House—Alone

House starts out weird tonight, and while I'm completely in favor of the whole vintage Han shot first Star Wars thing, the weird handheld camera push-ins that look like they came out of The Office I could do without. Seriously, that stuff gives me motion sickness.

Oh, and then a building blows up, with Miss I Don't Really Like Star Wars inside. Not to be judgmental, but that's what you get when you voice that kind of blasphemy. But she survives, and makes it to Princeton Plainsboro, where House is jamming on his electric guitar in his office. She has a fever, and it seems like she was hallucinating before the explosion. If I ever have hallucinations I hope they're more interesting than Office-like push-ins.

Cuddy isn't happy with House--so what's new?--because he hasn't hired a new team yet. (Remember how everybody quit last season?) House sets out to prove he doesn't need a team.

In the midst of the usual medical mystery, Wilson kidnaps House's guitar and holds it for ransom--he'll give it back if House interviews candidates to hire. Seems like everybody wants him to bring on some actual doctors instead of the janitor he's recruited to bounce ideas off. House retaliates by threatening to delete telenovelas off Wilson's TiVo. Then Wilson hurts the guitar so House kidnaps Wilson's patient. In the end, House finds his way to a heartbreaker of a twist ending, and finally relents and interviews a roomful of candidates for his new team. And the guitar returns happily intact, which is a relief.

I've missed the lighthearted House/Wilson interaction and really enjoyed it tonight. Oddly, though I, didn't miss the rest of the team that much. I'm sure I'll enjoy them all when they come back, but in the meantime House the loner with Wilson nipping at his heels is plenty of entertainment for me.

Pilot Episodes—the Hard Way

Just a little reflection on pilot episodes.

Many pilots use a lot of introductory techniques to pull the watcher into the story. Most commonly, the pilot occurs at a shifting point, where a character is dropped into a new situation, and has to learn about what's going on. See Dean dragging Sam off to hunt demons after Sam's hiatus from the family business in Supernatural, or Farscape, where John Crichton is suddenly dropped into an unfamiliar world, or Buffy coming to a new school. This usually works really well, because the viewer can learn about the new setting along with the central character.

But let's talk about a couple of shows that didn't do that.

Gilmore Girls and House both start in the middle of an established setting. Rory and Lorelai already live and work in Stars Hollow, they know everyone around them, and they've been established in that community for years. House already works at Princeton Plainsboro. In both cases, the viewer was dropped right in the middle, and the pilot episodes felt very much like mid-season episodes. The exposition was kept to a bare minimum, with no voice over to explain things (my issues with voice over should be a separate post because I could go on and on). But in both cases, everything was set out quite clearly, without awkwardness or apology or painfully shoehorned exposition. I found this impressive on both counts. This is probably the most difficult way to approach a pilot episode, and in both cases it was accomplished very well.

House—Human Error

A Cuban refugee wants to see House to have her medical condition diagnosed. Unfortunately, her medical records were lost in the ocean. The team tries to convince House to talk Foreman into staying, but House isn't interested. The Cuban woman's condition of course proves to have convoluted and weird symptoms, including spontaneous heart stoppage (although she can still talk), and House is cantankerous about Foreman and the rest of the team, to the point of firing Chase (which Wilson thinks is a ploy to get Foreman back). By the end, House diagnoses the mysterious ailment as a heart defect, fights with God for credit, and all of House's team has either resigned or been fired except Wilson. Well, that's not too likely to continue into next season, since as far as I know nobody's leaving the show. I think that's what we call a non-cliffhanger cliffhanger. As far as a season ender, kind of meh, but still overall a stronger last third of the season, as I said in my Catching Up post.

Josh Ritter--Good Man

House—Catching Up

Yes, I know that's not an episode title--that's just me, you know, catching up.

With the long weekend proving to be happily productive on other fronts, I decided to indulge in some catchup TV viewage. Since I was a few episodes behind on House, I buzzed through the DVR listings and finished up the episodes waiting there to be watched. And there's still one more, with House's season finale airing tomorrow night.

I have to say I think the last third of this season has been far stronger than the middle third was. So, in my estimation, this season went--good first third, weak middle third (with the long arc involving House's Vicodin addiction), good last third. Which is not too bad, and has made for some good entertainment overall. I'm hoping to finish watching Season 2 over the summer (I've watched about half of it), so I'll check in later with progress reports on that front.

