I have no use for Emmy predictions. Voters for any awards are an unpredictable bunch, and I hate to be wrong. More importantly, and slightly less egocentrically, I don't watch enough of the likely candidates to have an informed opinion. So I wasn't trying to make a prediction back when I wrote about "Autopsy" and kept referring to the Emmys. But as the season comes to an end and the nominations approach, if I were to make predictions, I'd put money on that episode by Lawrence Kaplow as the show's best bet for another writing nod. (Hello Canada Revenue Agency. I'm speaking metaphorically. No actual bets were placed in the writing of this review.) Now, 22 fine episodes later, there's an additional contender for my wager. That is, if I made predictions. Or bets.
"No Reason" was written by last year's winner for best dramatic writing, House creator and executive producer David Shore, who also earns his first-ever directing credit with the episode. But the information I mentioned last week was incomplete. I hadn't realized that both Mr. "Three Stories" and Mr. "Autopsy" participated in "No Reason" -- Shore gets credit for story and teleplay, while Kaplow is named for story. Greedy.
Though it doesn't touch the brilliance of "Three Stories" -- but then I've never been under the illusion that I'll be that amazed by an episode of any show for a long, long time -- this episode bends the House rules in similar ways to that Emmy-winning one. "No Reason" breaks free of the show's normal formula while still staying true to the concept, mines previously explored themes in unexpected new ways, and reveals shades to House's character that arise naturally from what we already know but are surprising all the same. It depends on an unreliable narrator. And it puts House in a hospital gown again.
Just a couple of weeks after we saw Foreman as a patient, we get House as one. Unlike Foreman, he's not in need of his team's diagnostic services, since even I could pinpoint his condition: he was shot. The bullets were my first clue.
Elias Koteas, whose credits include appearances in many of Canadian director Atom Egoyan's fascinatingly disturbing films, plays the fascinatingly disturbing Jack Moriarty, a disgruntled ex-patient who shoots House ("Shocking, isn't it? Who'd want to hurt you?"). The name is another Sherlock Holmes reference for our medical detective, but was it mentioned in the episode, or just the press release?
Now here's where I bury my disclaimer: there's no way I can do justice to the ideas in this episode in these instant-reaction reviews I do. This is a very talky episode, full of ideas, not actions (except exploding eyeballs and scrota, but I'll get to that), and those ideas could fill a very, very writey review. At some point, I do have to go to bed tonight.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - -E
haha, not a writey review? i think that's the longest one i've ever read. and it is certainly the longest that i've read the whole thing for too.
i guess i'll have to rent the DVDs for the show, as i've never caught it before.
2 - Phillip Winn
Fantastic review, Diane. THanks!
3 - Mary K. Williams
Excellent Diane! Makes me wish even that much more that I saw it.
Damn!
You had some wonderful insights here, and the patience to explain them is even better.
Thanks!
4 - Diane Kristine
Thanks all ... and, E, but just imagine if I'd written it long! I put those two "verys" before "writey" because, yeah, I'm not so capable of succinctness in the best of circumstances.
5 - Phillip Winn
Oddly, I identified the twist very early in the show, which annoyed my wife a bit when I turned out to be right. I think my mind is set for Lost tonight and already thinking outside the box quite a bit. But I'm as puzzled as you about where this is going.
If House is asking for ketamine, what are the possible outcomes? Let's assume that it works perfectly, producing the same psychological response that it did in this episode. The muscle is dead and gone! While the pain would go away, he shouldn't be able to run up and down stairs or anything. He might be able to eventually lose the limp, even, but... it would be quite odd, and anti-climactic.
Still, it probably won't work perfectly. If House has known about this treatment for a while (obviously), but never considered it, presumably there are risks (obviously) and it might not work at all. Heck, it might make things work, or he might have really bad side effects. Comas are risky, after all.
All in all, an intriguing cliff-hanger.
6 - Bliffle
I captured House in HDTV on my DVR. Now I just have to get my offload thru 1394 to DVD to work. Usually, "House" episodes are available the next day on BitTorrent, minus commercials.
7 - sach
Fantastic review! I watched the episode but was looking for a few of the lines from the end of the show. I never expected such a comprehensive review. Excellent job. Thank you.
8 - west by southwest
It gets exhausting, the way issues have to be blown up to sky-high proportions on this show. Are we responsible for other people's feelings? Are we responsible for other people's actions? Did House "make" that man shoot him? I grow so weary of being lectured to. Please, give us the occasional glimpse into his internal life and make the writers stop lecturing us.
9 - chilibreath
Fantastic article!!!
