I thought it was an okay “Movie of the Week”, but not really much of a House, MD episode. I was very disappointed that Amber wasn’t there at the start of the show, since she was his real antagonist. I also wanted to know what was happening at Princeton-Plainsboro – was Cuddy threatening to disband the team without House there, and how were they functioning – better or worse – without him.
I didn’t see a PSA. What did it say?
I very much expected the camera to pan back on the bus at the end, and Amber would be sitting next to him. I think we’re still in for quite a bit more of our friends in Ward Six this season. The casting was too strong for the show to not return to the psych hospital.
“For he is an Englishman…” That was nice.
I liked the piano-playing lady, but she needs some therapy herself. That was a lousy, selfish thing to do to a vulnerable psychiatric patient.
What did you all think about his little smile on the bus as he left? Was it that he was actually somewhat happy, or had a happy sentiment thinking about the people he just left? or was it an “I played their game and got out” smile?
I’d like to think he’s just feeling better, but also am conditioned to read into things for the “final twist”!
And doesn’t he still have chronic pain from his leg, and isn’t medicating himself for that anymore?
I thought it was a lovely episode–probably the best I can remember. I’m disappointed (though not surprised) that it’s going back to the formula. I’m afraid it’s going to settle back into the rut that I’ve felt it’s been in for a while.
My wife and I both thought that the young blonde doctor looked a little like Amber, and that somehow that was going to be relevant to the plot, but it never was.
It was great to see Andre Braugher again. I haven’t seen much of him since “Homicide: Life on the Streets”. I wanted to see him and House “in the box”!
Thought it was very good - until everything tied up just too nicely in the end with the superhero and catatonc girl both talking, cellist playing, and bipolar guy wanting to get better. MAN, that was a concentrated dose of saccharine!
The thing is, House can’t be too cured. The show is about an anti-social doctor. Without some of his neurosis you’ve got no show. Or you’ve got “Ben Casey” or “Dr. Kildare”.
Yeah, this ep felt sad and sweet, and then seeing the preview and that same messed-up set of characters (13 and Foreman :rolleyes::rolleyes: ) was something of a downer. But if House truly has a new perspective, the contrast from “before” could be interesting.
I too was half-hoping, half-dreading the camera pulling back and seeing Amber sitting beside him.
I think House is still getting some pain meds for his leg, just non-narcotic meds.
I would like to see him continue to see Dr. Andre throughout the season. I loved his explanation of why he let House leave the hospital: He got hurt, and came back to see the shrink for help instead of instinctively turning to drugs. That was an indication of his recovery.
And yes, gigi, I’d like to make the same going-away party cheer for Thirteen: “And we
never want to see her again!”
House: Facecake!
As others have pointed out, I think it was a very, very good show for a weekly network drama. Not up there with the best of West Wing or MASH*, but still pretty high. Finding all the One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest references would have provided excellent fodder for a drinking game: The watchman’s cap, Nurse Ratchett (only cute and beneficent this time), the orderlies in white uniforms (does any hospital still have orderlies in white uniforms?) and so on. It was definitely a stylized setting.
But they had better not be setting us up for a new and improved I’m-in-touch-with-my-feelings-let-me-give-you-a-hug House.
Am I crazy (heh) or am I the only one who’s kind of dreading House leaving this group for the usual stuff with the regular cast (except for Wilson and Cuddy)? Stereotypes or not, I felt they bonded with House very nicely and dread having to slog thru more Foreteen plots.
I don’t really want to see a happy House. I hope he’s back on the Vicodin and calling patients “bitches” before too long.
That was IT? He’s going back to his job? I thought he’d be in the asylum for several episodes. And what about the “He’s not psychotic, you idiots, he’s sick!!! Don’t you see his purple fingernails, that means he’s got (fill in disease mimicking psychosis here)!” scene I was counting on? Kind of a let down, full of cliches. I enjoyed it and am wondering how the new, improved House is going to fit in back at his old job, but I was expecting, I dunno, …more.
Did anyone else think of Simpson’s “Grimey” episode? Everyone thinks House is crazy, but he was pretty normal compared to the patients. For all his personality quirks, House is marginally functional in the real world.
No, but for some reason the episode where Bart got Sideshow Bob to sing the entire score of H.M.S. Pinafore came to mind.
I was surprised that he left the mental hospital so soon. In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been. That’s a network television series pattern. They spend several episodes at the end of a season setting up a big cliff-hanger and then resolve it in the first episode of the new season so they can get back to the tried and true formula.
I didn’t see a PSA either. Someone, what did it say?
Ah - but now the first half of this season is going to be spent with “House, Underdog” as he battles everyone for control. No one is truly going to trust him anymore, and this episode will have served as sufficient reason for us to root for him as an actually redeemable person.