Wilson says some terrible things to House, hurtful and mostly untrue things, but I believe they are things that House believes about himself, particularly in his more self-loathing moments of depression.
Wilson comes through this dark night, and in the end, not only can Wilson proceed with the needed surgery—much sooner than he otherwise would have, but he, too has learned something about walking in another’s shoes. But it’s not only his patients’ shoes in which he is walking. Suddenly he understands what it is to be House—a man in terrible chronic pain—constant agony. It’s an important lesson for Wilson in both respects. Perhaps moving forward his compassion and empathy will come from the heart naturally; perhaps he will take more risks and fight more desperately for his patients the way House is so often willing to do.
House is there for Wilson through it all—a selfless caretaker; a friend. And in the end, the gift House gives to Wilson is perhaps the best thing of all, giving Wilson something to laugh about as he embarks on this uncertain path through the C-word.
Three more episodes to go. Phew. What’s next? Stay tuned next Monday 8:00 p.m. on FOX.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ryan
All i can say about this episode is WOW! I've been sticking with the show even through the rough patches because i love the character "House" so much. This episode made it worth it. IMO the first truly great episode since "Help Me" and the best since "Broken". Great review as always Barbara. The way House was taking care of Wilson was something to behold. With all the times Wilson has been there for him, I found myself on the verge of tears as House sacrificed his own relief for his friend. And instead of Wilson helping house to the bathroom as in "After Hours" it was House, in chronic pain mind you, helping Wilson. Just a beautiful performance by HL and RSL. I hope the last three episodes are as emotionally engaging. My hopes are definitely up now :)
2 - Brighid45
Great review Barbara!
'The C Word' (Cancer, yes--but also Child and Commitment and Care) was absolutely magnificent. In an episode where we knew the POTW's story would be overshadowed by Wilson's battle with cancer, John Kelley, Marqui Jackson and Hugh Laurie did an excellent job of keeping things balanced and interesting on both sides of the mirror.
What really caught my attention was Wilson's reasoning behind his decision to go with the uber-chemo treatment. He knows even a stage-2 thymoma has a decent survival rate . . . but he's seen patients with equally good chances at survival die anyway, and he doesn't want to be one of their number. (I suspect that ten-ton weight of guilt he carries around about losing those patients plays significantly into his decision as well.) And as you point out, he's now on the other side of the desk, asking the same questions all his patients ask: why me? why this? and finding out there are no answers--but if you're lucky, you'll have someone willing to stand by you while you pick up the pieces of a shattered life and try to go on.
I too loved seeing House reveal the depth of his loyalty to and caring for Wilson. He took on this horrendous situation knowing it would be as hard for him in many ways as it would be for James; the look on his face when Wilson snarls at him about his being a continual source of misery (and I agree with you that Wilson is just saying out loud the things House believes in his heart), the moment in the kitchen when House agonizes over his dwindling supply of drugs and resorts to alcohol to numb his pain so there's more Vicodin for Wilson, the patience with which he stays by Wilson's side and watches over him . . . they all broke my heart and made me proud as well. I think you're right when you suggest House hasn't changed so much as he's more willing, at least in this instance, to reveal his emotional core.
The last five minutes are the highlight of this episode for me. Wilson's genuine little smile as he and House leave the elevator is the most touching moment between these two friends in a very long time, and absolutely perfect. And of course, the slideshow. That's House returning Wilson's smile with interest by offering a cheeky smirk and healing laughter, knowing Wilson needs it just as much as he needed someone to stay with him during this start of his journey through the valley of the shadow. Classic House and a total delight!
On the POTW side, I enjoyed watching Chase stick with the case and stand his ground with the parents. There are some wonderful little touches to show us the mother's gradual breakdown as things get worse--focusing on her clenched hands, her hair and clothes becoming more unkempt and disordered, her cool, hands-off manner turning to bewilderment and sadness as her certainties fall away.
