HOUSE, M.D.: 29. "Hunting"
Micky DuPree
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"Hunting" ... wabbits. No, fox, rat, and ex-girlfriend.
Busy episode. The writers even made time for a C plot this week (and a
little D plot if you count diagnosing and treating the rat). But they
also made time for a slower scene (waiting for Steve). To coin a
phrase, it didn't suck, but the relative success of the ongoing B plot
rests on the as yet still deferred resolution. How that plays out will
determine how much sense the overarching Stacy plot line has made.
Taken in isolation, though, the execution of Operation Target Stacy
played out very well.
WILSON: My offer's withdrawn. You can walk to work.
Both the Corvette and the motorcycle were out of commission? In fact,
this would have been a genuinely good episode to show the motorcycle in,
to drive home the identification with Steve McQueen. Strange that they
didn't use it.
For someone who didn't want to hear any more, Wilson was awfully
interested in hearing more. House read him right and didn't need to
fear that his relationship with Wilson would suffer as a result of his
Machiavellian scheming. At the same time, I had to wonder just how
much Wilson counted himself as Stacy's friend. There would come a point
where, in his shoes, I'd have to leave the room with my fingers jammed
in my ears if I wanted to stay friends with both House and Stacy.
"221B"? Cute. The number in Sherlock Holmes' street address. This is
the third different exterior they've shown us for House's residence
(fourth if you count the glimpse through the front door in "Role
Model"). I'm pretty sure it was the same fireplace in the interior,
though. They just keep building new buildings around it. (Different
refrigerator from "Love Hurts," though). And is this new facade on the
Fox back lot? Or the Universal back lot? (Academic curiosity.)
You know, I can understand the impulse for a production designer to try
to improve on everything when money becomes available, and the push is
for supposedly more naturalistic sets, but when hallways in the hospital
just magically appear and disappear, when characters' homes just morph
at will, that's not naturalistic, that's Twilight Zone-ish.
P.S. I miss the atrium in the hospital.
An awful lot of the A-plot patients seem to be minors or young adults.
I guess it seems more tragic if it's young people who are on the brink
of death. Or maybe they're just more photogenic.
I wonder how Kalvin heard that House was the go-to guy for esoteric
diagnoses.
If Wilson drove House to work, how did House get out to the Warners'
place when Cuddy told him to go see Stacy the first time?
STACY: Mark's at physio.
Did the Warners rent a house near the hospital? Or did Stacy drive the
two hours from Short Hills to drop Mark off for physio, then drive two
hours back for the exterminator? And who picked up Mark? Or did the
writers just forget that it was established that the Warners lived two
hours away from the hospital?
Um, except that Mark wasn't at physio. He rolled right into the
kitchen.
I think there was a small mounted fish on House's desk. That's just
weird.
FOREMAN: [To House] Face it. This might be an interesting
case.
I loved the smug look on Foreman's face when he said that.
House seemed to be shoveling unopened mail into his trash basket. Was
that his way of dealing with Stacy's instruction not to make his only
female employee do his clerical work?
HOUSE: I don't want her back. I just want her to admit her
feelings for me.
Hm. Stacy had already done this twice now, both times at House's
insistence.
HOUSE: I go to Cuddy. Cuddy fires her or reassigns her. Either
way, I'm happy.
Whether House wanted Stacy back or not, the whole get-Cuddy-to-fire-her
motive was bogus. So why lie to Wilson? Was he afraid that Wilson
would blab about his scheme to Stacy? Or would it not matter if Wilson
did?
House went to the hospital, then visited the Warner residence, then
returned to the hospital, then went back out to the Warner place. If
the Warners haven't moved since last season, then House spent eight
hours out of the first day of story time (since he and Stacy were still
wearing the same clothes during the second visit as in the first) simply
commuting to Short Hills and back.
For the first time since "Honeymoon," House and Stacy seemed to have
that old longing for each other again. But now I have other questions
about House's motives.
Weird. When the rat tilted its head, House tilted his to the other
side. I'm not sure the director and editor realized this. I think
House was supposed to be trying to look the rat in the eye, but they
forgot that he'd be doing it in mirror image.
What was House doing his Steve McQueen imitation with? A squash ball?
Cameron went to see the infection counselor first and showered only
afterwards? I think she had her priorities screwed up, but it wouldn't
be the first time.
HOUSE: Concerned enough about his health to stalk me, while
indulging in deadly street drugs. A study in
contradictions. [Takes Vicodin.]
Cute, and the only Vicodin I noticed this week. House seems to be dry-
swallowing them less. Is it supposed to make him a more civilized
addict if he washes them down with water?
When House gestured to Foreman to give him change for the vending
machine, Foreman should have told him, "You make three times what I do
and your med school loans are paid off."
I'm having a hard time buying House as actively milking the humor-the-
cripple routine this season. I have no trouble believing that people
would let a cripple get away with things, but last season I was
definitely under the impression that House deliberately provoked people
partly to keep the pity at bay. I'm reminded of something Bill Raisch,
the guy who played the infamous one-armed man in _The Fugitive_, once
said in an interview in _The TV Collector_. There was some worry in the
planning stages of the series as to whether making the villain a cripple
would make people feel sorry for him instead of hating him. Raisch told
the producers to make the character a really mean one-armed guy. That
way people would recoil from him instead of pitying him. And he was
right.
