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all-pacas · 12 days ago

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house live-ish blogging: socratic method

lowkey if i were to make a list of my top ten episodes, this one would be up there. good mix of actual case/medicine and character beats, all the team is highlighted, we get to see house bond with the patient and her son more than usual, and the actor of the patient does an honestly great job portraying her… i guess it's not schizophrenia, but she really goes in on the presentation. oh. and the Spaghetti Sauce Shirt

chase why are you like this. why do you dress in the worst clothes

foreman is once again dipping into his role as Team Skeptic, first not getting why house is on the case and then asking someone else about it. i think this is the first time chase gets to be the House Whisperer, though, which is interesting given how this is lowkey a Chase Episode.

love foreman immediately going from chase to wilson to ask the same thing lol. he REALLY doesn't get house showing an interest in someone

i talked a bit in the post for the last episode about how i don't quite buy the hameron scene over the christmas present there (namely: there's nothing to set up why cameron is suddenly going out of her way in this loaded manner, or why house is implied to reciprocate with a gift). however, this episode makes much more sense to me as a launching point for the Crush Era: cameron finding house's birthday and wanting to celebrate it on his behalf, and getting increasingly wrapped up in him not remembering it/not caring -- that's good, because it's very cameron. she wants to be the one to make it matter, the one to make sure house is celebrated and special, and it doesn't occur to her or seem to matter that house really doesn't seem to care much. house for his part seems bemused, but doesn't abruptly reciprocate or act strangely about it. it establishes the sort of push-pull they have in s1 that is occasionally pretty well done: cameron is very good at seeing that house's facade is a facade, and often tries to push through it and refuses to engage with his bullshit; house is curious and occasionally receptive… but cameron also over-reads him and thinks he's just waiting to reveal his soft gooey center (to her), and so she pushes too hard or dismisses real parts of him in that pursuit. which i know i will talk about later. i honestly do find this dynamic fascinating, if doomed to never achieve even an inch of liftoff.

i think this is the first episode of foreman's… lack of bedside manner, lol. he drugs the patient because she (in the midst of a psychotic episode) spit on him; he's angry and he's offended and that's fair, but he kind of takes it out on her, yeah? it's a minor shade of things to come: arrogance is gonna be his Thing.

"i hired you. you work for me." if it wasn't already obvious house liked this kid, house letting him get away with that one is a real big clue lol

the cameron chase "that was fast… did you promise to date the entire lab?" "no, i save that for emergencies" is a cute little exchange. i miss when they were just buddies who kept joking around in an oddly flirty way. like. they're not flirting. cameron is not at all interested and chase is… only vaguely at most. but for real, chase makes so many little comments about her looks or dateability or people flirting with her lol. it's either a baby crush or he's a very weird wingman

"why not scurvy, or the plague?" "gee, i wish my idea were as cool and with it as yours" this house-chase exchange always makes me laugh because within about a year, house will treat scurvy AND the plague

chase really not wanting house's theory to be right… who are you

i've talked before and i will talk forever about the way this episode suggest chase was luke when he was a kid: keeping lists and organized and laying out his mother's clothes and trying to control his way into fixing her. he wasn't passive, he wasn't hand's off, he didn't give up: he was probably doing everything he could until the end. if he didn't already have reason to hate her and resent her, that's a very good one: he didn't just watch her die, he did everything and watched her refuse or fail (or just be sicker than his teenage self could handle); no wonder he came away from his entire upbringing with an outlook of "i refuse to care about anyone or anything," despite how bad he is at just that. but it's fascinating too because outwardly, chase has such a slacker reputation: he's a bit lazy, he's very unambitious, he naps and flirts and doesn't work very hard (one of the main reasons foreman at least resents him) - but he wasn't always like that. (i've joked about it before, i'll say it again: i bet his retcon sister has such a different take on him. can absolutely picture her describing him to cameron as so bossy and uptight and wound up and foreman-ish and cameron just being like ???? chase ????)

