Thoughts on 5x02: Not Cancer:


 -I really like the private investigator.  I like him a lot.  He's not Wilson, he's not House, he's an original character, and I agree with whomever said that he's more interesting than all of the newbies combined-- in spite of my love for Kutner and vague interest in Thirteen.  I"m thrilled he's got a whole arc coming up and I'm looking forward to more of the conversations between him and House.  They're not medical and he's a younger guy, and it just feels like a different dynamic than anything we've seen on this show before.  Like what TPTB claim writing the newbies into the show was going to do-- spice things up, shed new light on the titular character.  I like that his cutting insights have conscience and heart and that he tells House what he wants to hear and immediately admits to it.  I like that he charges House for all of their time together and that he said House scares him a little.  I would watch a show about this guy, and I'm having fun with the possibilities of the character on this show as well.  I doubt he'll be as polarizing as Maureen Ryan predicted he'd be; every post I've read has been either indifferent or positive.

-Yay, neuroscience!  I study neuro at school and my two concentrations are sleep/consciousness and the visual system-- it's amazing.  I loved the brain stuff in this episode, however brief and surface-deep it went.  I squealed in delight over the diagnosis of an occipital lobe problem, something I don't think I've ever done before.

-Robert Sean Leonard continues to be the actor whose delivery I admire the most (Hugh Laurie, equally, actually, but he gets enough praise from everyone).  He's so fully in-character; it's incredible.  I love how he physically presents Wilson to the camera-- the actual posture and facial expressions-- it must come from his theater work, which I hope to be able to see in a few years when "House" goes off the air and he returns to New York.  No one can compliment the man enough.  He is that good.  In one scene, he did more than Omar Epps does in an episode.  Of course, the part is meatier, and tonight, more emotionally rich, but out of everyone, to me it sometimes feels like OE gives line readings.  He's good, and I like the character well enough, but a surprising amount of his lines are said in the same tone and it feels like his tactics rarely change.

-Lawrence Kaplow Returns.  Huzzah.  I said it in one of the threads on the H/W comm, but that man is better at writing "House" than Eli Attie by so much it's worthless to try and quantify.  I really don't love EA's episodes, I have to admit.  They feel less complex than LK's.  And I was happy that David Shore co-wrote it, because you always know you're getting characterizations straight from the man himself when he's got that writing credit.  This is how he sees the characters, and it's fascinating.

-Who directed this episode?  I feel like both last week's and this one have been choppy, but it might not be the director or editors' faults.  It may well be the overpopulation problem.  Nine principles don't work for this show.  Was Cameron even in this episode?  I didn't notice either way.  My vote is and has been to just put the original three out of their misery, but that's not because I dislike the actors or characters.  They've grown on me through the years, of course, and I'd be sad to see them go, but I wish TPTB would commit to the newbies with the same vigor the original ducklings had.  I was never the biggest Chase fan, but relegating him to surgery and a few well-placed lines isn't fair.  It might have done better justice to have really cut the first three ducklings out of the show for good last season.  As a side note, I really don't understand the people who continually cry out to TPTB to return the ducks to their original capacities and get rid of the newbies.  People:  It's. Too. Late.

-Much as I like Cuddy, this was about the amount I like to see of her in a given episode.  I like her interactions with House, I like her interactions with Wilson, but besides that, she's fairly superfluous.  She's functional in that there has to be some kind of administration to hold House back, but there's no time for real character development for her lately, and while it's a shame, it's serving the main storylines.

Which brings me to House/Wilson.

Still loving it, loving them, loving what the writers are doing and generally where they seem to be going.  I know of very few spoilers for the next few episodes (and not for lack of effort, I'm a spoiler whore), but I have complete faith, even if it means a Wilsonless week or two.  I do believe that the show won't keep up this intensity of H/W for very long, (though I wish they would, since if it were always this overt, they would not be able to keep it limited subtext for three more seasons).  The focus on the H/W friendship tends to ebb and flow, but I know gratitude is in order, since two years ago I would never have believed we'd get half of the lines we got in tonight's episode.

My favorite moment is when Penny (sorry, Felicia Day, Apple, whomever-- I can't be the only person who was glad to see her life actually saved this time-- House > Dr. Horrible, for real) told House he looked sad.  Yeah.  He really is.  I cannot wait for the House/Wilson make up, but until then, I love House/PI in any and all permutations.  Let the slashfic begin!