(S03E11) Let me say that I couldn't be happier about the resolution of the Tritter plot line this season, because it was definitely getting under my skin, and based on comments that TV Squad readers have been leaving here for the last few episode reviews, that was the case for more than just me. That said, I can't say I was pleased with how Tritter handled things at the end, but we'll get to that later.
I'm also starting to feel - and not just with this particular show, but all of them that I watch - that DVDs have spoiled me, because the whole waiting over the holidays, and then two weeks off here, three weeks there, is a bit draining. But at least FOX isn't pulling a Lost with us, and we only have to wait until January 30 for the next installment.
Back to the brass tacks, though. I think that our level of frustration with Tritter and how that situation was going down was completely emulated in how Cuddy decided to end it all by perjuring herself and coming up with a solution to get House out of court and Tritter off the cases of her staffers. For a minute there, I almost believed her while she was in the witness box, but that would have been too perfect, wouldn't it? The court scene was definitely one that I was looking forward to, as we got a pretty good promo showing House answer his phone, which you knew wouldn't go over too well.
Aside from the fact that I'm guessing we'll hear a lot from people who know that ECT is still given as a treatment for various things today, including severe depression, and isn't only relegated to the "1940's" as House and his team were saying, I thought that looping in the concept of being "lovesick" with the 1940's, and solving it with a 1940's treatment. Also, I guess I hadn't heard about people losing their experiential memories when it comes to ECT, but hey, I'm not an MD for a reason.
Stepping back to Tritter's comments to House as the case closes, though. What was with him addressing House as "Dr. House" to get his attention, and telling him that he hopes it all works out for him and that he was wrong about him all along. If that wasn't a boldface lie or the worst written piece of dialogue ever then I'm not sure what is (though I'm more than happy to take suggestions). It just made the entire Tritter plot seem like a complete waste. What, we're supposed to believe that after the judge takes him to task that he's going to have a Ghost of Christmas Past thing happen to him and he would move on, suddenly a new man? I think not. Clearly, he had some ECT while House was out saving his patient in the middle of court.
When House apologized to Wilson for how he had been acting and treating his friend, I actually thought we were seeing a character evolution that wasn't one of the three young doctors for once. As it turned out, it was probably 50% part of his recovery, 50% part of his dastardly plan that included snagging drugs from the orderly in the rehab facility. And when Cameron gave him a huge hug, that might have been the first time I really felt like she might not be one to depart at season's end, another thing I'm more than happy to still take wagers on. Though I think the show could end up crippled should they let people leave. Well, unless someone dies.
Cuddy's jail cell speech to House about "owning him" may allude to something more. For a second, I really thought he was going to make a comment about being more than happy to impregnate her, should she ask. I still think that's a decent possibility, but you know they'd get interrupted by Stacy or Cameron or something, and that probably wouldn't end well. But I can see how her oversight on him could affect the show quite a bit, or at least will give us a whole lot of funny scenes with House in the clinic, where his problems with Tritter, his teenage stalker, and many others have entered the story lines of this show.
Are we at a "change point" in this particular season or series? Maybe, maybe not. It's never clear and sometimes this show has an X-Files thing where we just jump to something else from week to week, coming back at a later time. We know that House still has a meds fix, and it's not clear where he'll continue getting them from, but the judge seems to think it's okay. He's still limping, and I really miss when he was getting his running on in the park, but that may be gone forever. The one thing left is going to be a love interest - or serious lack of one - that might pop into the show this season. Any other predictions, now that we have a few weeks to banter about them?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
1-10-2007 @ 11:32AM
imdennycrane said...
Thank God this trial is over. Let's get back to the wacky cases. Please.
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1-10-2007 @ 11:16AM
David said...
This is bullshit! I didn't know there was a new episode on! Why is Fox so god damn dumb?! Wait until after American Idol premeires to show House. Have a month off, show one episode, wait 3 more weeks. That's lame.
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1-10-2007 @ 11:00AM
Babs said...