"yeah, right. i'm rich, i couldn't possibly understand what this kid is going through --" oddly, i think this is actually the first time the show calls chase a rich kid. i guess the "his dad made a phone call" was a big hint, but it really doesn't come up as often as it kind of feels like it ought to

also rip foreman. i think his asking if chase has experience with alcoholism is like. the first and maybe last time he ever tries to reach out to chase with empathy lmao. chase totally blows him off, so i get why he didn't keep it up, but it's so funny to me. i love their mutual disdain for one another, and i guess you could argue this is where it started.

hilarious/Fascinating that cameron apparently ran to cuddy about house's birthday. why?? what was she trying to accomplish?? Fascinating.

i love this cuddy scene though. she starts off teasing house about his birthday, but house is acting squirrely and she immediately realizes something else is up and even figures out what. cuddy doesn't get the credit she deserves tbh — maybe she's not medically as sharp as the others, but her perception/management/people skills are top notch. love to see her winning

chase's weirdly strong reaction to luke being 15 makes so much more, and worse, sense when you remember that was his age when he became his mom's primary caretaker :))))

they suggest wilson's as a diagnosis a lot in future episodes, which makes it very funny that everyone acts like it's so rare and weird and hard to remember in this one. i mean, it makes perfect sense: they saw it once and know what to look for now. but it's funny to watch them try and remember the name

rip chase watching the kid and his now healthy mother reunite and go live their lives together <3 could never be you

#house live-ish blogging #house liveblog

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all-pacas · 14 days ago

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house live-ish blogging: damned if you do (oh you thought my other ones were long. buckle up)

the nun patient is played by elizabeth mitchell aka juliet from lost and it always distracts me. because i love juliet from lost. man lost was a great show

chase doesn't say a word in the first differential, which i'm noticing is a theme in these early episodes. it really is always cameron and foreman with the ideas. he chimes in with a point about treatment but that's it.

love that cameron takes it upon herself to decorate the office. she would. she is absolutely the type. i bet her house is always drenched in decor

also love chase dipping in real quick to grab one while they're center camera. (he needs to Chew Things)

chase hasn't bothered to particpate in the differential so far but he does chime in to hate nuns. the first of his many lies this episode btw

i'm not even making a joke about his s8 rebound nun - he admits himself the priests and nuns he knew growing up were the closest he had to family, and even in this episode he hardly can keep up the pretense: he starts off icy and avoidant, but the second the nun is upset and vulnerable he drops the bullshit and does his best to comfort her. he doesn't hate nuns. but i can buy he thinks he does, or maybe that he wants to: he lost his faith, he failed (and will continue to fail) that test, but he openly admires people who do have faith, who do believe in more. to me it reads like jealousy more than anything: she has something he wants. and he thinks he dislikes her for it.

"do you think it's the work of the devil, or do you just not get cable where you live?" chase's bad mood snark once again

actually i find his take in the argument cam and foreman have really interesting too: foreman thinks house screwed up, cameron isn't sure but isn't ready to be conclusive either way; when chase's opinion is asked he says "if house is right, then this; if house is wrong, then that." he doesn't actually answer at all (although he implies he'd rather house be right because it makes his life easier). he does the same thing in s2 iirc, and later in this episode: when asked to give an opinion he'll often skirt around and avoid giving one.

"did you always want to be a doctor?" LONG PAUSE "always" i think about this every fucking day. second big lie from chase this episode. he probably always knew he would be a doctor. it's also, come to think of it, a different take than his (equally fake) tonsil story. i wonder how many different version he's told!!

we really don't talk about foreman's religious leanings and baggage enough btw. because. he basically says here he believes in god. he and cameron rehash this same discussion in house vs god (i love the implication that they just have fun little debates like this sometimes), and he implies the same thing, but always in a way like… "if there's a higher order, obviously it is concerned with humans." in house vs god he says something like "the question of god existing is the most important question," which, sorry foreman, really is only true if you already believe and care (it also comes up a lot in euphoria, and in forever; there's probably also a reason chase told foreman he prays sometimes while trying to comfort him in house training) -- anyway i fully believe foreman fully believes he's an atheist, staunch and rational and cool, but. he clearly was raised in a religious-ass house, and clearly internalized a lot of it. and, i think just as clearly, unlike chase has no religious trauma or baggage: he tends to feel pretty positively about it for something he doesn't believe in, you know?

