29 replies to this topic

[TWoP Nikita]

From Zap2it:

The team must convince its patient that a missing House is still calling all the shots.

Thread will open at 10:00 pm EDT on 5/7/2012.

Edited by TWoP Nikita, May 7, 2012 @ 9:36 AM.

[Streya]

They're just phoning it in, aren't they?

[jessied112]

So, I guess I saw the ending coming. Chase had been working for House longer than anyone else and even though there was that two year period of not working on House's team, he still technically worked for House so quitting and leaving the hospital was probably his only chance of escaping and being his own person. Luckily there's only a couple of episodes left so it won't be devastating. Yet I still teared up because of the House/Chase goodbye scene. It may not have been much, but actions speak louder than words and I think both wanted Chase to stay but both knew it was for the best.

Speaking of actions speaking louder than words, that scene of House and Wilson in the car and both of them seeing that funeral procession pass by them, damn it was good. I could practically see House's concern of what Wilson would do next. He was so worried about his friend in that moment and Wilson...damn. And that look at the end from House. I'm guessing that it's not good news.

The case in itself was interesting. I liked seeing more employees of the hospital, even if Triber (?) was kind of an ass to Chase. At least he finally accepted treatment.

I haven't watched much of this season but only tuned in for the final few episodes. I'm glad they seem to be doing this justice. Now, if Cuddy were still on the show at this point, I honestly wouldn't be here because it would turn into the Huddy show so I'm super glad they went back to basics and have been focusing not just on Wilson/House but House/Chase and Chase/Foreman as well. I like reminiscing on the good old days, with the old team. I mean, I don't mind the new team...per say...but I like that they're coming full circle.

[rollingstone]

even if Triber (?) was kind of an ass to Chase.

Triber? Tritter? That makes me to trip to some sort of meta-talk. Thanks for pointing that out.

Edited by rollingstone, May 7, 2012 @ 10:29 PM.

[missy jo]

I thought this was a good episode in an otherwise horrible season.

I liked the moments jessied mentioned, and also when they were on the road, and House said, "I could live without Kyle," and then left the "but not without you" part silent.

But he needed a better poker face in the final scene looking at the CT scan.

[Drapers4thWife]

Wilson's monologue on the bus was just beautifully delivered. RSL has really brought his A game the past couple of episodes.

[Dana5140]

Actually, the patient's name was Treiber.

[mcjen]

Sorry but I just found everything about the road trip plot to be pretty predictable. I was sort of hoping for a Julie Christie cameo, though.

Was that the last we see'll see of Chase?

[Taarn]

My favortite parts of the all the seasons are when House and Wilson act like the 15 year BFFs that they are so this was a good episode for me. RSL doesn't always get much to do so I'm glad he gets a story line that doesn't involve him whinging over another bad relationship. I agree that a Julie Christie cameo would have been pretty cool - oh well.
Just an unimportant detail but how did they pay for the bus tickets without using House's credit cards? I hope House didn't get it from the alztheimers lady!

Oh never mind, I just re-watched the ending - Wilson sold his watch for the tickets. (He would have sold a family heirloom watch to keep House out of trouble.)
Snowball anyone?

[ohwindot]

Really lame that they could only film in California. Have they no idea that we know what the country looks like between New Jersey and Ohio? Not a Eucalyptus tree or brown barren hillside in sight.

[lz1982]

Wilson's monologue on the bus was just beautifully delivered. RSL has really brought his A game the past couple of episodes.

Agreed, that was great.

It occurs to me that it's been a really long time since a POTW died. Usually, one or two died in each season. Does that mean we're gearing up for a big Wilson death scene?

[090108joanna]

when they were on the road, and House said, "I could live without Kyle," and then left the "but not without you" part silent.

I didn't like this episode quite as much as The C-Word, but it did have its moments, and that scene on the bus was the absolute best. House was so great to Wilson, acknowledging that staying with the old woman at the bus stop and sticking by House were proof that Wilson is a better man than "Kyle," and then the statement above. That's the big question -- can House live without Wilson? Will he even want to? If Wilson does die, the impact on House would probably be even greater than any of the other horrible things that have happened in his life, but, if it happens, I'm hoping he finds a way to survive. Also loved that Chase got the answer again, got confirmation from the patient that he'd done a good job, and has finally decided to go off on his own. But, even though he won't be working for House anymore, I know there's a bond between the two of them, and I'd like to believe that they'll always be close.

Edited by 090108joanna, May 8, 2012 @ 10:49 AM.

[needschocolate]

When the POTW mentioned that Chase has the best record as a surgeon I couldn't help but add "Because he only does one or two surgeries a year."

I laughed out loud at the pictures at the end. I bet RSL had fun posing for them.

