A fallen knight provides a vexing problem for Dr. House and his team in this week's House, M.D.
A jealous king, a brave knight-wannabe (with a couple of secrets that could get him burned at the stake), and a soon-to-be wedded queen: there’s intrigue at Court. Is this the latest installment of The Tudors? No, my liege, it’s “House goes to the Renaissance Faire.” …
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26 - barbara barnett
I also loved the "hmm, can't do that with a pen" comment from House. (i.e. the pen--isn't--mightier than the sword). Sly little quips throughout were delightful.
I can imagine HL smiling inside at all those gloriously fake British accents (being fake British accents). I'm a total renfaire whore. I admit that freely. I was once a strolling troubadour back in the day singing the ancient balladry (which usually came 24 verses at a time) a capella in full costume :)
27 - Maria
@Barbara I found a little mistake , you wrote:
in season one ("Histories"), we learned that House had never met Wilson’s brother, who had gone missing more than nine years earlier (but whom we learn has been missing a lot longer than that). In season five, we learn that Danny went missing while Wilson was in medical school and that it’s (now) been 13 years since Wilson last spotted brother Danny on a Princeton street. That time frame jibes with what we know. By season five, Wilson has been out of med school longer than 13 years. By this season it’s been 14 years.
In Histories (S1)we discover Wilson has seen Danny for the last time 9 years before. So the timeline of Histories and The Social contract fit.
28 - RobF
Barbara, I think I liked your review better than the episode.
Apart from some development of the House/Wilson/Sam triangle, this episode seemed to do very little other than set the scene for coming issues.
-- we are shown Cuddy is preoccupied with something (about which I wish I had not read a spoiler, ahem)
-- we are shown House having increasing pain issues. We have previously seen House being falsely accused of being back on Vicodin, so my best guess is that the other characters will avoid accusing him again when/if he actually starts taking it again.
-- we are shown the team trying to deal with a patient on their own, while just humouring House. They were hung out to dry by his collapse last season, and learned they need to be able to do things themselves. This undermines his authority and could be a big deal in the final episodes.
One other comment: Thirteen has become quite the little matchmaker lately, hasn't she?
29 - Meena
Tara, I really like your idea that Wilson would refer to the start of a relationship whereas Sam to the end - that seems so fitting for their characters. Well, for Wilson at least, because the jury's still out on Sam; but I do feel it fits what we know of her so far.
I am very confused as to the timeline with the rest of you, but one potential 'out' for the faulty writing might be that they were referring to when they were de facto divorced, rather than when they just broke up. I am still not sure where Bonnie would fit in, or wife #3. I realize that this is a very bad band-aid, one of those that is not even remotely close to the color of your own skin.
I do like the historical mysteries on this show, especially of not knowing exactly when and how House became head of Diagnostics, because that too is different - early in season one, he says he went through 4 different heads of the hospital, though subsequently Cuddy has always been the one to hire him. I chalked that one up to an early change in direction, but now the show is in its sixth year, and things just need to stick more.
Barbara, I noticed the pen comment too, almost said under his breath and as an afterthought. I personally find those little asides some of the funniest and wittiest comments in the series. It reminded me of a line from Top Secret, at the end when House, after discovering the real reason for Cuddy making him take the case, confronts and taunts her. Cuddy taps his chest, aware of the other ears in the room, and whispers something to the effect like 'This is why I didn't mention our date a few years ago', and House says, 'It's because of my shirt?' hehe.
The pen comment fits perfectly into the feel and wit of House, and I hope they keep this new writer. Timeline issue aside, I feel that he has a great handle on the characters and was able to inject some needed vivacity and pep.
Finally, the ibuprofen. I really loved how they handled this. In the opening scene, I completely thought that was vicodin, especially in the way that House took it. It would also be just like him to have vicodin in a common, public drawer in an ibuprofen bottle - hidden in being too obvious. But at the end, when he takes it just like vicodin, and looks at the pills so sadly, knowing that it just won't have the effect he wants, was so completely sad. Sobriety has never looked more forlorn. What was a funny moment in the beginning is now serious at the end - great bookends to the episode.
30 - barbara barnett
Maria--right. Social Contract absolutely fits with Histories. Perfectly. I was just extrapolating the math.
RobF--Interesting points--and you're right. We are being set up for the last four episodes. And yeah. How about 13 and her recent matchmaking. Hmmm. She actually seems like she's come to some sort of peace with herself.
You're correct about the team almost always now seeming to ignore House as the mad scientist. They do his bidding, but also act on their own--possibly for the reasons you suggest. For much of the season (until a few episodes ago) House seemed seriously disengaged from the medicine, and they've had to fend for themselves. I do think this may come into play as we go along.
