
(S05E19) Before we jump into an excellent episode, can someone please tell me what happened in the last minute of this episode, right after House stepped into the elevator and his vision began to get all blurry? It looks like Fox ran House a minute or two later than normal, once again, because my DVR cut off right in the middle of House talking to Wilson. Did anyone else have this problem? Or is it just time for me to get a new DVR?
Regardless of my minor technical glitches, this was an almost flawless episode that turned the focus back onto medicine and patients, while artfully weaving in the personal stories of the main characters.
It also brought back the unique narrative structure that the show is famous for and the creative visual methods it employs to tell divergent stories. Aside from the visual gymnastics, which were so integral, I was also particularly impressed with Mos Def as our patient of the week. He was amazing.
I have to say that at first I was unsure about the "point of view" conceit being used throughout the episode. This is a narrative technique that has been used so many times before (though never on this show) that it's in danger of becoming a cliche, but, like a lot of things with House, it was done to maximum impact and with a fresh spin.
The first person perspective is hard to pull off, and honestly, not one I was particularly enjoying at first, but Mos Def won me over and I was quickly so engaged and engrossed with the patient, it was a jarring shift to have to go back to the 3rd person perspective later in the episode. He was compelling, empathetic, and not without a sense of humor. This was a rare time I actually cared more about the patient than the regular cast of characters. We also got the added benefit of having a patient who functions as a proxy for the viewer, and who got to comment on the actions of House and his team. Even he couldn't believe that House and Wilson were friends. Heh. Again, this was a rare time I was really really hoping the patient didn't die. It was a very engrossing and touching story line. Well played, show.
Turning back to House and his team, I find that Thirteen and Forman can be not annoying in small does. The jewelery story Forman told was pretty lame, but a very nice way of showing how their relationship is evolving. I also liked that it was Kutner who came in and saved the day with his rat pee diagnoses. I appreciate that Kutner let Taub steal his idea, but I also get the feeling that he knew House wouldn't buy it. It was nice to see Kutner get rewarded at the end with a nod from House, without fully throwing Taub under the bus. But, super annoying that Taub did stoop to lying.
Finally, in the ever evolving bromance between House and Wilson, we discover that Wilson is dating a hot nurse from the mental institution and that House, of all people, was seeing a psychiatrist. Now, I wonder why? It's a nice bit of information they threw in there and it really pissed off House that Wilson found him out. So, score 1 for Wilson.
I have a niggling feeling I missed something majorly important before those elevator doors shut. Did I?
Fringe' Show & Cast Photos
FRINGE Walter (John Noble), Peter (Joshua Jackson), Olivia (Anna Torv) and Broyles (Lance Reddick) enter a governement warehouse to examine a mysterious cylinder found among the debris of a construction site explosion in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Peter (Joshua Jackson), Olivia (Anna Torv), Walter (John Noble) and Broyles (Lance Reddick) return to the lab to gather more information on a mysterious cylinder found among the debris of a construction site explosion in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Olivia (Anna Torv) chases a suspect through the woods in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Walter (John Noble, L) and Peter (Joshua Jackson, R) examine a mysterious cylinder found among the debris of a construction site explosion in the episode "The Arrival." Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
FRINGE Olivia (Anna Torv) chases a suspect through the woods in the episode "The Arrival". Airs Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
Fox
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Actress Jasika Nicole attends FOX's "Fringe" premiere during the 2008 New York Television Festival at New World Stage on September 13, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jasika Nicole
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Executive Producers John Wirth, Josh Friedman and James Middleton arrive at The Paley Center and TV Guide
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Molly Stanton arrive at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Jesse Tyler Ferguson arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com
Mark Valley arrives at The Paley Center and TV Guide
Jean Baptiste Lacroix/WireImage.com















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
3-31-2009 @ 11:26AM
David said...
Didn't miss much. Basically, House's vision gets blurry and he says he's not going back to the shrink because it doesn't work.
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3-31-2009 @ 11:26AM
Fullman said...
I'll have to disagree with you about Mos Def in first-person... I thought the voiceovers were jarring and really sounded out of place for many of the scenes... I guess just because we're stuck in his head they'd make sense, but they didn't.
Then, in the scenes where he had his visions/dreams, he was effectively mumbling even though, in his head, he should have been able to talk just fine. In certain parts, he did, so I'm trying to figure out why it was inconsistent. I guess he should have kept his towel handy. (Readers: Don't get the reference? Look it up!)
I caught House's vision blurring at the end too, and then upon seeing the half-preview for next week (my DVR cut it off too), I'm going to assume that it's either a red herring for what's about to happen or the rumored event actually does involve House in some fashion. Maybe there's more to his accident then he led on?
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3-31-2009 @ 11:31AM
James Kew said...
The "fresh spin" seems a lot less fresh if you've seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which tells the story of a man with shut-in syndrome and is shot largely from his perspective.
Oh, and the last scene was from House's perspective with a touch of the "locked-in" visual effect and Wilson telling him (something like) "You'll always be alone."
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3-31-2009 @ 11:46AM
Parl said...
I think your review is pretty off. The previews for this ep looked good, but I thought it really disappointed. The first-person view didn't flow or mesh with the episode at all and everything else was just bland normal simple character progression. I mean, character progression is good, but as far as this episode is concerned, they might as well have just had everyone sit in a room for an hour, break the fourth wall, and say "I am not progressing as a character."
