The Power of the Prefrontal Cortex: 7X16
Mar. 15th, 2011 10:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
readingratIt's back to business, House-style, and it's great. If 'Bombshells' left me shell-shocked, 'Out of the Chute' left me elated. Perhaps I should try for a tad more empathy and a sprinkling of gut-wrenching sorrow that our hero is on a bender, but hey, we did that last week so our period of quarantine is over and we are free to rejoice in his misery. There were tons of good things about this episode:
We got the medicine back
Finally, finally a case that felt like real medicine again. We had two medical procedures that qualified as extreme by present standards: frying the patient in the MRI and exploding his heart. Both were visually satisfying, what with the patient literally steaming and then his blood spurting all over the place, so that we got a sense of medical urgency for a change. In addition House seemed more present during the differentials than he has been in weeks past, even though he was bodily absent most of the time. I must admit that House murdering a hooker with a bow and arrow did distract me a trifle from that particular DDX, so that I'm not really sure why they fried the patient, but one can't have 'em all, I guess.
We got the connection between POTW and House
Here's the bull, angry, pissed, breaking out of the chute, ripping up everything in its way - and there is House ... I think one needn't elaborate. Lovely sequence in the teaser, and I really liked the music.
Then the patient, someone who is obsessed to the point that he has broken more or less every bone in his body to be able to follow that obsession. Towards the end of the episode, House himself goes to the man to get his consent for the final procedure, the one that, if it doesn't kill him, will certainly put an end to his career. House, the expert on obsession, expects resistance, which is why he didn't send a member of his team. The patient, however, is absolutely amenable. He'll find something else to love, he notes without a sign of regret. House is flummoxed, and it is not clear whether he can absorb the message. You can always find something to give your heart to, if that's what you need. It doesn't have to be that one person or that one profession (yes, I believe this is also aimed at House's belief that he's nothing if he isn't the best diagnostician around).
We got House on rampage
Masters ...
... is unimportant. She's leaving the show sooner rather than later, and until then she's there to hammer in some message that is being dropped anvil by anvil. In this episode it is the Bad News that we are powerless against the might of our prefrontal cortex. Masters can't help doting on the broken-boned bull rider, no matter what the rational part of her brain tells her. Where's the connection to House?
House has been dumped, badly and unexpectedly. He's devastated, he's numbing himself, and everyone expects him to indulge in a pity party. So does he himself, for House has learnt from the lessons taught by Stacy's first departure: it's no use going into denial about having one's heart broken, because then the agony will last all that much longer. Being a rational being, House has thought it all through. He will really, really go on a bender - the bender of all benders - for a fortnight, that being the time limit he's set himself (is he trying to prove that Wilson is a wuss for taking longer?), but then he'll have exorcised his demons and be able to go back to normal. It's a wonderful plan, so brilliant that for all of ten seconds I thought he might pull it off, but it is, of course, denial with a capital 'D'. For House has reckoned without his prefrontal cortex. That nasty traitor is plunging a dagger into his rearside, because it has decided to slump into a depression. House may rationalise all he likes, plan his recovery from heartache and implement all the necessary measures, but if his prefrontal cortex has determined that it needs 'time out', then there's nothing he can do about it. Lesson to be learnt: we can facilitate our recovery from traumatic situations, but we can't plan it like a military manoeuvre.
The team watches in disgust, Wilson in resignation and we in amusement (okay, let's not generalise, but I for my part was amused) as House's measures to amuse himself go from extreme to extremer to extremest (okay, I stopped grinning then): hookers, booze, vicodin, a hurdy-gurdy, shocking his team, planning a fake murder to mess around with the bell boy. If we hadn't noticed it yet, we'd have Wilson to tell us: House is trying everything that might prove a distraction. In the end, not even solving the case with a dead dangerous procedure provides the necessary kick. House's slump into depression is unstoppable. His final effort is near suicidal.
Some of the footage shown in the promo illustrated House's loneliness well: House lying seemingly alone in a big bed, House balanced on the balcony. In both cases it turns out that he's not alone; in the first case he has a hooker with him, in the second he is poised above a seething mass of humanity. But the truth is that he is alone, although he surrounds himself with all sorts of people.