31 - Michele1L
Meena - when House said he'd been through four heads of hospitals, he was referring to how many times he'd been fired from other hospitals.
32 - janine
@ Barbara
without being too spoilery again, Iknow the two characters will be back based on an Aussielo cofirmation on one and released (or leaked) pictures of the other, however both just mentioned an episode in may. I too got a good laugh at the spoiler being wrong, especially since wikipedia pulls down comments that don't have some sort of backing to them. It makes me wonder how many of the other spoilers people heard are untrue. I had almost forgotten about the sword/pen comment. That was one of my favorite lines of the whole episode. It was so witty and said so quickly that you almost could have missed it. I also liked the Harry Potter reference.
@Meena
I love your observations about House's expression when he took the ibuprofen and the idea of the bookends.
In the naked scene of this episode (which was hysterical) I find it odd that Sam did not make any comment about House's leg, its pretty hard to miss and I know for a fact that when I first saw it in season 2 (I can't remember the episode name, the one with the teenage model who had sex with her dad) it had a big effect on me. Do you think Sam was just keeping her eyes on House's face to aviod akwardness or that the writers just didn't want to go into that story on their first meting?
33 - janine
addition to my last comment
I find it a little strange that House wasn't uncomfortable with Sam seeing his leg (he didn't make any effort to cover it up until she gave him the apron). In season four it was said that House would rather show his soul than his leg (or something to that effect)
34 - Orange450
Wonderful review, Barbara. And on your vacation, too. You deserve extra special credit for that!
Given the stellar, not-to-be-improved-upon job the staff writers do, it's pretty amazing that a guest writer can show up, in the sixth season no less, and do such a seamless job that I didn't even realize the episode wasn't written by one of the regulars until afterwards. In fact, the episode had a kind of a familiar, comfy feel, like slipping on a pair of well-worn mocassins. Quite a few of the themes and tropes have been explored in previous episodes and seasons, i.e., worthiness; doing the right thing; giving someone up for their happiness, not one's own; reading shrinks' notes - or not; House tossing away documentation unread that could give him info on someone. And House worried about his own position, yet also simultaneously feeling protective of Wilson's love life; playing the guileless guy on the surface and doing his own thing underneath - well, we may have seen that before, but it never gets old, and no one does it better! And Cynthia Watros is great, even if no one could ever take Anne Dudek's place as a sparring partner for House.
This felt to me like a transition episode: House's pain obviously increasing, his attempts to deal with it in a benign manner, the pain having enough of a noticeable impact that Foreman calls it out to the team. Sam entering the mix, starting to tangle with House, House overcoming his initial impulse and deciding to let it play out, Lucas still in the picture, and even having an amicable - if businesslike - interaction with House!
I can't help but wonder what sort of guidelines Mr. Kelly was given. Show House taking ibuprofen for his steadily increasing pain? Introduce Sam and have House draw the battle lines? Provde a glancing indication the Lucas is still around. These are significant issues that'll (hopefully) have to play themselves out sometime before May 21, but I wouldn't expect a writer who hasn't been around for a while to actually work on any of the denouments. Somehow that just doesn't seem right!
I also loved the "try doing that with a pen" comment! Even tho' I consider myself a die-hard fan, somehow the timeline discrepancies don't bother me all that much. I've been suspending my disbelief for this show for six years now (long may I have reason to continue to suspend :)). I think that some of the writers, eg., DE, are passionate about accurate character histories, while others are more broad-brushed in their approach, and that's ok with me.
35 - Val
Barbara, great review. I haven't commented much here lately, but I have certainly read with great interest about 'Lockdown' and felt so many had expressed my thoughts that I didn't know what to add :)
I enjoyed 'Knight Fall'. And, despite the timeline, I enjoyed the first shot for this new writer. I admit to not being a NCIS fan, so am not familiar with his work, but I felt the grasp of the characters was still there and the POTW story was the first one in quite a while that intrigued me.
I usually watch a couple times to get a full story, but some first impression items struck me. Some have mentioned Cuddy's seemingly preoccupied state and I agree. It particularly struck me in both her conversations with House and Wilson. Particularly with Wilson, I felt as if she was talking about/to herself rather than Wilson. Cuddy has been distant from House this season. Perhaps she didn't leave him physically like Wilson did in the first half of season five, but she certainly has distanced herself from him emotionally and even professionally, which has arguably been harder on House. I like their seemingly comfortable demeanor with each other this episode, but it was re Wilson...a neutral topic.
