DIANE WERTS: 'House' of horrors
I’m with Foreman. House -- and “House” -- may be going too far for my taste.
Omar Epps’ Foreman character has told Hugh Laurie’s House he’s quitting because he’s had enough of House’s hard-driving, iconoclastic, inhospitable hospital skills. Yes, House’s disease-detecting brilliance saves people from death. But his misanthropy often mangles their lives in the process. And House certainly does that on a regular basis to those closest to him.
Case in point: Last night on the Fox drama, he “dosed” best pal Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) by surrepticiously putting speed in his coffee. All because Wilson was “yawning.” Not because he wouldn’t do what House wanted, or he was dating a girl House wanted, or something direct like that. No, essentially, just because. Never mind that Wilson was in the office treating patients at the time.
Even by House standards, this was appallingly petty and, more important, treacherously irresponsible. The fact that Wilson was even talking to House afterward, and that he gave him the usual gee-Beave-what-won’t-you-do-next shrug, made no sense whatsoever.
The House-Wilson relationship has been teetering on the edge of implausibility all season, and last night, it tipped over the cliff for me. This is all the more disappointing because “House” did such a splendid job late last season of delving into their weird symbiotic bond, when Wilson temporarily moved into House’s Princeton digs and they richly became both a comic and dramatic odd couple.
I’m sure it’s tough toward the end of a show’s third season for producers to mine fresh reactions from what are essentially archetypes. But pushing their known attributes to extremes, past the limits of not just decency but logic, hardly makes the heart grow fonder. What was with the earlier Cameron-Chase “affair” anyway, coupling in hospital labs while patients lay ailing? Yuck.
I’m not ready to give up on “House,” if only because Hugh Laurie still remains TV’s series MVP for me, giving perhaps even more amazing a performance the creepier his character gets. The rest of the show, however, should react to his ghastly excesses with something more than a so-what shrug.
Or viewers will start saying so-what, too.
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Comments (4)
Your interpretation is interesting - FWIW, the way I took it was that House saw Wilson's yawning as he sees everything else - a puzzle that needed to be solved. He wanted to see if amphetamines would solve it.
I thought it was a great episode - what does it say about their relationship that they're "dosing" each other to "help" each other?
While I'm not condoning House "dosing" Wilson, you missed the part that Wilson started it all by "dosing" House first with "happy pills".
I like "House" for a variety of reasons, it's entertaining, well-written, and thought provoking. However, it is FICTION--and I'm sure people who watch it accept it for what it is--entertainment--no more no less.
Would all of this "happen" in the real world? No, but as someone who has spent a great part of my life in medical situations--I wish!!
I have never watched the show, but as a "24" fan I see the previews each week. It seems like each and every week... "House faces his most challenging case yet."
Wilson had been dosing House's coffee with drugs for the last few weeks. Certainly, House didn't know that, but it should balance out the incredulity somewhat. It does explain his subdued reaction, where he would normally have an arm-waving hissyfit.
I'm not quite clear who isn't reacting. Foreman's quitting, and Cuddy's purpose in the show is to react with exasperation.
I was far more shocked by Foreman's repeated stabbing of a child last week, than any of House's mischief.
It's probably also important to note that it's pretend, and none of Wilson's "patients" were in too much danger.