House: 7x15 "Bombshells" - Discussion and Spoilers
- Thread starter Trekker4747
- Start date
Ahh. Saw "Inception" but had forgotten about the totem bit.
Oz would most certainly have been a more pleasant destination.
The place I was in was far creepier than anything Baum ever came up with. Basically, I had fallen in with a really bad crowd who'd stumbled onto a means of hopping between worlds, and were secretly exploiting alien cultures for fun and profit. Kinda like what Jack Sawyer's uncle was up to in the Stephen King / Peter Straub novel "The Talisman", only with a lot more sadism, sexual slavery, and the occasional touch of pseudo-cannibalism.
Once I discovered what my traveling companions were really up to, I knew that they'd never let me go. That they would kill me rather than risk their secret getting out. So I pretty much had to play along, which meant sometimes taking part in some really sick shit I'd rather not even think about.
Compared to what I "virtually" lived through during those six weeks in early 2008, being menaced by wicked crones, ambulatory trees and winged monkeys would have been a freaking dream vacation.
Forbin said:
Oz would most certainly have been a more pleasant destination.
The place I was in was far creepier than anything Baum ever came up with. Basically, I had fallen in with a really bad crowd who'd stumbled onto a means of hopping between worlds, and were secretly exploiting alien cultures for fun and profit. Kinda like what Jack Sawyer's uncle was up to in the Stephen King / Peter Straub novel "The Talisman", only with a lot more sadism, sexual slavery, and the occasional touch of pseudo-cannibalism.
Once I discovered what my traveling companions were really up to, I knew that they'd never let me go. That they would kill me rather than risk their secret getting out. So I pretty much had to play along, which meant sometimes taking part in some really sick shit I'd rather not even think about.
Compared to what I "virtually" lived through during those six weeks in early 2008, being menaced by wicked crones, ambulatory trees and winged monkeys would have been a freaking dream vacation.
The problem with that theory, in the episode just before this episode, when House appeared to be breaking up with her at the end of the episode because he was a worse doctor with her around, she was telling him to NOT break up with her.
A week later (in our time) she's dumping him. A bit meandering writing if you ask me.
Well, no; as I recall it, she was expecting House to break up with her but didn't really make it clear how she felt about that, and then he surprised her by saying he'd choose being with her over being a good doctor -- and if anything, the look on her face when he didn't break up with her seemed more uneasy than relieved.
Well I remember it differently but I will admit that maybe my memory is faulty. What I remember is that she started reacting much like House reacted this week as she was breaking up with him. As I recall, she said something like "Don't do it" or "No".
But I could be wrong, but that's my memory. In fact it just struck me as to how similar the two scenes were, only the roles were reversed. And in this case, Cuddy DID pull the plug, unlike House who backed off last week.
But I could be wrong, but that's my memory. In fact it just struck me as to how similar the two scenes were, only the roles were reversed. And in this case, Cuddy DID pull the plug, unlike House who backed off last week.
Pretty good episode. Not quite on the level of the whole House-losing-his-marbles arc that I think was the last high point of the series.
Maybe she did, but it seemed like she was ambivalent about it. Even if she said she didn't want him to break up with her, she didn't seem exactly enthralled after it became clear he wouldn't. As though she was trying to convince herself she wanted the relationship to work but underneath would've been relieved if it had ended.
There were other posters in last week's thread who saw it that way; in fact, I'm drawing on their analyses here.
I guess it's a matter of perspective, I clearly remember it as she was definitely saying don't do it. I'm not talking about the look on her face afterward, I'm talking about the words coming out of her mouth as it appeared he was pulling the plug. But I'm old now and my memory isn't what it used to be. 
I just watched the scene again on my DVR.
She's saying "No, don't do it! Not like this!" sort of in a desperate manner like she's been expecting this hammer to drop sooner or later.
When House confesses he's more in love with her than he's in love with being a brilliant doctor passes out in her crotch Cuddy has a worried if not indifferent look on her face. I read it as a "What did I get myself into"/"What have I done?" sort of look. It's certainly not a look of a woman pleased to hear her boyfriend just confessed his love to her.