[Unspoiled]

Bit of a let-down for me after that last episode, but almost anything would be, heh. I was grossed out by that steak gorge and curious about how House got a bald cap, but yes, RSL did fine with the bus scene.
Oh Chase! His parting scene with House wasn't as lovely as a hug from Foreman (who has in the past been compared to a robot I think?). If it were me I would've stayed that couple of seconds to see the results that gave House such a haunted look, though.

(ETA: Peter Weller, who was the director, had given himself virtually nothing to do as an actor. Having seen him do a beautiful job in a wonderful episode of "Fringe" I was a bit forlorn! But good job directing.)

Edited by Unspoiled, May 8, 2012 @ 2:33 PM.

[Lollia Pollina]

I didn't think this episode was as good as the last one, but it was still pretty solid.

Chase leaving PPTH to form his own team someone else was a natural progression and very appropriate, but not in any way surprising. I thought his solution of the patient's case was pretty clever; it was very Sherlockian/Housian the way he put seemingly unrelated clues together.

The ending angered me. I have to wait yet another week for Wilson's test results. Hugh Laurie's expression didn't look either happy nor totally devastated, so my guess is that maybe his tumour is larger than he would want it to be be but on the edge of still being operable. Or maybe it is not thymoma at all, though that twist seems unlikely since it has been diagnosed as such by six oncologists.

It seems the writers are determined to keep me in suspense till the very last episode, which I'll admit is clever of them. I thought of skipping the last two, since I suspect they may focus a lot on Thirteen, but now I have to watch to find out whether Wilson lives or dies. Fingers crossed for luck, let him live!

I thought that it was a bit callous of Chase to leave before finding out Wilson's results. Chase and Wilson weren't best buddies, but they've known each other for eight years, and I thought he could wait for thirty seconds.

As none of Wilson's ex-wives nor his (never-seen) parents were in attendance, my guess is that Wilson has not even told them he has cancer yet.

I laughed out loud at the pictures at the end. I bet RSL had fun posing for them.

Are you thinking of last week's episode?

[Doxa]

I thought Wilson and House in the bus was going to be a retread of Season 4 ending...

[Anen]

The ending angered me. I have to wait yet another week for Wilson's test results. Hugh Laurie's expression didn't look either happy nor totally devastated, so my guess is that maybe his tumour is larger than he would want it to be be but on the edge of still being operable. Or maybe it is not thymoma at all, though that twist seems unlikely since it has been diagnosed as such by six oncologists.

It's the dramatic equivalent of those long pauses on reality shows where someone says, "Your [whatever] is worth ..." and then you have to wait till after the commercial to hear the number.

I figure either the cancer has exploded and spread all over his entire body or he has gone into remission. Hard to guess which from House's expression.

Or, I suppose, he could be pregnant.

[Lollia Pollina]

I thought Wilson and House in the bus was going to be a retread of Season 4 ending...

Not with all the product placement for Globus. More likely that they'd get into a discussion about how comfortable the seats are and how smooth the ride.

There was a photograph of someone wearing a dark suit (perhaps a tuxedo) on House's desk. It didn't look like either House or Wilson because the man in the photo had black or very dark hair. Did anyone who watched the show on a better screen than I did see who the man in the photo was?

Edited because I am a lousy typist.

Edited by Lollia Pollina, May 9, 2012 @ 11:39 AM.

[Unspoiled]

Lollia, if it's the one I'm thinking of, it's a picture of Stephen Colbert. For some reason Colbert has a picture of Hugh Laurie on a wall of his set on his show, and so for a few years this picture of Colbert has been on House's desk as some kind of response, I guess.
Perhaps someone else knows more details about this inside joke?

[Patvids]

Really lame that they could only film in California. Have they no idea that we know what the country looks like between New Jersey and Ohio? Not a Eucalyptus tree or brown barren hillside in sight.

Absolutely. It was more distracting than bad CGI would have been. I kept trying to guess where near L.A. it was filmed.

This whole will-Wilson-die-or-won't-he plot is clunky and contrived. If he dies, I'll be very annoyed with the writers. If he lives, I'll be annoyed they wasted so much time on Wilson's mid-life (death?) crisis. It's a no-win situation. Wilson "breaking loose" has been done one too many times.

The show seems to have gone off the rails without Cuddy, House's sounding board/foil/love interest. The show may be compensating for this loss with an overload of emotional Wilson scenes. The House-Wilson friendship always worked most effectively in small doses. (To be fair, the same was true with Huddy scenes.)

Did anyone else find it jarring when House told the Alzheimer's lady to "shut up"? He's usually not a jerk to the weak and infirm. Unless they're his patients and he's trying to make a point. Yes, she'll forget in two minutes, but it still seemed out of character.

