The eight-episode "survivor" arc accomplished more than providing House with a new team. The games gave us new insight into the grumpy doc.
The substantive difference between words and deeds is one of House, MD’s most important themes. Wrapped in a medical procedural package, and occasionally bordering on comedy, the series is essentially a detailed character study of one of the most complex characters ever written for television (and certainly network television).…
Article comments
26 - Barbara Barnett
Never too late to this party, Susanne! I really do appreciate and enjoy the diversity of opinion that graces the "comments" section of my column--whether you agree with me or not.
I think, that in the end, House will be alone. If he's healed, the show is over. So as much as we ache for him at times, he can't be happy until the end (but I have my own theories on that!)
Thanks for your musical input. It was actually that scene at the end of Fetal Position to inspire the article I'm writing, what a great song to overlay that scene.
27 - Andi
Barbara, would you like us to make our music suggestions on this thread, or would you like to keep this for feedback on your Survivor article?
28 - Barbara Barnett
Andi--that's actually a good question. I'll take musical suggestions here, that's no problem. But I don't want to stifle the "survivor" conversation, so go ahead with both. Hoping to publish the music article early next week,so I can't think of how else to take your suggestions...
BB
29 - Andi
In that case, I hope that you include "In the Deep," from Autopsy. It's haunting and the lyrics are very relevant to the story at that point. A perfect song for a perfect episode.
30 - Sarah
I hope the show wins a co-star in Olivia Wilde. Then we will talk.
31 - Heidi G.
Barbara, thanks for such a good article. Even though I don’t agree with your views of the survivor arc -others (Sue, Andi, House Fan, Pat, Grace and Susanne) have said it much better than me, so I won’t repeat it- I’m constantly checking for anything you might write. As not a native speaker of English, it’s always a delight for me to read your writing just for the sake of the language; that is about House is even better. So, I might disagree, but I’m fascinated for the words and the ideas you write and how you present them. I expect your articles (and the comments they provoke) with almost as much anticipation as I will expect a new episode.
You have not idea how excited I’m that you’re going to write an article about House's music. My favorite has to be “Walter Reed” at the end of “Fools for Love”. Also Elvis Costello’s cover of “Beautiful” at the end of “Autopsy”, “See the World” at the end of “Half-Wit” and if you thinking of including music that was not in a episode but it’s in the soundtrack, John Rouse’s “God, Please Let Me Go Back”. I don’t remember hearing it on a episode.
MOh.. I feel like I should say something more to keep things in topic.. lol! Well, I want to add to what Sue said about 13’s mistake. I also found unbelievable that she stayed. When Chase mistakenly did the MRI to Carly’s wrong leg because he wasn’t paying attention (talking to that resident) House, though didn’t fire him, kept him wondering and on his toes thinking he would. They had to do test again, but with 13, there was no way to turn back time and do it all over again. What I mean to say is that I just can’t believe that House is pissed enough about something as simple a wrong test and not about a mistake (negligence in both cases, I think) that cost a patient's life. Just like Sue quoted, mistakes are serious as the results they cause. I’ll never understand why House accepted (dismissed is so strong, but to me it felt like it) 13’s mistake so easily with "I know you're not going to let anything like this ever happen again." Of course she is not!, but I expected something more than that.
32 - NLP
You wrote a brilliant thoughtful, and incisive analysis, as usual, of Season 4. And, OMG! I was shocked you said something nice about Cameron. Of course, you had to negate that by using the phrase "for all of her faults" to describe her. I just wish you could be more even-handed with her: I can't be your only fan who is bothered by that. IMHO, Cameron & Cuddy are your 2 blind spots. Absent those, you'd be an absolutely perfect writer.
33 - Barbara Barnett
NLP--Thanks much. I actually do like Cameron--it's not that I dislike her, I just can't see her with House. I like her very much with Chase. I like their relationship and I like the growth she's had over the four years. I also think Jennifer Morrison has become a better actress over the years (hey, she's a hometown girl, sort of: she went to a neighboring high school and her dad was the band director until he retired a couple of year ago--of course I'm much, much, much older than JM).