Cameron and Chase have picked up House's bad habit of breaking and
entering first, and only afterwards asking the patient what they wanted
to know. Does House regularly send forth compulsive burglars into the
world when they've completed their fellowships?
CHASE: My father co-authored a paper on acute berylliosis.
HOUSE: Phew! For a moment there, I thought you were smart.
Chase should have said, "I was smart enough to read it."
HOUSE: O.K., stuff these. If he doesn't get better, then it's a
tumor.
STACY: Then what? Chemo?
HOUSE: Steve McQueen without hair? It's a blessing he died
young.
House and Stacy were good together in this scene. They were even
dressed a lot alike, I guess to signify they were on the same wavelength
or something.
CAMERON: I wanna do the Kveim Siltzbach test.
HOUSE: Huh. Do you have any idea how much paperwork Cuddy's
going to need signed?
Eh? Anyone know why?
HOUSE: On the other hand, his dad tossed him out. So what's our
guy want to apologize for?
People feel guilty and apologize for things that aren't their fault all
the time. Or, as Cameron said, they say, "I'm sorry," to express
regret, but not necessarily guilt.
House and Wilson appeared to leave House's office for the evening
without locking the door or even closing it. Doesn't House have
anything in that office that he would miss if it were stolen?
House and Stacy were downright poignant lying in wait in the ratblind.
Maybe I'm a sucker, but I saw no artifice in House in that exchange.
It was a shame he had to undo it all in Stacy's mind at the end.
I guess that sad little piano bit was the Greg-&-Stacy theme. They
reintroduced it last episode, and they played it again in the waiting-
for-Steve scene. It's the only piece of incidental music that I've
recognized this season from last season. Not that I've been listening
with bated breath, but I think they've mostly moved away from the
simpler piano-based musical cues this season. I'm not convinced that's
been a good thing, though.
STACY: O.K., I blow my smoke into the vent so Mark doesn't know.
HOUSE: I always knew.
STACY: You're bluffing.
Unless House and Stacy weren't even kissing, then how could House not
have known? The taste and smell linger, lady.
STACY: You could have asked me how I was.
HOUSE: I already knew.
Yeah. Just like House already knew when he asked Stacy how she felt
about him. Just like he already knew before he read her psychiatric
file. He is defined as almost always knowing, sometimes even when
there's no obvious reason why he should.
That rat has even better timing than the elevator doors.
Everybody's moved since last season. Or at least, Cameron's building's
hallway was remodeled.
Geez, they seem to have made Cameron the second lead character after
House, but all the other characters are more interesting than she is.
I predicted they'd get House's shirt off of him during a sweeps period,
but I didn't foresee Chase going first (twice). Cameron not only wanted
to get high and have sex, but wanted to do both at the same time, and
Chase was cool with that? All through that scene I kept thinking,
"Children shouldn't be left unsupervised that long." Aren't you
supposed to get that kind of stupidity out of your system in college?
Plus, I don't know about New Jersey, but I think that in California,
Chase would have been guilty of a statutory version of rape.
CHASE: I'm not an idiot.
HOUSE: Obviously not. Who doesn't sleep with a drugged-out
colleague when they have a chance?
At least for once, House could lead by example, since he didn't sleep
with Cameron when she was clean and sober and twisting his arm.
After the big-brotherly talks Foreman gave Chase and Cameron in "Occam's
Razor" (most notably the words, "Bad idea. You work with her"), I would
have expected him to look exasperated with his fellow fellows, not look
at Chase like, "She was high? You da man!" Or was he supposed to be
leaning back and looking past Chase at House with a "Damn, you nailed
that one" look?
CHASE: Last night probably shouldn't happen again.
Well, at least Chase had some sense after the fact.
CAMERON: Do you think I want it to?
Kinda cold under the circumstances. Cameron could have just agreed with
the sensible approach and let it go. And if the guy's nice enough to
say you're good in bed instead of a wacko who's messing with his head
and jeopardizing his professional life, you might could summon up some
kind words.
Shouldn't Chase go on the anti-HIV protocol now? Yeah, the chances are
virtually nil with a condom, but "virtually" isn't "absolutely."
I suppose it was a twist that the A plot wasn't so much about homophobic
parents after all, but I was still getting tired of Kalvin preaching the
high life and his dad haranguing him. (I count six widow(er)-and-son
pairs in the A plots of this series.) I liked House getting disgusted
with a man who would rather be angry than save his son's life, though.
We did see House do this with Harvey's parents in "Love Hurts," but it's
a perennial.
Cameron went off on Kalvin because she had been stupid enough to copy
his live-fast-die-young-leave-a-beautiful-corpse moves? Yeah, maybe he
needed to hear it, but she didn't bother to share with him until she was
pissed off about crashing and burning herself. She's in the
neighborhood of 30 years old for heaven's sake. She should stop dumping
her damage on her patients.
