Tuesday night's House episode "Birthmarks" was a powerful exploration of relationships, as House's father dies.
“I am who I am because of my dad, for better or for worse.” Dr. Gregory House’s words at his father’s funeral, uttered with poignancy, bitterness, and resignation in an achingly honest performance by Hugh Laurie is but one of so many memorable lines from last night’s episode of House, MD, “Birthmarks” but one that resonates deeply throughout this beautifully written and performed episode. "Birthmarks” is likely to be remembered as one of the best episodes of the entire series.…
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26 - NancyGail
Don't you think House is shaped somewhat by knowing "dad" isn't (which makes me suspect he might have known everything early) because his mother cheated?
27 - JL
Here's a question for you, Barbara, as the one with access to the writers (lucky thing! :) - there are so many things I'd love to ask):
We've been discussing what goes on in House's mind during this scene.
Do the writers know?
Did they give Hugh Laurie a script including analysis of what House is thinking and feeling?
Or did they simply give him words and actions and allow him to act it all out as he saw fit?
It strikes me that, if it's the latter, then HL ultimately got to decide how premeditated House's actions were, what he was feeling, etc, etc.
So - do you know whether they include that type of unspoken detail in scripts, or not?
28 - Rachel
A small comment:
One of the most intriguing aspects of this episode for me was that I noticed House's disability a lot more -- maybe because the other characters, like Wilson, were using the disability as a way to get him to go to the funeral.
When House first walks into his office, he hangs his cane up on the doorway, which is odd: he only does that at home.
Then Wilson takes his cane away so that he doesn't have an escape route on the way to the funeral.
The policeofficer makes him get out of the car without the cane.
Exploitation?
29 - sdemar
Great review, Barbara, as always. Excellent episode.
"But House reserves his harshest treatment for people in authority; for those who abuse their own power over the vulnerable. He’s blunt with his patients and doesn’t pull his punches, but when confronted with patients who are really powerless, really vulnerable, House usually reacts with seemingly uncharacteristic compassion." Yep, I agree.
One slight thing I disagree with you on and I know you don't mind is House choking up at the podium. I think it was a setup but agree the kiss was not. Like DE said, they created a trap door to allow the audience to have to think. So many key scenes are usually left open for interpretation.
Not only did I love the closing scene when House said "Wilson, my Dad is dead" but I equally liked Wilson's response "my sympathies". What else can you tell someone when you know they are in pain. The boys are back.
Hugh is so excellent in this role. You picked it out and commented on it, but the look on his face and expression in his eyes when they pulled up to the church was perfection.
30 - Barbara Barnett
Grace--Love House's ringtones. Dancing Queen indeed. HA!
NancyGail--I do think that House's trust issues are directly related to his suspicions of mom's infidelity. He rags on Wilson for his infidelity and his patients for theirs. you have to wonder.
Rachel, I hadn't thought about it, but you're right. People did tend to use House's disability to control him (something that would really hit him). But I did wonder about allowing his team see him having such a hard time at the start of the episode.
Thanks, Sdemar. You're not so much disagreeing with me, as I'm still not entirely sure at which point House was game-playing. I'm not sure one way or the other about the choking up...and it can easily be interpreted either way.
I absolutely agree with you on the closing scene...and that look of terror and resignation on house's face as they pull up and it became "real" and no longer a cat and mouse game...great acting moment.
31 - lauriefan
"I absolutely agree with you on the closing scene...and that look of terror and resignation on house's face as they pull up and it became "real" and no longer a cat and mouse game...great acting moment."
I agree with both of you, Barbara and sdemar. I actually had House on mute in the background while I was paying some bills today (just for silent company, I guess;-)), and I glanced over at the TV a few times. People always say things like "Hugh can tell a whole story with his face," and I guess it's so over-said that it sounds like cliche these days, but I'll be damned if it's not true! It definitely is. I got such a kick out of watching his face and not hearing anything that it completely distracted me and there went 15 minutes out of what had been a pretty productive afternoon. Oh, well!
Also, Barbara, you said in regard to Hugh: "He misses not one freakin' note. This is why he is so deserving of the executive producer status."
Obviously, I agree 110%. But what was with the lack of EP credit in this episode? I found that strange and have noticed others in the fandom point it out as well. Do you know how that works?
32 - Barbara Barnett
Thanks Lauriefan. I wonder if the episodes were filmed out of order, and the episode that aired Tuesday was filmed earlier than other episodes. Or perhaps the credits slugs were inserted before the EP credit was a done deal. I think once you're an EP, you are an EP always. It's not like the producer of the episode, which may change.
33 - Orange450
Kismet wrote:
"One thing I find myself wondering is if John House was aware that House wasn't his biological child. Given what House said about his father being out of the country at the time of his conception he probably was."
I'd been wondering about this - as the writers intended us to - and I think it's equally possible to believe that he wasn't.
Wilson's sarcastic comment about air travel in response to what House said about his father away may have been planted there deliberately to establish the possibility that House's father did indeed come home during that time, in which case Blythe's pregnancy could be attributed to John with no one exept Blythe the wiser.
John's extrememe reaction (not speaking to him, etc.) to Greg's telling him that he's not Greg's real father seems like the kind of hurt and angry reaction that a real father of John's type might actually have. And if John is incapable of lying, and he knows that Greg isn't his son - it would have been quite natural for him to tell the truth in the heat of that moment - regardless of the consequences that might later ensue. Of course, there's tremendous irony if not telling Greg that he's right is the only lie he ever told. (But somehow I don't think that this is the "you were right" that Greg wanted to hear from him.)
34 - Eve
Love this debate.
One Question. In what easier way would House get close enough to get the sample from John House body, than the kiss?