Cuddy, I'll admit I have a bias in favor of. And I won't defend it...but I like her; I like her relationship with House (for all of ITS flaws).
Thanks for the very kind words and your continuing readership! Glad the posting thing worked (I even get faked out by it sometimes!)
34 - Grace
May I agree with Elvis Costello's BEAUTIFUL?
Also, the Leon Russell song that eludes me at the moment as well as the episode it was in.
And you won't leave out YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT, will you? :)
P.S. To Sarah. It will never happen. Sorry.
35 - ann uk
Dear Barbara, Wilson's Heart was everything you said. I am still feeling shell- shocked by its uncompromising emotional honesty.
I think we considered House as a fallen angel in a previous conversation.One of the most admirable things about "House" is that at a time when most TV characters are commonplace nonentities, motivated by petty motives and conventional opinions,they have had the courage to envision a figure that is heroic, tragic and fallible, capable of great nobility and also human weaknesses.
Isn't it something of a miracle that in Hugh Laurie they found an actor to measure up to him?
Your suggestionion of a knight made me think of another literary parallel ; Launcelot in The Morte d'Arthur.Nobody loves the perfect Galahad, but every one loves the human, fallible Launcelot.
36 - Sarah
Grace, I wouldn't be so sure. It will happen. Mark my words.
37 - SF
Dear Barbara,
********SPOILER ALERT for Season 5*********
The entertainment news reports Michael Weston as an upcoming guest actor on a House M.D. arc who will play a private investigator with an intellectual acumen comparable to that of House. He will also fall hard for Cuddy.
Previously, when I spoke of Cuddy and Sherlock Holmes as a couple and the fun Cuddy would finally be allowed, I was referring to Michael Weston's character, not Greg House. I don't think any true intimacy between House and Cuddy could be classified as merely fun. There would be moments of fun between them but both characters are so intense and have such strong feelings for each other, as well as a healthy amount of fear, the word would have to be intense, not fun.
Anyway, if audiences respond to Michael Weston, he will be featured on his own TV show as a private investigator with the brains of a Sherlock Holmes except that he loves women. It sounds intriguing.
By the way, do you have a spoiler preference or are we free to discuss the topics at hand with only the limitations that good taste would require? In other words, in your previous response to my post were you helping me out of a tricky spot?
Sign me "Still learning as I go"
38 - SF
P.S.
Musically, the piano piece began by House as a teenager and completed by TPOTW in Half-Wit was very haunting. It made me think House was stuck emotionally and socially at his teenage development and never attained the release and range of adulthood.
39 - Buds
Great article, BB. Some great comments, too.
I have to agree with the people here about not liking the survivor arc much, but I think its mainly because of the shortened season. I feel the writers didn't get enough episodes to build the characters of the new team. If the writers aren't able to give the actors/characters enough to work with, the character is obviously going to come out bland and 2D. I don't blame that on the actors, or the writers, but on the strike. The storyline from the season 3 finale and the shortened season pretty much doomed this season from the start, but I feel everyone did an admirable job salvaging as much as they could.
Sue-
His not firing 13 was probably because she had gotten the right diagnosis, though she didn't carry the treatment out properly. When Chase made his mistake he had already been working for House for sometime. House had already come to trust him when he made his mistake, and so it hurt him more.
Having the 'yips', according to House, doesn't cause a person to make mistakes, it causes them to suck at their jobs because they have lost their confidence. So if she was to get the 'yips' it wouldn't cause her to make a mistake, she would probably just mope around and take the safe route in her work (something Foreman is still doing).
I agree with what you said about it being easy to not care about who House hired. The characters seemed to develop a personality just before they got fired. But I guess it was a balancing act of air-time between House and the POTW, and the candidates. I personally prefer House and POTW over the candidates, less House means boring episode.
Andi-
I have to disagree with you about '97 seconds'. In that episode, at the time when House performs his experiment, the patient had already been diagnosed with cancer and refused treatment. There was nothing further that House could do for him. His reasoning could have been that he had to prove to his patient that there was no after-life and that he should therefore accept treatment. Unfortunately, when he wakes up Wilson tells him that the patient doesn't have cancer anymore, so he asks about the car accident guy. At least that's what I think.