I have mostly been in a minority of liking 13. But, the past two episodes she continues to impress. I really enjoy her scenes with House and this episode was no exception. They are similar in character; look how 13 was able to get the "bad boy" in Wilson to come out, much like House can. In many ways, she is much like a female House though not as outwardly so as Amber.
I enjoyed the medieval themes and think that House is also quite knightly (that could also be with a capital K, lol) as he is romantic. I liked the parallels brought out between the potw and House. Though I still miss his one-on-one patient interactions (like we saw in 'Lockdown').
I have really enjoyed the return of House and don't think the rest will disappoint.
36 - byzantine
Thank you Barbara for providing us with this insightful review of House’s last episode. My watching of House is not complete until I have read what you have to say.
There is one thing that I found particularly interesting in this episodeâ€"the multiple personas that House assumed in the course of the hour. At the beginning we saw him naked at home, than we saw him dressed in his regular attire while at work in the hospital, than we saw him cooking and entertaining at home, than we saw him dressed as a sixteenth-century (?) man at the Renaissance fair. We saw him as a doctor, a cook, an actor, a knight, a villain, a loner. How many of those really are House, and how many are the facades that he’s been putting up trying to be something, or someone else in the course of this season. And in a true medieval spiritâ€"could knight fall be nightfall? But nightfall where and when? I do not even want to think where this might be leading.
And something smallerâ€"did anyone notice that the ‘queen’ slightly resembled the Tudor's Ann Boleyn (Natalie Dormer)?
37 - Flo
Val, you're not the only one!!! I like (and always did) Thirteen!! The past two epi she's been really great, I agree! You're not alone!!!
Byzantine, interesting point about House multiple faces in this episode.
38 - janine
I like Thirteen too. I never really understood why so many people hate her. Sure her character had a lot of screen time last season, but she hasn't been too prominant since then and people hated her before season five. Its a mystery to me.
39 - artificialintelligence
Great review. :)
One of the things nagging at me was whether or not the whole knight theme was related to Hilson or Hilson and Huddy. I'm thinking there were elements that spoke to House's relationship with both.
I love finding out more backstory on H/C/W but this did mess some of that up according to canon. Which made it feel a little incongruent.
Sometimes I think I'm one of the few Huddies who just thinks Egan is a truly great writer. I guess it's because she writes more for Hilson than Huddy, and so some Huddies get jealous or think she only cares about Hilson. ngl, I wish she wrote more Huddy than she does because she's so perfect at it too. But I take what she gives me and am happy that I get that. I think if you honestly look at her writing without bias, it's hard not to like it immensely.
So, basically, I'm so very happy to hear you're interviewing my favorite "House" writer after the episode like last season. Thanks a ton.
40 - Michele1L
artificialintelligence - Doris Egan's writing is fabulous. She and Lawrence Kaplow are responsible for some of my favorite episodes. I am looking forward to the interview as well.
41 - Chrisden
Barbara great review as always though suprised you didn't mention House singing when he was cooking (the song?)
also great feedback from all.
The only thing i have to add that hasn't been covered is the way House came to his epiphany/what the epiphany means?
He was having the chat with Sam in his office and seemed to accept what she asked about giving her and Wilson a chance though he seemed more distracted than accepting by the end and when she left he picked up the sword, realised the weight of it and then kissed it.
In the next scene with the team he explains the that the patient has been taking anabolic steroids and with the addition of the hemlock states that "the ancient poisoning accelerated the damage of the modern poisoning". Where did he come up with that from his conversation with Sam? Does it mean he thinks Sam was and IS poison?
One more little note on Cuddy's behaviour, i think it is great that they have left it open to so many interpretations.
I choose to believe that she is still holding onto the "living her life" and is trying to not be a hypocrite by intefering H & Ws lives when she had stated she was going to live hers and not worry about them.
I do believe she is starting to worry about the possible ramifications of Wilson suddenly being in a realationship though and the effect it could have on House because this could potentially be a major upset to the apple cart and she is trying to stay negative and hoping she doesn't have to deal with it as she knows she would have no choice in having to deal with what House could do if he decides to lash out and she is not used to this anymore.
House has behaved himself most of the season with regards to accepting her relationship (reluctantly)and not doing his crazy mad scientist routines so he hasn't needed to be around Cuddy as much to get her approval/attention.
Wilson has been everything to House this season and we have seen great growth on an emotional level from House but they had become too dependant on each other and now Wilson has decided/accepted that he wants/needs to make other connections.