I'm leaning more towards the "House drove Stacy away on purpose to save
her marriage" theory now, not because of anything specific they did in
that plot line, but because nothing about him looked the least bit out
of control. He knows almost everything (in both the A plots and the B
plots) almost the instant it happens. He knows what people are feeling
and why, if not immediately, then at least in the course of time.
Despite the triviality of the evidence the writers showed us, they've
written him as being 100% correct about Stacy being obsessed with him,
about her current sex life with Mark being nil, and that therefore just
by the fact of his existence, House was driving them apart. In fact, he
knew all that before he read Stacy's psychiatric file. Therefore he
didn't need to read it. Moreover, if he hadn't read it, Stacy wouldn't
have caught him out about the dishwashing. Therefore he read it for
another purpose. He needed her to catch him out. It's the theory that
leaves the fewest problems in the setup (though, admittedly, none of the
theories are problem-free), and if they go this route, it will probably
be Wilson that twigs in order to cue in the audience.
The one detail that gave me pause about this theory was House
deliberately flipping the toilet seat up at the Warners'. There'd be no
point in House making Stacy more frustrated with Mark if he was trying
to drive her into Mark's arms. Still, I suppose there was a nonzero
chance she'd figure out who did it and why. Or the writers put it in as
generic male annoyance at females for complaining about the toilet seat
(but that would be poorly placed after the issue had been previously
given marital significance). Or the writers just couldn't resist the
joke, or the misdirection.
The only month in 2005 in which the 20th falls on a Friday is May.
Unless Moira gave Cuddy a really post-dated check last week, the props
dept. didn't care much that day when they gave Cameron a calendar.
So, lemme see if I got this straight. There was a rat causing
disruption in the Warner household. House thought it might be suffering
from some contaminant that could adversely affect the Warners as well.
He removed the rat and cured it, which also brought calm to the Warners,
but the upshot was that it ended up in a cage. Not perfect, but not bad
as parallel stories go.
I'm amused that after all the fan longing for the writers to give House
a dog, his pet turned out to be a feral rat. I wonder if he couldn't
bring himself to kill it because it had been his patient and he
identified with it.
ottomatic
"Micky DuPree" <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote in message
news:dm4rv4$7nd$1...@pcls3.std.com...
> Spoilers for "Hunting," 11/22/05.
Well Mick, you have locked my vote for
'pointless over analysis and general misunderstanding'
Otto
Marc Dashevsky
> (and a little D plot if you count diagnosing and treating the rat).
What was wrong with the rat? How did he treat it?
--
Go to http://MarcDashevsky.com to send me e-mail.
(Reunion -- http://ClassicalHigh70.com)
Alan Pollock
> "Micky DuPree" <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote in message
> news:dm4rv4$7nd$1...@pcls3.std.com...
> > Spoilers for "Hunting," 11/22/05.
> Well Mick, you have locked my vote for
> 'pointless over analysis and general misunderstanding'
> Otto
Otto is on Auto. And the headline reads:
Human Otto Bot created from Botulism toxin.
It's folks like you Otto, who degrade Usenet, and it's people like Mickey
DuPree who add value to it. In fact, simply eliminating useless noise posts
like yours would go a long way to increase the general quality of Usenet's
text newsgroups.
Thanks, Micky, for another interesting post. If I had more time I'd analyse
it. Nex
(two birds..)
Micky DuPree
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Marc Dashevsky <use...@MarcDashevsky.com> writes:
: Micky DuPree <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> writes in article %:
:: (and a little D plot if you count diagnosing and treating the rat).
:
: What was wrong with the rat?
Mycoplasmosis (infection in the ear and possibly the lungs), aggravated
by cigarette smoke.
: How did he treat it?
Two weeks of antibiotics and a smoke-free environment.
The rat essentially substituted for a clinic patient this week. It was
Wilson talking about the rat's case that sparked the "Aha!" moment in
House: that lesser _satori_ in which he makes the free-associative leap
from one case to another, in this instance Wilson's concern about
possible parasites in the rat causing House to reconsider parasites in
the A-plot patient.
-Micky
ottomatic
"Alan Pollock" <n...@nopanix.com> wrote in message
news:dm6a1h$dj1$1...@reader2.panix.com...
> ottomatic <nos...@spamout.net> wrote:
>
> > "Micky DuPree" <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote in message
> > news:dm4rv4$7nd$1...@pcls3.std.com...
> > > Spoilers for "Hunting," 11/22/05.
>
> > Well Mick, you have locked my vote for
> > 'pointless over analysis and general misunderstanding'
>
> > Otto
>
>
> Otto is on Auto. And the headline reads:
>
> Human Otto Bot created from Botulism toxin.
>
> It's folks like you Otto, who degrade Usenet, and it's people like Mickey
> DuPree who add value to it.
or, it's people like me who illuminate the inept obsessing of those
unprepared
to comment on excellent TV
as for you,
I would say your childish my-dad-can-whip-your-dad rant adequately
illustrates
your intellectual level...