At this point, it doesn't really matter what happens next (though I'm eagerly anticipating the last three episodes). We've seen two friends stand together when it really counts, and a re-affirmation that the House-Wilson relationship is the linchpin of the show, the axis on which everything revolves (IMO anyway). I was hoping we'd get that, and we did. Despite the sadness, all is well.
3 - marykir
Not only was the episode beautifully acted, it was beautifully paced. I never felt like they were rushing through something to get to an emergency or a punchline, nor did it feel like there was 50 minutes worth of story in 43 minutes of screentime. And this is the first episode in a long, long time where my immediate reaction was "what a great episode" instead of "that scene was great & that one was great & so was that one, but the episode was just ok."
4 - Barbara Barnett
Marykir--totally agree with you. This episode felt like REAL House. The show we have loved since back in 2004. The writers are both fairly new (Marqui is a complete newbie), yet they did an exceptional job with an emotionally intense episode.
If this episode is a harbinger of what's to come, we're in for an extraordinary ride home.
5 - housefriend
Hands down the BEST episode so far of the series.One reason House/Wilson (as portrayed by the incredible talents of RSL and HL)
The real love story -I would have chosen another picture of so many to highlight this wonderfully directed episode but seems some denial still re this couple. Never have we seen such close intimate scenes in the series. Never have we seen such raw emotion and fear from House.And so many to choose from in one episode.
6 - Jacksam4eva
Since I was annoyed by people's constant complains about the show last year, I'd stopped reading your entries after last season's finale. However, i have to admit that after an episode like The C-Word, I couldn't not come back and see what everyone had to say.
On the whole, I agree with a lot of things that have been said in the review and the comments: this episode was definitely, to me, a master piece (with the most beautiful scene being House giving his last pills to Wilson). I'm honestly dying with excitement over the next three episodes although I seem to have this weird, complete and unconditional trust in David Shore and his genius to make Everybody Dies perfect and meaningful (even by making it meaningful by its meaninglessness, who knows?). After eight years he remains, IMO, one of the best (if not the best) writers on TV and I cannot wait to see what is coming next.
However, there was something I didn't quite understand in the review: why would House's selfless behavior towards Wilson in this episode be a proof of his ability to change? Didn't he always have it in him? I think so. He almost killed himself to save Amber. And even though it's arguable that the surgery to his brain would also make him remember, therefore solving a mystery, then you can also say that giving Wilson the Vicodin wasn't completely selfless since having Wilson in pain (and possibly dying) because of him would make House feel so bad he had to do it for his own good. Therefore none of the acts would truly be selfless. Especially since, had not House told Wilson "we'll do it at my place", we fan assume that Wilson would have gone through with his original plan nonetheless and would surely have died without anyone caring for him. I mean I may be biased because of my own beliefs that tend to reflect David Shore's on the 'people don't change' topic but I feel like House has always been capable of selfless and caring acts such as the ones in last night's episode. And although this might be one of the most beautiful things in the show it can't really be categorized as new.
During her cancer scare last year, I believe Cuddy was right to wait for House to show up, thinking that it was something he could do, just because it was what was needed of him (as opposed maybe to what he wanted to do?) in order for the people he loves to feel better and safer. I'm not saying it occurs often, I'm just saying it can, on very rare occasions. Maybe what happened last year wasn't important enough for him to cause himself pain, be it physical or emotional? Because if his fear of losing her and being in pain blinded him so much that he couldn't do what he should have done (i.e. go through the pain of coming to see her and facing her possible death), then surely he should have be incapable of helping Wilson the way he did, with the risk that his best friend might die on his couch. It breaks my heart as a huddy shipped but I have no answer for this.
7 - Jacksam4eva
Sorry double post but I meant "huddy shipper" not "huddy shipped" and I have no clue as to why that link to beautiful things came up, I didn't ask for it.
8 - Jane E
I agree what a phenomenal episode. Actually I wish they didn't have the POTW and focused the whole episode on House and Wilson. What an amazing story.