As far as emotional attachment to his old team, you need to watch the season 3 finale "Human Error" again to catch it. There is a scene in which he is sitting on his couch alone at home with tears in his eyes after firing Chase.
Songs -
Ryan Adams - Desire - S02xE13 - "Skin Deep"
John Mayer - Gravity - S03xE02 - "Cane & Able"
Ben Harper - Waiting On An Angel - S03xE04 - "Lines In The Sand"
Joe Purdy - Rainy Day Lament - S03xE15 - "Half-Wit"
Matthew Ryan - Follow The Leader - S03xE20 - "House training"
The song in "Games" towards the end when he fires Amber and 13 (don't know the name, its the guitar piece).
All the songs in the season 4 finale (Wilson's Heart).
40 - SF
P.P.S.
The music at the end of "Games" by Norman Greenbaum titled "Spirit in the Sky". This song was also the self-declared theme song of the life of the infamous Hunter S. Thompson as seen in the movie "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" made from his book by the same name.
41 - Susanne
I am loving this discussion. So intriguing.
Buds
I have to respectfully disagree with the arc. Not everything should be blamed on the strike. They have to take some part of the responsibility because we all knew that a strike was highly likely. The actors had several chances to shine and stut their stuff during the whole survivor arc. Amber was able to pull it off, scooter was able to pull it off, Cole was able to make an early impression even Kutner stood out. Those canadates were able to click together and the chemistry was mazing between them. There is a barrier between actor and the audience and the actos' job is to use the material that they have and break through the barrier and hit the mark with the audience and leave an impression. Those guys did that but 13 and Taub didn't for me. Taub had a few good moments but would quickly fall into the background and 13 is just like watching paint dry. They are just trying to hard to make a flat character interesting.There was several episodes done before the strike happened so for me there is just no excuse for it.
Another song
Some devil - love Hurts
42 - Barbara Barnett
Great points, everyone. Buds--I'll have to watch for that in Human Error again, I didn't see it, athough, you can absolutely see the hurt building in House as he goes through that episode. At the end when he "enjoys" the cigar and whiskey with the patient's husband, he is trying very hard not to make it matter at all. Buying the guitar, too, seems to be a specific effort to show himself that he will be (and is) OK with change. BTW--I don't think it's change, it is that it's so difficult for him to form attachments at all than when he does, and they break the attachment, he feels a sense of abandonment (he'd never admit it, tho).
Agree Buds, about 97 Seconds as well. However, I think he did the knife thing to prove it to the knife guy--to get him to stop doing it for the "high"-because it was he that House wanted to know about when he woke up--not the cancer guy (though I could be wrong), I'll admit.
Great musical selections, everyone, as well. They are (to me) really among the abosulte most memorable of the entire series.
43 - Andi
Buds, House already "died" once in Three Stories. He talked about the afterlife in that episode. I feel as if the writers have been to the "House is dead or nearly dead" well one too many... make that TWO too many...no, wait...at least FIVE too many times already. He was dead or near death three times in a strike-shortened season! And I'm not counting the times he has merely collapsed.
I agree with Susanne that not everything can be blamed on the strike. Falling ratings? Blame the strike. (Everyone else did.) Bland, boring new characters? Blame the strike. Lack of Chase and Cameron screentime? Blame the strike. A vulgar, unfocused, frat-boy House? No clinic patients? Few interesting PotW? Blame the strike. I'm not buying that at all. They seemed to find plenty of time for Thirteen and her plethora of problems.
Barbara, if House feels abandoned, surely he has himself to blame. He knew Foreman wanted to be asked to stay, but he waited until it was too late to grudgingly ask him back. The damage was already done. He fired Chase; Chase didn't willingly leave him. Cameron was the only one who left him, and who can blame her at that point? I wanted to see his emotional reaction to them being gone - and accept his part in it - in Season 4. Instead, we were lucky to see them at all.
44 - Mary
Hi Barbara (and all who have been participating in this discussion):
We have had arcs in "House M.D." before - the "Vogler arc" and the "Tritter arc." In both of these, we saw what Barbara so trenchantly called at the beginning of her article "the substantive difference between words and deeds." Both of the antagonists to House in these two arcs abused their power, and made it clear from their manipulative (and, in Tritter's case, illegal) actions that their professed idealism was nothing but a show.