"what about you, chase? you believe in god?" chase: "oh man look at this mri" hahahha love this man's refusal to state even the most obvious of opinions (i actually think chase's answer is no, but that he also very much wishes he believed).

cameron once again acting as chief asskisser, coming up with 18 other ways house could secretly be right this whole time

and as soon as cuddy takes over, cameron also tries to chime in with "house thinks :)"

nice wardrobe touch: foreman and chase both pull on their suit jackets before meeting with cuddy. chase also puts on a tie

love how annoyed cameron and chase are with foreman for ratting lol. like for real, these early episodes really do set up foreman as this new/opposing force to house, with cameron and chase as the sort of… loyalists. (which they are, but we haven't hit the crush/lapdog eras at all)

this early episodes are fun because wilson actually seems like he has a job and doesn't just hang around house all day. what's that like

ugh i love this scene with chase and house. it's actually the first scene they have together in the show and it's just. can you believe THIS is the first scene with just the two of them. chase actually pushes back on house and doesn't give an inch: "my mother's been dead ten years" and not "what do you want?"; "which nun? why do you say that?" - everything house says, chase pushes back on. "i don't know nuns." "maybe i hate them on principle." chase doesn't say anything. everything house throws out he denies immediately. it's honestly fascinating, it's also not remotely the last time: to go back to what the nun tells him, it's not that chase is a good liar (it's very obviously he is lying), but he really, really doesn't budge or open up or allow house's prodding to land. he does the same thing in s8, in chase: i know you want to know this. i will not tell you. i know you'll help me, because my not telling you has gotten you invested.

"i have a theory of what makes good boys good --" and chase just starts blinking rapidly, i love it. i think chase is hand's down an angry crier (case in point: lockdown. cursed. right now).

HOUSE: I have a theory on what makes good boys “good”. It’s not because of some moral imperative. Good boys have the fear of God put into them. Catholic Church specializes in that kind of training, to make good boys afraid of divine retribution so they will do what their daddies tell them, like, for example, going into medical school when it’s the last thing they want to do. What do you think?

dead to rights he's got him dead to rights. chase never wanting to go to medical school is. it's so overlooked. i mean, we know it, but he's so good at this that it's easy to forget. and yet again: chase doesn't budge. he doesn't say i went to catholic school. he definitely never says i wanted to go to seminary.

something about this compared to hunting actually. kalvin and cameron talking about doing what's right ("good") vs what makes you happy. satisfaction vs happiness. cameron scheduling fun on a calendar. i used to be a good boy, says kalvin. chase, who is 'good,' who does what he's told, who has always done as he's told. who has jumped from one authority figure to another his whole life. something

something i've always liked about this show on a meta level is how it tends to treat religion fairly evenly: house hates religion and is loud about it, but chase's rotisserie chicken of catholicism is treated seriously, and minor religious characters run the gamut - it would be easy to make the nuns in this episode silly and "wrong," but instead the mother superior is reasonable and kind, the nurse one is petty but intelligent, they're not made fun of for believing or proven right or wrong by the narrative. the show does this a lot: it isn't interested in any sort of Gotcha!! of atheism or faith, and tends to allow characters their beliefs. i like that honestly. it would be very easy for house to treat the religious like the clinic patients, you know? instead, the jewish convert lady truly just found faith. the rebound nun chooses to be a nun and will be happy with it. the cast falls across a wide spectrum of religious views from "devout" (cole) to "raised religious" (foreman) to "chase" (chase), to cameron's staunch atheism and taub/wilson/cuddy's deeply reform judaism.

CAMERON: Maybe House was right. Maybe there is an underlying condition that explains the symptoms, something we haven’t considered. CUDDY: Like what? CAMERON: It could be a metabolic disorder. CUDDY: Specifically? CAMERON: Mitogenetic. CUDDY: Specifically? CAMERON: I’m just saying – CUDDY: You’re just saying you think House is right. CAMERON: Might be right. CUDDY: Of course he might be right! It might be the Hand of God at work. Don’t say it’s something else unless you’ve got something concrete to offer.