Otto
Alan Pollock
> "Alan Pollock" <n...@nopanix.com> wrote in message
> news:dm6a1h$dj1$1...@reader2.panix.com...
> > ottomatic <nos...@spamout.net> wrote:
> >
> > It's folks like you Otto, who degrade Usenet, and it's people like Mickey
> > DuPree who add value to it.
> or, it's people like me who illuminate the inept obsessing of those
> unprepared
> to comment on excellent TV
Nice try but saying the show is excellent doesn't get you off the hook.
Whimper all day long but it doesn't change the fact that you didn't say
anything of note and Mickey did. Lots.
> as for you,
> I would say your childish my-dad-can-whip-your-dad rant adequately
> illustrates
> your intellectual level...
> Otto
I see you have parental issues - fine - but why do you find it necessary to
reveal your inner foibles so volubly, in public? Nex
Tony Calguire
>
Oh Mickey! Your extremely long-winded posts are starting to grow on
me. I can't quite decide if my negative feelings about the show are
influenced by your analysis, or if I've subconsciously noticed this
season's shortcomings on my own. My attention to detail is nowhere near
to yours, but I tend to think that I have indeed noticed it on my own.
Last season, the thing that jumped out at me was, "Look! There's the
formula again! It's 8:36, so this diagnosis must be wrong... it's 8:52,
so this diagnosis must be right!". This season, the thing that jumps
out at me is, "Why is House mad about *that*? Why does House hate
*that*? I know he's supposed to be a grouch, but come on!"
I did take notice of House's jacket again this episode... It looks to me
like the patch on the jacket used to read "KTAI", and somebody did a
really lousy job of connecting the tops of the "K" with a magic marker
to make it look like an "R". So what was wrong with KTAI? KTAI is a
small-town public radio station in Texas. I'd think they could use the
shout-out.
>
> Did the Warners rent a house near the hospital? Or did Stacy drive the
> two hours from Short Hills to drop Mark off for physio, then drive two
> hours back for the exterminator? And who picked up Mark? Or did the
> writers just forget that it was established that the Warners lived two
> hours away from the hospital?
>
I just assumed that since this woman took a job at the hospital, and her
husband required ongoing medical care at that facility, they simply
moved closer to Princeton. I kinda thought they said that explicitly,
but maybe I just inferred.
>
> I predicted they'd get House's shirt off of him during a sweeps period,
> but I didn't foresee Chase going first (twice). Cameron not only wanted
> to get high and have sex, but wanted to do both at the same time, and
> Chase was cool with that? All through that scene I kept thinking,
> "Children shouldn't be left unsupervised that long." Aren't you
> supposed to get that kind of stupidity out of your system in college?
> Plus, I don't know about New Jersey, but I think that in California,
> Chase would have been guilty of a statutory version of rape.
>
I was very curoius to see how you'd react to this scene. I found it so
cringe-worthy and out of place, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I
know they haven't been very consistent with these characters, but
Cameron's drug-induced disease-ridden horn-fest, and Chase's
hop-in-the-sack at the drop of a hat were waaaaayyyyyy out of
character-- even characters this inconsistent. Chase learned not to
kiss the ten-year-old girl, but he still thinks it's OK to kiss the
potential disease character? A colleague? I don't buy it.
ottomatic
> ottomatic <nos...@spamout.net> wrote:
>
> > "Alan Pollock" <n...@nopanix.com> wrote in message
> > news:dm6a1h$dj1$1...@reader2.panix.com...
> > > ottomatic <nos...@spamout.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > It's folks like you Otto, who degrade Usenet, and it's people like
Mickey
> > > DuPree who add value to it.
>
> > or, it's people like me who illuminate the inept obsessing of those
> > unprepared
> > to comment on excellent TV
>
>
> Nice try but saying the show is excellent doesn't get you off the hook.
> Whimper all day long but it doesn't change the fact that you didn't say
> anything of note and Mickey did. Lots.
said lots..yes, absolutely
of note, not hardly
I apologize for talking over your head
you would doubtless be happier reading your comic book collection
Otto
Alan Pollock
> >"Alan Pollock" <n...@nopanix.com> wrote in message
> >
> > Nice try but saying the show is excellent doesn't get you off the hook.
> > Whimper all day long but it doesn't change the fact that you didn't say
> > anything of note and Mickey did. Lots.
> said lots..yes, absolutely
> of note, not hardly
You failed to say why, other than to label it. Easy way out, lazybones. Of
course now you're in trying to get out, but your ego won't let you.
> I apologize for talking over your head
> you would doubtless be happier reading your comic book collection
Heh. But you should see my collection!
You of course will continue reading Proust, with intense bouts of the 1939
edition of 'The Miracle of Plastics'.
You're such an intellectual. Nex
(Must I tell you everything? It's irony)
ottomatic
> ottomatic <nos...@spamout.net> wrote:
>
> > >"Alan Pollock" <n...@nopanix.com> wrote in message
> > >
> > > Nice try but saying the show is excellent doesn't get you off the
hook.
> > > Whimper all day long but it doesn't change the fact that you didn't
say
> > > anything of note and Mickey did. Lots.