I'd like to ask those reading here if they can find any similar "Words Vs. Deeds" themes in the actions of the candidates during the "Survivor PPTH" arc.
As for music, my favorite musical "House M.D." moment is from the first season Christmas episode. We see Wilson and House eating Chinese food and, both of them, laughing. (Can anybody else remember any other moment from this series when either of these two characters laughed? I can't, but that just may be my limited knowledge/memory.) Over this scene we hear a beautiful piano rendition of "Silent Night." And then the scene changes, and we see that the person who has been playing the piano so soulfully is...House. Kind of an odd thing for a professed atheist to be doing on Christmas Eve.
45 - Buds
Susanne-
You are right. Now that I think about it, each of the new ducklings have had their moments to shine. Taub in "Ugly", 13 pretty much in every episode, and Kutner had his moments too. But I think you hit it on the head when you said - "They are just trying too hard to make a flat character interesting." If their characters are flat (and not their acting) isn't it the writer's fault? This has always confused me, if a character comes out boring, do you blame the actor for it, or do you blame the writer?
BB-
I guess your point about "97 seconds" can be classified among your very clever analogy - MMV.
Andi-
Wow. Five times??? How many of those five were from the finales? If House was near death four times in the finale and then once in "97 seconds" then I am ok with it, because the whole theme for the finales was House putting himself at risk. I can't think of any other episode in season 4 when he was near death, other than in "97 seconds" and the finales.
You are right about blaming everything on the strike. Its not fair, but it does deserve some of the blame. The writers and actors deserve most of it, though.
46 - Andi
Hi Bud. #1 - "Three Stories." House dies, is brought back to life by Cuddy and discusses the afterlife. I think "Three Stories" is perfection, so I have no complaints there. It was extremely important to the plot. #2 - House is shot in the finale of Season 2 and near death. #3 - House ingests an extremely toxic combination of pills (half a bottle) and alcohol on Christmas Eve after a heart-breaking phone call to his mother. If he had not vomited this concoction, he surely would have died. I don't have a problem with this "near death" experience because it was an extremely powerful scene, and showed House cracking under all the pressure and fear of going to jail. To me, that was the highlight of the whole Tritter arc. EXTREMELY powerful stuff. #4 - 97 Seconds - House deliberately puts a knife in a wall outlet. I have nothing positive to say about that scene, especially since the writers seem to have forgotten that House already experienced death in "Three Stories." In this season's finales, we have House going into cardiac arrest and having a serious seizure during a very risky DPS.
I guess that makes 3 out of 6 examples from finales, but I'm not sure how that changes anything. It's getting to be an eye-rolling event, in my opinion. At some point, it becomes a joke. Of the main six characters - not counting newbies - only Foreman has been near death - once. The rest are all House. It's like the FOX promos that every week tout the upcoming episode as the "most SHOCKING House ever." It's overkill.
47 - Buds
Hi Andi. You're right. Out of all of his near death experiences the one in '97 seconds' does seem to be the most pointless. I also agree that it has been done enough number of times now and is on the verge of becoming a joke and "UNSHOCKING". :)
48 - Barbara Barnett
I love everyone's music selections. I won't really comment on them other than to say that they reflect my thoughts about the show's best music.
I'm enjoying the discussion and like the fact that agree or disagree with me, agree or disagree with the direction the show took in season four, it's quite a lively discussion we've got going here on Blogcritics.
I'm personally not so bothered by the fact that House has tempted death so many times. He is a character on the edge of a precipice. Although he may not have a real death wish, as Wilson says, House really doesn't care whether he lives or dies, especially.
Technically his near-death in 3 Stories happened before the series began, and was, in fact its impetus. He was ill, and his near-death experience came from his illness.
His being shot led to the revelations about his inner life--and the Ketamine, so I really didn't mind that either.
I agree, Andi, that the scene at the end of MLC was one the most powerful of the series. House, under pressure from all sides, and at the end of his emotion rope really, believable didn't care if he lived or died at that point (I'm still not absolutely certain there wasn't intent).