I am so looking forward to how all this is going to play out in the last 4 episodes
42 - Orange450
@Val, @Flo and @janine
I've liked 13 since the beginning of S5. I think Olivia Wilde has been doing a very good job of infusing the character with humanity: warmth when it's required, and cool when that's the quality called for. Just like House's leather jacket :)
I think it took her a little while to figure 13 out, but she's been getting better and better by the episode.
43 - Sue
I have not read your reviews for a while, not because they are not good, but because I have gotten a little bored with the show lately. I used to post here and on the House message boards on the Fox website, but I have not been motivated to do so in recent months.
One thing I liked about the two most recent episodes was that Hugh stopped over utilizing his facial expressions to interpret the script. The character had become more of a caricature of a real character than a real character. I prefer a more balanced House, where we see a lot of dimension in his character.
And speaking of dimension in the characters, we got a lot of it last week, and we lost it again this week. I finally saw a return of an interesting Foreman, and this week he became an android again. Taub actually delivered some of his lines with flair and personality last week, and this week we have his arid, desert dry lines again. I just find this character a total waste of my viewing time. He adds nothing to the show. 13 has finally found a personality, which she was able to build on from last week. However, when she is with Foreman, he gets very bland.
There has been a void in the casting of guest actors as patients and family members. I find many of them forgettable, as they would say on American Idol. This one, along with patients like the blogger, don't interest me. The patient was virtually expressionless the entire episode. So was the queen. I don't think I cared even once about what was happening to the patient. As actors, they could not even make their renaissance characters interesting.
How cliche was the turkey drumstick?
As we are getting to the end of season 6, we should be seeing the end of the Taub and 13 fellowships. The producers must know that this team needed help because they brought Chase back on the team.
Although others are not bothered by the time line discrepancies, I find this is a result of lazy writing, disrespect for fans and sloppy show-running. Remember Hector? 17 years old and purchased on Wilson's second honeymoon? When he and House were already best friends? And, how long after Wilson and Sam either broke up or divorced did Wilson remarry? So, how long did he remain forlorn after his first divorce? Three months? Historical relationships between characters and how these relationships have played out over the years help viewers form opinions and judge current ones. I only get more confused as time goes by about what happened and when in these characters' pasts.
44 - Eve K
@janine - I totally agree that it was awkward that there was no reaction to the scar on his leg when he met Sam from any of them. Its to big to overlook, even with only a short glimpse.
It was the psychiatrist in "Frozen" who mentioned his awkwardness toward his leg. He did wear shorts later in that episode, but then he trusted her. He also showed his leg to Cuddy one time to get more meds, and he knew the effect the scar has on people.
If the writers forgot this, it ruined more than the timeline issue, witch I dont care about. House should have been trying to cover up his leg...But then the scene wouldn't have worked. As of now he was more worried about shrinkage. Aghh! Some may say he was trying to cover it up by not covering it up. Sam did ask him to put on an apron, but her natural reaction would have been to feel sorry for him and slightly upset about the scar, and she wasn't.
45 - Michele1L
I remember the scarring on his leg being more visible from the side than the front.
46 - Eve K
I do also remember that Sam is a doctor, so she might have seen a lot of wounds. But anyway.
47 - Kevin
Okay, I am going to sound like a real uber-nerd, but also being a stickler for detail, one very small thing bugged me about the show that I can’t get out of my head. During the first scene with his team, House is flaying the sword around, and slices the top off the plastic head. The angle of the cut when shown later is from the ceiling down which would have been impossible to do from where he was standing (told you I would sound like a real nerd). It is also standing back up after it fell over. Detail, detail detail….
As far as Cuddy being cold to Wilson, I took it as her finding out that he had told House about her sleeping with her father’s best friend in a previous scene. Something that she had shared with Wilson in confidence that it would go no further, especially not to House. I think she was upset, and was reluctant to share anything else with him.
48 - janine
@Eve K
I think your right, the writers avioded the leg situation during the kitchen scene because it wouldn't have worked. If House had been making an effor to cover up his leg, the scene would have become more sad than funny. The writers probably just wrote is with the assumption that Sam was not looking any further down that his eyes after the first glimpse. Even if she did see the scar in that glimpse, it would have been easy for her to cover up her reaction, seeing that she is a doctor and has seen a lot of wounds (like Michele L said) and she wouldn't bring it up in a first meeting, that would be waaaaay too akward.