For those keeping score, the episodes I watched yesterday were "Fetal Position" (I held this one back for quite a while because of the subject matter), "Family," and "Resignation." I caught "The Jerk" when it aired because I was at a friend's house at the time, so that leaves me with just the season finale to watch tomorrow.

Season Three on iTunes:

House—House Training

I dropped my House reviews a while ago, because I was running out of things to say besides, medical mystery part was interesting, character part not so much, House still a jerk, Wilson still adorable, Foreman still totally hot. I also fell behind in my House viewage, but I watched "House Training" over the weekend and wanted to say a bit about it.

I haven't watched every episode of House yet--I've seen all of S1 and I think the first third of S2--and I know they've lost patients, but I think this might be the first time they've lost a patient because the doctors plain screwed up. I was seriously expecting House to pull a sudden, miraculous, life-saving diagnosis out of his um...ear in the last ten minutes, but he didn't, and I think it was a better story for that. The character portions were better in this episode, too--House's interaction with Wilson's ex showed a new, almost even meaner side without going over the top, as I felt a couple of earlier episodes did. And Foreman's bits with his parents were wonderful, especially that last, heart-wrenching scene where he searches for absolution and gets it--almost.

And--House still a jerk, Wilson still adorable, Foreman still hot.

Anyway, I thought this episode was worth at least a quickie review. Also, here's a song.

Follow the Leader--Matthew Ryan



House on iTunes:

New at iTunes

House, M.D. Seasons 3 and 2 available now, with Season 1 to come.



Hannah Montana. My daughter loves this show, thus the plug.

House—Half-Wit

Tonight's episode guest-stars Dave Matthews as Patrick, a musical savant whose talents manifested after a severe bus accident. While is skills as a pianist are prodigious, his social skills are severely lacking. And tonight when he goes onstage to play, he crashes and burns, unable to properly move his hands. House is, of course, fascinated.

In the meantime, House is planning a mysterious trip to Massachusetts General Hospital. Following up vague clues, Cuddy determines that House has brain cancer. This will annoy the Fox network, which already renewed this show for a fourth season. It also distracts the team from diagnosing Patrick, who's getting worse and worse. Eventually House comes to the conclusion that major brain surgery will allow Patrick to have a more normal life, but he won't be able to play the piano anymore.

Dave Matthews handled his role quite competently, and the storyline allowed both Matthews and Hugh Laurie to showcase their piano skills, both of which elements proved to be quite entertaining, and the main, medical mystery plotline was solid. But the "House has cancer--no he really doesn't" subplot struck me as overkill for the point they were trying to make.

Dave Matthews at iTunes

This Week's TV Guide

The new TV Guide (for March 5-11, with the cast of House on the cover), has several articles of interest.

First, the cover story with the cast of House is an interesting read with some great pictures.

A couple of small bits on Lost, with fans responding to Charlie's apparent impending death, and an article about the falling ratings, and another short article addressing some of the boys' apparent need for sugar mamas (I volunteer--wait, I don't have enough money. Pout).

A short Q&A with Zachary Quinto of Heroes (Sylar).

A review of The Black Donnellys by Matt Roush. (He didn't like it. I think he was unnecessarily harsh.)

An interview with Ali Larter of Heroes (Niki/Jessica).

An interview with Nicolas Cage (yes, that Nicolas Cage), regarding The Dresden Files, which he executive produces.

House—Insensitive

We start with a mom and daughter driving in the snow. I've had enough snow in real life--do I really need to watch it on TV? And as they argue they are hit by a truck. Seems like "Bad Moon Rising" should be playing about now. The girl has a piece of metal rammed into her leg but doesn't seem too concerned about it as she calls for help.

Back at the hospital, it's Valentine's Day, which hasn't mellowed our resident grumptastic Dr. House one bit. He takes one look at Hannah, our car crash girl, and decides she has a genetic insensitivity to pain. Of course his curiosity is piqued, and he orders a gamut of tests. A nicely played and amusing game of one-ups-manship between House and Hannah makes it clear that his interest in her lack of pain is directly tied to his interest in relieving his own. (And of course the title could refer to either one of them.) Given this motivation, his pursuit of the case becomes a bit more obsessive than usual. And while he's involved in that, he also finds time to interfere with Cuddy's blind date.