>
> > said lots..yes, absolutely
> > of note, not hardly
>
>
> You failed to say why, other than to label it. Easy way out, lazybones. Of
> course now you're in trying to get out, but your ego won't let you.
yeah, I'm about to waste the time plowing thru responding to all the verbage
so you can spend a Masters degree worth of time babling even more
FAT chance - not even if there were a slim prayer you could understand it
Otto
Micky DuPree
In article <4387EE...@tcfreenet.invalid>, Tony Calguire
<calg...@tcfreenet.invalid> writes:
: I can't quite decide if my negative feelings about the show are
: influenced by your analysis, or if I've subconsciously noticed this
: season's shortcomings on my own.
I have been hanging over the second season like a black rain cloud.
I'll probably stop posting about _House_ when the second season is over.
If the second season goes into reruns in January, though, I'd like to go
back and start posting about the first season. I loved the first
season, and since I came to it late, I'm nowhere near talked out about
it.
: Last season, the thing that jumped out at me was, "Look! There's the
: formula again! It's 8:36, so this diagnosis must be wrong... it's
: 8:52, so this diagnosis must be right!".
I'm not sure why people are so upset about the formula, even in its
unadulterated first-season presentation. It's really just the
adaptation and refinement of genre conventions to the individual show.
Maybe it's jumping out at people because they're not used to detective-
genre conventions being hybridized in a medical show. You can usually
set your watch by the plot complication at 36 minutes in _Law & Order_,
too. That's when the lawyers find out the judge has excluded their best
piece of evidence, or whatever. In a drawing-room mystery, the first
suspect is almost never the murderer, and it's rarely the second suspect
either, so naturally, the first two diagnoses in _House_ are going to be
plausible but wrong guesses as well.
These things do not bug me about _House_. It's ostensibly a plot-driven
show, but they choose the plot elements with the idea of bringing
character points to the surface in the natural course of events. I
think it's pretty clever that way (though of course I haven't been
agreeing a lot with the particular character points they've been
choosing this season). _House_ is no more a naturalistic medical drama
than Sherlock Holmes was a realistic detective, so I think they've been
barking way up the wrong tree by brightening up the moody first-season
lighting, opening up the rat-maze hospital corridors, and being self-
conscious about the plot formula. They shouldn't be trying to compete
with the pace of _ER_, nor with the gloss of other hospital dramas.
: This season, the thing that jumps out at me is, "Why is House mad
: about *that*? Why does House hate *that*? I know he's supposed to be
: a grouch, but come on!"
Yeah. Lots of bits of broken string. Things don't tie together so well
anymore.
: I did take notice of House's jacket again this episode... It looks to
: me like the patch on the jacket used to read "KTAI", and somebody did
: a really lousy job of connecting the tops of the "K" with a magic
: marker to make it look like an "R".
I'd have to double-check "Hunting" to make sure, but I think that "KTAI"
has been legible only once, when the jacket first appeared in House's
office in "Daddy's Boy." Every time I've noticed it since then
(including out in the parking lot later in "Daddy's Boy"), it's been
"RTAI".
: So what was wrong with KTAI? KTAI is a small-town public radio
: station in Texas. I'd think they could use the shout-out.
Maybe someone figured out too late that they didn't want to risk
stepping on any radio station's toes. Apart from that, I got nuttin'.
:: Did the Warners rent a house near the hospital? [....] Or did the
:: writers just forget that it was established that the Warners lived
:: two hours away from the hospital?
: I just assumed that since this woman took a job at the hospital, and
: her husband required ongoing medical care at that facility, they
: simply moved closer to Princeton. I kinda thought they said that
: explicitly, but maybe I just inferred.
If they said so explicitly, I missed it. I don't remember their living
arrangements being discussed at all after "Honeymoon." I had gotten the
impression that Stacy's job at PPTH was a medium-term thing; that she
wouldn't be staying on after Mark's treatment was finished, and that the
treatment was more than a couple of months but less than a couple of
years. Admittedly, that's a lot of assuming on my part, but based on
that, it seemed like a lot of extra upheaval for them to sell their
house in Short Hills. (And really, Stacy would have had to do almost
all the work of arranging it, since Mark wasn't in much shape to help.)
:: Cameron not only wanted to get high and have sex, but wanted to do
:: both at the same time, and Chase was cool with that? All through
:: that scene I kept thinking, "Children shouldn't be left unsupervised
:: that long." Aren't you supposed to get that kind of stupidity out of
:: your system in college?
: I was very curoius to see how you'd react to this scene. I found it
: so cringe-worthy and out of place, I couldn't believe what I was
: seeing. I know they haven't been very consistent with these
: characters, but Cameron's drug-induced disease-ridden horn-fest, and
: Chase's hop-in-the-sack at the drop of a hat were waaaaayyyyyy out of
: character-- even characters this inconsistent.