I loved the maturity in House's actions. Last year he ran away when he thought Cuddy would die and a year later, he stuck right by Wilson's side. Also lying to Wilson about the Vicodin, and sharing the pills with him. These are such giant steps for this man we have been following for 8 years. I think it shows that House's creator David Shore was back on the writing team. Great job!
Naturally I can't end my comments with out mentioning the ending. LOL! A perfect ending not just to bring a smile to Wilson's face but to give the audience a good laugh after such a intense episode.
9 - barbara barnett
What changed about House is not that he wouldn't have wanted to be there for Wilson before--but that he was able to come out of himself and make himself emotionally available (completely) without regard to himself and without any of his guardedness or defensive mechanisms in place.
Those barriers went up a long, long time ago (before we ever met him) and he's likely been wary of letting them down--even with Stacy. This is a huge step for him, and part of it is what he learned from what happened with Cuddy and some likely from his time with Nolan sinking in over time.
10 - Igor
Like jacksam, I think House is not changing or reversing, but simply revealing more of himself.
11 - Ryan
Anybody else think that maybe this performance, and possibly his performance in the last three episodes, will finally get Hugh Laurie the Emmy he's so deserved for the last eight years? Just sayin'
12 - MusicandHouse
@JaneE
I agree, the patient story was good but I really didn't care about it in comparison to House/Wilson. Without giving anything away, it looks like next episode will be in a similar format, where the team treats a patient while House/Wilson are off elsewhere, and I am super excited for it. I can't wait to see what these final three episodes have to bring, and if they're anything like "The C-WOrd" we have an interesting ride ahead.
Just a question/poll: How many of you guys think that Wilson is actually going to die in or before the finale. I definately think he will, even though it will kill me to watch that.
13 - Ryan
Have to agree with Jane's comment about David Shore being back on the writing team. And Barbara's about this feeling like "REAL house". The quality took a major leap this week. It's gonna be interesting to see how effective Wilsons treatment was in the next weeks and how House deals with Wilsons "end life crisis" that we seen in the preview for next week. I rolled laughing at Wilson in the Corvette
14 - Zay
For the past four or five weeks, I haven't been tuning into House - something that has never, ever happened to me before - but I just couldn't bear to see what was happening to my beloved show. The episode synopses sounded awful and the online reviews were mostly scathing, so I didn't bother. But last week, with the cancer announcement, and then this week, I finally tuned back in - and boy am I glad I did, because House is finally churning out brilliance again.
Can we just take a moment to appreciate House's speech to Wilson in the living room? This one: “To muscle aches, spasms. To your joints feeling like they’re being ripped out and replaced with shards of broken glass. Your stomach fills with bile. When you vomit,
it feels like someone’s forcing a white hot hammer down your esophagus, tearing your flesh. Blood’s dripping down the back of your throat, choking and gagging you with the slick, coppery taste
of burnt pennies. Day two: Your white blood cells are gone, opening up your system to attack. Your temperature skyrockets. One second, your skin feels like it’s on fire. The next second, it’s entombed in ice. Every pain sensor in your body is firing at the same time until agony isn’t even a word or a concept it’s your only reality. You hallucinate. You dream of death. And then the race begins. Can your body claw its way back in time before the hostile organisms and parasites claim you permanently? Win, you live. Lose, you die.”
God. That was the most beautiful, brutal, poetic thing I've ever heard on House ever, period. Literally gut-wrenching.
I noticed John Kelley co-wrote this episode. He's awesome. I'm an enormous NCIS fanatic as well - NCIS has some of the most well-drawn characters on TV right now, the team is full of distinct, wonderful personalities - and some of NCIS's funniest, most moving character episodes were written by him. I'm so pleased he's on Team House. He and this new writer really brought some sharp work to this episode.
Also: was I the only one who had to pause the episode to cry hysterically when that adorable little doll of a patient concluded that because her parents argued so much due to them loving her, that if she was dead, they'd be happy and get back together? So. Many. Feelings. I was watching most of this episode in a haze of tears.