We got lots of Wilson
Commiseration is due not to the two main combatants, but to Wilson. He does his Wilson-esque best, and this is what he's good at - picking up the mess. It's amusing as Wilson tries his best to cajole and coerce House into a sensible course of dealing with his problems, only to hit a rubber wall of resistance. He bounces off House, but he never stops trying. We admire Wilson for facingThe Enemy and trying to persuade her to rescind her decision. It can't be easy for Wilson, who needs Cuddy to cooperate, but probably wants to slap her against the wall. Wilson can't know that Cuddy is right - that she is the problem and not the easy fix - so his efforts deserve full credit. And we are oddly comforted by his continuous presence around House, dropping in on him, not allowing House to drive him away and refusing to be baited by House's snide digs. House may not want his advice, but he seems to desire his presence. He complains that Wilson didn't come earlier, incorporates him in his activities and doesn't run away from him until Wilson gets really pushy. I loved the scene in the bar; it combined all that is best in House/Wilson interactions.
I think we are meant to spot the difference between Wilson's conduct and House's in similar circumstances. When Sam dumped Wilson, House threw him out of his apartment because he wanted to spend an evening with his newly reconciled girlfriend. He offered no comfort that we could see, was visibly irritated by Wilson's heartache and even called off their few evenings together. To put it bluntly, in a situation like that House is not a good friend. It's a good thing that Wilson can cope with emotional problems on his own. Wilson once says to House that he prefers talking to Amber's memory than to House because he can't talk to House; there's some truth in that, I'm afraid. House will bail Wilson out of jail and he'll allow him to hang around in his apartment, but he shuts himself off emotionally. (No, in this matter I'm not Team House.)
It was the final scene that got me: Wilson watching as House jumps from the balcony. To paraphrase a line that Theoden says in The Lord of the Rings (film, not book): 'No man should have to watch his best friend jump off the edge.' I have full sympathy for Wilson for walking away from that. There's just so much a friend can take before he breaks.
We got 'normal' Cuddy (and House)
This was the 'real' thing after six months of very odd stuff. Can anyone but Cuddy manage to be selfish, narcissistic and guilty, all in one scene (okay, two scenes)? In her office she acknowledges that this major disaster is her fault (this goes down well with Team House), but says just as clearly that she will look out for herself, not for House. And later, when Wilson comes to her place, she says she is House's problem. She is right to some degree - 'Recession Proof' and 'Bombshells' showed that - but it is narcissistic nonetheless. We can be thankful that Cuddy is selfish, because House needs to deal with his issues and stop relying on the endorphins that his relationship with Cuddy released. He has to crash in a major way to be able to put himself together again. That is painful for Wilson to watch, especially since House may do something so abysmally stupid that he won't survive the crash, but going back to Cuddy is not the solution. It's alleviating the symptoms, not treating the underlying malady.
And then we got one of the very very few House/Cuddy scenes of the season that felt like earlier seasons of House: Cuddy questions a procedure and House coerces her into tolerating it. I loved his, 'And ... she caves!' He hasn't done that in so long, he's been tiptoeing around her for so long, that it felt good to have that ruthlessness in his treatment of her back again. Both seemed more themselves in this scene than in most other scenes this season. One sensed the hurt, the guilt, the embarrassment, but above all the short confrontation showed that they both function better when the bother of keeping their relationship intact does not influence their workplace interactions. I can live with them exuding all sorts of pain if they can find back to their old rhythm.
The only thing that jarred a bit was the writers' blatant rehabilitation of Cuddy. I don't object to a rehabilitation as such; what I object to is the kind of writing that makes it necessary. After the last episode I assumed that the writers hadn't realised or didn't care that Cuddy leaving House to relapse wouldn't really improve her standing in the fan community (see my thoughts on the Liz Friedman interview). It seems neither was the case, because in this episode (written before the other one aired) Cuddy gets to express her belief that the one-off vicodin that House confessed to would stay just that. Until Wilson informs her of House's relapse she assumes that he is fine. Whether we consider this a credible story is not the point; the point is that the writers got themselves into a situation in which they need to resort to convoluted, barely credible explanation for a character's behaviour. Now that pisses me off. When I write serious fanfic I spend a lot of time making sure that what the characters do makes sense. If it doesn't, then I abandon promising scenes. But other than that I found the episode very enjoyable.
If this episode was 'Denial' and the next one looks set to be 'Anger', do we get a quintet of grieving coming our way?