The scenes with Chase were the best part of the episode. Did Park say goodbye?

Edited by Patvids, May 9, 2012 @ 5:53 PM.

[rollingstone]

The ending angered me. I have to wait yet another week for Wilson's test results.

Now that you mention that, I see what you mean. Didn't Thirteen take an experimental drug for Huntington's, get the fastest appearing cancer in the history of medicine, and then get cured of that cancer in, like, a few hours (assuming the show wasn't happening in real time, because then the cure would have taken less than fifteen minutes)? I guess it's the show's efforts to wring the maximum drama out of it, knowing that HL and RSL can sustain the angst for several episodes in shear acting ability alone. Once again, the writing lags far behind the acting on this show.

[jany11]

The show seems to have gone off the rails without Cuddy, House's sounding board/foil/love interest. The show may be compensating for this loss with an overload of emotional Wilson scenes. The House-Wilson friendship always worked most effectively in small doses. (To be fair, the same was true with Huddy scenes.)

RSL said in an interview that "I knew when Lisa wasn't coming back that I was screwed," i.e. that he was going to be getting a lot more screen time in the final episodes. So yes, actors' decisions to leave shows in the final year do have consequences for the storyline. House-Wilson is the only source of drama they have left. The last two episodes have been strong; that final scene on the bus shows that RSL and HL can rise above whatever the quality of the writing. I know Shore really loves these two; even if Cuddy were still present she would not get equal billing but would at least provide another perspective on the situation.

[Lollia Pollina]

The show seems to have gone off the rails without Cuddy

I think the show ran off its rails because of Cuddy not because of her absence. Her character took over, sapping the life out of the show, and what remained after she left is only just recovering. (Just in time for its burial unfortunately.)

Personally, I think Omar Epps as Foreman was a more than adequate substitute for Cuddy, and would have found LE's usual portrayal of compassionate Cuddy (same as regular Cuddy except with a raspier voice) out of place and a bit jarring in this episode or the last. She just doesn't have the range of Jesse Spencer, Hugh Laurie or RSL and sometimes it shows. She's best as either an exasperated administrator or as a woman delighting in the sexual admiration of others, but the softer emotions totally defeat her as an actress.

[romantic idiot]

LE's usual portrayal of compassionate Cuddy (same as regular Cuddy except with a raspier voice)

Hee. I don't know if I agree, but this was funny.

Based on House's expression at the end which was shock and his hesitation to speak to Wilson - I'm going to call, right now, that the cancer has completely disappeared. Because the natural expectation of shock & hesitation would be to assume that it's bad news for Wilson.

And given the awesome acting we got to see from HL & RSL, the time that they got to spend together in the final episodes of the series, I'm going to consider the cancer storyline worth it, even if Wilson does end up being cured. And if the show ends with Wilson (and therefore House) dying - I'm never rewatching this series again.

[Lollia Pollina]

Rewatching the episode, I noticed that the red and white soft drink cooler in the Olympus Diner has the words "Cola Soda" instead of Coca Cola on it. I guess they couldn't get Coca Cola's permission to use their real name in an episode where the POTW is poisoned by his soft drink.

[Drapers4thWife]

I cringe to think of what Cuddy would have done in these last two episodes. Foreman, as Dean, actually gives House (and Wilson) space and trusts the fellows to do what they've been hired to do. OTOH, Cuddy in the past would always flip out if House left the fellows in charge (even when it was the experienced Chase, Foreman & Cameron), simultaneously driving House up the wall and undermining the fellows by sending the message that they were nothing without House's handholding. No one would have gotten any peace.

[ConstableClyde]

I think chase will come back.

[Laira]

Cleveland is less than 500 miles from Princeton, NJ, so why would it take them 3 days to get there? For that matter, why not just fly out to The Cleve? Yes, it is a nitpicking thing to be irked about.

Edited by Laira, May 18, 2012 @ 2:32 PM.

[Lollia Pollina]

Cleveland is less than 500 miles from Princeton, NJ, so why would it take them 3 days to get there?

The destination wasn't the point; the road trip was. The journey took three days because Wilson needed to be distracted from his situation for that period of time. His MRI, which would show him whether his cure had worked, was in three days.

Also, I think that Wilson and House wanted to be there and back in three days, not to arrive there in three days time. Wilson's stated goal was three hundred miles a day, which would fit.

[Beatriceblake]

This has been my favourite so far of the recent episodes. I always enjoy it when Chase gets more screen time. He ended up being the Cottage with the most to him in terms of character. I loved his reaction when Foreman complained that he had lied to the patient after Chase had just said he was doing everything House would do. Treiber was relatively interesting as well compared to many patients of the week.