i've always liked this exchange, because it would be very easy to make cuddy the 'bad guy' in this episode for not agreeing with house, and the delivery on these lines are very "okay, and?" instead of argumentative: cuddy is making some good points, and that point is, cameron, stop kissing house's ass if you don't have anything lol. written down it seems much more argumentative but as filmed it's very reasonable, i just like it idk. also chase, take notes, you will never exhibit as much blind loyalty to house as cameron does in these early episodes l m a o

cameron is all proud of herself when foreman points out it's an allergic reaction like she initially suggested - and house immediately shuts that down by pointing out cameron didn't stand by it. fascinating little reaction, especially given how hard cameron has gone this episode in defending him: house doesn't give her credit for asskissing at all, but we see later in heavy that she really does feel like her loyalty should be rewarded. cameron also very much loses this trait later on! but house really is not interested in being pandered to or defended. we actually see he pretty consistently prefers and appreciates and likes to surround himself with people who disagree: foreman is the ur-example, but taub was pretty blatantly hired for the same reason. but also it's like. huh! cameron really spent all episode sticking up for house and he could not give less of a shit. they really have an interesting dynamic in s1.

chase IMMEDIATELY dropping his i don't give a shit, i am aloof and uncaring act when the patient is upset is so. he's so bad at pretending he doesn't care lmao. and don't get me wrong: he sometimes to often actually does not care, but. the second he connects a little, he goes all in, you know? he can't do cameron's brand of nice to everyone; he either freezes you out or falls over himself. no middle ground

i have talked about this before but chase's favorite bible verse being essentially "the more you struggle and suffer the more god loves you, so stick with it, seriously" is just. WOW. w o w. of course he'd pick that one. of course he probably clung to it for fucking years. my guy

he's actually really good at talking to her about this. which is so insane from chase, especially at this part of the series, where he's never really spoken to a patient before: we saw him schmooze in the pilot, we saw him very awkwardly try to comfort the mother in maternity, but this is the first conversation, and it's also the first time we've seen him be earnest and serious like this: usually he keeps his head down, shuts people out, stays fairly quiet. it's a sharp contrast, you know? i also wonder what his mother was like when she died, given chase's your faith will affect how you experience your death and his much later comments that she died with him hating her…

cameron trying to comfort/reassure house and getting dismissed again. she then gives him a christmas present. i'm not sure if we're officially meant to see this as her Crush Arc: i honestly feel like at this point cameron would act this way for anyone (and hasn't gotten anything to really "trigger" her feelings -- they had a moment in maternity, kinda, except she was really mad at house about it; same with pilot and his trying to figure her out), but the scene is definitely staged in a sort of loaded tension way. cameron also gets a mystery christmas gift at the end of the episode, but tbh, i have never believed house would have done that lol. like i know we're supposed to think that. but. given how he acts every other christmas episode, given how little concern he's shown cameron so far … you know?

i am not here doing hameron denialism. if anything i'm actually really interested in watching these episodes to figure it out from a meta/direction perspective. they definitely start pushing it by mid-season. but i'm just saying this episode does not really make sense to me, even if i suspect we're supposed to see it as sort of romantic. cameron is defending him beyond reason and dismissed for it; their interactions so far have otherwise been her being angry at him for prying; house has betrayed no real vulnerabilities or personal interest in cameron besides figuring out her Deal. there are moments later that makes sense to me. this ain't it.

do love chase barging in and cameron jumping back from house lmao. SYMBOLISM FOR YEARS TO COME

going back to my thing on religion earlier: house refutes all the nun's points on miracles, but the nun is very much given the last word on the debate; she's not shamed or convinced and if anything house seems to come around to her side (he decides to let her check out AMA); he respects her faith for what it is, if not her beliefs.

chase being called the prodigal son……………………it's so clear that none of the later seasons house's successor bullshit was planned for now (it's so obviously foreman) but MAN do we love Accidental Foreshadowing. man do we ever

foreman in a santa costume handing out gifts………hahahaha it's cute but it's so "oh that was sooooo abandoned as a character beat" of him. s2-8 foreman would never

chase turning away from the chapel!!! my guy!!!!!! like i've said before i bet he sincerely, despite all evidence, truly believes he is no longer religious and has no religious feelings. i think he thinks he's a super atheist. because he is so fucking dumb

i think this is the first time we get house playing piano??? man

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