This is perhaps one of the finest House episodes in recent memory. After that gorgeous/heartbreaking ending to S5, I think the only truly noteworthy episodes have been Broken, Baggage, Help Me, Now What, After Hours, and this, The C Word. Everything came together like magic. I have a sneaking suspicion this had a lot to do with Hugh Laurie. His other episode, I can't remember the name now, that one was beautifully done too. He has such a nice style as a director; everything was paced perfectly and hit all the right emotional beats. The close-ups were so effective, particularly with Wilson.
The only thing that nagged me, though, that I want to point out and open to the rest of the forum - was it reasonable that after that kind of horrific night, complete with adult diaper and hallucinations, that Wilson waltzed into work like normal the next day? I mean, didn't House say it would be hell for a few days? With that amount of poison in you, that low of a white count, are you really able to get up and be fine-ish the next day? That just seemed like a bit much to me. Hugh take great care in showing us the kind of agony Wilson was in all night; I was irritated that he seemed almost back to normal in this episode, and ready to go on a road trip with House in the next.
But anyway. Great episode. I know this comment is a bit long, but I just needed to vent somewhere. Sadly, few of my friends share the manic passion for TV discussion that I have.
15 - Jess
What did I learn From this episode?
Oops Cuddy got it wrong and the writers can't make up their minds as to how to write this character, "house", after 8 YEARS?
16 - housefriend
House did not change .He did what he did out of love for Wilson,Cuddy in no way occupied the position and importance in Houses life.This episode clearly demonstrated that.
House did not change .Houses love for and commitment to Wilson has been demonstrated all throughout this series,Writing and directing have been brilliant.
Basically compare/contrast and no comparision.
House couldnt be there for Cuddy because he was not willing to commit.He did not care that much,She even called him on it,
17 - housefriend
House always wanted to be there for Wilson.Never saw anything to suggest otherwise in 8 years.
18 - rjw
This was such a beautiful episode on so many levels:the writing,direction,as well as the acting.I have really enjoyed John Kelley's scripts since he joined the House team,and he (as well as Marqui Jackson)outdid himself.What a fabulous roller-coaster ride through grief,fear,hope,and finally that wonderful montage at the end that left Wilson practically in hysterics.Hugh Laurie was terrific in directing this (& acting,of course).Robert Sean Leonard was stellar in a rare up-front role.It was great to see House be able to make himself available for Wilson (I think his past experiences have finally allowed him to let his guard down).Loved that it dawned on Wilson as to how much pain House has handled through the years.Enjoyed the "other" patient story as well.The mother/doctor was (I believe) played by the same actress who played the "miniature killer" on CSI several years ago.The little girl was charming,yet believable.A marvelous story all around!
19 - barbara barnett
Housefriend--you're right, of course. But wanting and doing are two separate things. House has always been there for Wilson, but his own fear of losing Wilson and other things have been huge obstacles in House's way. This episode was House with all his walls down. He was all about Wilson.
That he could finally do that was remarkable, but not surprising. I'm also so glad that Wilson finally also knows what it is to walk in House's shoes.
20 - stathies
lift himself from his narcissism and put Wilson above any other need.
Not sure, House might say that Wilson is his biggest need so taking care of Wilson is, in a way, also something done in self interest.
and I agree Wilson learned what it is like to be in pain, House also learned what it is like to sit and watch your best friend in pain, in danger of losing his life because of , in your opinion, a stupid decision. Fans know Wilson has been in that position often enough.
They both walked away, or rather limped towards the bathroom, with much more understanding of each other.
21 - stathies
Sorry to post again so quick, but I really wanted to address the Cuddy issue. The problem was not that House couldn't be there for her, he was. But he had taken a vicodin in order to be able to do it, and that was what made Cuddy feel he could not give of himself.
Wilson not only did not expect House to go Vicodin free, he worried about House having enough to deal with his own pain, They used morphine together. Wilson did not make the same demands on House that Cuddy did.
