rj_anderson | HOUSE: "No Reason"

Current Mood: contemplative

Entry tags:

HOUSE: "No Reason"

Wait, before I forget -- again -- because I have a brain like a broken sieve --

Happy Belated Birthday,

jalara!

Sorry I didn't catch you on the day. I suck at birthdays. :(

Anyway, on to the topic of this post. I've been reading quite a few comments about the House season finale, many of them surprisingly (to me) negative. I realize that not every story is to everyone's taste (and I can certainly think of any number of things about this one that might not have been to people's liking) but some of the reasons that have been given for the dislike strike me as... well, bizarre, to say the least (i.e. "I know it was all a hallucination, but here's my long list of inconsistencies, contradictions and other errors in the episode that prove it was badly written"). And even from those who enjoyed the episode I've seen some fairly odd interpretations of events (i.e. "This episode proves that House only sees Cameron as a sex object and not as a fully realized person, much less a doctor worthy of his respect").

Well, far be it from me to tell other people what they must or must not like. However, I do think that this was a well-written, effective episode and a perfectly legitimate season finale -- not as good as "Three Stories", of course, but then what is? -- and many of the objections being made about it are inconsistent, irrational, and/or the result of careless viewing. (Except for the "EW THAT WAS THE GROSSEST PATIENT CASE EVER" objection -- that one I entirely sympathize with.)

But anyway, gross-out factor aside, it was not a bad episode. Here's why:

1. It is not cheating for it to all have been a hallucination.

My favorite example of this objection came from an LJ poster who ranted at length about how being a writer herself gave her the right to condemn the episode as bad writing -- to which I say, pish-tosh. All being a writer gives you the right to say is that "If I had been writing that particular episode, I would have written it differently." Just because you personally dislike being "tricked" by the author doesn't mean that authorial trickery is evil. It can be done badly and often is, but it can also be done well.

Doing it badly means that throughout the story you give absolutely no warning, no hint to the viewer that what they are witnessing is not real -- and then all of a sudden Pam walks in on Bobby in the shower and it's obvious that the writer is just trying to have their dramatic cake and eat it too. Doing it badly means that everything that came before the big it-was-all-a-dream reveal is meaningless -- it has no lasting effect on any of the characters involved, and does nothing to affect real-world events in the future. If "No Reason" had been that kind of episode, I would have cried foul along with everybody else.

But as a matter of fact, not only were we given any number of hints and clues that House's experiences in this episode were unreal (try watching it a second time and you can't help but see them everywhere), but the hallucinations told us a lot of intriguing, even surprising things about House's innermost thoughts and feelings. We learned about his doubts, his fears, his desires, his perception of the people around him, and a number of other very personal details we'd previously only guessed at.

Furthermore, his hallucinations do have an effect on the real world, because at the end of the episode the newly wakened House asks for ketamine during his operation -- indicating that he's experienced a change of heart as a result of his conversations with the dream-Moriarty. For the first time, he is willing to risk his brilliant mind for the sake of physical and emotional comfort. That's significant.

2. Gross or not, the clinic patient's illnesses were not merely gratuitous.

In House's dream world, he represents his own intellectual side, while Moriarty argues for the emotional and spiritual aspect. Meanwhile the tongue-swollen patient experiences increasingly grotesque, disfiguring, and apparently senseless symptoms, the sort of things that would be anyone's worst nightmare, but might very well be House's in particular. For a man with an infamously clever tongue, who relies greatly on the evidence of his eyes to help him solve a case, and who fears emasculation (as most men naturally would, but especially one who is already missing a chunk of thigh muscle and probably struggles with pain-related impotence), the experiences of the clinic patient could hardly be worse.

Besides, we're invited numerous times to see the man as the expression of House's physical self -- when a hole is cut in his throat to let him breathe (parallel to the bullet that went into House's neck), and an incision made in his stomach (parallel to House's first gunshot wound), during Cameron's robotic seduction ("Have you seen enough?" / "No.") and also at the end when House murders the patient to try and pull himself out of the dream-world and the dead patient's hand falls open to reveal one of the bullets that went into House. Not to mention the parallel others have noted between House's conversation with the patient's "wife" about the disparity between her husband's attractiveness and her own, and his earlier remarks to Cameron about the illogicality of her attraction to him seeing as he (that is, House) is neither nice nor good-looking.

House is notoriously cavalier about his physical well-being, and that comes through in his indifference to the patient's suffering in this episode, as well as the patient's own rather stoical aspect. However, the patient's eye hemorrhage and House's collapse in the hospital corridor come close together, suggesting that House realizes his intellectual self is not entirely independent of the physical as he would like it to be.

3. Yes, it is a good way to end the season.

This episode forces us to question House's relationship with and attitude to the people around him. We now know, for example, that he identifies more with Chase and has more respect for Chase's intelligence and ability as a doctor than he's previously let on. We also know that he respects Cameron's intelligence (the poster who said that House sees her only as a sex object in this episode seems to have missed several key scenes, particularly in the beginning where House makes a vague "trash" analogy that Cameron not only understands but goes on to explain its medical significance with impressive clarity -- right in the middle of one of those sexually charged moments, no less) and that he is still strongly attracted to her. We have learned that House perceives Cuddy as still struggling with guilt for her part in the infarction debacle, and that he does not entirely trust Wilson to respect his autonomy when it comes to his own medical care -- and that he fears a conspiracy between them, albeit a well-intentioned one. (I should also note that in House's subconscious Cuddy is not at all sexualized, which I found quite interesting.)