The case this time is overly odd and extreme, which is typical for this show, but there are times when it seems they're reaching for oddness and extreme-ness. I guess after a while you start running out of bizarre ailments. Although that's part of the fun of the show--googling after or during to see how accurate they managed to be with the science. It's usually a mixed bag. I found an article about an inbred family in Pakistan whose members could not feel pain, and another article referring to Riley-Day syndrome , found among Ashkenazi Jews as referenced in the ep, although Hannah's condition was referred to as CIPA. What little I could find about CIPA didn't connect it to Ashkenazi Jews, but to other homogeneous societies (apparently it's more common in Japan, though still very rare). In this episode, though, Hannah's condition was finally traced to B12 deficiency caused by a tapeworm. I have no idea if that's accurate, and forgive me if I really, really don't want to google tapeworms.

Looks like another American Idol-induced hiatus is in store, pre-empting House for the next three weeks.

Boy Is My Face Red

A correction, an admission of guilt, and some housekeeping...

Woke up this morning to find a kind anonymous commenter had pointed out that I called Howard Epps Omar Epps. (Note to self: No more tequila while blogging.) I dutifully went to edit the post, and Blogger was in that mood where it won't let any posts be edited. While poking around trying to get it to cooperate, I accidentally deleted the entire post. So the Bones review from last night is now at http://talkin-bout-tv.blogspot.com/2007/02/bones-girl-in-gator_08.html.

To the anonymous commenter--thanks for pointing this out. I didn't delete your comment--well, actually I did, but not on purpose and I ended up deleting the entire post along with it. So nothing personal.

To Omar Epps--I do not think you're a serial killer. I think you're a hottie. I blame my mistake on the tequila and the House reference earlier in the post. Okay, actually, I blame Stephen Fry.

PSA: Drinking while blogging? Never a good idea.

House—Needle in a Haystack

We're back to the usual format as we open with Mysterious Ailment Victim, Stevie, a teenager who's in a car making out with his girlfriend. He starts wheezing uncontrollably and I feel warm and cozy because this looks more like the show I'm used to.

House's diagnosis of the teen is complicated by the fact that he's Romany. Conflict ensues when the parents arrive and try to enforce their traditions, even as it interferes with treatment. They end up dealing more directly with Stevie, bypassing parental consent in a not particularly legal manner. In the end, the source of his troubles proves to be more mundane than expected. And, as usual, it isn't lupus.

In the meantime, House spars with Cuddy to get his parking space back from a new doctor, who's wheelchair bound.

So House is back to formula, as is a far better show for it. Let's hope last week's episode was just a fluke, and they won't try anything like that again. Or if they do, that they'll execute it a whole lot better.

Some quibbles--the cultural conflict that interferes with diagnosis and/or treatment has been done to death, and gets tiresome after a while. I know little or nothing about modern day Romany culture (except that a while back they used to shove souls into vampires, but that's a different show), but it seemed a little too shallow and pat to me. On the other hand, Stevie's final decision to accept his family's culture rather than take the internship Foreman offered was nicely done. It wasn't patronizing, nor were we made to feel like he'd made the wrong choice. So that mitigated things a bit. My other quibble? Not enough Wilson.

Overall, a good installment.

The song at the end was In the Waiting Line, by Zero 7, from the soundtrack to Garden State.

House—One Day, One Room

Cuddy totally owns House's ass now, as House is sent to clinic duty. House is bored silly and obnoxious in his House-like way, until Cuddy makes a bet with him concerning how many patients he can diagnose without actually touching them. Out of the stint in the clinic comes a rape victim who for some reason wants to bond with House, and a cancer patient, treated by Cameron, who insists he must die in pain in order to be remembered.

This was a strange episode, and not just because of the major departure from the usual Nearly Unsolvable Medical Mystery plot. It seemed to be overly focused on navel-gazing and philosophizing, in an on-the-nose manner that's atypical for this show. Departures in a show aren't always a bad thing--often they allow the actors to stretch and take their characters places they wouldn't normally go. But in this case the episode struck me as less of a show than what we normally get from House, with all the usual layers of characterization and clever writing peeled away to leave behind a didactic mess. The writers finally rallied at the end, giving us some nice moments with Cameron and House and their respective patients, but it wasn't quite enough to save the episode as a whole. Kudos to the writing team, though, for at least trying something different.

To Arc or Not to Arc?

The TV series of today seems to constantly have to struggle between the concept of standalone episodes and the serial arc. The serial arc seems to be in vogue at the moment, even though several shows with very strong serial structures have bombed heartily this season (Day Break, The Nine, Vanished). How does a show find the balance here? Is one approach truly better storytelling than the other? Or does it just depend on the show?

