Whoa so much in that one - quick thoughts

- Chase getting some time was cool but the dead baby was really sad- the parents were great.

- Wilson on a date wIthout his laying down the DHA - interesting. Kind of hoping that we'd find House lounging around on his sofa pre-date. Although not to dish out the rubbers on this occasion. PPTH is obviously not the place to pick your date because that was nearly as awkward as The Date.

- House is such a jealous monkey and I loved how he wanted to auditon and was all cheesed that they were dating.

That stuff with Chase came out of nowhere. But it was a good nowhere. Heartfelt.

I want to know the significance of his insisting "I'm not rich." There's something going on in the background that we don't know about. Hence the term "background."

Happy happy Foreman was amusing. I loved how weirded out both Cameron and House were when Forman gave her one of those borderline-massage type hugs. Too funny!

And at the end, House didn't spill the beans to Wilson about Cuddy's quest. Interesting.

Though you'd think Wilson would have figured that out as soon as she dropped, "Do you want kids?" Something about the tone . . .

Is anybody out there? Are people on vacation?

It's so quiet . . . . :unsure:

Exams for me. Ons stinking little exam and I'm lost!!! :( But hey, I started at a -F and finished with a strong B so it payed off! I'm ready to rewatch and absorb then come back and comment!

As for the rest of the gang, I would guess the exam thing is kicking in too but you never know.

Thanks for keeping things alive guys. I appreciate it! :D

I went to a movie on Tuesday so I didn't have a chance to watch this week's episode (along with Wednesday's CSI:NY) until this evening.

As for the episode...

* It amused me that Forman's new look on life was so annoying that it even bothered the soft-hearted Cameron.

* "I'm not rich." I wonder if we are going to get a chance to explore Chase's comment in a future episode. A nice little seed that the writers planted.

* Cuddy. She wants to be a mom. Notice how she didn't nix House's comment on when his "dinner" would be...

More to come...hopefully. ;)

I can't claim exams here, although I'll try to chock it up to my brain going slightly mushy in response to the Master degree project that I finally finished. I fretted and fumed, and drove and drove, and obsessed (even when I had it all written and bound sitting in a safe place waiting for delivery, I was still worried about unforseen distruction; maybe a random lightening strike :blink: ). It's finally finished and now that it's in and barring an unforseen comet collision I will get my degree it feels like I've used my allottment of energy for the year and I'm stuck both not knowing what to do now that I'm finished and not having the energy or ambition to do anything else, including--especially--hunting for a real job.

Okay so enough about me, now about the show. . .

I didn't comment earlier because this episode left me stunned for some reason. I think there was just a lot to process and comment on for me. I'm still not sure I've got a real handle on it. Early in the program, I did call that Post-partum psychosis would play into it somehow.

My thoughts on the show seem to revolve around two points: Foreman's changed attitude and the Cuddy storyline.

It was interesting that Foreman's new mellow attitude bugged even the sometimes overly cheery Cameron. It was a bit much, but I don't know that it's realistic for him to go completely back to normal either. I have never had an experience quite as dramatic as Foreman's, but I can point to some experiences where my body and mind said to me "Hey wait a minute, you've got to slow down or else" and while I remain much the same obsessive-compulsive head case I've always been, but there are things where I've realized I had to let go. As one of my cousins said, she came to the conclusion that her house could be spotless, her checkbook could balance perfectly, and her kids could be impeccably taken care of, or she could be sane. I don't know that even in "House world" that's an unrealistic attitude.

Then I wonder how much we can infer about House's post-infarction state of mind from Foreman's. When he says it lasts for about a month or two, does he know from experience. On one hand, I can't really see House as ever being mellow about anything without, or possibly even with, serious chemical interference-- especially with the bitterness he displayed about Stacy going against his instructions-- but I don't know that I could see Foreman being the type to take that attitude either.

Then we see some extremes with talking the mother into getting treated for her cancer: either you acquiesce relatively easily to her decision to punish herself by dying, or you inappropriately tell her to buck up. It seems there should be a middle ground; someone else should definitely talk to her, or at least they should open the possibility of talking to her in a few days when the emotions cool off a little (not that she would get over the baby in that time, or that she'd ever get over him at all, but given a few days to process and discuss with her husband, she might decide to try living for a while).