And, of course, we now know that House is struggling internally, as well -- that he's aware of the limitations of logic and reason, and secretly fears the possible repercussions of his own brutal honesty. Those are some pretty big revelations right there. Sure, we might have suspected before that House wasn't as confident as he seemed and might be questioning the validity of his approach to life, but now it's been spelled out for us.

The writing team were on record before "No Reason" aired as saying that the things we see in the finale will affect the relationships and behaviour of the characters going into Season Three, and I see no reason why this shouldn't be the case. Plus, we will have to wait until S3 to find out why the real-life shooter (who may or may not be named Moriarty) went after House and how well House recovers from his injuries, as well as whether the ketamine makes a difference to his leg pain post-surgery, and those are intriguing enough questions to make for a good cliffhanger, I think.

I've watched the episode twice now, and while I won't say it's the best thing ever, I think there's enough there for some pretty meaty analysis and speculation, and it hasn't done violence to my understanding of the characters or screwed up the balance of the show, which is all I would really hope for in a season finale.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Okay, so you watched the episode twice; I could have sworn House said, "Tell Cuddy...don't...give me ketamine" at the end. But I'm seeing all around that he said the opposite. Am I going crazy?

Otherwise, a quite good review, and pretty much yeah on all counts.

I'm quite sure he asked for it...but that opens up an interesting question. Did you simply mishear it (or did we?), or does it have something to do with what the episode led us to expect?

Because I was not expecting him to ask for the ketamine, but I recall going, "duh, of course" when I heard him ask. It seemed a logical conclusion to the arc--a choice House might in fact make after the pseudo-events of the episode.

A very intelligent and interesting interpretation, thank you. I agree pretty much right down the line, which is rare for me in House meta.

The closed captioning text reads, "Hello. Tell Cuddy... I want ketamine." Now, closed captioning is not always correct, but it sure sounds like what House says. Whether or not Cameron heard him correctly is another question entirely.

Well argued. I am not, as a rule, a fan of hallucination-episodes, but if there must be one, I'll grant that they did it well. And it was entertaining trying to figure out how much of what we were seeing was hallucinatory, right up until the end scene.

The insights into House's rather screwed-up mental workings were fun. My biggest concern is that, dramatically speaking, this episode leads inexorably to a major, pain-relieving change to House's life. And there's no way the PTB will actually do that, because the leg and the pain are too integral to their main character. So we've been set up for a Part Two that will almost have to invalidate some or all of Part One. Mind you, they're welcome to prove me wrong.

Thoughts on your points:

1. People thought it was cheating? Sure, if they did something like dreams or hallucinations even just a couple of times a season, we'd soon get tired of it. However, it's an accepted and time-honored storytelling and character-development device to delve into a character's subconscious mind. Definitely not cheating. Hmph.

2. As you know, I totally agree here. The patient was a stand-in for House in many respects. You've made points and illuminated many parallels I hadn't thought of. What is especially interesting is the "murder" of the patient. Was House killing his physical self? Or was he instead finally realizing that the physical matters, but he must destroy the mind-created illusion to get back to the physical? I think it's the latter, mostly because he asks for the ketamine when he wakes up.

3. For House, I don't think he could see Cameron as a true object of lust/affection or as a potential girlfriend unless he respected her mind first. (Say what you will about Stacey, but she was one smart cookie.) Sure, it is heavily implied that House employs the occasional hooker, but that is part of the physical, which he is trying to keep entirely separate from the intellectual. He is very attracted to Cameron, but he cannot act on it as long as he respects her mind. In fact, he specifically told the one prostitute we saw to not say anything. It might even be that he cannot perform physically if he suspects the woman of having a sharp mind, so great is his gulf betwixt the physical and the mental. If he were to sincerely court Cameron, it would destroy his disconnect between the physical and the intellectual because she embodies the best of both in his view. Thus, it is entirely logical and understandable why he has kept her at arm's length despite his obvious attraction.

Before his infraction, he could have a beautiful and smart girlfriend because he had not yet separated the physical from the intellectual. Afterward, breaking up with Stacey was just one part of his redefinition of his life in order to make his physical ailment mean nothing. That is also why he could not carry on an affair with her now. If either Stacey or Cameron were less beautiful or less intelligent, he would not have the problems he does beginning or continuing a relationship with one of them. (Of course, Stacey has three strikes against her. Not only does she combine beauty with smarts, but she is married as well, and it is not logical to have an affair with a married woman.)

I hadn't noticed that Cuddy is not sexualized in House's mind, but you're definitely right about that. He is constantly making comments about her physical appearance in real life, but not in his dream. It may be that Cuddy is safe to him. He knows he can say to her what he does because he doesn't really mean it. If he meant it, as with Cameron, he could not say it. But Cuddy is both beautiful and smart, so Stacey and Cameron must possess some other third quality that House requires in order to find a woman truly attractive. Hm.

