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I enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought the casting was excellent -- especially Andre Braugher, Curtis Armstrong, Franka Potente, Derek Richardson.
Definitely wouldn't want an episode like that every week, but I thought it was a marvelous season opener. I do wonder to what degree it will be back to business-as-usual next week.
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Blayne Bradley
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Oh me accents slipping! He positively sounded british at one point when he was arguing with the head doctor.
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Oh noes! I thought his poor leg might be causing him pain having to limp all day. You can't have House without House!!! gah!
Still, I thought the episode was rather good. Character Development. Maybe he can magically get better on some episodes and walk normally.
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He didn't sound too serious in that quote-- he even joked about needing to do Yoga! These things always get blown out of proportion.
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They could have House fall into a vat of acid, requiring massive facial reconstructive surgery, and then get Tim Roth to play him. Still working on what to do about the height discrepancy.
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I thought this was going to be the last season anyway, so that's not particularly alarming to me.
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Just saw the first episode today. First off want to say: wow! What a masterpiece! The episode is very well put together, great shots, great flow, excellent acting, good writing. I was very impressed by the quality - it's rare to stuff of this level on network TV.
I liked how the episode played with, and then brutally subverted the "insane people are all misunderstood free spirits" trope you see in a lot of Hollywood productions. It manages to show the asylum inmates as real people with real problems, and celebrates the good parts of their personalities as well as showing the dysfunctional behavior. Likewise, the doctors are shown mostly as good people trying their best to help the patients, not always succeeding like miracle doctors, but not being the stereotypical evil dictatorial psych ward staff either. Actually, that's one of the things I like about House - it's pretty honest about the way people are. It doesn't fall back on stereotypes often, anyway.
I was going make a statement about the unlikelihood of an attractive married woman in her 30s falling in love with a 50 year old psych ward patient, but then I realized I've read (and heard) far stranger actual love stories. Still, I can just imagine the awkward conversations. "So, how'd you two meet?" "In a psychiatric hospital."
I'm curious to see where this will go. The episode felt a lot more like the last episode of an entire series than the first episode of the season... they've taken away House's key attribute: his grumpiness. At the end of this episode he's happy and a little goofy and content with himself. Either they're going to have something absolutely terrible happen in the next few episodes, or radically change the show's dynamic. Not that change is bad, just unusual in episodic TV shows. (how many times has doctor x or y been fired/quit and come back in a episode or two?)
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I enjoyed it, but can't help but think that an emotionally healthy (or healing) House is the end of the series, so I don't really expect it to last. (ETA: or, what Dobgreath said.)
I also thought the music box cure was a little too neat. I do hope we get more of Dr. Nolan, though.
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I had heard the the series was wrapping up soon regardless, because they try to be realistic about their medical mysteries and there's only so many obscure combinations of diseases that would actually prove a challenge for House. So this season was intended to wrap things up one way or another.
And they may have gotten rid of his grumpiness, but I don't think they got rid of his generally mean sense of humor. I think there's room for him to continue making snide remarks in general but have an actual honest relationship with someone he cares about (*cough* Cuddy *cough*)
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I'm pretty sure the type of virtual reality they were using doesn't exist (or at least isn't commonplace enough for the very idea of it to not be a bigger deal than the show made it out to be). Regardless I was fairly impressed with the CG (I didn't recognize it so I assume they did it solely for this episode). It seemed like a lot of work to go through to make one episode.
Then again I guess they normally have all those CGI lungs and stuff to showcase what's wrong with the body, so they could just have that team do something else.
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The technology for that sort of VR exists. It's just very expensive. Which probably explains why Mr. Let-the-Internet-Diagnose-Me had $25,000 to throw around.
And the CG was so clearly by the same folks who do the inside-the-body -- the "fingerprint" was definitely the same.
I liked this week. And yay! More Andre Braugher! According to IMDB, next week too.
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quote:Originally posted by Godric 2.0: Hugh Laurie may quit House because his fake limp is causing him real-life pain.
According to my dad's orthopedist, there's a reason for that -- he uses his cane wrong! You're supposed to put the cane on the opposite side of the body from the injured leg, not the same side. (My dad got lectured for doing the same thing.)
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They've had doctors/physical therapists tell House he's using the cane wrong on the show before, he always ignores them. I think the idea (from what I remember when I had to walk with a cane for awhile) is that if you use it on the same side as the leg it's supporting, much less weight gets put on that leg, thereby reducing pain. The downside is it causes you to constantly lean in that direction. Using it on the opposite side keeps you more balanced, but puts more weight on the bad leg, resulting in more pain. It makes sense for House's character to refuse to use the cane correctly insofar as he's gone to rather more extreme lengths to avoid/diminish leg pain.
