RobertSeanLeonard-related stories
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 28th 2009 12:53PM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S05E22) So, what's going on inside House's head? We left off last week with House getting a surprise visit from a very dead Amber and she's still around this week, running rampant and unchecked through his life, an eerie hallucination from House's subconscious. For a while it looks like House is onto something good, he has a direct link to the inner workings of his mind, which helps him solve cases and plan bachelor parties. But, that all comes crashing down when the Cut-Throat Bitch (as she was affectionately nicknamed) tries to kill Chase.
Continue reading House: House Divided
Posted Mar 31st 2009 11:01AM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: House, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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.
Continue reading House: Locked In
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 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 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
Posted Oct 30th 2007 11:41PM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews
(
S04E05) "
She said her hoo-hoo burned." -- Kutner I will be reviewing
House for the next two weeks because
Richard Keller, my
House compadre, is otherwise tied up. I was going to follow the format for the review that Rich devised last week, because I think it's a great format. However, when I began writing the review, I realized that because the plot integrated with what was happening with the characters so intensely that it made sense simply to review the show. For even more
House, if you can't get enough, head on over to AOL.
I realized after I watched the episode that we never got to find out who the patient, Robert Elliot, really was. From the moment we saw him, he was mirroring the older brother mugger, and then the doctors, one by one.
Continue reading House: Mirror Mirror
Posted Oct 3rd 2007 1:04AM by Jen Creer
Filed under: OpEd, House, Episode Reviews
(
S04E02) Hi, I'm Jen, and I am going to be sharing reviews of
House with Rich Keller, alternating weeks. Here's the way these reviews are going to work: We are going to include both reviews and recaps of each episode-- sort of reviewcaps, as our illustrious leader Keith McDuffee calls them. I will indicate in bold where the review begins and then, down below it, where the recap begins. So, if you don't want to have to read a recap, you can skip it.
I *know* tonight's post has a very long recap. I like the small details. Please give me a couple of times to find my groove. But this is one of the reasons I am putting the recap after the review, so if you haven't seen the show yet, please take that under advisement. And if you like recaps, or didn't get a chance to catch the episode, then you can find out about it there. I'm starting under the jump. Ready? Set? Go.
Continue reading House: The Right Stuff
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