacobs, executive producer and first-time director of this episode, to reassure me that it couldn't possibly be cancer without exactly telling me that it couldn't possibly be cancer, because I don't like spoilers.
So watching Cameron, Chase, Foreman, and Cuddy unravel the mystery behind House's flight to Boston, I figured something else was going on. I just didn't expect the ultimate answer to reveal such a brazenly unsympathetic side of House while still managing to elicit my sympathy for the miserable, messed-up bastard that he is.
In stark contrast to the complex title hero, the simple patient of the week in "Half-Wit" is musical savant Patrick Obyedkov, played with a profound sweetness by musician Dave Matthews. Patrick is brought to the hospital after his hand freezes up during a concert, and the diagnostic team is brought in largely because House is curious about how Patrick's brain works rather than about the cause of his hand dystonia.
"Half-Wit" was full of delicious witticisms, but as someone who loves making up my own words, I was particularly fond of the line: "Just because it's inexplicted doesn't mean it's inexplicable."
Kurtwood Smith of That 70s Show is very un-Red-like as Patrick's father, a somewhat stern but always loving presence who surprisingly doesn't harbour an alternate identity as the stage father from hell who is somehow at the root of his son's medical issues.
He does act as interpreter, informing an auditorium full of people (and therefore, no coincidence, us) about his son's accident 25 years earlier that left him brain damaged but a sudden musical prodigy, and informing House and Foreman (and therefore, no coincidence, us) about Patrick's coping mechanism of mimicry, because he knows he's expected to respond to people, but can't always grasp how.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Great recap for a fantastic episode!
2 - DJRadiohead
Brilliant once again!
So was the episode.
3 - Grace
I enjoyed your recap. I don't think House will go through that door....do you?
4 - Phillip Winn
I think he goes in the door, freaks out his crew, hates every moment of it, insults everybody and makes a scene, and leaves.
5 - Diane Kristine
Thanks guys. Yup, what Phillip said is pretty much what I said too. And I think they'd be left completely annoyed and a tiny bit secretly pleased.
6 - Methuselah
Pretty good, the writers resolved the problems inherent in having a TV series that relies on one person. But lack of refreshing outsiders, like Tritter, say, will handicap this program. As protagonist House needs an antagonist worthy of him and the piano player was a zero.
7 - mer
I always love your reviews, and I'm not usually a nitpicker, but you misquoted my favorite line, which I loved specifically for how it was worded! After the kiss, House said, "No woman should die without experiencing that."Preceded by something like, "I didn't think you should die without experiencing that" but that half of it concerned me less. :-)
I didn't realize Patrick's father was a doctor? Did he say what sort, or was it just in the character listings?
8 - Diane Kristine
They're rarely *exact* quotes in my reviews, actually - I watch the show, not transcribe it ;-)
I don't know if they mentioned that he was a Dr. in the episode, but it was in the media release - I assume he was a PhD doctor, though, not a medical doctor.
9 - Kaonashi
Great episode. My boyfriend and I howled hysterically when House grabbed Cuddy's butt and said, "That's one small step for man, one giant ASS for mankind."
10 - Betz88
More and more I am enamored of this wonderful show. Every week they make my heart race and the bottom drop out of my stomach. Where they go, I will follow. Forever!
"Half-Wit" was fun ... every minute of it ... and your interpretation only added to the enjoyment.
Thanks ...
11 - Kaonashi
I have a feeling that Chase will fall for Cameron, but she won't return those feelings...at first. They're going to draw out their relationship a few seasons.
12 - Debbie
Great review. Great medical mystery. Thought the Cuddy moments, House/POTW moments, and the Chase hug were awesome. The HAM kiss was more like a pedphile pukefest. Shades of Michael Jackson. Of course maybe Cameron will start using Vicodin, overdose, and die. Then we'll have two Cameron-free seasons. A girl can hope.
13 - Amber
Debbie, I absolutely agree. I loved the Chase hug part more than anything I had ever seen on the show before. Whoo-hoo for father/son House and Chase. As for Cameron - I hope she dies as well. Cuddy? Hmm... maybe she can just stay holed-up in her office.
14 - Ana
The Chase hug was very touching. I think he was crying, which is kind of funny and sad at the same time. A bittersweet moment.
15 - facts
why didn't they just cut his corpus collosum? It seems that would have done the job...