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I'm annoyed that Jennifer Morrison is leaving House just when I thought that she and Chase were actually going to be featured more. Now we're going to be stuck with Thirteen and Foreman - watching their whole thing last season sucked so I probably won't watch much. I wish the show was House, Chase, Cameron, Wilson, and Cuddy. Bring back Amber too!
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I think they need someone new in the team. The whole Foreman-Thirteen drama has already been played and can't support another season. Taub was never given an interesting enough storyline and I don't see one coming now (even if he comes back). As for House-Wilson-Cuddy, sure, there's going to be more of that, but the show will feel a bit stale if this is all that's going on. Don't get me wrong, I loved the episodes aired so far, but I don't think they can keep it up a whole season.
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quote:Originally posted by rivka: According to my dad's orthopedist, there's a reason for that -- he uses his cane wrong! You're supposed to put the cane on the opposite side of the body from the injured leg, not the same side. (My dad got lectured for doing the same thing.)
Dr. Huxtable said the same thing. That's clearly dispositive.
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This has been a remarkably terrible season so far. I never expect too much intellectual stimulation from House -- it's about the characters, after all -- but seriously? All the vegetable needed to regain mental health was a box? All House needs to get over pain is practicing medicine... which he already did, not even considering the stupidity of physical pain being dependent on House's hobby?
I hope it gets better or ends soon.
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Blayne Bradley
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quote:Originally posted by Lalo: This has been a remarkably terrible season so far. I never expect too much intellectual stimulation from House -- it's about the characters, after all -- but seriously? All the vegetable needed to regain mental health was a box? All House needs to get over pain is practicing medicine... which he already did, not even considering the stupidity of physical pain being dependent on House's hobby?
I hope it gets better or ends soon.
There's probably alot of actual justification for this medically so I'm not inclined to call it far fetched.
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Considering we don't actually know what caused the woman's mental health problems, nor do we know what went on between being given the music box and when she was released, and furthermore that we don't know what the music box actually was to her...well, you're potentially oversimplifying by a great deal.
As for House, he doesn't 'get over' the pain by practicing medicine, he gets over the pain by focusing all of his energy and attention on something that he can completely dive into. For awhile it was cooking, and I think he's using other medication as well, just not as addictive and dangerous as vicodin. And anyway, we always knew he'd get back to the hospital.
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* * * * * *****MEGA SPOILERS in response to Brinestone: * * * * * * *
High drama: James Earl Jones dies. I'm not sure what he had, but it turns out that Chase went down to the morgue and took blood from a lady who died from something that was fatal to the dictator and injected it in him. Foreman thought it was his fault (for changing treatments) that he died. Autopsy was to be done by a doctor from the patient's country and the morgue was locked, but House encouraged him to break in and find out for himself. Turns out there was an armed guard, but Foreman finds the sign-in sheet and that Chase had been there that morning and figures it out and confronts Chase.
Chase justifies what he did and makes it clear that Cameron had nothing to do w/ it. He then asks Foreman to give him advance notice if the cops are coming for him so that he can tell his wife. Foreman asks if he thought he could murder someone without consequences and Chase says no. This is clearly going to take a few episodes.
I don't like this new story line at all. I hate it that they had Chase decide to do that.
Oh yeah, and at the end of the show we see Foreman burning the sign-in sheet.
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Spoilers * * * * I found it interesting that apparently Cameron never told either of them about the patient she murdered a few seasons back. Because the show has already taught us that yes, you can get away with murder consequence free.
But I suppose that's only the old and powerless it works for.
Normally I'd be annoyed with this sort of story because you know nothing too bad can happen. But if the show's ending and one of the actresses is already leaving, it does open up the possibility of actual peril. It'll be interesting to see what they do with their moral quandry.
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Who did Cameron kill? My House viewing history is hugely spotty. I missed most of last season, which I think I'll have to watch on DVD someday to figure out why he decided to check himself into the psychiatric hospital.
Rivka, I assumed that was what he was burning. They didn't show us.
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*shrug* The guy basically told Chase, "I'ma go back and start killing more 'cockroaches' as soon as you get me better." Speaking of medical ethics, of course, Chase shouldn't have killed him. But medical ethics aren't eh only consideration, are they?
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They are when you are a doctor. It isn't okay to be a vigilante just because, and especially because, people trust you to heal them.
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So being a doctor trumps absolutely all other considerations?