There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to each approach. With a show that depends largely on standalone episodes, a new viewer can drop in at any time and still be able to get the gist of the show. However, that show loses an opportunity for deeper, more complex storylines and longer character development arcs. On the other hand, a show that depends on serial arcs can easily lose a new viewer, thus reducing its chances of building its audience in later seasons. Several of my favorite shows have fallen into this conundrum, including Farscapeand Angel, both of which had developed very complex arcs by the third and fourth seasons. Angel addressed this by retooling the show in Season Five to be a bit more standalone; Farscape just got cancelled.

Some shows manage to find a good balance between these two approaches. The X-Files used standalone stories through most of the season, with an underlying story arc that they revisited during sweeps. (If it's February, there must be black oil.) Supernatural seems to be following a similar pattern—not unexpected given the preponderance of X-Files alumni on their writing/production staff, though they seem to also be focusing more on their story arc during the second half of the season. This gives the audience a chance to orient themselves to the general premise of the show before plunging into the full-on arc. It seems to work—I came into the show three episodes from the end of last season and had no trouble figuring out what was going on. Bones presents the case of the week as a standalone story, but there are other subplots playing out in the background which are strongly character oriented, such as the Jack/Angela romance and the mystery of Brennan's parents. Just about any episode of House can be viewed as a standalone, but they also throw in an occasional arc, such as the Tritter storyline from this season.

Other shows seem to be pulling in strong audience numbers in spite of—or perhaps because of—their complex arcs. Lost is still doing well in its third season, and Heroes has taken off with a bang. Both these shows are strongly driven by a complex and layered story structure. In the case of Lost, though, some of the audience seems to be tiring of a storyline that seems to become more and more convoluted as it develops, with few answers to be had (see my post here for news on how Abrams and Lindelof, et al may be planning to handle that). Heroes has yet to prove if its complicated storyline will sustain a long-term audience, but so far so good.

I think some shows are simply better suited to story arcs than others. Angel's first season, when they used a more standalone structure, wasn't nearly as strong as the later seasons, when they headed into serialized plotlines. And in Season Five, they tried to do more standalone episodes, but quickly moved back into the serial structure, completely giving up on the standalone concept the minute they found out they'd been canceled, much to the show's benefit. Superatural's arc/standalone alternation seems to be working out quite well, as does Bones' mostly standalone structure. On the other hand, House seems to me to be more enjoyable when they're concentrating on the case of the week, rather than on a background story, especially when that storyline goes on for several episodes.

I have to admit to a preference for shows with a strong story arc. In spite of that, they tend to make me nervous. First, because the new ones so often don't last. Second, because when they do work, pressure to keep the story going becomes such that the storylines tend to get bloated and out of control just to sustain the storyline so the show can continue. This seems to be happening with Lost—it'll be interesting to see if the growing complexity of the storyline, intended to keep the show going, instead leads to ratings loss and eventual cancellation. It seems to me that a better approach is the one taken by shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel—a strong story arc, but with major storylines that are wrapped up within the course of a single season. And with shows like Bones or House, strong standalone stories seasoned with less involved story arcs that play out more or less in the background.

House--Words and Deeds

Tonight's House double-header featured a rerun of "Merry Little Christmas," the last episode aired before the holiday break. In all the bustle of the holidays I managed to not review this episode, but it was an interesting one, featuring House detoxing while he diagnoses a little girl afflicted with dwarfism. Wilson, recanting on his decision to testify against House, is pushed farther into a corner by Tritter, who continues his crusade. At the end, House finally approaches Tritter, telling him he's ready to take the deal. But Tritter has, once again, changed the rules.

On to "Words and Deeds." The case for the night is a firefighter who displays erratic behavior after emerging from a burning building. In the meantime, House appears in court, where it seems he has little chance of staying out of jail. (His lawyer, interestingly enough, is played by Kadeem Hardison. Anybody remember A Different World?)

As a last resort, House throws himself on the mercy of Tritter and offers an apology, which Tritter rejects as insincere. Distracted by his predicament, House seems uninterested in the week's medical mystery, and decides to check himself into rehab.

Chase, Cameron and Foreman are left to make the diagnosis on their own, while House attempts to endure rehab. They still consult with him, and House suggests an unorthodox treatment for the firefighter (there's a shocker--literally this time).

Tritter visits House in rehab. He still refuses to bend, even in the face of House's sincere effort to kick his Vicodin habit. House goes off on him. But rehab must be getting to him, because he offers Wilson a sincere apology.