I didn't have any problem with their consistency in "Hunting," just with
watching the car wreck in progress. They've been hitting us over the
head with Cameron-the-too-tightly-wound for a while now. It's possible
to think about these issues and internally come to the conclusion that
drugs are bad and that sleeping with coworkers is fraught with problems
as well. But they've presented Cameron more as someone who's always
reacted to external pressures and restrictions. They made a big deal in
"Spin" about how she's really hung up on "arbitrary rules" that you
should never break just because they're the rules. Foreman and Chase
managed to point out how she nevertheless tolerated House breaking the
rules even when those rules weren't arbitrary, which says to me that
despite House's bizarre comment about her "insane moral compass,"
Cameron derives a lot of her sense of right and wrong from what other
people have told her to do, not from internal reflection or experience.
When House told her to stop using "soft bargaining" techniques on people
in "Control," she confessed that she was trying to get people to like
her.
When the writers approach Cameron from this direction, I'm reminded of a
couple of guys I knew in college. One guy had never dated in high
school, went to a predominantly male college, manage to score a great
girlfriend his sophomore year, and was engaged to her by his senior
year. Then he went on to med school, ditched the fiancee, got a sports
car, and started playing the field like mad. I felt sorry for the
fiancee, but I wasn't too surprised. Sometimes what looks like self-
discipline is really just a lack of opportunity to go wild. If Cameron
had always been on a tight leash for whatever reasons (restrictive
parents, fill-in-the-blank), then she may find herself wondering, "Why
the hell not break loose?" at this point.
The other guy was literally fresh off the farm with a straitlaced
upbringing when he arrived his first year. Initially, people kidded him
about how he was less adventurous than the others in his freshman class,
but by his sophomore year, he was the one who had gone the most
overboard in terms of reacting against his background with substance
abuse and relationships. Fortunately, he managed a course correction
and steered back towards a middle ground later on, but in his case, his
original disciplined behavior was really just something he had been
externally trained by others to do, not something he had decided on for
himself. Cameron strikes me as being a lot like that, and for some
reason, she's managed to get in the neighborhood of 30 years old without
sowing any wild oats or doing any experimenting with the boundaries of
her life.
Cameron is too sensitive to what others think of her. (House's
imperviousness to opinion is one thing she could profitably emulate.)
She was vulnerable to Kalvin's insinuations that she wasn't really
living life by staying inside her boundaries. It's not that uncommon.
All sorts of people think that other people are living better lives than
they are. They think that real life is always on the other side of the
fence from where they are. If they're surrounded by artifice, they
worry their lives are inauthentic. If their lives are low-tech, they
pine for gadgets. If their lives are quiet, they feel that real life is
at the parties they don't go to. If their lives get strung out, they
worry about not having climbed on the marriage-&-kids bandwagon.
Cameron kept hearing people criticize her for being a goody-goody, heard
Chase ridicule her for penciling in "fun" for February, heard him
dismiss the idea of there being any dirt to dig up in her background out
of hand, and got presented with the slender but real chance of early
mortality. She heard Kalvin singing, "Come to the cabaret!" and
something snapped. Yeah, I bought it for the character, but it makes
her look like her emotional development was arrested at 17 and that she
went to college and med school in a convent.
: Chase learned not to kiss the ten-year-old girl, but he still thinks
: it's OK to kiss the potential disease character?
Chase didn't learn not to kiss the nine-year-old girl until after he had
done it. He didn't think the disease risk was high even for Cameron.
The risk would have been that much less for him, and he did use a
condom. The higher risk was for Cameron to loathe him and herself the
next day, and for massive workplace disruption in the months to come.
He got really lucky, and I don't just mean the non-sucky sex.
: A colleague? I don't buy it.
At least Cameron wasn't nine years old, and I do buy it. Chase is
usually depicted as susceptible, as wanting to please people (until
they've pushed him too far, like his father, or House when he thought
House was about to fire him). It makes sense that a child who grew up
under a shaky marriage and an alcoholic mother would try to "fix" things
and appease people, even if it's in inappropriate ways. We found out in
"Occam's Razor" that Chase thinks Cameron is attractive. He tried to
ask her out all the way back then even though she was a colleague. When
she started crawling all over him in "Hunting," how hard could it have
been for him to rationalize to himself that she'd hate herself and him
if he *didn't* have sex with her?
-Micky
khal...@netzero.com
> Spoilers for "Hunting," 11/22/05.
>
>
>
> In article <4387EE...@tcfreenet.invalid>, Tony Calguire
> <calg...@tcfreenet.invalid> writes:
>
> : I can't quite decide if my negative feelings about the show are
> : influenced by your analysis, or if I've subconsciously noticed this
> : season's shortcomings on my own.
>
> I have been hanging over the second season like a black rain cloud.
> I'll probably stop posting about _House_ when the second season is over.
> If the second season goes into reruns in January, though, I'd like to go
> back and start posting about the first season. I loved the first
> season, and since I came to it late, I'm nowhere near talked out about
> it.
Ah, Micky. I *love* your analyses. You're not dark, you just judge
fairly (even if I don't always agree with you!). The show has fallen
off in the second season, it's not bad of you to say so. I'm still
hoping they can get back on their feet, but I'm not pretending the show
is still as good as Season One, and neither should you.
We need intelligent people like you in Usenet, really we do.