I'm not saying one should get to keep on being a doctor if one chooses to violate those considerations, but I don't see at all why being a doctor is an impervious shield against all other moral and ethical considerations.
quote:It isn't okay to be a vigilante just because, and especially because, people trust you to heal them.
Here's the real question: is it OK not to be a vigilante when you know that refraining from doing so will cost hundreds of thousands of lives and immeasurable pain and suffering?
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Something that was never mentioned or asked was who his successor would be. It bugged me.
And yeah, I agree with everything else that has been said. I don't like that they had Chase do that. Not only is it despicable, it seems out of character for him.
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If he wants to start killing people as a vigilante, he needs to stop being a doctor first.
If he wants to stay a doctor, then he can't kill people entrusted to him because he is a doctor.
Yes, it is okay to NOT be a vigilante and to turn someone over to the people and agencies created to deal with insane murderers before violating one's position of trust.
In other words, I don't believe those were the only choices, and Chase's decision was a violation of his own oaths and cheapens the entire trust and profession.
It's like saying that the defense lawyer of a man on death row should suddenly, in the middle of an appeal, turn to the judge and say, "Yep, he did it, he told me, and if he wins appeal, he'll do it again." There's a reason that would be a gross violation of ethics.
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quote:Yes, it is okay to NOT be a vigilante and to turn someone over to the people and agencies created to deal with insane murderers before violating one's position of trust.
What agencies or people? The show took that option away when they had the only governmental force brought to bear on the character be a civil trial subpoena.
quote:If he wants to stay a doctor, then he can't kill people entrusted to him because he is a doctor.
Well, sure, I think he should stop being a doctor at this point. The moral and ethical thing to do would be to `fess up and accept the punishment.
quote: It's like saying that the defense lawyer of a man on death row should suddenly, in the middle of an appeal, turn to the judge and say, "Yep, he did it, he told me, and if he wins appeal, he'll do it again." There's a reason that would be a gross violation of ethics.
Quite frankly? Morally speaking, the only right thing to do in such a situation would be to stop defending him at once. You can't testify against him since that would be inadmissible, but he's going to kill people again. What is it about your (the defense attorney's) ethics that makes them more precious than another human life, or in the show's case, hundreds of thousands of lives?
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But Chase didn't, metaphorically, stop being this guy's attorney. What he did was exactly like my analogy: he torpedoed the appeal. Worse than that: he strapped him into the electric chair and flipped the switch himself, and he was able to do it because of the position of trust he had been placed.
After the fact is too late. If Chase wanted to go vigilante, he should have quit being the guy's doctor and turned in his medical license, and foresworn his oath BEFORE he went in for the kill.
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* * * * * SPOILER * * * * Chase did not inject the dictater with the ladies blood. He took the blood from the dead patient to have test run on it... causing them to give the wrong meds which House said will put it into overdrive.
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quote:After the fact is too late. If Chase wanted to go vigilante, he should have quit being the guy's doctor and turned in his medical license, and foresworn his oath BEFORE he went in for the kill.
Which would have had precisely the same impact as doing nothing at all in terms of whether the dictator would live or die, katharina. It's a bit of a cop-out. His choices :do nothing, resign and try to kill him (which would certainly fail-the guy had very effective bodyguards), treat him, or sabotage the treatment.
The first three options had a total certainty hundreds of thousands of 'cockroach' (I forget the tribal name) deaths if he was cured.
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quote:Originally posted by Uprooted: Rivka, I assumed that was what he was burning. They didn't show us.
I know. I just meant that your assumption made more sense than my assumption.
quote:Originally posted by Brinestone: Something that was never mentioned or asked was who his successor would be. It bugged me.
They did, actually. Chase said something about the news saying there were going to be democratic elections.
quote:Originally posted by paigereader: Chase did not inject the dictater with the ladies blood. He took the blood from the dead patient to have test run on it... causing them to give the wrong meds which House said will put it into overdrive.
Good point. I meant to mention that.
I agree with everyone that what Chase did was horrific and drastically OOC. Hesitating, making a mistake he might not have otherwise have made -- those are believable. Actively cheating the blood test that way, no.
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I think it's hard to know what anyone would do confronted with that. Remember, shortly before that he was confronted with one of the dictator's minions, talking about massive programs of random ethnic kidnappings, rape, murder, and corpse desecration. Then, after frightening his wife, the guy says, "It'll be more of the same when I get back."
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JEJ did a fantastic job... despite the fact that I kept thinking about Coming to America for the first 15 min. of the show.
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Thanks for the correction. I had a feeling I was getting something wrong there and just couldn't remember the details.
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Also, lemme second the question: who did Cameron kill before? I've seen every episode, but I can't recall that.
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