Now for the Cuddy thing. I flip-flop a lot on my reaction to this plot. It's realistic and yet it's not. Biology sort of plays a mean trick on women. Our best years for having children are also our best years for career development. Many women do both, but there are no easy answers. On one hand, many women have children in their late thirties and even early forties (my own grandmother actually had a child at 42, and this was back in the late forties, so without benefit of fertility treatment), but it can be harder then. I related to Cuddy because while I'm younger, I am now in my early thirties and don't have any real prospects for finding a mate in the next few years. Maybe I get lucky and meet the man of my dreams tommorrow, and have a whirlwind romance, produce the requisite 2.5 kids and live happily ever after, maybe it takes longer and I inherit my grandmother's late-life fertility, but maybe I don't, and I know that I can't be as casual as I have been--I admit I hyper-focus and I've been so focused on my education that I haven't really considered all my opportunities for meeting people. I don't see the route Cuddy's taking as a viable route for me for many reasons, but I feel the desparation.

On one hand I both resent television for not showing women managing to both have a successful career and a family, on the other I often resent them when they try too because they make it look a lot easier than it is. I've read of people on other boards talking about how television can never show people, not just women, who are perfectly happy without kids when many people are, or that if you are a woman who doesn't end up having kids then no matter what you do you will not be fulfilled. Again, while there are many successful wonderful women who wished they could have had children--I know a few in my own family and admire them for dealing with situations that weren't exactly what they had wanted or planned-- they are also many successful, wonderful women who are completely fulfilled without either having a significant other or children. It's sort of unfair and sexist to portray women as always being sorry they didn't have children and needing them to complete, when the same is not true for men on television (real-life is a different story I know and to be fair Wilson does mention his lack of children as evidence of the otherwise emptiness of his life).

So on one hand it's realistic, and I can see Cuddy being a lot like me, having definite goals, following them, not entirely sure that she wanted kids, but thinking she might--and being highly aware that time is running out and she may be sorry later-- not waiting for a man neccessarily, and getting on with her life, but just figuring it would come eventually (and ARGH!!! suddenly it doesn't seem to be coming). On the other it does continue the theme that some have raised where women in power always wind up getting hurt (Carly the executive who can't hack it and cuts; Cameron's inability to be in charge or be consistently mature; the have it all mom, who isn't everything she seems--the one sureptitously taking birth control--etc.). I should disclaim by saying I don't neccessarily see that pattern--it reminds me in fact, a bit of my undergraduate class where I discoverd contrary to my previous belief that apparently, everything, everywhere, is sexist and it's all a plot-- but I can see where some might read it that way, and I can see a certain amount of validity to the point.

I'll be back more if I get more of a grip on what's happening--and I admit that's why I was late responding, I was waiting to see what others say, to see if it would help me solidify my own perceptions.

Couldn’t agree more Catlady. House’s conversations with both parents were hugely interesting and this is definitely one that unravels with watching again.

The Cuddy/Wilson ‘date/dinner’ threw up tons of questions. I still don’t know what Cuddy wanted from Wilson (apart from the obvious). Was she sounding him out before asking him if he would consider being a donor? I don’t see Cuddy as cynical enough to have scammed Wilson but it was all really open ended. As for the ‘career woman hits biological clock’ plot - I don’t buy that it’s pushing a cliché in so far as Wilson and House are similarly fixed. Both seem to have struggled to manage relationships and their careers. Wilson not having kids but having run up three marriages raises similar issues. They have kind of insinuated from the start that she was looking for a relationship and it would be interesting to see more of Cuddy in an ‘arc’ rather than snapshot like the bird fighter ep.

As for Wilson – I think it’s also really interesting that House chose not to spill Cuddy’s secret. That was in character not only because I can see House keeping her confidence but also the fact that he kept Wilson from the truth. Would be fascinating to have seen how Wilson would have reacted to the idea and I think that played some part in House’s decision not to tell. So much potential with this if it leads to more House/Wilson/Cuddy. Cuddy’s ‘you two will have so much fun with this’ was beautifully delivered – so good.

