House – A hard episode to swallow

Well, House really screwed the pooch this time. Sadly, for the first time in years, I find his team more interesting and compelling than I find House. I know that an addict has a high risk for recurring, but this whole story line is really forced. I saw an article quoting the producers as saying that they knew when they got House and Cuddy together that they’d have to break them back apart. Well, if you have known that for this long, as in months, then why didn’t they handle the situation better?

House is repeating itself. Fortunately, actors Peter Jacobsen, Amber Tamblyn, Omar Epps, and Jesse Spencer are staying the course. They wouldn’t be nearly as interesting without the context of the show behind them, but right now they’re rowing the boat. I wish Tamblyn were staying on as Masters. She still has some funny moments, like not knowing who Ferris Bueller was when the patient claimed that was his name.

The whole episode was grating, though. Of course House is going to pull that immature, childish crap like flying remote-controlled airplanes at Cuddy in front of potential financial donors, riding around on a powered scooter and monster truck. The problem isn’t only that these things are immature. They have also been done before way too many times, and they take us out of the other truths of the show. It is impossible to take anything else seriously on the show when you are wondering when and how and with what money House has acquired all this stuff, including his Russian Bride.

The only thing that makes me think his marriage might actually be legal is the conversation he had with his wife on their wedding night when he told her she could sleep on the couch. So, what was he doing with hookers? And what is his endgame here? To hurt Cuddy? To make her take him back? He is spiraling out of control and it belies the growth he has been experiencing since he was hospitalized. Why take him back so far? Is it really so boring to have small, quiet truth in drama rather than over-the-top high melodrama?

As for the case, it was dumbfounding. It was ridiculous: You see bones in the man’s abdomen, you know he is a a pathological liar, and yet you don’t question why he was eating bones? Even after a ridiculous story about some chef making him try weird foods in exchange for real food? That story could have been pretty easily verified. But instead we got this whole hullaballoo about the patient stealing someone else’s identity (it’s been done), the patient thinking he deserves to die (that’s been done more), Masters convincing the patient that he didn’t deserve to die (poor Masters, she is learning some rough lessons), and then we find out AFTER HE IS HEALED  and after he has magically vanished that he is not only a murderer, but also a nationwide serial killer who ate his victims. Really? REALLY? I mean, it’s so over the top that it’s hilarious. But I’m not laughing with you, I’m laughing AT you.

While I’m picking, they also revealed that the patient was a serial killer and then said deflatedly, “And we just saved his life.” They have treated murderers before and with one big exception, yes, they save their lives. So, would they have just let him die in this case? Is cannibalism worse than genocide?

I know House will end up getting out of this marriage — and I don’t care when or how. OR he will start developing real feelings for her. Still don’t care. They should have just let Cuddy die — I love Lisa Edelstein, but this is humiliating and at least then I would have cried tears of real pathos instead of tears of pity and shame. How can a show be so brilliant at times and so crappy at others? It’s what psychologists call intermittent reinforcement: We don’t know when it will be brilliant, so like rats in a cage, we push the button for food constantly because sometimes we will be rewarded. I just don’t know how hungry I am anymore.

Clacked by Jen Creer
on Mar 22, 2011 @ 08:31 EST5EDT