readingrat | I was bored; so, sue me! (8X14) (Reply)

bored at Adams's indignation at the PotW's behaviour to his (ex-)girlfriend. That was so Thirteen, it could have come straight from the episode with the psychopath who cheated on her naive husband.
mostly bored by the patient's dilemma and by his girlfriend's suffering. Honestly, if you do stupid things like opting for a time-out in the relationship, then stupid things happen. Suck it up. Contrast this to the very real and unavoidable dilemma that the wife of that early-onset Alzheimer patient was in, and you get what I mean. Ummm, what exactly is the guy going to say to the Other Girl, the love-of-his-life who's waiting for him to break up with Melissa and come back to her? Am I the only one who thinks this is very 'high school'?
bored by Park's bad acid trip.
bored at the dinner with Wilson, House's parents (no, I'm not going to get into a debate on who's whose father here) and Dominika. My kids say I'm like Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory. I've watched a few episodes and I can't say they're wrong; I don't even feel insulted. (What's not cool about a Halloween costume that illustrates the Doppler effect? A costume illustrating the dual nature of light would be even cooler, but still.) Anyway, in one episode Leonard holds up a sign saying 'irony', because otherwise Sheldon doesn't get it. I guess I need one like that saying 'humour', or at least a soundtrack with artificial laughter, if I'm to know that I'm supposed to be amused at House dropping his trousers in a restaurant. I wasn't. Amused, I mean. I was embarrassed, not for House but for the writers, who probably thought this was a hilarious scene. I wasn't even particularly upset when House's 'father' rejected him, calling him diverse unflattering names, because if you introduce a figure more or less as a buffoon, then it doesn't matter if he doesn't take to your protagonist. His opinion, no matter how insulting, carries no weight. Contrast that scene to the coffee scene with Lucas at the conference in 'Known Unknowns' and again, you may get what I mean. Now that was agony.
somewhat put out at what the parallels between House and the PotW say about House. So he's come back from his little break with Cuddy to his original love, Wilson, not because he loves Wilson (if I remember correctly, at no point does the PotW say he loves Melissa or whatever her name was), but because he's so sad and mopey that he needs someone around, and that someone may as well be Wilson. And Wilson is pathetic enough to take him back on those terms.
mostly put out at the spin they gave to the Blythe/Thomas relationship. By making Thomas's reappearance in House's life a comic episode they wasted a good opportunity, rather like they did with the babysitting episode in S7, with its sex-for-babysitting and oh-my-god-she-swallowed-a-dime medical emergency. The meeting with John House in S1 was great angsty agony; this was - pshaw!
not bored at Blythe House manipulating absolutely everyone in this episode. It makes the question of House's paternity obsolete since his father's genes must have been recessive. It does, however, make her culpable in a big way for the abuse House suffered at his father's hands in his childhood. To be that manipulative, she has to have considerable powers of observation and potential for putting an end to it - the myth of the long-suffering officer's wife who tried her best to keep two difficult men from taking each other apart is somewhat debunked by the realisation that she's every bit as resourceful as House. If she chose not to use that resoucefulness to further his interests, then that's all on her.

The last scene between Wilson and House felt - wrong. I doubt Wilson would ever be so indiscreet as to call House's mother a slut. And House, for all his obsessive interest in matters sexual, is not a lance bearer for marital infidelity. He's the one who is more upset at Wilson's infidelities than Wilson is and who tries to keep Taub on the straight and narrow. (Please note: it wasn't Wilson's errand dick that attracted House, but the contrast between his smooth exterior and his glass-breaking spree.) Besides, children, no matter what sexual morals they themselves espouse, are seldom glad to hear of their parents' sexual escapades. In Season 1, the scene would have gone:

House: It means she slept with three guys at the same time.
Wilson (uncertainly): I guess that makes her - interesting.
House: No. (Turning back to his work, a contemplative, possibly sad expression on his face) It makes her a slut.