I've been busy too, but exams are now over and I'm free. I'm glad I wasn't the only one. :)

Everyone's already talking about most of the interesting things that happened this time. For my part, if I were Foreman I'd have kept being unflappably cheerful just because it annoyed House so much. (Actually, I'm glad it wasn't permanent...I liked Foreman the way he was.)

Oddly enough, the thing with Cuddy didn't faze me too much. I got the feeling that it was more of a loneliness thing than a "biological clock" thing. If she wants kids, go for it, I guess...I just hope she doesn't end up changing too radically because of it. I like her the way she is too.

Chase was interesting. I wouldn't have thought that Rowan would have cut him out of his will (if House is right about that), unless it was "for his own good" or something. Chase has been kind of hovering in the background lately, it's nice to see them doing something new with his character.

Oh, and RSL played this episode especially well, I thought. Nothing specific, really, I just noticed it in general. I wonder how Wilson will react now if Cuddy really does ask House out to dinner. ;)

Anyway, just some quick thoughts. Can't wait for tomorrow!

I really like this episode. One of my favourites, definitely when it comes to the dialogue.
A very shocking scene when House rushed in to see the mother suffocating the baby...

I love Wilson's whole 'love doctor' thing at the beginning with House, when really he had no idea why she'd asked him on a date at all. They're like a couple of kids.

I loved House's reaction to Foreman's 'new lease on life'. So House, and so true.

This is another major point against House on the ethics argument. He didn't tell Wilson that she's trying to have a baby.

(Does anyone else remember those 'yup yup uh huh' things from Sesame Street?)

And I sincerely do hope they follow through with the Chase double-dipping thing. A lot of good Chase in this ep.

Yep. I love this episode.

Yes, and very unexpected. Great scene though and very well acted all the way around.

Funny you should mention the Chase thing, I was just talking about that with a coworker/fellow House nut the other day. I do hope they bring that back up at some point this season.

Yes, I am beginning to wonder about this. Why does he keep Cuddy's secrets? I don't mean this in an underhanded devious way, I just wonder what the deciding factor is for House. He hardly ever keeps secrets when it comes to patients and their spouses. Sometimes it's justified (ie, STD's that need to be treated, etc.) but sometimes there seems to be no point other than entertainment value (the transplant surgeon (SP?) in "The Mistake"). So why is he so consistent in his keeping of Cuddy's secrets? Or, since my memory isn't great, is he?

I know he has a very sharp sense of 'justice' and this is a huge part of when to tell and such but I think it'd be interesting to look back and see.

This brings me to another thought I've had but have not had time to pursue. Is this case the case that played into House's hallucination in "No Reason"? I know the husband from this case wasn't the shooter but in PPTH reality, we don't know who the shooter was and why he shot House. And I don't think House did either. That the scenario in his head was just his way of working it out and his mind blended it all together.

Could this case have bugged him enough that, combined with the trauma of the shooting, was the prompt for a rethink of his life? Because basically the wife did commit suicide by choosing not to receive treatment. Add the husband's guilt at his part in her choice and I think there's more than a slight connection.

Of course I'm sure the scenario that the shooter put forth (his transgression exposed) isn't a unique thing for House to do and so could have been just about any past case. I think the death of the baby before he could solve the puzzle and the fact that if he had solved the puzzle sooner, she would never have done that, caused him to place a lot of blame on himself over the baby's death.

Add to it the fact that the husband's life was ruined. He lost his son and his wife and House had a part in that. In exposing the guy's return to drinking, which turned out to have nothing to do with the case, he may have added fuel to the fire. She may have chosen treatment if she felt she had a solid rock to return to. This may have changed things for the husband. He may returned to rehab and dropped the booze.

In essence if House had not exposed that, things may have turned out differently, not happy mind you, but happier. House doesn't outwardly speculate like that. He may look at the case and say what could I have done differntly to save the patient or come to that conclusion earlier but not so much could I have produced a "happier" outcome. I do however, think somewhere deep in his mind, on a subconscious level, he does contemplate that and that's the connection with this case.

Maybe, maybe not, but I can't shake the idea.

:lol: Aren't they though? That's why I love 'em! And a big reason I think they have remained friends over the years. You gotta have that.