We got the medicine back
Finally, finally a case that felt like real medicine again. We had two medical procedures that qualified as extreme by present standards: frying the patient in the MRI and exploding his heart. Both were visually satisfying, what with the patient literally steaming and then his blood spurting all over the place, so that we got a sense of medical urgency for a change. In addition House seemed more present during the differentials than he has been in weeks past, even though he was bodily absent most of the time. I must admit that House murdering a hooker with a bow and arrow did distract me a trifle from that particular DDX, so that I'm not really sure why they fried the patient, but one can't have 'em all, I guess.
We got the connection between POTW and House
Here's the bull, angry, pissed, breaking out of the chute, ripping up everything in its way - and there is House ... I think one needn't elaborate. Lovely sequence in the teaser, and I really liked the music.
Then the patient, someone who is obsessed to the point that he has broken more or less every bone in his body to be able to follow that obsession. Towards the end of the episode, House himself goes to the man to get his consent for the final procedure, the one that, if it doesn't kill him, will certainly put an end to his career. House, the expert on obsession, expects resistance, which is why he didn't send a member of his team. The patient, however, is absolutely amenable. He'll find something else to love, he notes without a sign of regret. House is flummoxed, and it is not clear whether he can absorb the message. You can always find something to give your heart to, if that's what you need. It doesn't have to be that one person or that one profession (yes, I believe this is also aimed at House's belief that he's nothing if he isn't the best diagnostician around).
We got House on rampage
Masters ...
... is unimportant. She's leaving the show sooner rather than later, and until then she's there to hammer in some message that is being dropped anvil by anvil. In this episode it is the Bad News that we are powerless against the might of our prefrontal cortex. Masters can't help doting on the broken-boned bull rider, no matter what the rational part of her brain tells her. Where's the connection to House?
House has been dumped, badly and unexpectedly. He's devastated, he's numbing himself, and everyone expects him to indulge in a pity party. So does he himself, for House has learnt from the lessons taught by Stacy's first departure: it's no use going into denial about having one's heart broken, because then the agony will last all that much longer. Being a rational being, House has thought it all through. He will really, really go on a bender - the bender of all benders - for a fortnight, that being the time limit he's set himself (is he trying to prove that Wilson is a wuss for taking longer?), but then he'll have exorcised his demons and be able to go back to normal. It's a wonderful plan, so brilliant that for all of ten seconds I thought he might pull it off, but it is, of course, denial with a capital 'D'. For House has reckoned without his prefrontal cortex. That nasty traitor is plunging a dagger into his rearside, because it has decided to slump into a depression. House may rationalise all he likes, plan his recovery from heartache and implement all the necessary measures, but if his prefrontal cortex has determined that it needs 'time out', then there's nothing he can do about it. Lesson to be learnt: we can facilitate our recovery from traumatic situations, but we can't plan it like a military manoeuvre.
The team watches in disgust, Wilson in resignation and we in amusement (okay, let's not generalise, but I for my part was amused) as House's measures to amuse himself go from extreme to extremer to extremest (okay, I stopped grinning then): hookers, booze, vicodin, a hurdy-gurdy, shocking his team, planning a fake murder to mess around with the bell boy. If we hadn't noticed it yet, we'd have Wilson to tell us: House is trying everything that might prove a distraction. In the end, not even solving the case with a dead dangerous procedure provides the necessary kick. House's slump into depression is unstoppable. His final effort is near suicidal.
Some of the footage shown in the promo illustrated House's loneliness well: House lying seemingly alone in a big bed, House balanced on the balcony. In both cases it turns out that he's not alone; in the first case he has a hooker with him, in the second he is poised above a seething mass of humanity. But the truth is that he is alone, although he surrounds himself with all sorts of people.
We got lots of Wilson
Commiseration is due not to the two main combatants, but to Wilson. He does his Wilson-esque best, and this is what he's good at - picking up the mess. It's amusing as Wilson tries his best to cajole and coerce House into a sensible course of dealing with his problems, only to hit a rubber wall of resistance. He bounces off House, but he never stops trying. We admire Wilson for facingThe Enemy and trying to persuade her to rescind her decision. It can't be easy for Wilson, who needs Cuddy to cooperate, but probably wants to slap her against the wall. Wilson can't know that Cuddy is right - that she is the problem and not the easy fix - so his efforts deserve full credit. And we are oddly comforted by his continuous presence around House, dropping in on him, not allowing House to drive him away and refusing to be baited by House's snide digs. House may not want his advice, but he seems to desire his presence. He complains that Wilson didn't come earlier, incorporates him in his activities and doesn't run away from him until Wilson gets really pushy. I loved the scene in the bar; it combined all that is best in House/Wilson interactions.