(If the kiss was not planned, but to get a sample was planned)
35 - action kate
great review, but two pages too short -- you really needed to spend more time on the House/Wilson interaction in addition to the funeral. :) Especially the argument in the funeral home.
I do agree a bit with Robin, in that this feels like a little too quick of a reset. (Although the Tritter arc couldn't have been reset fast enough, AFAIC, but that's not the issue here.) I was expecting the estrangement to last at least another two episodes, to have another effort by House to reach Wilson, another view of Wilson attempting (and failing) to get on without House in his life. This just went by too fast.
From the funeral home argument which spectacularly recapitulates how they met (a marker for a re-start of the friendship?) to the conversation at the diner to the closing scene in House's office, Wilson finally admits to himself that he needs House, that he wants House in his life, and at last he articulates why: House frees Wilson from the strictures of his own life, his own fears. Wilson is anal-retentive and regimented, and he needs someone to shake him up and force him to step beyond his safe boundaries. House's craziness gives Wilson permission to "have fun."
House needs the opposite: he needs someone to ground him, to balance him, to rein him in -- someone who's not afraid of him, someone who will push back. House can't rely on his team for that, because they work for him. He can't really rely on Cuddy for it either, because he's medically right too often for her to set a consistent personal boundary. Wilson chooses House's company, so he can afford to speak truth to genius, as it were. They complement one another, and both would be diminished alone.
And one other thing, regarding House's initial bailout of Wilson when they met: yes, it was one of House's random acts of compassion, but what he says out loud is that out of three thousand people at the conference, Wilson was the ONE he didn't find boring. And eleven (?) years later, he's "still not boring." For a genius of House's level, for Wilson to be "still not boring" all these years later is one of the highest compliments House can give him. Remember that House is based on Sherlock Holmes, and Holmes used to inject cocaine in the infamous "seven percent solution" when he didn't have a case to solve, because he became so bored he had to do SOMETHING to stimulate his intelligence. House turns to Wilson. That's not a small thing.
36 - barbara barnett
Hi actionkate-- maybe I'll devote a whole column to House and Wilson's reunion (but I'm not convinced that it's COMPLETELY resolved yet, so I'll wait a couple of weeks to do it.)
I do like their relationship quite a bit (especially when it's playful--and serious--but not lecture-y).
Eve--agreed. But he didn't have to actuallly "do" the kiss. He could have (overcome with emotion), just to have that (manipulated) moment. I think the kiss was a spontaneous act, which he quickly got over and covered by the time Wilson got there.
37 - Louise
I agree that this may turn out, like Three Stories, to be one of the highlights of the series. What tickled me was that all the "righteous" people who act appalled by House's behavior used tactics to get their way that were just as bad -- administering drugs, kidnapping, withholding drugs that reduce pain. I mean really! These are his friends! But, House's sense of fair play has real integrity. He tries to win and even escape but he doesn't throw in guilt or lecture them about ethics. Great writing!
I agree with all the bravo's for HL. RSL's acting was rather splendid, too! He slow burns, gives dirty looks, and times a pained comment with the best of them. We haven't had a good road trip since Son of Coma Guy!
My favorite scene had to be with the cop. The writers set us up to expect the unfair, bigoted cop routine. But then,we found the cop roped into playing referee and parent to two adolescent males behaving badly. I love it when the writer set us up, just like bowling pins, and then roll like a total strike. Super!
38 - pollyg
Thanks for another great review, Barbara.
Glad I finally got around to watching this episode on line...for the last several weeks I have actually forgotten House was on! (I think it must be my subconscious's reaction to the season so far...;o) )
There was so much in this episode that no one could cover every single thing in five pages so I am wondering what your thoughts are on a couple of thing.
First, I can't help but have a lot of questions about the whole not-his-biological-father thing. Surely John had to know--if not from the beginning, he would have had to at least consider it when the 12-year-old House informed him of it. So--how did it happen? An affair by his mom? If so, surely this could have had a lot to do with how hard John was on Greg--wouldn't it be awfully hard not to be resentful of such a constant reminder of your wife's infidelity? Or was John sterile and House conceived by an arrangement with the accommodating friend--either as a sperm donor or the old-fashioned way... Which would again be a constant reminder of John's "failure" to father a child. Actually, this makes more sense to me because, really, if Blythe really "hated him too" why the heck did she stay married to him, especially after having an affair? Or do you think it matters?
Since House and Wilson were so much the focus of the episode, it's easy to let the other characters fall in the cracks but I have to say I liked the way they balanced the old and new teams. The way Chase, Cameron and Foreman got together was very natural imho and yet the new team held their own too. I'm not sure the new team camaraderie is gelling yet for me. Are you interested or left cold by Taub's marriage? For me 13 remains deadweight (she is soooo the Foreman of the new team!) but I continue to find Kutner endearing. I liked his 'bonding' with the patient. Or is he a little too "cool" to be real? Or does anyone else care? lol
Again, thanks!
39 - Barbara Barnett
Louise--great comments. Yes. The incident with the cop was great and not sterotypical. Fabulous episode. Just fab.
PollyG--thanks for your kind words. I would guess that John had a lot of resentment for House and Blythe, and I agree that he probably knew or suspected the reality (he was no dummy, himself, being a marine pilot). I also liked the interplay of the two teams, and I agree with your comment ont he foreman/13 analogy. I really like Kutner--he's such a puppy.
I think Taub adds something that no one else brings to the table. He's married (in a bad marriage); he's older than the other fellows and is a contemporary of the older docs. He's had a good and successful career, and I think has the ability to really harm House, given the opportunity. As far as his marriage, meh. I watch the show for House, and, to me, other characters (those once removed from his orbit) are less interesting to me.