She's saying "No, don't do it! Not like this!" sort of in a desperate manner like she's been expecting this hammer to drop sooner or later.
When House confesses he's more in love with her than he's in love with being a brilliant doctor passes out in her crotch Cuddy has a worried if not indifferent look on her face. I read it as a "What did I get myself into"/"What have I done?" sort of look. It's certainly not a look of a woman pleased to hear her boyfriend just confessed his love to her.
Sounds horrible, but it also sounds like it might make a good novel or screenplay!
Thanks, I was pretty sure that was how she reacted.
So something I thought of.
Before they decided to make the toxicity of House years-long abuse of Vicodin it was fairly well established that while he was physiologically addicted to the drugs he needed them in order to be pain-free in his leg. As he points out to Wilson in an early Season 1 episode he's able to do his job and function, the drugs don't make him "high" they make him normal. The man had a large chunk of his leg removed so, yeah, I guess he's going to need some drugs to cope with that.
But ever-since he detoxed and has been out of the hospital it seems like he's managing the very real physical pain he suffers from through non narcotic drugs.
Because of his real and measurable "need" for the Vicodin both Cuddy and Wilson put up with his drug use for the most part. He "needed" it and he functioned as a world-famous doctor on it. "You work better when you're not in pain." Cuddy tells him in one episode during the arc where an asshole cop is going after House for his drug possession. Sure both Cuddy and Wilson tried to get House off the Vicodin because it's a dangerous drug not doing House any good and because of its addictive properties but more or less they tolerated it.
Flash-forward to now and House is surviving on OTC meds and Cuddy and Wilson know this. House no longer needs Vicodin to stay out of pain. House no longer wants to be on Vicodin to stay out of pain since it's manageable in other ways.
But, here, we have House turning back to Vicodin out of a pyschological need for it (i.e. to get "high") but not only that Wilson and Cuddy are going to be far less likely to tolerate him using it because they know he doesn't need it to fight pain. Furthermore, who even wrote House the prescription?!
It would've made some more sense if they showed the OTC meds were losing effectiveness and House's leg pain was creeping back similar to what happened when he was off Vicodin for a short time between Season 2 and 3, had a treatment to stop the pain and the treatment wore off and the pain re-asserted itself causing House to turn back to Vicodin.
This, by the way, would've presumably been the first time we've seen House "detox" (though it seems to happen off-camera) and he only turns back to the drugs when his leg pain comes back and from the "pain" of apparently failing to solve a case.
So pretty much the writers have taken House from a man with very real, very serious, pain who took Vicodin to cope with it and not to get high, to a man who's actually a drug addict who does want to get high.
Every stupid drug-related thing we've seen House do over the series has been him trying to cope with the real pain in his leg, and further more being shown that he "needed" the pain to be a brilliant doctor. The detoxing after Season 5 took away any "need" for the drugs and, well, it seems at that point the show lost focus on the medicine but it still seems as if House is a "brilliant, world-renowned" doctor. But here he simply goes back to Vicodin, pretty much, just because.
There have been some hints that House used the Vicodin to escape psychological pain but for the most part it's been his leg pain. This relapse doesn't completely wash with me.
Before they decided to make the toxicity of House years-long abuse of Vicodin it was fairly well established that while he was physiologically addicted to the drugs he needed them in order to be pain-free in his leg. As he points out to Wilson in an early Season 1 episode he's able to do his job and function, the drugs don't make him "high" they make him normal. The man had a large chunk of his leg removed so, yeah, I guess he's going to need some drugs to cope with that.
But ever-since he detoxed and has been out of the hospital it seems like he's managing the very real physical pain he suffers from through non narcotic drugs.
