As mentioned in my previous state of the blog post, I'm too swamped to say much of anything about last night's "House," save that I'm always glad to see Judy Greer, that I appreciated a spotlight on Taub, and that it was interesting to see House spend most of the episode chasing his own metaphorical tail, for reasons even he didn't quite understand. Also, I really wanted to use that subject line, though I doubt I'm the first.
What did everybody else think?
Meh. The Taub stuff was predictable with his friend, even though they through in some good misleads.
ReplyDeleteAll those people dying of the same disease was a little too coincidental and far fetched, even for House.
Happy to see Taub get the spotlight, though he was more of a downer than 13. She's my favorite of the new kids so far. Wish Kutner would get the spotlight. Taub can go bye-bye now. Rather 13 stick around. I like the idea of a doctor with a disease in the hospital.
Sorry about the bad grammar, Alan. I've got a headache today. :(
ReplyDeleteI like how Cuddy stopped House from jumping the shark.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, All the patients did not have the same disease. They were all dying or "wasting away" so the staff had given them heating blankets to keep them comfortable. The cat liked the heat so he went and slept next to them. Judy Greer was overheating because of her appendix, so the cat liked to sleep next to her as well. It had nothing to do with everyone having the same disease.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched House for the past few weeks, but I've kept up with the posts. There was a sameness to it that was boring me. I tuned in last night -- Chuck was a rerun. Can't say I've missed it. I'm tired of the characters. I'm tired of no one ever standing up to House and his ridiculouse behavior ("cat" urine aside). I'm tired of Cuddy being the most pathetic example of a supervisor imaginable. I'm tired of watching the doctors do everything from brain surgery to rummaging through someone's garbage at home. I'm tired of them running dozens of tests on a patient only for House to have an "aha" moment at the end that saves the day.
ReplyDeleteThink I'm tired of the show?
I really liked it a lot. I hated the ep with the Priest (though I did love the Priest himself) and while I enjoyed about half of the last ep I was confused by some of the fandom screaming "BEST EPISODE EVER" because I just didn't see it. This one, though, I really enjoyed, from start to finish. It was a nice, low key ep without big craziness or House's unnecessary bullshit. Cuddy was normal and funny. Wilson was entertaining enough. Kutner was fun, thirteen and Foreman didn't do anything obnoxious and even though it was painful (and predictable), seeing more of Taub was a good thing. On top of that, Judy Greer is just awesome and her scene with Chase and a couple of her scenes with House were just outstanding.
ReplyDeleteI was kind of hoping when Judy Greer walked in the exam room for the first time, and House asked her what was wrong, she would have flashed him and he'd have said "Oh, they're crooked!"
ReplyDeleteSPRING BREAK! WOO!
ReplyDeleteI liked this episode quite a bit. I place a lot of value on the House/team dynamic, and I think the main reason I haven't gotten too attached to the new group is because House hasn't been that involved with them. They would have their adventures, and he would be largely distracted by Cuddy, or Wilson, or himself, and at the end of the hour the diagnosis was found.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of team interaction hit me during the two weeks when Kutner (1) put Cuddy on speakerphone during surgery, and (2) wouldn't do what he was asked to until House told him the Foreman/Thirteen gossip. House barely reacted to either. Seeing him messing with Kutner and Taub was exactly what was missing from the earlier episodes for me. Likewise, seeing how the team responds to working under House goes a long way in differentiating them as characters, and as the new team.
Judy Greer was excellent, and I loved her scenes with House and Chase. I don't need House to be groundbreaking drama, but I enjoy it most when the team matters. My immediate reaction to the episode was "Finally," so it worked for me.
It was nice to see Judy Greer playing an actual role for a change, instead of just That Wacky Judy Greer.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why the Taub subplots always have to be so depressing.... And why is House always pushing him to "confront" his problems, if his state of mind is making him a worse doctor? For that matter, why not just fire him?'
On the other hand, this may have been the first TV drama to fictionalize a mini-Madoff scandal. I'm sure all the "Law & Order"s are preparing episodes right now.
Was it just a coincidence that Judy Greer was in a show titled "Kitty"? I liked this episode ok, but just made me sad about Arrested Development all over again.
ReplyDeleteThis was the first episode in quite a while I actually liked, although the final scene (donuts, cat pee) really upped the overall score.
ReplyDeleteI love cats and 'House', so this episode was like a dream come true. And yes, watching Judy Greer is always a pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThought this was the most boring and pointless episode ever - except for the cat pee on the chair. I know House is rude, but really, would you really let him treat you like that if you were a doctor??? And Cuddy - it's gone beyond "he's a genius so we have to put up with his quirks" to out & out ridiculous. Too bad, I have loved the show in the past.
ReplyDeleteI like how they incorporated the cat being able to sense when someone is dying thing into the plot. I tend to believe it myself, and have heard from folks working in nursing homes that is the resident cat roams around, but often parks itself with someone when they are dying. How does it know? I think they can sense the change in energy fields. Of course House would be a scoffer, and he found a reason for the behavior.
ReplyDeleteand I think we've proved that pets like a cozy laptop to sit on. :-)
ReplyDeletei kept waiting for judy greer to lift her shirt up and say "say goodbye to these!"
ReplyDeleteAlan - have to say, that subject line really is teh awesome.
ReplyDeleteI find the Taub character quite unlikable, so a Taub episode is no treat for me. The cat was cute and the guest start was very good, but the episode didn't really "pop" for me. It's a bummer because I kind of had higher expectations for this one.
I really like the Kutner-Taub dynamic, and think they balance each other well. Judy Greer was great, and this episode was a winner for me cuz it didn't have any real Foreteen, or any of the Cuddy baby drama.
ReplyDeleteI love House and haven't missed an episode yet. However, I must say that this season has been the weakest so far. I guess we're all now used to the show's formula/dynamics that it's becoming a little stale.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem as I see it, is that the patients/cases have become a mere distraction to the increasingly puerile mind games that House engages in. In the earlier seasons it was more about the case and its diagnosis, with House's pearls of wisdom thrown in along the way.
Now we have a totally boring support team, none of which is at all engaging, except maybe 13. I think the writers are also bored with the support characters, which is why they're relying more and more on gimmicks rather than character development and interaction. In the process they've pretty much destroyed Cuddy's character and when they do try to focus on the support staff, it rarely works because they're so boring. Does anyone know why Foreman is still around?
The opening scene with House constructing a ramp to jump the shark surely could not have been an accidental inclusion. Are the writers trying to tell us something?
Oh, look! Someone who works for House might not live! Oh, look! Two people who work for House are dating! Oh, look! Someone who works for House wants to find a different job, but ends up coming back!"
ReplyDeleteHaven't we seen all these episodes before?
they need to have more patients die, or at least not solve the mystery in the last five minutes every damn time
ReplyDeleteI don't watch House. I just wanted to add that I <3 Judy Greer.
ReplyDeleteI like Judy Greer and at least the focus wasn't on Thirteen/Foreman although I find Taub pretty boring myself. One of the highlights was seeing Chase without a mask over his face. (Now if they could just remember that they have a character called Cameron who adds a different dimension to the show than the current team.)
ReplyDeleteIn terms of season 5, it wasn't a bad episode. But the bar this season is set very much lower than it was in the first seasons. The show has become repetitive and it lacks any real depth.
I enjoyed watching Castle a lot more.
I had the same problem with House I keep having: they throw out big idea that will change the dynamic (Foreman quits! House is on drugs! Taub quits!) and then they undo it all so everything is right back where it was before.
ReplyDeleteThe show is long overdue for a shake-up. I hope the producers have the courage to really shuffle the deck before the season ends.
This episode illustrated how instead of being surrounded by brilliant young doctors who challenged House to teach them, House is now surrounded by a bunch of washed up, has-been assholes who can't figure out how to get a job with someone else to save their lives. The "OMG!they are leaving" has turned into this show's verson of OMG!they killed Kenny - neither sticks.
ReplyDeleteAnd hen Foreman reached new levels of patheticness with his negotiation that he'd clean the litter box if Taub did it this time. It was nice to be spared the trainwrecks that the "Cuddy mooning over House" & "OMG!13's still dying" storylines have become, its like a headache, you feel so much better when its gone. Its become increasingly clear that Shore's shoving asde of the original Cottages was just a massive coverup to hide the fact he was going to spend the next two years recyclng earlier storylines into episodes like this.
"Oh, look! Someone who works for House might not live! Oh, look! Two people who work for House are dating! Oh, look! Someone who works for House wants to find a different job, but ends up coming back!"
ReplyDeleteHaven't we seen all these episodes before?"