I have no personal experience with ECT; however, I have been in a treatment facility for depression in which fellow patients have undergone the procedure. I think this depiction was oversimplified and cliched (big surprised). Patients with depression and anxiety CHOOSE to have the treatments, which are always offered in a series -- usually six to ten, administered every other day or so. The treatments are surprisingly brief, and they come back sleepy and a bit groggy for a half day or so before regaining their ability to discuss their conditions. I have never seen one come off a treatment with the memory loss the Patient of the Week had. I HATE when TV misrepresents the mentally ill, but in this case, because it is House and only because it is House, I forgive.
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1-10-2007 @ 12:47PM
Andrew said...
Tritter didn't say he was wrong about House. He said he "hopes" he is wrong about House. A clear distinction.
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1-10-2007 @ 11:29AM
Bryce said...
How could Cuddy's testimony get House out of trouble? Wether or not he actually got drugs, he still intedended to get them, through an illigal channel. It'd be the same as if someone pointed a gun at you and shot, but the gun jam, they don't just get off because you aren't dead, they are still tried for attempted murder.
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1-10-2007 @ 11:44AM
Karen said...
it wasn't so much the case this week that intrigued me... as the whole wrap up to the Tritter business. BEYOND lame how they wrapped it up. I mean, I wanted to be done with the whole mess already... but I was hoping for more than a dopey throw away line before we saw the last of him. Que sera, sera at this point. My other big issue: 3 WEEKS before the next episode??? Way to be good to a hit show FOX...
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1-10-2007 @ 11:54AM
Tim Dorr said...
Actually, House *is* pulling a Lost on us, since that's why they changed the Lost schedule to what it is now. The constant interruptions from last season where you'd get a few episodes here and there and it was hard to keep track of was what drove them to put in big breaks and collect all the episodes together. So, we get one big-ass solid block of episodes in Feb, whereas it's going to be on-and-off for House, which annoys me more.
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1-10-2007 @ 11:42AM
Evan Erwin said...
I agree it seemed quite convenient for the judge to say "Well, let's just get out of here," for Tritter to forgive or whatever, and let House play his game of manipulation.
It makes for more interesting television, even if it would never happen that way in anything resembling reality.
Point is, good House episode, I'm glad we're moving on.
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1-10-2007 @ 12:06PM
BillS said...
David:
I think the first few american idols (the ones with all the rejects) run 2 hours. Though I could be mistaken, cause I only watched it once (when one of my friends was a rather noteworthy reject). So that'd explain the three weeks off at least.
And as for finding out about new episodes, you can check here for the "What's on Tonight," or use a handy website like this one:
http://www.pogdesign.co.uk/cat/
Which lets you pick which shows you follow and gives you a calendar of what shows are new when.
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1-10-2007 @ 12:07PM
JTS said...
I write about issues in mental health and healthcare, and so I was particularly interested by last evenings episode for a couple of reasons (other than my general obsession with the show). First, there was the mention of male menopause, sometimes called adrenopause, which I had read and written on my blog about the same day. There presentation, like most of the diseases represented on the show, was way over the top, but it was still nice to see it mentioned.
Secondly, as Babs mentioned, ECT played a major role in the episode. She did a nice job of describing how the treatment is currently used, and as she said, there are memory loss implications when one undergoes ECT, but I have never heard anything on the scale of what they mentioned.
Lastly, I'm not sure how to feel about House's struggle with addiction. This is a topic we cover frequently on our blog, and while the show's treatment of House's struggles is pretty accurate (or at least more so than a lot of pop culture), I was a little disappointed that they chose to go the route of cheating on his program and continuing his addiction. Of course, it all fits with his character, but part of me saw this as a great chance for real development in Laurie's portrayal, but part of me also didn't want to lose the old bastard.
As for predictions, it looks like three weeks from now we'll again see House tangling with personal demons, so it might be that his personal changes are coming, but just taking longer rather than shorter.
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1-10-2007 @ 11:59AM
Dave H said...
I love how Scrubs last week did the "House" treatment. Even funnier was the diagnosis on Scrubs was broken heart syndrome -- just like last night
Dave
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1-10-2007 @ 12:12PM
TomB said...
Well, an orderly can't pass meds and doesn't have access to narcotics, ECT doesn't wipe out your entire memory, ever (especially one treatment); and you don't hold electric "paddles" on either side of the head. Giving a little bit of lorazepam will just relax you a little while your choking someone, etc., etc., etc., etc. But it IS House after all, so I will continue to suspend my disbelief, no matter how hard it gets.