10 - Housetango
I only hope I can go "Cold Turkey," without new installments of both "House" and your blog, over the summer! After all, my addiction to both, is worse than vicodin! I thought the cliffhanger worked really well for this episode. Will House finally get to make his own risky choices, rather than having decisions forced upon him by his medical proxy? (Cuddy & Wilson, replacing Stacy, in this episode.) It remains to be be seen, if Cameron follows his request to ask Cuddy for the ketamine. Yes, ketamine has been used to lessen chronic pain, but will it help House? I'm eagerly awaiting the outcome, as well as the August release of the Season 2 DVD's! I can't wait to see if they have any special extras on them! Diane, thanks again, for another insightful & brilliant review!
11 - House Rules
What a magnificent review.
I am totally addicted to this show and the brilliant acting of Hugh Laurie.
Diane, I look forward to your reviews every week, and I might add that I am starting on Vicodin today in order to medicate the pain, at no new episodes for the next couple of months!!!!
Diane, keep writing and reviewing this show.
12 - Amrita
hey diane,
i'll really miss this blog over the summer... d'you think they'll address the question as to why house was shot? it was very clear that the man had never met house before so i wonder if the woman house saw killing herself was another patient whom he linked to the shooting or if she's somehow connected to house in another capacity... and thats why he apologizes.
by the way, that was huge - house apologizing? wow. how much do i love hugh laurie? enough to back your not-bet with my non-money.
13 - Diane Kristine
Wow, thanks guys. House Rules, I hear ketamine might be a better alternative ;-)
Amrita, I don't know if they'll address why he was shot. My instinct is no, but I have no idea, of course. Maybe they'll just leave it at what the guy said - he's an ex-patient - and assume that's enough explanation (it kind of is, really, the way House treats patients), and the woman will remain a representative of House's realization that his actions have consequences beyond the hospital. I dunno. That's part of my issue with cliffhangers - by the fall, it's not likely to be one of my compelling questions, so I kind of hope they don't try to resolve it.
Maybe I'll be back next season, and maybe I'll have stuff to write in the next few months about House (maybe around, say, July 6? Or Aug 27? Just to name random dates), so watch this space and have a great Houseless summer.
14 - Steve
Great review. One thing I'd like to add: the Cameron/robot scene really seemed packed with metaphorical significance. House - strikingly looking into her eyes via the monitor - manipulates the machine to stroke her cheek, reveal her navel, and cut away a button near her breasts, while she fairly writhes on the table, torn between fear and arousal. It suggests the lascivious element of House's affection for her, and presents one more great representation of his disconnect and its consequences. Here he has a beautiful woman he seems to secretly care about lying down prone and vulnerable, and while he's lovingly touching her, he's doing it with the cold hard steel of a robot. It symbolizes, fairly literally, his cold, intellectual approach to physical/emotional situations: he can't even touch her with his own hands.
Also, as for his suggestion of ketamine at the end, I do wonder if it should be taken more figuratively than literally. Even within the hallucination, House seemed pretty skeptical about ketamine's effectiveness. I think that the possibility you mention, that he's decided the sacrifice isn't worth it, is the intended meaning. Suggesting ketamine's a surrender.
Personally, I'd love to see House try and "surrender" and find out that the exchange wasn't a quid pro quo - that his intellect's as strong or stronger without the pain, but that vanquishing the physical pain won't cure the emotional.
Anyway, excellent review, again.
15 - Phillip Winn
Steve, remember that the Cameron/robot scene might reveal much about House, but it reveals nothing at all about Cameron, since the scene took place only in House's mind! So what you've labeled "fear and arousal" are only what House expects.
16 - Steve
Right, Phillip, though I didn't indicate anything to the contrary. I merely described how "Cameron" appeared, which has import for the meaning of the incident. Really, it's just one more demonstration of House's hidden self-awareness and his interpretation of his relationships and lifestyle.
17 - Linda
Great review!
Cameron may not be representing herself literally in the two scenes that are rather intense between her and House. There is speculation that she represents how House interacts with women in general, the emotional distance he maintains from others. She is a stand-in for any woman, including Cuddy, who House finds attractive.
18 - Vicki
Wow! I loved this review and I really look forward to reading more. (So I hope you don't take the summer off!) I actually found out about this blog because I found a link on this Hugh Site:
I've now went back and read all your reviews of past "House" episodes. Thank you so much for your blog!
I don't know if it's appropriate to comment on the replies as well; but I have to say, I loved Steve's comments.
I'm a big House/Cameron shipper and it did my heart good to read Steve's take on those scenes
19 - denise
hugh, is an amazing actor,he always knocks my socks off! thank you diane for this and all house reviews.i would love for a house/cuddy relationship! hugh is outstanding,love this show and all the other characters also
20 - denbigh
wow. Diane, you rock. You hit all the nails on the head and helped me understand the ep just a little bit more :)
Hugh owns that Emmy. And just like Amrita I'll back your non-bet as well :)