I thought the patient was boring too, no empathy for him at all. All in all, I really felt like this episode was recycled. I felt like I had deja vu the whole time I was watching it..."Didn't House already have a motorcycle accident? Didn't we already have a guy in a coma that was pretty much dead come back to life? Didn't Foreman and 13's completely chemistry-less relationship already have a "cute" story about jewelry? Didn't Taub already steal one of Kutner's diagnoses? Didn't we already have a rat-pee and/or rate-bite diagnosis?
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3-31-2009 @ 12:28PM
rahul said...
i wasn't very happy with this episode at all, it was almost as if they cribbed an episode of ER (Alone in a Crowd S11E15)where the entire episode is from the eyes of a patient.
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3-31-2009 @ 12:29PM
Jason said...
I liked it.
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3-31-2009 @ 12:46PM
David said...
I thought it was one of the best episodes of the series. Mos Def was fantastic, and the writing/storytelling had me gripped.
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3-31-2009 @ 12:50PM
scott said...
what he said!
3-31-2009 @ 1:20PM
lkm said...
I'm in the one-of-the-best-eps-ever camp. Nice to have a better-developed character as the patient - and Mos Def was, indeed, impressive. And nice to avoid a major "ewwwwww" shot.
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3-31-2009 @ 1:38PM
codamelis said...
Loved this episode. It was a nice switch to have it from the patient's perspective for a change. Best line: (from the patient to Forman) Can't you tell this to someone who can walk away?
Had me laughing so hard!!!
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3-31-2009 @ 1:34PM
Midnight13 said...
I think Mos Def did a pretty good job on the show, and I think he's a pretty good actor. I've seen him in a few other things. The HBO movie he did a few years back "Something The Lord Made" was really good. I reccomend it. I liked this episode myself. Yes the first person perspective at this point is cliche but it didn't hinder "House". I once again enjoyed the sub-plot of House questioning Wilson about his trips, but I'm so tired of Kutner. If he's so damn miserable working under House just quit. There are other hospitals he could work for. Losing that character wouldn't be a big loss. 'The wil he be fired will he quit' thing they keep doing every few episodes is worse then the 'will 13 die or will she live past this epiosde', episode.
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3-31-2009 @ 4:17PM
btarlinian said...
Do you mean Taub? If so, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to find him annoying. Kutner seems as happy as can be
3-31-2009 @ 1:39PM
Pamela said...
I also thought it was a great episode. I wonder who is going to die in the next episode? Any ideas? Again, I'm also sick of Cuddy/House relationship storyline. I shudder whenever it is even mentioned. No chemistry whatsoever. I miss Cameron working for House and that chemistry.
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3-31-2009 @ 4:29PM
Gill said...
I'll have to agree with the above poster, as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is one of the greatest movies of the last decade I couldn't get past how inferior this episode felt in comparison.
Mos Def was alright though not show stealing good. To be fair though after watching him display his ignorance on Bill Maher recently i'm not sure I can ever take anything he says serious again.
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4-04-2009 @ 7:00PM
Greg said...
I'm pretty sure that House's vision blurred to illustrate that he is "locked in" like the patient was. He tried therapy and wasn't going back. He's "locked in" as who he is, and not willing(yet) to change.
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4-01-2009 @ 2:00AM
William said...
I have to agree; I liked this episode a lot! I wasn't sure at first either about the first person view thing, but I actually grew to like it; mainly because of Mos Def's voiceovers but also because I began to sympathize with the patient at how ungodly frustrating it must be in a situation like that.
House is always good, but this ranks among the better episodes in my book.
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4-01-2009 @ 1:43PM
Phil said...
Of course I was thinking "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" and that is an amazing movie and a true story, but the writers did well enough with this episode of House. I felt the same kind of horror of being trapped within. It is definitely metaphoric for House's personality in any case. Mo Def was effective. I'll also point out that it was important that Taub came off as a liar at least according to House who said that it showed he cared enough to lie. Thirteen's and Foreman's romantic entanglement I find the most distracting, banal and lame. Better to show them getting it on and moving on. The less said the better. . . Who thought Kutner would become a favorite?
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4-02-2009 @ 10:43PM
been there done that said...
I quite enjoyed the episode and I thought Mos Def did a fine job. (I thought the mumbling was a deliberate reference to the character's real life inability to speak at all.) My only complaint is that I want more than cryptic remarks at light speed about House's and Wilson's situations; WHAT nurse? WHAT shrink?
I don't think House's blurred vision was a red herring.. I think it is a hint of something that we'll find out about next week. Maybe on the way to a summer cliffhanger about House having temporary vision loss?? Just spitballing here.
So is next week when we find out about the shocking death of "a main character" or is it just a superdramatic episode? Does anybody have any clues about who is leaving the series?
And a final note for all you DVRers who didn't get the last few seconds of last night's House: I learned long ago that I can't trust Time Warner Cable not to start shows late and therefore stop recording before they're over. So I set each series I DVR to stop recording later than the stated show time; in whatever menu shows your series record details, just add two or three (or four)minutes, and each episode of that show will record that way. No more wondering what happened in the last minute or two of Grey's Anatomy or House. And now I always get to see to whom the tribe has spoken. It's unfortunate that the cable companies can't be trusted to abide by Greenwich Mean Time, but it is an easy fix.
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4-04-2009 @ 1:18PM
jquint said...
I thought the reason for the blurred vision was obvious. Like the patient, House has his own "locked-in" syndrome. He is unwilling to change and is therefore just as paralzyed as the patient was.
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4-05-2009 @ 1:40PM
Obi said...
thought this episode was fantastic
a lot of guest stars dont really "engage" house and i thought their exchanges were superb.
the first person POV was very very good and i thought overall Mos did a good job. but then again i am a fan of Mos Def so that does help.
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