I liked the ending - "so nothing's changed?" It was great. House wouldn't be the same without Vicoden. They wrapped-up everything with a nice little bow. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Tritter again some day, however.
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1-10-2007 @ 12:05PM
Tom Biro said...
Andrew -
Agreed, that's what he was saying. In my writeup, I was saying "he hopes it all works out for him and that he was wrong about him all along." As in, he hopes that it all works out for him and he hopes he was wrong about him all along, two different things. Your distinction is right on, and is exactly what I was trying to say, but obviously it doesn't read as clearly as I'd like. Thanks for clarifying for everyone.
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1-10-2007 @ 12:40PM
Charles said...
House *is* pulling a Lost on us... Remember Season 2? We got a whole bunch of new episodes, then we'd sporadically get a new episode here and there, with no real rhyme or reason to it. Just like House.
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1-10-2007 @ 1:39PM
metz123 said...
re: Andrew...exactly....Tritter still fully believes that House is an addict and a menace and will eventually kill someone due to his addiction.
However, he pushed the case as far as it would go. He was told by the judge to get after some "real" criminals. The judge did not consider an addiction case worth her time. House asked Tritter if he could expect Tritter to pursue the case as a personal vendetta. Tritter's answer was "Good luck and I hope that I was wrong." Meaning, I hope it doesn't take you until you kill someone to recognize that you have a problem.
Judging from House's fake rehab....it is going to take the death of a patient (probably House's next love interest) to make him admit he's an addict. I fully expect this storyline to happen in the 2nd half of next year, as the writers search for some way to evolve House.
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1-10-2007 @ 2:07PM
yatesy said...
A orderly might not be able to pass meds, but Vicodin is pretty easy to get on the street. I'm just saying.
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1-10-2007 @ 2:22PM
Sean said...
"Judging from House's fake rehab....it is going to take the death of a patient (probably House's next love interest) to make him admit he's an addict."
First off, House has already admitted he's an addict. He admitted it the first time in the first season, then reiterated it earlier this season in the episode with the guy in the coma. Just because someone knows they're an addict doesn't mean they feel the need to change.
Second, why do you assume that House should/has to deal with his vicodin addiction? For three and a half years we've seen House perpetually hopped up on pills, and again and again he saves the patients' lives. Sure, he's a jerk, but we've been told by Stacy that House was a jerk even before his infarction (and we got to see that for ourselves when the ketamine cured his leg). And all the better behavior that Cuddy and Wilson attributed to House's rehab? He was on vicodin the whole time.
Basically, I haven't seen any evidence that House's drug use makes him a danger to his patients or any more rude and irritable than he would be any way, so I don't see why so many fans of the show want him to get off vicodin. What would it really accomplish?
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1-13-2007 @ 10:19PM
Roy Crops said...
Dependance, (addiction) to all sorts of Meds, including implanted morphine dispensors, and stronger, is not uncommon. Getting MD's to pay attention, take you seriously, and risk censure if it is deemed inappropiate (still unlikely), IS a problem. Playing House's addiction as good vs evil, and having schock treatments erase your memory, and dwarfs, that aren't, well that's just Hawkeye gone bad.
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1-10-2007 @ 6:14PM
Anna said...
He couldn't have been taking Vicodin the whole time. He was detoxing rather prominently throughout the episode. I don't think even House would make himself throw up constantly in order to convince people he doesn't really care about (only what the judge and Tritter believed mattered). But according to the "twist" at the end, that's what happened. Garhh. Damn logical fallacies. And yet I keep watching.
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1-10-2007 @ 6:13PM
Keala said...
I'm not from the U.S. - and I am curious to know whether it is true as presented that House could have got 10 years for trying to procure a prescription illegally - that seems an awfully long time and pretty pointless to me.
Regarding the ECT - I think the treatment is more common than presented - though for seriously depressed patients, that cannot be treated otherwise - it seemed quite unrealistic in this case.
I like the way House acts just like an addict - no easy solutions. And I don't think we've seen the end of Tritter.
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