Season three, I would say the knife in the outlet was again a case of "don't care if I live or die," but was pretty calculated so that he would live to tell the guy with the knife to stop.
The thing with the blood was House being very sure that he was not going to die. He was trying to prove a point, and had no intent to die (and I don't think it was a near death experience).
House's Head and Wilson's Heart was so well done--and all the events were tied to the case, so again, I had no problem.
Now, that said, I certainly would not not like to see his life endangered again for awhile :)
49 - Susanne
Buds
When I think about it, both the writer and the actor share the blame. The writers had a long time to choose their canadates. The writer's job is to come up with the goods for the character and the actor's job is to bring that character to life and take the material and make the character on paper into something more intriguing and more complex. It works both ways, one can't find function without the other. They dragged on 13's "mysterious" way too long and everytime they tried to shove her in front of my tv set they tried to throw something new like "guess what she may be bisexual!" It makes me want to roll my eyes amd OW and the way she plays her character makes the situation worse. So IMO both the writer and the actor share the blame.
IMO I think DS and co were forcusing so hard on "changing the show" and "shaking up the cast" that they didn't properly form a plan to make the change while at the same time no alienate the fans. The fact that they had months to do this before the stike just cancels the "strike excuse" plus there is also the fact the newbies had 15 episodes to show something.
50 - SF
Mary-
Excellent idea about testing other arcs with the words/deeds notion. And your use of the word trenchant - nice. That's why I love reading these comments.
51 - suzy
I agree with everything sue said. All you have to do is go back and watch episodes from seasons 1,2 and even 3 to see the vast difference between the acting abilities of the original three and the current batch. As someone who has only watched on DVD(so no tv viewing, no commercials), the original three start to get annoying-Cameron's self-righteousness, Foreman's stubborness and Chase's sneakiness-these are mild on comparison to the marginally talented and disjointed performances of season 4. Seriously, is there a worse character than 13 or a worse actor? I really hope they dont' pursue a relationship with her and House because I might have to hurl. There is nothing interesting about her story and seriously, she's not even attractive. Re-visit past seasons and you will be delighted at the great dynamic between the original cast. They are great.
52 - Veresna Ussep
My long and rambling comments to add to all the others, LOL.
First of all, I admit I am more than a little miffed about David Shore's claiming that it would have been "unrealistic" NOT to have gotten rid of the first team and brought in a new one since typical fellowships are last only three years. Yeah, and in real hospitals, the laboratory and radiology and imaging tests are done by the professionals trained to them, not by doctors-so as long as the audience can swallow that bit of unrealism for the sake of dramatic license, I think the fellowships could have been stretched out to twice the usual length. I think there were still (and are) a great deal of interesting topics for Chase, Cameron and Foreman that have been briefly raised in the past (Chase's absolute hostility to obese people, Foreman's brother, Cameron's marriage to a dying man) that could have been delved quite satisfactorily for interesting storylines with them remaining as the team. I think it would have been interesting to have had the Foreman leaving done as a mini-arc, with him coming back with a greater appreciation for PPTH and House. (I disagree that what happened to him showed he was unprepared for the job, what happened was that, unlike Cuddy, he ran into a hospital administrator that was going to make him pay the price for going against protocol even though it did save the patient's life. Whatever happens in their personal relationship, there is clearly a debt House owes to Cuddy for her willingness to risk her own job to support him.) It would have been fun if they had somehow found the way to write Chase's emerging backbone and willingness to challenge House to his face emerge while still his fellow rather than (in a really unrealistic fashion) transforming him magically into a surgeon.
I have already said here and in other forums that I intensely disliked the survivor arc, particularly as it seems it was begun with no clue as to how it was going to be resolved, and I have started to wonder if this was also the problem with the Stacy, Vogler and Tritter arcs as well, which all seemeed to me to end in a rather abrupt and unsatisfactory manner, to varying degrees. I think one of the other problems with this arc has been the fact that I think the writers and producers felt that House had to act in an increasingly annoying and over-the-top way simply because we, the viewers, have had three years of seeing him act outrageously, and it was felt that had to 'up the ante' so to speak. Remember the days when it was usual for the patient and/or the family (particularly parents) to react much more to House's actions and words, sometimes even leading to fisticuffs? That has rather been dropped, not because what House does has become more socially acceptable, but because the audience has probably became so used to it, so it doesn't seem as natural for everyone else to be as annoyed or outraged as they probably should be by what he does.