Kate
Erin Woodbridge's Bestest Friend, Ian J. Ball
khal...@netzero.com wrote:
One thing to add - many(most?) series suffer "sophomore slumps"; but a
number of them (e.g. "Gilmore Girls" is one I can think of right of the
bat) bounce back from mediocre second seasons in their third seasons.
Let's hope "House" follows that pattern, and not the pattern of shows
like "The O.C.", "One Tree Hill" and "Without a Trace" (i.e. continually
*down*).
--
"I did *NOT* have sex with Gil Kurvers!" - Erin Woodbridge
(on numerous occasions), "Edgemont"
Tony Calguire
>
> Spoilers for "Hunting," 11/22/05.
>
>
> done it. He didn't think the disease risk was high even for Cameron.
> The risk would have been that much less for him, and he did use a
> condom. The higher risk was for Cameron to loathe him and herself the
> next day, and for massive workplace disruption in the months to come.
> He got really lucky, and I don't just mean the non-sucky sex.
>
Thanks for your analysis, Mickey.
One more thing I forgot to mention, everyone... what are we to make of
Chase's "cold sore" scene? Is it supposed to symbolize for us that he
could very well have caught something from Cameron?
Alan Pollock
> yeah, I'm about to waste the time plowing thru responding to all the verbage
> so you can spend a Masters degree worth of time babling even more
> FAT chance - not even if there were a slim prayer you could understand it
> Otto
Sigh. Have you finished now hon .. ooops, thought for a second you were my
first wife. Astounding similarity. The fine debating skills, the rich
vocabulary and above all that telltale modesty and understatement.
Trust me Otto, I hold you in abject respect. Nex
Frater Mus
On 2005-11-28, <calg...@tcfreenet.invalid> wrote:
> One more thing I forgot to mention, everyone... what are we to make of
> Chase's "cold sore" scene? Is it supposed to symbolize for us that he
> could very well have caught something from Cameron?
It raises his stake in her HIV+/- diagnosis.
--
http://cbsrmt.mousetrap.net/RMTdb/ CBS Radio Mystery Theater database
http://greyhound.mousetrap.net/altus/ Altus, retired racer
John McCain 2008 + http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting
khal...@netzero.com
Frater Mus wrote:
> ["Followup-To:" header set to rec.arts.tv.]
> On 2005-11-28, <calg...@tcfreenet.invalid> wrote:
>
> > One more thing I forgot to mention, everyone... what are we to make of
> > Chase's "cold sore" scene? Is it supposed to symbolize for us that he
> > could very well have caught something from Cameron?
>
> It raises his stake in her HIV+/- diagnosis.
I don't think it's a cold sore. I think it's a bite.
Betcha.
Kate
Micky DuPree
: Micky DuPree wrote:
:: I have been hanging over the second season like a black rain cloud.
:: I'll probably stop posting about _House_ when the second season is
:: over. If the second season goes into reruns in January, though, I'd
:: like to go back and start posting about the first season. I loved
:: the first season, and since I came to it late, I'm nowhere near
:: talked out about it.
:
: Ah, Micky. I *love* your analyses. You're not dark, you just judge
: fairly [....]
Thanks but the two are not mutually exclusive. :)
Just based on how I've reacted to drop-offs in quality in past series, I
doubt I'll still be posting about _House_ a year from now. It took me
only three episodes to give up on the second season of _Earth: Final
Conflict_, but since they killed off the lead character, it was easy to
see what the problem was and walk away. It took only about nine
episodes for me to walk away from the fifth season of _The West Wing_,
but the creator had left and the effect of that was obvious. However,
it took me a year to stop posting about _Buffy_ when it faltered, and I
never did stop watching, because the cause of the drop-off was never
obvious to me.
The difference between the first and second seasons of _House_ is even
more baffling to me. The writers just aren't as intelligent this
season, and yet the roster isn't radically different. The writers of
"The Mistake" don't know the difference between 'testimony' and
'testimonial.' I didn't make a big deal out of it since it wasn't in
the mouth of a regular character, but it was obviously an authorial
error that nobody caught. Things like that didn't used to happen.
(Yes, this is the "musing out loud" part, and yes, you need to be
here. :) )
: The show has fallen off in the second season, it's not bad of you to
: say so.
I don't think it's bad of me to say so either, but there does come a
point where I have to wonder what's the use of bad-mouthing a fatally
flawed show on a regular basis. I don't go to alt.tv.survivor and crab
all over its fans just because I think their beloved show sucks. It
just takes a while to let go is all. If I can find the time, I'd like
to start posting about the first season of _House_.
: I'm still hoping they can get back on their feet, but I'm not
: pretending the show is still as good as Season One, and neither should
: you.
Can you think of a single TV series that started out excellent, lost its
way, and then recovered its former glory? Can anyone?
: We need intelligent people like you in Usenet, really we do.
Thank you.
-Micky
Micky DuPree
: [...] what are we to make of Chase's "cold sore" scene? Is it
: supposed to symbolize for us that he could very well have caught
: something from Cameron?
It looked like a simple bruise to me, and I have a good copy of the
episode as analog copies go. But if they want to make it out to be a
bite or herpes or whatever, I'd be willing to roll with it.
