Overall: 7.8
Pretty good. I'm having trouble drumming up enthusiasm for the Huddy, and the resolution of the ethical dilemma that emerges is somewhat questionable, but generally speaking, this episode keeps me entertained.
Cut for spoilers.
Plot Synopsis:
A full recap can be found here.
The Skinny:
I have wracked my brain for days trying to decide what to say about the soap opera in this episode, and this is what I've come up with: looking at it from a technical perspective, the Huddy is decently written here, but aside from that one hilarious scene in which House and Cuddy have to persuade Wilson that they really are an item (a scene that is truly classic, I must say), it's not personally interesting to me. I wish I could explain why, but there it is. Intellectually, I'm glad that House and Cuddy eventually come to a place where they can be honest with each other, but emotionally, I'm feeling no spark of excitement over the maturation of their relationship. I don't think this is what will save House when all is said and done.
I've also struggled to sort out my feelings regarding the Patient-of-the-Week, and I've ultimately concluded that the message of that storyline is somewhat disturbing. Why? It doesn't trouble me that Hugo is willing to potentially shorten his already limited lifespan for his sister's sake. That, I think, is a noble impulse. What troubles me is his stated rationale - that he feels his life has had no meaning up to this point because he has been unable to physically keep up with his sister and his peers. This conclusion he's drawn is both very sad and untrue. I once read a book written by a man who could only blink his eyes, and I found it an extremely moving and inspiring work. A physical disability does not have to prevent you from making a contribution.
Thus, on the one hand, I'm touched by Hugo's sacrificial gesture, but on the other hand, I'm bothered by the implication that sacrifice is Hugo's only means of making a mark on the world. I also find it necessary to point out that House is wrong to draw general moral conclusions from our transplant procedures. Transplant committees make the choices they do out of necessity; there are simply not enough organs to go around. These committees aren't charged with making larger decisions about the relative value of individual human lives; they are charged with determining degree of need and likelihood of survival post-transplant.
On the whole, this episode is solid. I do hope, though, that the Huddy will not end up consuming the show. I'll grant that it's necessary to work a lot of things out on-screen at the very beginning of a relationship, but I look forward to a time when the Huddy can take a back seat.
Writing: 8.0
Again, this is a decently written episode. There are a number of moments that prompt a guffaw, the dilemma regarding the Patient-of-the-Week is thought-provoking, and the clinic patient - yay, a clinic patient! - is very cute.
Acting: 8.5
Robert Sean Leonard's facial expressions were especially good this week. Heh.
Message: 7.0
While it is true that Cuddy, to her credit, brings up the concept of a man's intrinsic value, I still would've liked to see a more strenuous defense of the value of Hugo's life.
Highlights:
HOUSE: We've gotta stop parking like this. People are gonna talk.
CUDDY: Well, that's why I plan on doing some talking first. I want us to formally report our relationship to human resources.
HOUSE: Okay. You get them, I'll cover everybody else.
CUDDY: I would appreciate it if we could keep it quiet until we had that meeting.
HOUSE: That's gonna be hard with me grabbing your ass all day.
CUDDY: Grabbing stops at the threshold... (House grabs her ass.) ... of the parking garage.
HOUSE: Handicapped plates. I've got special access. (Snerk.)
(House walks into his office whistling. He leans over Foreman's shoulder to look at what he's reading.)
HOUSE: (suddenly shouting) I'm seeing Cuddy! (Everyone looks up.) Generally without her clothes on. Use your imagination. Hope it's got a wide-angle lens. (He snorts. Then he takes a file out of Wilson's hand.) You don't actually need that.
WILSON: I'm gonna go check my office for whoopie cushions. (Heh.)
HOUSE: Find any itching powder in your hanky? Any fake poo in your desk drawer?
WILSON: Yes, the lack of dime store pranks is proof that you're actually dating Cuddy and not just mocking me for being worried about you.
HOUSE: What do I have to do to prove this to you? Tattoo a cane on her inner thigh? Tattoo her inner thigh on my cane?
(Cuddy bursts in.)