During the hearing, House gets a call regarding the patient's allotted major plot twist, and walks out to return to the hospital. When he returns, Cuddy presents a piece of evidence that changes the course of the hearing.

I think the thing that has bothered me the most about this story arc is that it's so similar to the first season story arc with Chi McBride, even down to the story beats. House and the team face powerful opponent, one of the team turns traitor, everyone is backed up against the wall, House caves, but when he caves the powerful opponent changes the rules to maintain the power balance on his side. Watching the Season One DVD set at the same time as the current season made the similarities seem even stronger, to the detriment of the Tritter arc. Also much like the Vogler arc, the conclusion here is rather unrealistic and not entirely satisfactory.

Trivia
Vyto Ruginis, the prosecuting attorney, played Russell Winters in the pilot episode of Angel.
The song at the end of the episode is "Season of the Witch," by Donovan

In other House news, Jennifer Morrison (Cameron) and Jesse Spencer (Chase) got engaged over the weekend in Paris. (Why Paris? Why not someplace fun, like Detroit?) I wish them a future full of health, happiness, and few if any undiagnosable ailments.

House—Finding Judas

Tritter continues his quest, which is starting to paralyze the hospital, while House and his team attempt to diagnose a six-year-old girl with mysterious abdominal pain. Of course what initially seems to be a simple, if unusual, case of gallstones, becomes something far more serious. House concentrates on the case while the rest of the gang deal with Tritter's bullying tactics, and House resorts to his own bullying tactics to treat the little girl over her parents' objections.

In a way it's almost hard to understand why the team sticks to House so loyally. They all know he's addicted to Vicodin, and he treats all of them like crap. But in another way, it's perfectly easy to understand, because we've seen the relationship these people have with each other, and even though it seems ridiculous that they'd stick with him, it also makes complete sense. They've all, at one time or another, seen past House's facade.

However, House off his Vicodin is even nastier than House on his Vicodin. His vitriol hits Cuddy particularly hard. In the meantime, Tritter backs off, leaving the gang to assume somebody has finally caved in and agreed to testify against House. Tritter goes out of his way to make it look like it was Chase.

But the big confrontation comes when the gang challenges House's diagnosis, which this times proves to be wrong. Though Chase "wins" with the correct diagnosis, he also takes a fist in the face. (The final diagnosis is porphyria, an acute sensitivity to light which some people believe is behind the vampire legends.) In the end House is betrayed, in true Biblical fashion, by the one who is closest to him.

The storyline with Tritter has felt a bit melodramatic from the beginning. Plus we've been down this road before, more or less, with House being called on his addiction and a hospital administrator trying to remove him from the hospital both back in Season One. So in a way it feels like a retread. But it's also not. Basically, I have mixed feelings about the storyline, although the dramatic potential is great and has been mined in a pretty skillful fashion, overall. It's just really pushed some limits, I think, among them the show's believability. One has to wonder, even moreso than usual, exactly why anyone puts up with House in the first place. I mean, those pretty blue eyes can only get him so far. On the other hand, the writers have done a spectacular job using this situation to pull out some really powerful character moments for the entire cast, so it all balances out.

House—Whac-A-Mole

Our Patient of the Week is already in a Horrible Dilemma—he works at Chuck E. Cheese, or rather Chuck E. Squirrel. No wonder he keels over. Not to mention puking all over the birthday presents. Ewww. It turns out poor Jack is the guardian to his younger brother and sister—their parents died, leaving the three of them alone.

Wilson is being harassed by Tritter, aka Thermometer in Rectum Cop Guy, who’s trying to get him to testify against House. He ends up with his prescription privileges revoked, so he can’t even prescribe drugs for his patients.

House sets up a “game” based on what tests the other doctors will try to diagnose the patient. Foreman, Cameron and Chase all try their theories, with no clear results, while House claims to know what’s wrong. They end up treating Jack for Hepatitis A. Of course this won’t work because it’s only a quarter after eight and House never makes a definitive diagnosis before a quarter to nine. On cue for the commercial break, Jack breaks out in spontaneous copious bleeding.

House goes the rounds trying to get a Vicodin prescription from somebody. The entire team turns him down.

Chase goes through the Dumpster at Chuck E. Squirrel with Chuck E. Squirrel himself, looking for samples of Jack’s puke. Ewww. Foreman gets samples of spinal fluid with the non-AMA-approved assistance of Jack’s little sister, who interrogates him. Jack exhibits a new symptom—brittle bones.