In the end, I have to add that I have spent innumerable evenings happily watching my DVDs of the first three seasons, never failing to find something new and thought-provoking in them. My real dislike of season 4 can be shown by the fact that it has been a chore for me to sit through the reruns of the current season, I always seem to find myself finding something else to occupy my time as I wait for the few good 'bits' that I remember. I will buy the Season 4 DVD set also, just to have House's Head and Wilson's Heart, but I sincerely hope that Season 5 captures MY heart and head much more than Season 4 did.
53 - Victoria
I found the entire survivor arc to simply reek of desperation. I know they wanted to shake things up before they got stagnant, but instead, the arc suffered the way two popular reality shows I watch did this season - from obvious endings and blah characters. I just can't believe that Kutner wasn't chosen the moment Kal Penn was cast, and Kutner having hardly any interaction with House and still making it through confirmed that. Was there any doubt that Olivia Wilde was cast the moment the camera panned in on her during the Right Stuff? Their fate as winners was every bit as obvious as Kristi Yamaguchi and Cristian Siriano were on DWTS and Project Runway. I actually had episodes of House on my DVR that I went a couple of weeks without watching because I really didn't care about what was happening. That's never happened before, even when the show was competing with must-watch Veronica Mars. It's not like deep things weren't happening, but the "game" suspended the feeling that these were real people - the third dimension fell away for me, and what was left was pretty much flat.
Frankly, I was sorry to see Chase leave the team because it would have been interesting to see House with a real contender nipping at his heels professionally. It's the one domain where he's absolutely superior, which makes House confident in his ability to get away with anything. Instead, they took Chase out of diagnostics entirely with no explanation, and essentially declawed Foreman. Cameron, IMO, came out a little better, eventually figuring out how to move on and avoid adopting House's lousy departmental management style (Because House can be a good teacher, but also a bad manager). I was actually more curious about Chase walking away from something he was plainly good at than in anything the newbies were bringing. To paraphrase House, Thirteen's gonna die. Boooring. Of course, considering that his new team is already magically performing at the same level of the old team in S3, maybe House will get the sense of competition yet.
There were moments in the arc that I really enjoyed (Ugly is probably in my top ten all-time favorite episodes, I loved the magician in YDWTK, and I thought Games was a strong outing, to name a few), and actually, the way the stories rolled out I understood the hiring decisions House made, and I assume I'll be used to the new team eventually. After all, I enjoyed them more the moment the survivor arc was over! I also think the actors cast are quite fine, even if they haven't been given much to explore yet - my opinion is formed largely from seeing their work elsewhere. But for what I did enjoy, I still regard it as a piece of milled road we had to drive on to get to someplace that's actually worth visiting.
54 - leonora
Hi Barbara, I like all your reviews very much
I just wanted to say something about this one.
I think that House fired Cole not only (and most of all - not mainly) because Cole made a deal with Cuddy but because of the deal itself. Because Cole decided to put Kutner's job in danger because of a deal. House admires friendship, and he respects friends loyalty and I think that's what he didn't like about Cole. House is capable to choose a friend over a patiend or maybe even a lover. Cole betrayed his friend Kutner and that is a betrayal that House does not want to support.
55 - Barbara Barnett
I agree with you that House admires and values friendship. I was actually thinking about that last night as I was writing a new article. He has a history of this, going back to Crandall. Think about how much guilt House harbored over Crandall's girlfriend (despite the fact that the girl was crazy and Crandall was always falling in love). Years later, and so greatly changed because of the leg as House was at that point, he used information that could have destroyed Crandall to help him and make his life better and happier.
that said, I don't think that's why (or at least the main reason why) he fired Cole. I do think he was disappointed that Cole made a deal with the devil. But you may be onto something about a secondary motivation. House also hates betrayal. Look at what Chase did in season one.