I think we are meant to spot the difference between Wilson's conduct and House's in similar circumstances. When Sam dumped Wilson, House threw him out of his apartment because he wanted to spend an evening with his newly reconciled girlfriend. He offered no comfort that we could see, was visibly irritated by Wilson's heartache and even called off their few evenings together. To put it bluntly, in a situation like that House is not a good friend. It's a good thing that Wilson can cope with emotional problems on his own. Wilson once says to House that he prefers talking to Amber's memory than to House because he can't talk to House; there's some truth in that, I'm afraid. House will bail Wilson out of jail and he'll allow him to hang around in his apartment, but he shuts himself off emotionally. (No, in this matter I'm not Team House.)
It was the final scene that got me: Wilson watching as House jumps from the balcony. To paraphrase a line that Theoden says in The Lord of the Rings (film, not book): 'No man should have to watch his best friend jump off the edge.' I have full sympathy for Wilson for walking away from that. There's just so much a friend can take before he breaks.
We got 'normal' Cuddy (and House)
This was the 'real' thing after six months of very odd stuff. Can anyone but Cuddy manage to be selfish, narcissistic and guilty, all in one scene (okay, two scenes)? In her office she acknowledges that this major disaster is her fault (this goes down well with Team House), but says just as clearly that she will look out for herself, not for House. And later, when Wilson comes to her place, she says she is House's problem. She is right to some degree - 'Recession Proof' and 'Bombshells' showed that - but it is narcissistic nonetheless. We can be thankful that Cuddy is selfish, because House needs to deal with his issues and stop relying on the endorphins that his relationship with Cuddy released. He has to crash in a major way to be able to put himself together again. That is painful for Wilson to watch, especially since House may do something so abysmally stupid that he won't survive the crash, but going back to Cuddy is not the solution. It's alleviating the symptoms, not treating the underlying malady.
And then we got one of the very very few House/Cuddy scenes of the season that felt like earlier seasons of House: Cuddy questions a procedure and House coerces her into tolerating it. I loved his, 'And ... she caves!' He hasn't done that in so long, he's been tiptoeing around her for so long, that it felt good to have that ruthlessness in his treatment of her back again. Both seemed more themselves in this scene than in most other scenes this season. One sensed the hurt, the guilt, the embarrassment, but above all the short confrontation showed that they both function better when the bother of keeping their relationship intact does not influence their workplace interactions. I can live with them exuding all sorts of pain if they can find back to their old rhythm.
The only thing that jarred a bit was the writers' blatant rehabilitation of Cuddy. I don't object to a rehabilitation as such; what I object to is the kind of writing that makes it necessary. After the last episode I assumed that the writers hadn't realised or didn't care that Cuddy leaving House to relapse wouldn't really improve her standing in the fan community (see my thoughts on the Liz Friedman interview). It seems neither was the case, because in this episode (written before the other one aired) Cuddy gets to express her belief that the one-off vicodin that House confessed to would stay just that. Until Wilson informs her of House's relapse she assumes that he is fine. Whether we consider this a credible story is not the point; the point is that the writers got themselves into a situation in which they need to resort to convoluted, barely credible explanation for a character's behaviour. Now that pisses me off. When I write serious fanfic I spend a lot of time making sure that what the characters do makes sense. If it doesn't, then I abandon promising scenes. But other than that I found the episode very enjoyable.
If this episode was 'Denial' and the next one looks set to be 'Anger', do we get a quintet of grieving coming our way?
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Date: 2011-03-16 10:53 pm (UTC)I did not like the episode, visually brilliant and spectacular, but fake-vintage House at first start. I am not bothered by his ways of coping ;I just found them all guilty after last week's mess.
Reading your review helps and clears House's motivations. And the flatness I felt could be voluntary to reflect House's.
Not happy about his probable down spiral, but still curious of how he will climb back. If TPTB lets him do that.
Thanks for your insights.