Back with Jack, Foreman diagnosis syphilis, while Cameron diagnoses Eikenella (a bacterium), and Chase finds botulism. So Jack is a veritable bacteria zoo.

They clear the infections, but now Jack is having seizures, which of course they can find no explanation for. House thinks Jack might have drugs trapped in his fat cells, so they put him in a sauna to get a tox screen. He has a seizure in the sauna and they take a blood sample which proves drug-free.

Cameron refuses to give House a Vicodin prescription and gives him PMS pills, instead. Given House’s usual moodiness, this might prove to be a good idea.

Cameron, Foreman and Chase do another brain scan and find something that looks like a tumor. Then a few more. Then lots more. Just in time for the commercial break.

Countdown about ten minutes to the definitive diagnosis…

House heads to Cuddy for Vicodin, who writes him a prescription. The brain “tumors” prove to be infections from aspergilla. House determines Jack has a genetic illness. House and Wilson have a standoff over the other doctors—Wilson needs one of them to help him with prescriptions and House refuses.

House decides they need to give Jack a bunch of infections at once to find out which one gains the most ground, which then will show them what the root cause of his problems is. House administers a viral cocktail, then tells Jack it’s not exactly approved and he should keep it a secret. This was highly featured in the promo, and turned out to not be a big driver of the plot, which makes me wonder if it will surface again later, or if we’ve just been duped again by the Fox promotions department.

Jack gets sicker. Cameras zoom inside his body, which is never a good sign. Chronic granulomatous disease proves to be the final diagnosis, meaning Jack’s immune system is extremely compromised, and he’ll be continuously sick. House recommends a bone marrow transplant. Jack’s little brother Will is a match. Foreman tries to convince Jack to do the transplant, but he refuses. House and Foreman confront him, House wanting to prove Jack’s motives aren’t as altruistic as Foreman believes. House proves “right”—Jack is overwhelmed by his responsibility and feels he’s too young to be his siblings’ father.

Wilson has decided to shut down his practice because he can’t prescribe medications. He confronts House and tells him he should turn himself in and get help, then he throws House out of his office. Wilson tells House his shoulder pain is because he feels guilty, and that House has basically hung him out to dry. Once again Wilson knows House better than House knows himself, but this time House has completely failed him.

Jack decides to let his younger siblings go into foster care. Foreman gives him a pep talk, but Jack doesn’t really buy it.

Wilson is left alone on a rainy park bench. House drives by and they don’t speak. Damn. My favorite TV couple has broken up. Weh.

House—Son of Coma Guy—More

Yeah, thought there was something iffy about the science in that episode.

Here's the scoop at Web MD's TV Check-Up.

House—Son of Coma Guy

Real-time comments as I watch…

Hugh Laurie sounds like he has a cold tonight.

Hugh Laurie is hot. He has incredibly blue eyes and Alexis Denisof should totally be on this show playing his brother, or his nephew, or his cousin, or I don’t even care as long as it’s Alexis Denisof.

Omar Epps is hot. Just sayin’.

I sense a rupture in the happy domestic relationship between House and Wilson with the whole Vicodin scandal. That cop is going to ferret out what’s going on sooner or later, and Wilson’s going to get dragged down with House, which is unfortunate, but Wilson’s doing it for love, so it’s tragic and romantic, too. Right? Right.

So Vegetative State Guy just… woke up? I can’t wait to see what the Web MD blog says about this tomorrow, because it seems pretty far-fetched. However, I haven’t seen Web MD trash House’s medical creds yet. Therefore I suspend disbelief.

Well, until now, because a guy who’s been in bed for ten years isn’t going to be getting up and running around. Muscle atrophy, anyone?

Okay, okay, Chase is hot, too.

The byplay between House and Vegetative State Guy is good. House may have met his verbal, emotionally constipated match here. And he may have met his downfall with the cop, although we all know that won’t happen because the show is called House, not Thermometer in Rectum Cop Guy.

Overall, an interesting episode, and another wrenching moral dilemma, much like the Joel Grey episode a few weeks ago, and with a twist I didn’t see coming.

And House says maybe he doesn’t want to push his relationship with Wilson until it breaks? This gives me a warm fuzzy. And he gave House an alibi. Greater love hath no Wilson.

Looks like things are going to heat up with the legal investigation. I’m looking forward to seeing how all this plays out.