Because of his real and measurable "need" for the Vicodin both Cuddy and Wilson put up with his drug use for the most part. He "needed" it and he functioned as a world-famous doctor on it. "You work better when you're not in pain." Cuddy tells him in one episode during the arc where an asshole cop is going after House for his drug possession. Sure both Cuddy and Wilson tried to get House off the Vicodin because it's a dangerous drug not doing House any good and because of its addictive properties but more or less they tolerated it.
Flash-forward to now and House is surviving on OTC meds and Cuddy and Wilson know this. House no longer needs Vicodin to stay out of pain. House no longer wants to be on Vicodin to stay out of pain since it's manageable in other ways.
But, here, we have House turning back to Vicodin out of a pyschological need for it (i.e. to get "high") but not only that Wilson and Cuddy are going to be far less likely to tolerate him using it because they know he doesn't need it to fight pain. Furthermore, who even wrote House the prescription?!
It would've made some more sense if they showed the OTC meds were losing effectiveness and House's leg pain was creeping back similar to what happened when he was off Vicodin for a short time between Season 2 and 3, had a treatment to stop the pain and the treatment wore off and the pain re-asserted itself causing House to turn back to Vicodin.
This, by the way, would've presumably been the first time we've seen House "detox" (though it seems to happen off-camera) and he only turns back to the drugs when his leg pain comes back and from the "pain" of apparently failing to solve a case.
So pretty much the writers have taken House from a man with very real, very serious, pain who took Vicodin to cope with it and not to get high, to a man who's actually a drug addict who does want to get high.
Every stupid drug-related thing we've seen House do over the series has been him trying to cope with the real pain in his leg, and further more being shown that he "needed" the pain to be a brilliant doctor. The detoxing after Season 5 took away any "need" for the drugs and, well, it seems at that point the show lost focus on the medicine but it still seems as if House is a "brilliant, world-renowned" doctor. But here he simply goes back to Vicodin, pretty much, just because.
There have been some hints that House used the Vicodin to escape psychological pain but for the most part it's been his leg pain. This relapse doesn't completely wash with me.
I agree that earlier in the show it had always been that he had needed the durgs for the physical pain - but always thought that his physical and psychological pain were interwined.
I remember one episode (back in Season 1 or 2), where he got Cuddy to give him a shot of morphine in his spine, it ended up being saline, but he "needed" another shot when he had solved his current case.
I remember one episode (back in Season 1 or 2), where he got Cuddy to give him a shot of morphine in his spine, it ended up being saline, but he "needed" another shot when he had solved his current case.
As I recall, House always said he needed the drugs for pain, but others disagreed. I don't think House's stance was ever objectively verified as the truth, and one should know better than to take a habitual drug user as a reliable source about the need for his own drug habit.
I just feel cheated after thinking about the episode. It just seems like the past two seasons have been for nothing.
The title had me thinking that maybe this episode would have something to do with House's penchant for hookers and porn or something.Darn -- with a title like "Bombshells," I was hoping it would feature the return of Olivia Wilde and Jennifer Morrison.
I thought they did a fantastic job playing zombies, so much so that I wonder if these actors get a bit of on-set training on how to behave zombie-like. House's axe-cane-gun was pretty neat too.Loved the zombie sequence.
I didn't think she'd die in this episode, but I did think that this was the start of an arc that would lead up to Cuddy dying next season when the show will presumably end.
That first shot of Cuddy in the teaser reminded me of Tania Ziesman...
Welcome to the world of addiction. A lot of family members feel the same way about their relapsed fathers/brothers/mothers/daughters/etc. In real life, sometimes people don't get better, or, if they do get better, it's not a straight line to recovery. Two steps forward, one step backward...
I have a friend who went all Kieth Moon around 1982 - every substance that could be abused, he abused, from beer and grass to heroine. Almost died, lost his wife and friends and job. Decided to clean his shit up, went straight, got his wife and friends back, got a good job.
Twenty years later (why it tooks so long, I don't know), it happened again, only he restricted it to severe alcoholism. Blew a .375 in a breathalizer when he got pulled over. Lost the same wife again (she'd had it!), lost his license and a string of simple jobs from mechanic to McDonalds...