@ Sue
Although the descrepancy about Wilson and Sam from "lockdown" to "knight fall" may be considered lazy writing (although I don't agree. The writer to this episode was new so he deserves a break)I wouldn't call any other descrepancies lazy. For the most part, they don't effect the story. We know the basiscs: Wilson and Sam married young and got divorced (shortly before Wilson met House) after only a short period of time and now have reconnected through the internet. Somewhere between the divorce and now Wilson had two other wives, and we don't know how long he was married to either or them. ALso, I doubt he would have spent much time feeling forlorned about his first two broken marrieges because he cheated on them. There are may writers on House and they all have to come up with interesting storylines and cases and try to make it work with the big picture of what previous writers have done. They don't really have the time to go back to previous scripts or episodes to worry about timelines and dates that only hardcore fans would notice (and this is true of a lot of shows). Perhaps and interesting thing for fans to do would be to make an acurate timeline based on what we already know and then send it to the writers. Sort of a House bible to avoid future descrepancies.
49 - janine
don't know the rules about posting links, but I though you guys would like this
50 - Jeffery K
@Kevin
I think the brain model is one of those that you can take apart to see the inner structures. Hence, when House's sword hit the model, he knocked off the blocks rather than sliced the model.
51 - Kevin
Nice call JK. Thanks.
52 - Delia_Beatrice
Great review, Barbara, as always, thank you for it.
Great comments, also, but it's too late to make a point-by-point reference to everything that was said here.
Just one thing, on Cuddy's preoccupied attitude: first, Lisa Edelstein said it clearly in an interview and i think she's right: Cuddy has a lower tolerance level this season, she is busier, more preoccupied and very tired. This is understandable for such a hard working mother. Apart from this, there were a lot of other things on her mind...
During her scene with House, she was her usual self this season: trying to keep her emotional distance from him, yet responding to his problems to some extent (the organic response Cuddy cannot help giving to House).
But by the time she had her encounter with Wilson in the cafeteria, she had had time to think about what she had told House and the entire situation, and what she thinks and feels about it is very, very complicated.
For starters, Cuddy is aware of the fact that any reenactment of the Amber situation is a mine field for House and Wilson's relationship. This, together with her usual tendency to mother House and set him limits, makes the advice she gave House (not to mess with Wilson's relationship) characteristic and wise.
But there is another side to it: Cuddy's protectiveness towards House (that never stopped, not even this season) makes her uncomfortable with the distress that Wilson's relationship with Sam might inflict on him. So she was hesitant to give Wilson a full go-ahead.
And the third angle of the situation: the "you never know what might happen, might as well give it a chance" line. This can be interpreted in two ways: for one thing, as an encouragement coming from her experience with Lucas (go out there and try to have a relationship).
But the other possible interpretation seems more likely, since it is backed up by her expression of regret and reluctance as she said the line: she told Wilson to take a chance on a completely crazy relationship (on paper), which is the exact one thing she did not do with House. We all remember the post-kiss scene, Wilson and Cuddy in the same cafeteria, in which she argued why a relationship with House is a too crazy idea. She made the less crazy choice and went for Lucas, but she gave Wilson the opposite advice - to take the chance and give a try to the insane possibility. Whether Cuddy is already having regrets and second thoughts in regard to her choice of Lucas over House, remains to be seen.
53 - Katherine
Thanks for the wonderful review.
I am thrilled to hear that this episode is written by John C. Kelley. I'm so glad he joined the House crew! NCIS is totally utterly awesome and I hope Kelley will bring those awesomeness to House, which is already full of awesomeness aha! :) Man, I would want to see a Mark Harmon x Hugh Laurie episode. (Not to mention both of them are HOT for their age)
54 - janine
This episode had a great scene between Chase and Thirteen, and on EW there is an article discussing the great chemestry these two actors seem to have and if the viewers think they should be the next couple on the show. When asked to comment Katie Jacobs said that she too loves their scenes together. Since this is the only civil place for House discussion left, I thought I'd ask how you guys would feel if those two hooked up. Personally, I'd rather see them just friends, that way the chemestry would never e jepordized by a break up or other such events.
55 - DebbieJ
@janine (#54) - I sure hope not. This isn't Grey's Anatomy, where they play musical beds. I'd rather just see them as colleagues who have great chemistry!
56 - janine
@DebbieJ
totally agree, in fact even Jesse Spencer said in a twitter interview that although he noticed the writers flirting with chemestry between the two, he didn't think it would happen because it would be predictable and boring.
57 - hwl40
Does anyone know how House got his epiphany out of the last conversation with Sam?
58 - Nickel
I found it really interesting that Cuddy immediately assumed that House was being jealous of Wilson and Sam's relationship. Course it should not surprise me considering the fact that Cuddy has basically not spoken to House since the character enlightening episode Known Unknowns. How would she really know what House is like now?