LisaEdelstein-related stories
Posted Nov 17th 2009 2:06PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S06E07) "I'm living my life. For the first time, I'm not going to change that because of how it might affect him -- or you." -- Cuddy to Wilson, who asked her what she sees in Lucas
I just want to shove House and Cuddy into a room together and let them figure out their relationship. It's clear that even though she's trying to be happy in her current relationship, she just can't get House out of her head, no matter how much she declares that she has or is going to.
I feel for her, because once they end up getting together -- if they don't by the time the series ends, I'll be ticked -- she'll have a long road ahead of her. Or not. People change. There's a good heart beating inside House's damaged psyche. It could work.
Continue reading Review: House - Teamwork
Posted May 12th 2009 12:08AM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E24) If you've been watching
House for any serious length of time, you know that things are never what they seem. And, moreover, if you've seen any of the previous season finales of the show, you know that there are major fireworks in store. Going off the precedent set by last season's gut wrenching two-parter, "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart", I was expecting a killer episode. So, for the first 30 minutes, I kept wondering when we were getting to the good stuff. After the final 10 minutes? Well, I reserve the right to change my mind, but after first viewing, it feels like a rotten bait and switch. Follow me after the jump for the big reveal.
Continue reading House: Both Sides Now (season finale)
Posted Apr 13th 2009 1:40PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E21)
"You manipulative little bitch ..." House to Wilson.
After last week, we could all use a little breather from epic drama, right? Most of this episode was a complicated and not-too-enlightening game of cat and mouse between various parties that ended up being more amusing than annoying, thankfully. There were a few moments when I felt like I was watching
Grey's Anatomy...and no, I'm not talking about the surprise ending.
Continue reading House: Saviors
Posted Mar 17th 2009 12:29PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S5E18) "Cats make terrible doctors. Oh wait, that's women." -House We get a break from the angst factory this week. The neurotic and usually enjoyable Judy Greer guest star's as the patient of the week, who arrives at PPH with fake seizures, green pee and a cat that can predict the deaths of old people. With all that, and some light-hearted pranking between House and Kutner, and this episode felt like it should have aired around Halloween, and not near the end of the season.
I enjoyed parts of this episode but didn't get any real dramatic tension from it. Even while crazy cat lady Judy was possibly dying, it was hard to muster up any emotion beside indifference to her situation.
Continue reading House: Here Kitty
Posted Mar 10th 2009 1:48PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E17) This may have been one of the most satisfying episodes of
House I've seen in a long time. The show is almost always compelling, but lately has left me more frustrated than content. Not so this time around. We finally had an interesting and engaging patient; a nice enough family man named Nick, who suddenly loses his social filter and starts spewing every private thought he's ever had. There was little to no Thirteen and Foreman, a smattering of Taub and Kutner, but, best of all, epic amounts of House and Wilson, which, counts for a whole heck of a lot.
Continue reading House: The Social Contract
Posted Feb 17th 2009 1:30PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S5E15)
"You're a wuss. Part wimp, part puss." -House to Wilson We get yet another religious patient this week. Father Danny, who is running low on the big F, ends up in Cameron's ER after getting a late-night visit from Jesus. House initially grabs the case as a way to mess with Foreman and Thirteen, but it turns out that Father Danny might have a real problem.
We've explored religion before on
House, but this one of the times when it hasn't worked so well. Father Danny's lack of faith is a good opportunity for Taub and Kutner to engage in a philosophical debate, about God, faith and the nature of suffering, but this all feels like ground the show has covered before.
Continue reading House: Unfaithful
Posted Feb 2nd 2009 9:02PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S5E13) "What's going on with everyone today?" -Kutner
"It involves House, Foreman and Thirteen which means it's either dumb, dangerous or tragic..."-Taub Is House actually becoming a nice guy? One of the most interesting things about this episode was the absence of his trademark jerkiness. Whether he was dealing with an upset Cuddy or trying his best to counsel a disbelieving Foreman, House not only seemed sympathetic, but empathetic as well. I was surprised by the genuine concern he showed for Thirteen and Foreman during the blindness scare and his willingness to be Cuddy's whipping boy.
Again, the patient of the week wasn't very memorable to me. I find myself not even really caring about them aside from how their illness will reflect the doctor's personal problems. That conceit has gotten so obvious it's hard too look past it and see the patient's as real people who are suffering. Is anyone else having this problem?
Continue reading House: The Greater Good
Posted Dec 3rd 2008 12:00PM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(
S05E12) Last spring, I went to hear Ira Glass give a talk about his popular NPR radio (and now TV) show
This American Life. He outlined the formula for the show's success, and he also talked about
House. Websites have documented the formula for every episode:
Every episode is essentially the same. So, why does it work every time? Last night, I was hooked by Emmy the trainer rolling down stairs, and I was then hooked by the discovery of her surgery. I know that every single diagnosis and test and treatment is going to be bunk until the big, strange reveal at the end. However, it's almost like I am the same as House with my need to know what that weird reveal is going to be.