CUDDY: You told everybody, didn't you?
HOUSE: Repeatedly. This one's not buying it. Need a little help.
CUDDY: I'm not selling it! It's time for our meeting at human resources.
HOUSE: Hmmm. Human resources. Now why would I need to go to human resources...
WILSON: House, you've been to human resources seventy-four times in the last six weeks.
HOUSE: Never after doing this. (He attempts to kiss Cuddy, and Cuddy pulls back.)
WILSON: (dry) Well, I'm convinced.
HOUSE: (to Cuddy) Come on, just one peck. Just enough to arouse him a little.
WILSON: Hey, I'm not even...
HOUSE: I don't mean you. (This shuts Wilson up for the moment. Heh.)
CUDDY: If I confirm it, can we leave?
HOUSE: Yes.
CUDDY: (to Wilson) It's true. (Wilson gives her the squinty eyes of disbelief, so Cuddy gives in and gives House a little peck.)
WILSON: I've been more passionate with my great aunt.
HOUSE: Mabel? Up high. (He raises his hand for a high five. LOL! Wilson doesn't respond to this, though, so Cuddy takes it to the next level: she grabs House's crotch. Wilson stares.)
CUDDY: We done here? (ROTFL!)
HR GUY: Can you describe the exact nature of the relationship?
HOUSE: You ever see Wild Kingdom? Those insects that rip their mates' heads off after copulating? (LOL!)
SON OF 102 YR OLD: Look, I love the old man, but I gotta get him outta the damn house. He can't do anything without me! He needs to be in a care facility.
HOUSE: So tell him. He's a big boy now.
SON OF 102 YR OLD: I can't! I'm his whole life. But... (He takes out his wallet.) ... if it comes from a doctor... (He puts a twenty in House's hand.)
HOUSE: That's very generous... when you were thirty. (LOL! Yay! A funny clinic patient! I've missed those.)
HOUSE: (to Taub) People who haven't seen Cuddy naked shouldn't throw stones.
102 YR OLD: (who hasn't actually left yet) She does have great cans. (LOL!)
DELLA'S FATHER: Dr. House? We've decided. We're not gonna take the lung from my son.
CUDDY: She's still on the waiting list. We're gonna do everything we can to find her another --
HOUSE: (interrupting) What ginormous crack pipe have you people been sucking on?
CUDDY: House!
HOUSE: Are you gonna pretend that you're not choosing your own daughter's death?
DELLA'S MOTHER: Our daughter doesn't want it.
HOUSE: Probably doesn't want to floss her teeth either. She's a mindless teenybopper!
CUDDY: Don't put this on them.
HOUSE: What do you mean, put it on -- it is on them! As much as they may want to pass the lung here --
CUDDY: Of course they do! You're handing them an impossible choice!
HOUSE: Life has handed them a crappy choice - and they're picking the crappier option, trading who knows how many healthy decades for four or five years in which roller boy will be a limp rag.
CUDDY: Not everything is a math equation!
HOUSE: You need me to explain the difference between decade and year?
CUDDY: Their son is a human being! You know what they are, right? Intrinsic value. We don't get to decide!
HOUSe: Come on, we do it everyday! If the two of them needed the same lung --
CUDDY: He gets to keep the one he's got! You don't get to play God by ripping out --
HOUSE: That train left the station the day we learned to do transplants. The rest is just paper pushing. Of course, now we're on to your real area of expertise. (Oh, good. Things are back to normal now.)
HUGO: I want you to take half my lung.
DELLA: No. I'm not.
HUGO: You do so many great things. I just watch. I get to watch and coach and cheer. That's not me out there. It never will be. If you take this piece of me - carry it with you - then I really can share everything you do. This is the great thing I can do with my life. Don't make me live without you. (I'm not sure how I feel about the dilemma presented here, but this moment is certainly touching.)
CUDDY: That fight... was the first honest interaction we've had with each other since we came back to work. If we're painfully, brutally honest with each other, maybe we'll get lucky again. (Maybe.)
No comments:
Post a Comment