22 - MusicandHouse
@Zay
Was it the next day? Wilson was at House's for at least two days and they kept refering to their "vacation" as Spring Break, which in normally a week. I just assumed a few days had passed from when House helped Wilson to the bathroom to when they were back at work, but I have only watched the episode once (I plan to watch SEVERAL more times!)
23 - dvbfan
Dear Barbara, very interesting article as usual .
I think this episode is one the best episodes since the 'Help Me' episode .The whole episode was very emotional, especially the scenes between Wilson and House was fantastic . For the first time during seasons 7 and 8, I cried when I saw the moving scenes between House/Wilson.
Barbara, I completely agree with House's change. He did something special to his friend and ignored his pain and vain in order to help Wilson feel less agony .
I am really sad that this show is going to an end and I will miss the show and your thoughtful articles .
24 - andres
hello, long time reader (since season 6), but I think this is my first time leaving a comment. I've been feeling, or fearing, since I learned this was the last season of House, that the season would end with several loose and clumsy ends. The story with Dominica is not necessarily over, but the chapter does seem closed. I liked how it seemed for a moment that House's break in love would come from a relationship that began as a deception: it would have been fitting. But House couldn´t let the lie he shared with her "change", so he transferred the lie from the U.S.Gov to Dominica herself instead, and that was that. The story ended neatly, but it left House nowhere: epiphany but no catharsis.
The loose end that bothered me the most was the father story, though... But, after seeing this last chapter, I don´t see the father or Dominica´s stories as incomplete. I don´t think closure is needed, as these stages of the season can be seen as the progressive peeling of layers.
Instead of feeling that the story will be left unfinished, I now specially like that the issue of the father won´t become another puzzle to be solved. House has finally been confronted with his denial of the father figure, his orphanage from authority, not as a mystery, or an obstacle, or even a source of personal pain and commiseration, but as a mark of his self, of his identity. He is simply fatherless. He can´t continue to resort to that wound as a loop-hole or escape-hatch, so the narcissitic illusion of his confrontations with authority as being self-serving, being devoid of any other meaning than the act of confrontation itself, can be put aside.
His relation with Dominica was also, to begin with, a loose end of his break-up with Cuddy, and his failure to make a relationship with Dominica helps cement the experience, the learning, House could take from his failure with Cuddy... since, as Freud said, experience happens in the repetition.
But all this new feelings about the season´s approaching finale really came after this last episode, "the C-word", and I think it´s because the ordeal with Wilson creates a scenario were House can both be put to the test while also revisiting his breakup with Cuddy... and through this confluence, something else can take place.
In a recent interview Hugh Laurie said that Cuddy also had a part in the failure of the relationship with House of season 7. This was of course an opinion, not a statement... but that simple statement might have seemed out of place when last season's violent finale was aired. After this season, however, I think a more nuanced assignment of blame is possible, and that House didn´t single-handedly caused the break is a fundamental truth that House himself had to discover, and perhaps has already glimpsed.
In that sense, I agree with a comment by "stathies": Wilson did not demand of House that, for he to be there for his friend, he couldn´t use Vicodin. If this Cancer scenario mirrors Cuddy´s Cancer scare from last season, then the contrast between Cuddy´s obsessive dreaming in code about House´s Vicodin use and Wilson´s shared painkiller high with House couldn´t be more telling. It´s also a strong clue as to how to read this contrast that Cuddy´s cancer scenario was not the real thing. Wilson´s is.
When Cuddy came to House at the end of season 6, she said "if you want to go back to Vicodin it's your choice". Being with House, she learned that, in fact, she had to deny that choice to him for them to be together. To me this revelation informs their whole relationship, going back to the early stages of their overseer/prodigy push-pull dance as employer and employee.
In a way, half of the serie's run led to House and Cuddy geting together, and I think it was great writing that the relationship failed. By geting together they learned something new about each other and about their relationship, but what Cuddy learned was fatal. I think she learned that all along she had truly relied on House being infallible, so that she was ultimately spared from one of medicine´s worse horrors: that as much as everybody dies, often doctors can´t help it. That is the horror that House, through his chronic leg pain, lives with, and shouts out at Foreman at the end of "Help me". When Foreman tries to comfort House saying "there´s nothing you could have done", House can´t help but finally scream his pain: "that makes it worst".