Continue reading House: Let Them Eat Cake
Posted Nov 12th 2008 1:26PM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E07) I always enjoy watching
House, but later, when I am thinking about it to write a review, comes the true test of whether or not I really liked the episode. Or, more accurately, then comes the true test of whether the episode can stand up to scrutiny. So, the answer in last night's case is that I didn't think it was a particularly strong episode. Sometimes shows seem to put in these place-holder episodes right before sweeps, and that's what this episode felt like to me. Strong hijinks, a little progress for more minor characters, but everybody else just sort of treads water.
Continue reading House: The Itch
Posted Oct 29th 2008 11:15AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E06) Maybe it's just me, but one of the things I love best about
House is that the writers often use the medical mystery as a parallel for the mini dramas occurring between House and his staff. Last week, with "Lucky Thirteen," the patient's fate actually coincided directly with Thirteen's, because the two women were lovers and were, briefly, both dying. This week, the patient(s)' symptom of sleepwalking was synonymous with House and Cuddy both sleepwalking through their desire for each other, and their waking to that desire paralleled the successful treatment of the patients.
I really liked the parallel structure of the dual plot points, even though I thought it was a little obvious. One of the things that keeps me hooked on
House is that even when they do obvious, they do it pretty well.
"Joy" was a great episode because there is a lot to unpack. And let's face it-one of the joys of
House is peeling back the good doctor's layers.
Continue reading House: Joy
Posted May 20th 2008 1:09AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Episode Recaps
(
S04E16) "
Her heart won't stop racing. No idea what's causing it." Doctor in inferior hospital.
"Are you sure it wasn't the bus that landed on her?" House.The season finale of
House packed a wallop. I let my Tivo get ahead of my watching it so I wouldn't have to see the commercials, and I had barely begun the episode when my next-door neighbor burst into my living room exclaiming, "Have you seen
House???" We barely had time to hit the pause button while yelling at her to leave and leave quickly without saying anything. But that is the kind of impact this kind of episode has. The season finale, which started last week, covered a bus-load of big themes: fear, wish-fulfillment, anger, risk-taking, the nature of friendship, remorse, and love. The episode was written by four writers, including producer David Foster: that was one of my first clues that this episode was going to be significant. They called in the big guns.
Continue reading House: Wilson's Heart (season finale)
Posted May 6th 2008 12:52AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
[
S04E14]
"You don't deserve to be happy." House to Wilson.
"And yet I am. You?" Wilson to House
House treats the symptoms, but he doesn't treat the whole person. He doesn't even claim to. He often makes a clear point that he doesn't care. House likes medicine because he likes to solve puzzles, and what greater consequences can a puzzle have than a human life? But ultimately, even someone dying doesn't matter unless House can't figure out the puzzle.
So, if the above paragraph is true, then why does House go out of his way to kidnap a soap opera star he believes to be dying in order to save his life? Is it really because he can't stand the idea of not watching his soap? I don't think so; he even encourages angsty actor Evan Greer (
Sex and the City's Jason Lewis) to quit if he's not happy... well, sort of. But, back to the question: If House doesn't care, then why bother? Because it's a puzzle he can see daily, right in front of him, and he has to solve it. Apparently he has made multiple calls about it, because the actor knows who House is, so House simply takes matters into his own hands because that is what House does. House lives a life without consequences.
Continue reading House: Living the Dream
Posted Feb 4th 2008 7:08AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews
(
S04E11) "
Never before has a profession been so decried by someone who needed it so badly," Wilson [about psychiatry] to House.
One of my favorite parts of this episode was the quote I have chosen to put at the beginning of the entry. Wilson accuses House of not liking Cate, the patient, because she is a psychiatrist. House counters that there are many reasons he does not like the patient, and Wilson comes back with that retort. The reason I like it so much isn't because I think it's meant to be about House. I like it so much because I think it's a sneaky little slam on Tom Cruise. Or at least, if that is too much of a stretch, then I like it because it certainly can be applied to Tom Cruise and his very public outcries against psychiatry.
Continue reading House: Frozen
Posted Nov 21st 2007 1:01AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews
(
S04E08)
"Foreman, she's not wearing any underwear. You used to be more fun."-- HouseTonight's episode had parallel three plot lines running through it that investigated one theme: What is magic? And how much power can information give you? The three plot lines involved the case, of course; the game
House is playing with the fellows to see who gets fire, of course; and Thirteen and her mysteries. Of course.
Continue reading House: You Don't Want to Know
Posted Nov 7th 2007 12:08AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews
(
S04E06)
"My malpractice insurance doesn't cover alien autopsies." --House
"That's fine. X-files are the next wing over."-- Dr. Samira TerziTonight was apparently the "stand-up" episode of
House. It had more one-liners than an episode of
Seinfeld. And everybody got into the game-- not just
House. I guess "Whatever it takes" referred not only to medicine but to extorting laughs. It's a good thing it had so many zingers in it, because that was one of the only likable things about the episode.
"
15 minutes for the lap dance, half hour to scrub the guilt off my soul... See you in 45!"-- House
Continue reading House: Whatever It Takes
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