-Micky
ANIM8Rfsk
MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply wrote on 12/7/05 7:39 AM:
> khal...@netzero.com writes:
>
> : Micky DuPree wrote:
>
> :: I have been hanging over the second season like a black rain cloud.
> :: I'll probably stop posting about _House_ when the second season is
> :: over. If the second season goes into reruns in January, though, I'd
> :: like to go back and start posting about the first season. I loved
> :: the first season, and since I came to it late, I'm nowhere near
> :: talked out about it.
> :
> : Ah, Micky. I *love* your analyses. You're not dark, you just judge
> : fairly [....]
>
> Thanks but the two are not mutually exclusive. :)
>
> Just based on how I've reacted to drop-offs in quality in past series, I
> doubt I'll still be posting about _House_ a year from now. It took me
> only three episodes to give up on the second season of _Earth: Final
> Conflict_, but since they killed off the lead character, it was easy to
> see what the problem was and walk away. It took only about nine
> episodes for me to walk away from the fifth season of _The West Wing_,
> but the creator had left and the effect of that was obvious. However,
> it took me a year to stop posting about _Buffy_ when it faltered, and I
> never did stop watching, because the cause of the drop-off was never
> obvious to me.
The drop off on Buffy was, to me, more dramatic than either of the total
revisions of EFC. Buffy season six was as dramatically different (and bad)
as The West Wing became this year.
--
You Can't Stop the Signal
SERENITY on DVD December 20th
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BW7QWW
Chelsea Christenson
> khal...@netzero.com writes:
> Can you think of a single TV series that started out excellent, lost its
> way, and then recovered its former glory? Can anyone?
Not exactly. But after a couple of seasons of being more of a chore to
watch than a pleasure, ER is starting to become enjoyable again. But that's
at the end of a very long run; I can't think of any short-term examples.
David Johnston
MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply (Micky DuPree) wrote:
>: I'm still hoping they can get back on their feet, but I'm not
>: pretending the show is still as good as Season One, and neither should
>: you.
>
>Can you think of a single TV series that started out excellent, lost its
>way, and then recovered its former glory? Can anyone?
>
Saturday Night Live. Not that it stayed good forever after.
Erin Woodbridge's Bestest Friend, Ian J. Ball
ANIM8Rfsk <ANIM...@cox.net> wrote:
> in article dn6s6q$t32$1...@pcls4.std.com, Micky DuPree at
> MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply wrote on 12/7/05 7:39 AM:
>
> > ...However,
> > it took me a year to stop posting about _Buffy_ when it faltered, and I
> > never did stop watching, because the cause of the drop-off was never
> > obvious to me.
>
> The drop off on Buffy was, to me, more dramatic than either of the total
> revisions of EFC. Buffy season six was as dramatically different (and bad)
> as The West Wing became this year.
It's times like these when I wish 'strikethrough' text was available on
Usenet... <sigh>
(You wanna talk "dramatically different (and bad)", let's start with
"Doomed" and go from there...)
Erin Woodbridge's Bestest Friend, Ian J. Ball
MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply (Micky DuPree) wrote:
> Can you think of a single TV series that started out excellent, lost its
> way, and then recovered its former glory? Can anyone?
Long-running shows like "Dallas" (and "Knots Landing") come close to
meeting this criteria - they went up, then down, and often went back up
again.
I also nominate the last season of "Melrose Place", for effectively
'righting' that show at the end of its run, after two supremely sucky
seasons before that.
Micky DuPree
: "Micky DuPree" <MDu...@theworld.com.snip.to.reply> wrote in message
: news:dn6s6q$t32$1...@pcls4.std.com...
:: Can you think of a single TV series that started out excellent, lost
:: its way, and then recovered its former glory? Can anyone?
:
: Not exactly. But after a couple of seasons of being more of a chore
: to watch than a pleasure, ER is starting to become enjoyable again.
: But that's at the end of a very long run; I can't think of any
: short-term examples.
It does seem to be the case that when a series is slipping in the
ratings, the producers are more open to new ideas, including allowing
Things to Happen. When a series is doing well, they usually don't want
to mess with a winning formula, so the status quo has to be restored at
the end of every hour, or at least at the end of every story line. But
if the status quo isn't delivering the goods, they may be willing to
allow major, life-changing events to occur, like two characters getting
married on impulse. Sometimes that can be refreshing, even if it's only
because it's not the same-old, same-old.
But _ER_ hasn't been top-notch to me since they had Greene beat up in
the bathroom. They turned him into a pathetic version of his former
self, and the show hasn't really had much of a moral center since then.
Carter was sort of the heir to the title, but he didn't pull it off with
authority. And I'm tired of Luka, Abby, and the nurse with the son
who's been incubating a personality disorder that none of those doctors
has been alarmed at. Yeah, I get it. They're not only damaged, but
they also like to wallow in it. Can we move on now?
Anyway, _House_ is doing better in the ratings now than it did last
season, so there's no commercial reason for the producers to think
they're doing anything wrong.
-Micky