Anyway, thanks for the insightful and thought-provoking post. I shall have to go back and re-watch the episode again, I think. How long until the season premiere?

I'm not generally a fan of dream- or hallucination-eps. Maybe it's because I've seen so many bad ones that I'm automatically suspicious of it being a cheap trick, second only to that time-honored cop-out method, the clip show.

That said, I didn't hate it, and I wish I had TiVo or something so I could have watched this a second time. I think I would have liked it more on a second run-through so I could have picked up on all the clues you've highlighted.

I agree *sigh*. I find it unlikely that House will experience healing (even physical healing) until the end of the series. He'll probably have his pain return, which is a 50% chance. But at least he might start acting a little less out of control, like he was after Stacey left.
I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the shooter represents House's Conscience (specifically), which amused me. Turns out House's Conscience is a balding, greasy-haired, and fallen entity with a soul patch that has to shoot House to get his attention.

Also, is it just me, or is the undressing-Cameron-with-a-robot-image just the perfect representation of how House relates to her? That he can't bear to get close to her without using an impersonal medium like robotic arms (or sarcasm, in the real world)?

Am I the only person who thought that the whole idea of the ketamine-treatment thing was just part of the hallucination? I thought that was obvious - in fact, the other interpretation didn't even occur to me until I started seeing it all over LJ.

I think it was only in the hallucination because House had read about the ketamine "reboot" treatment for pain in some medical journal somewhere and had it in the back of his mind. So yeah, I bet that part of things is legit.

Mind you, even if the ketamine worked to reduce or eliminate his chronic pain, it wouldn't "fix" his leg, because he would still be missing a significant portion of his thigh muscle. So he would continue to limp and require a cane.

The limp and the cane will always be a part of House's character, because the missing muscle in his thigh can't be replaced by any treatment or therapy. So the most that the writers could do, in the real-world version of Houseland, is take away or reduce the severity of his chronic pain.

Still, even if they don't go that route (and I agree with you that they probably won't), I don't see how it invalidates "No Reason" in any way. The point at the end of "No Reason", IMO, is not that House is going to get rid of his pain, the point is that for the first time he's willing to try getting rid of the physical pain even at the risk of dimming his mental brilliance. The willingness to take the risk is the important thing in terms of the character, not whether or not that gamble turns out to be a successful one or not.

*loves your icon*

Thank you!

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I had a great day!

Why, thank you. I was rather proud of it myself.

USA is airing "Three Stories" tomorrow. FINALLY. I've scrupulously avoided reading the plot recap of this episode simply because everyone says it's ZOMG TEH BESTEST EVAR, so I want to leave the experience as untainted as possible.

Thank you -- this is really brilliant, and also made good sense of stuff I was trying to suspend disbelief about all along. Like, I don't care how much morphine you're on, you don't wake up after 2 days unconscious and major trauma and hop out of bed and go down the hall.

Well, I don't think you do. and the tacos. and stuff.

Well, you can see why I leave the brilliant analysis to you, and just say "thanks".

Good for you! I think it is definitely better that way.

Fascinating ideas! I do wish I was able to see the series... but your posts are always clear enough for us n00bs to understand. ^_^ Moriarty, huh? It takes a brave writer to put a loaded name like that in an episode.

All being a writer gives you the right to say is that "If I had been writing that particular episode, I would have written it differently."

That's an excellent distinction, and one that most writers (myself definitely included) would do well to take to heart. Thanks for the reminder!

Nice analysis! You saw more in it than I did, and upon reflection, I think you're right.

Thanks for adding depth to it for me. :)

Most excellent analysis.

The 'ew' factor forced me to turn away more than once (plus, I had to tell my kids point blank they were NOT to watch this particular ep, as I didn't want to have to deal with the nightmares I knew it would cause. Yes, my children like House).

My biggest problem with the 'hallucination' was that I called it less than 10 minutes into the show. That annoyed me.

There was so much information thrown at us in this ep that it requires a second or even third watch - if you can stand the 'ew' bits - to really absorb all of it. Luckily, we have all summer to do so.

Well, what else would House's Conscience be, really? ;-)

I think I just wrote off the robot-undressing thing as House being a jerk, as usual. But there's certainly room for symbolism there if you want it.

I think the pain and the pills are also an integral part of House's character: They give people something to blame his charming personality on, while House himself knows that he's like that anyway.

I suppose it's going to depend on how they handle the second part. For me, if I know going in that the attempt is going to fail, it takes a lot of the dramatic impact out of House even trying to do something about his pain. If they spin the episode(s) to focus more on the personal growth than the results, it could work as you describe. I'm not saying it's impossible, just that they're going to have to do a particularly good episode to sell it to me.

Oh, I do :). 'Sides, if he was just being a jerk there would have been more sneering and less blank stares of shock (as in: Am-I-really-doing-this-oops-this-is-way-more-awkward-for-me-than-I-intended).

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

HOUSE: "No Reason"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject