House: Living the Dream
[S04E14] “You don’t deserve to be happy.” House to Wilson.
“And yet I am. You?” Wilson to House
House treats the symptoms, but he doesn’t treat the whole person. He doesn’t even claim to. He often makes a clear point that he doesn’t care. House likes medicine because he likes to solve puzzles, and what greater consequences can a puzzle have than a human life? But ultimately, even someone dying doesn’t matter unless House can’t figure out the puzzle.
So, if the above paragraph is true, then why does House go out of his way to kidnap a soap opera star he believes to be dying in order to save his life? Is it really because he can’t stand the idea of not watching his soap? I don’t think so; he even encourages angsty actor Evan Greer (Sex and the City’s Jason Lewis) to quit if he’s not happy… well, sort of. But, back to the question: If House doesn’t care, then why bother? Because it’s a puzzle he can see daily, right in front of him, and he has to solve it. Apparently he has made multiple calls about it, because the actor knows who House is, so House simply takes matters into his own hands because that is what House does. House lives a life without consequences.
In continuing with the show’s theme of light and dark, happiness versus misery, the soap opera star House kidnaps is miserable. He keeps saying that he wants to do something that matters, but he hedges every time one of the doctors tells him that if he is so unhappy doing daytime television, he should just quit. Unlike last week’s episode, because the patient isn’t happy, House doesn’t think the mood is a symptom. However, something neurological is going on: the actor is pausing before saying his lines, indicating a problem with either his peripheral vision in reading the monitors, or with his tongue in saying his lines. House thinks he has a tumor in his occipital lobe and that he will die before House can finish watching Dr. Brock Sterling’s storyline.
Of course, Greer doesn’t have a tumor, but before he can harangue Cuddy for allowing House to kidnap him, he stumbles in the lobby. It’s either a hell of a coincidence (as Cameron wants to believe, as she sits in House’s office doing his files because of the hospital inspection going on around them) or House is right and something is wrong with Evan Greer.
House gets to live the dream: He visits the set and hangs out in Greer’s dressing room, eats his sunflower seeds, and talks to his sexy co-star. He’s living in fan heaven. The co-star complains that Greer is both a non-drinker, squeaky clean, and too perfect of a gentleman. This leads to a flurry of new possible diagnoses: Too many sunflower seeds and B6? Problem with his thyroid! The patient is impotent! He’s not impotent, but he’s having a heart attack! In the maelstrom of symptoms and decreasing bodily capacity, Cameron sits calmly working on patient files and offering differentials. House repeatedly offers to fire 13 so Cameron can have her job back until she looks him straight in the eye and admits that although she misses the job, she doesn’t miss him. Raise your hand if you think she is lying.
In the meantime, Cuddy is worried that her job is on the line with the inspector in the hospital, so there are some great funny scenes in which House has his team watching the soap opera to check the actor for symptoms. One of the best moments of the episode is when 13 leans forward to inspect the hotty co-star in her underwire bra and says,”I think I dated her.” She studies her for a long moment before leaning back with a, “Nope.”
House bargains for the doctor’s lounge flat screen television in return for not causing trouble for Cuddy, which is a fool’s bargain. House is going to do whatever he wants, “like a monkey in a banana factory” 52 weeks out of the year. House will always have a job. The inspector tells Cuddy that there are rules because 95% of the time, people need them. “The other 5%?” she counters, and he points out that the rules are there because everybody thinks they are in the other 5%. Cuddy doesn’t point out that House is in that 5% who actually don’t need to live by the rules: she doesn’t have to.
After Greer slips into a coma with a life-endangering 106.4 fever and starts spouting lines as Dr. Brock Sterling, the gang starts looking for an infection or a fungus. House goes to talk to Wilson and think and sees a picture of a Chrysanthemum on a pillow in a bed store and determines that Greer is allergic to the flowers in his dressing room. He gives him what could be a toxic does of a steroid (100 mg) because he is sure he is right and there isn’t time to conduct the tests that would confirm his diagnosis.
All of the tests come back negative for allergies to any kind of flora. House was wrong, but the patient gets better. Does he really get better, though? He’s miserable and wants meaning, but House tells him that nothing has meaning. Nothing creates lasting meaning. That could be true, but Sisyphus still pushes that rock up the hill. Kutner and 13 are discussing Greer’s misery, and she tells Kutner a fundamental truth: Greer doesn’t quit because he knows it’s not just his job making him miserable. Case in point: Kutner once had a miserable job with abysmal pay, but he was still happy. 13, on the other hand, is not particularly happy. Neither is House. Wilson, however, is happy.
Does this mean we can boil down happiness simply to luck of the draw of human nature? It’s a compelling question. I am not sure I am buying it: I have had a horrible job and been unhappy and then happy again once out of it. Then again, I think it’s pretty much in my nature to be happy, so what do I know?
Absolutely loved the bed-buying with Amber. Why does Wilson still take relationship advice from House? The next best moment in the episode was when Wilson says, “What, take care of you?” and Amber says, “Have you met me? I can take care of me. I need you to take care of you.” She is right: Amber, aka Cutthroat Bitch, does not need coddling from anyone. So, when Wilson gets his water bed and hates it, they both know that he got what he really wanted, so when she gets the mattress she wants, they will both be happy with it. She either really cares about him, or she is just supremely confident that eventually she will get her own way because she is right.
Ultimately, even though House was wrong about what caused Greer’s allergy, he does figure out the answer to the puzzle: he calls Cuddy in the middle of the night to tell her that Greer is allergic to quinine, because he is drinking real tonic on the show. We didn’t see this at first because the character Brock Sterling was drinking out of a flask. House had to see the bubbles in his glass to figure it out. And we know that Greer is a non-drinker, so of course he wouldn’t have triggered the allergy until he started drinking tonic on the show.
Cuddy and House both got to keep their jobs; the patient lived; and the hospital paid a $200,000 fine for House’s rashness, even though the patient lived. Once again: a life without consequences. Is it going to take someone whom House actually cares about for him to really care? Or will that just be the biggest puzzle of all?
Medium: And Then
(S04E01) “I miss Devalos.” - Allison Dubois
I expected some sort of recap to remind us what happened last season but asking tourists at the Hollywood/Highland Shopping Plaza was not what I expected. Quite frankly, I was surprised that they were able to find so many people who remembered what happened. I mean, I love Medium, but even I would have needed help remembering how they left off. However, that probably has less to do with the show and more to do with my obsessive glue-sniffing.
The opening scene was great. As a parent, I know all too well how easy it is to lose your kid in a toy store. That really hit a nerve and Joe’s line about hoping Allison’s getting fired was a dream really made me laugh.
I love the Dubois girls. It’s rare when you see an adult drama spend so much time developing the characters of children. The exchange between Ariel and Bridgette at breakfast was funny as well as believable. As was Ariel’s friend “helping” her land the role of Maria. High school behavior at it’s best.
I am ecstatic about the turn the show has taken. Nothing makes a show more exciting than dumping a giant bucket of misery on the main characters. What’s even better is how other people are affected. Poor Scanlon almost made me cry with his pitiable new duties. It was great how his girlfriend from the Mayor’s office set him straight. Once again, the believability of the characters is what makes this show work.
Even though I knew what was coming in the toy store attic, I was really shocked by the image of the boy in the box. The whole scene was another example of why this show works so well. Just when you’re comfortable laughing at Joe or the girls, you see something gruesome and it almost makes you feel bad that you were laughing in the first place. Don’t even get me started on the creepy mouse in the box.
So as we all guessed, Anjelica Huston was the Ameri-Tips lady. Honestly, I was underwhelmed by the meeting. We all know where their relationship is heading. Why do we have to watch the song and dance as Huston’s character goes from insulted skeptic to hopeful believer?
I really don’t know what to say about the the big scene other than it was awesome. As soon as the door rattled, we all knew who it was but the events that quickly unfolded were impossible to predict. Seeing Scanlon draw down on the exterminator was electrifying and I never would have picked ’My Favorite Things’ as the soundtrack for that scene but that’s why I review TV shows instead of write them.
I really, really enjoyed this episode and in this desolate, strike-damaged TV season I look forward to reviewing the rest of the season.
Netflix’s First Set-Top Box
Netflix has released the first set top box which will allow you to live-stream movies to your television on demand. The first unit is produced by Roku for only $99, and all you need is a netflix subscription to use it. I think I’m more excited about this device than anyone else I know. It’s clearly the future of how we’re going to watch movies. And while the Roku box has a lot of things right: The price, HDMI output, standard video quality, Wifi connectivity, and easy set-up/installation, it is still appears to be an early product.
The problems: Only 10,000 of the 100,000 DVDs are available for instant stream. That’s not to say there aren’t some great selections. Here is a sampling that Roku lists on their website:
- 30 Rock (2007; TV)
- The Good German (2006)
- La Vie en Rose (2007)
- Weeds (2006; TV)
- Absolute Power (1997)
- Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
- Heroes (2007; TV)
- Letters from Iwo Jima (2007)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- The Office (2006; TV)
- 2 Days in Paris (2007)
- Mean Girls (2004)
- The Sum of All Fears (2002)
- Misery (1990)
- The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
For the most part it seems like classic catalog titles and recent independent/mini-major releases. There is probably enough to keep me going for years. Especially their television show selection. And the offered selection is always growing.
The biggest problem I have with the unit is that it doesn’t allow you to choose a movie directly from the set-top box. You need to first go to your netflix account on a computer and add the instant watch titles to your netflix queue. And apparently you can have over 500 titles in your instant watch queue to choose from while sitting on your couch. But having to first add the selections to your account on the website is one extra set which seems unnecessary. I wonder if they have to do this to get around On demand exclusivity deals.
But imagine the possibilities. Imagine having 50,000 movies and tv shows to choose from. Imagine when a big company like Apple or Sony makes a set-top box for the service, how much better the functionality could be. Basically, imagine being able to rent a netflix movie when you want, and watch it instantly from the comfort of your couch, for not one cent more than your standard netflix description. It’s going to happen, but this unit is clearly for the early adopter (a group I usually belong to). And for only $100, it’s not a huge investment.
Find out more on Roku.com.
Sundance Movie Trailer: Downloading Nancy
Downloading Nancy will premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
The feature film debut of visionary music video and commercial director Johan Renck looks intense. Dubbed by some to be the best music video director in the world, Renck was just named one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch. I’ve even heard some people refer to Renck as the next David Fincher. The film stars Maria Bello as an unhappy wife whose online search for someone to put her out of her misery results in a torturous love affair. Co-starring Jason Patric, Rufus Sewell, and Amy Brenneman. Check it out below.
source: FirstShowing