I totally agree with Granola Mom. I just recently started watching House, so I've been watching reruns together with the new season. So I JUST watched the first season episode where a 12 year old kid thinks he's doomed to die because of a superstition (in this case, a Ouija board) and the - of course - he's actually sick. This week's episode felt like the same idea, played out slightly differently.
"So I JUST watched the first season episode where a 12 year old kid thinks he's doomed to die because of a superstition (in this case, a Ouija board) and the - of course - he's actually sick. This week's episode felt like the same idea, played out slightly differently."
ReplyDeleteAnd guess what, Susan, both episodes (Cursed in s1 & now Hello Kitty) were from the same writer, Peter Blake (who also wrote the other kitty ep, Airborne). Recycling is the name of the game on House.
While I agree with pretty much all the dissent here, I will say that (a) that cat was BEAUTIFUL; (b) I loved that Taub was not only not hired by his "old friend," but was about to be hard-core swindled by him, which would have had seriously interesting repercussions on his already shaky marriage; and (c) I very, very much enjoyed House saying, "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to DIE!"
ReplyDeleteJesus, why do some of you still watch 'House'? Since Alan started complaining about the show, those threads have turned into a whinefest. Fine if you have some criticism, but I really don't see the point of comments like "I don't watch the show anymore, but it sucks".
ReplyDeleteI thought this was a solid episode that will have fallout in the upcoming shows. It was a more stand alone type ep rather than overreaching arch, and I loved the emphasis on the team relationships with House. Loved that Taub is rather uselessly demanding respect while looking for an escape hatch, while Kutner marks his territory as a game player and pwns House. I thought the balance among characters was great and the episode, outside of the Taub story, was funny. I really like Taub and I am so worried for him as the season draws to a close . . .
ReplyDeleteJesus, why do some of you still watch 'House'?
ReplyDeleteI can only speak for myself, but I still keep tuning in, hoping that it will return to the great episodes that I fell in love with the show for. Just not ready to give up what was, and could be again, one of the best shows on TV.
And, hey, maybe someone will read our complaints and fix that whole 13 issue.
That cat WAS beautiful. And I don't even like cats.
ReplyDeleteI am missing something...Taub's high school fiend turned out to be a temp, a receptionist at the company? Then where did he get the money to buy the expensive booze and cigars? Swindling other people? So I am presuming he already knew Taub was a doctor and purposefully went there with a fake illness in order to meet up with him, assuming all doctors had money to throw around?
BTW, calcium deposits in the inner ear [Benign Positional Vertigo] can't be solved with just one head treatment as Taub demonstrated. Takes several over a few days.
I pretty much agree what all of the comments above.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I did like though was the throwaway line by House about communicating with "nigerian princes" which, you know, foreshadowed Taub getting scammed.
I haven't had much to say about this episode of House, or much praise for this season outside of isolated episodes (the one where Cuddy steps down temporarily for example). It's been okay, or not, but certainly not what it used to be.
ReplyDeleteYesterday after I watched Battlestar Gallactica (which was awesome)I got to thinking about the spoiler for House that came out earlier in the day that fizzled for me when it was revealed which character it pertained to. And it occurred to me that one of the problems with this show is that David Shore stopped taking chances. He went for the safe relationship for House, Cuddy, instead of Wilson or even Cameron which would have required real writing rather than insults and trip wires. He got rid of the most original of the candidates for the job (Amber, Henry and Cole) and kept the ones that were most like the original team. He even kept the original team around, unable to get rid of them even though Chase and Cameron have done very little for two seasons and Foreman was boring even back in three. He created a relationship for Wilson that could have been fun messing with the House/Wilson relationship for a while and then killed her off immediately.
Ron Moore took some huge risks in BSG and they paid off. Shore did too when he built a show around a drug-addicted anti-hero but since the Tritter arc ended, he's taken the safe route every time and it's cost the show badly.
He can't even get rid of Thirteen. I've never seen a TV character so across the board disliked by so many of the audience. Grey's Anatomy dumped Hahn for much less.
I like 13. And I'm sure there are others who do as well. You make it sound like 100% of the viewership hates her... a bit of an exaggeration.
ReplyDeleteAside from that, though... you're right. Writers should be taking more chances, and not returning things to the status quo at the end of episodes so that each ep is a one-off and not really having long-term impacts on the characters.