Right after their break-up, in "Out of the Chute" Cuddy avoids House throughout the whole case, until House decides to blow up the patient´s heart. She then goes to confront him, but there is no confrontation. House says a few words, they stare at each other, and House simply says: "aaand... she caves".
That moment of caving is perhaps what gave meaning for Cuddy to her professional relation with House. She is a very strong doctor, but as an administrator she simply can´t take blind risks. She has a stern mother to whom she has to continually feed proof of her self-reliance and superiority. Her impulse to take chances can be taken over by House, because she expects him to never fail. When that expectation passed from the "infallible doctor" to the "infallible partner" domain, the relationship collapsed.
Being there for Wilson´s extreme Cancer treatment (an extreme chance where all is put on the line for both patient, in mortal risk, and a doctor still in parole), House can "repeat" the test he supposedly failed to meet with Cuddy... but now, stripped of the father issue, having confronted the unmasked fear at the heart of his lies to Dominica, what could have been a case of proving to himself that he could be there for a loved one becomes something much richer. He has a chance to see that being there, for anyone, loved one or patient, is not an unconditional demand. You can be there for those that allow you to be as you are, as you can be.
From this perspective, House´s behaviour with his patients is no more perverse than their behaviour with him. Death is the stake, yet those involved selfishly persist in their delusions. He has to work around that, so he either manipulates or meets the pettiness head-on. Decency cannot outweigh the extinction of a life, or at least, not for a doctor.
Cuddy demanded of House that he didn´t fail, and that is a demand we cannot make, even of our doctors, but specially of our loved ones. This does not excuse House´s eventual spiral into that violent moment of pure, blind "expression" when he drove into her house. But it offers the perspective needed not to have that blind form of expression as the only alternative.
My feeling about House is that he took being ostracised as the cost of exposing naked truth. This is the fundamental expression of medicine, as the most ultimate of truths is that everybody dies. House took his punishment of being deemed perverse, because pure, unmasked death could hardly be faced... and, for the longest time, embraced this punishment as the very currency he had to trade with, as a token for human exchange. He made of perversity his legitimate self.
In the series, there have been two constant, central relations to House: Cuddy and Wilson, and they presented two answers to that conflict. Cuddy´s answer was to accept House because he was beyond failure. As such, for Cuddy, House was the denial of death, so the conflict could not be resolved.
Wilson´s answer was always in turmoil because Wilson´s answer was simply to see House as a mortal who could brave death, and at every stance the question was raised again: can he do it this time? And more importantly: is he right this time? Wilson´s answer was always a struggle, because it was vital.
It is a great relief, and a moment of optimism, that the alleviating laugh for Wilson comes not only at the expense of his passed out, drained face, but also at the expense of House´s perverse fixation with prostitutes. The joke is shared as they´re both the but of it, as they will both be, sooner or later, the but of death´s grim humour.
So why does House need to take Vicodin to be there when Cuddy or Wilson are confronted with death? Well, he´s only human. You can´t expect him to stare at the death of his own in the face. House doesn´t demand that of his patients, or of their loved ones. What he asks for is honesty, unencumbered facts, so that he, the doctor, can do the staring for the patient, and in doing so, have a chance of bringing the patient back.
It´s only when all hope is gone that House removes himself, and leaves the patients alone with their end. And, more often than not, it´s just then that House finds that odd angle of brilliance that saves the day, mid sentence, in the midst of life.
25 - D
What House did for Wilson in The C Word episode he would have done in the pilot episode, That was the point-Wilson has been established as the one that MATTERS MOST,Promo even states this .
Early season episode-Foreman "Why are we taking this case? Just BECAUSE WILSON asked?" House did not change and neither did Wilson.Whats changed is that we are being shown how deep their relationship is.
Even Wilsons outburst under extreme pain - We have seen House do that to him.You often lash out at the one you love the most,