Okay, first the shallow reaction...


SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE House playing blues guitar!!! :wub: B) I can die happy now. :D

Okay, on with the rest of it.

Wilson :( Poor Wilson. He knows he's in big, big trouble. And, I'm not sure what to think of him persisting in the lie. I mean yes, he is protecting House and I'm sure he doesn't want House to lose his license or go to jail because he has more than an inkling of what that means. And I'm not sure of the consequences for him as far as his medical license and such but even if it doesn't mean his license he's certainly damaged his career over this.

I realize he was backed into a corner but how does he think this is going to turn out? I guess that's a reflection of my friendship capacity huh?! :huh: I don't know if, confronted with that evidence I'd lie. I might ask the officer to leave or cease to cooperate at that point but I wouldn't put myself in legal jeopardy because I don't see how that helps anyone.

But again, I'm looking at it in the light of we know Tritter is bad news or they wouldn't be doing a six episode character arc on him. We know he's not going away anytime soon. Wilson doesn't know that, but still, so obvious of a lie to a cop with a vendetta is borderline insane.

Switching gears, the funny thing about Cameron is, I wanted to like her in this episode. She was smart, snarky, far less annoying because she wasn't being annoyingly persistant about stupid stuff, and she drugged a patient to keep him from leaving. She took on a lot of House characteristics that we know and love. The problem is I don't believe it. I don't believe she'll stay that way. Next episode she'll be off the charts annoying and I'll have to eat my words! Please prove me wrong but she hasn't been consistant up to this point why start now?

And just my theory on Chase's fat rants. I don't think it is a fat issue with him. It's a self destruction by choice issue. I believe he sees it as the same as his mother. Someone self destructing. Someone killing themselves by choice. And I think that's why he gets so vehement about it. His mother's death and his inability to stop it happening still bugs him. And fat folks are just a reminder. That's why I think he took the opportunity House presented in the "You, just sit there." and removed himself from any further contact.

Now how he got away with completely disappearing I don't know but I'm sure next week we'll get a lot of House riding Chase over it.

Next, I thought House's slip over Cuddy's IVF was interesting, and his subsequent covering up. HE's definitely not got his mind in the game.

As much as House seems to believe Tritter will not harm him, I think he knows that this will have consequences on his drug use and his abilities to get Vicodin at will, let alone renew his little stash of morphine. I think his distractedness these past two episodes is twofold. One, I think he's using more than before and isn't getting the same effects. With the failed ketamine treatment and now the Vicodin possibly not doing the job as well as before he's getting a little desperate. What's the next step?

Now this cop shows up and threatens him even getting his hands on enough Vicodin to d othe job, let alone something stronger. And, as much as this isn't a popular opinion, that behavior is classic addict stuff. Where am I gonna get my next fix? When you've got a safe supply and a comfortable source at hand you can concentrate on other things but when those things evaporate everything else can wait. The mind goes to the problem of getting that all reestablished above all else.

**ETA** Not that I'm my post is so important, it was just getting to be that time and I wanted to make sure we didn't get two threads started concerning this episode. I'm too lazy to clean it up. ;)

All in all I think this was one of the top episodes this season so far. The PotW was a bit weak as far as the case itself goes. George was an interesting fellow but I think they were a bit heavy handed in the House/George thing. But maybe they feel they needed to make sure we understand that House (as well as all sufferers of chronic pain)needs the drugs just as George (and hey, all living things) needs the food but that they also enjoy it and their enjoyment of it has negative effects on them.

I'm interesting in what line of thought/connection they are pushing with George having lung cancer. That House's drug use isn't going to be his downfall? Or are they even making/going to make a connection there?

Oh, poor Wilson! Not because of any potential legal problems he might face for lying to Tritter. I think it would be pretty tough to make that stick. Wilson's a doctor, not a handwriting analyst. If it is proved conclusively that the signitures in question are forgeries, couldn't he just play dumb? "Gee, officer, it was on my prescription pad, and I think my signature varies but I don't really pay attention to how much it varies, and I've written lots of legitimate prescriptions for House for Vicodin, and I didn't see any reason why someone would fake a prescription that I would have given him anyway, so I naturally assumed that these signatures were mine." Of course, Tritter won't believe him -- cuz' Wilson is the most adorably bad liar EVER -- but I don't see how Wilson could be legally culpable.

But still -- poor Wilson. Now he knows that House scammed him, taking advantage of one of the few things Wilson really values: his profession.

Otherwise, I thought the patient-of-the-week was well acted, but some of the writing was clunky. Letting the audience put together the similarities between House and George would be more effective than having characters comment on them. I liked Cameron's rapport with George, but disliked some of the contrived "sparks" between her and House at the end. Loved Foreman's line about the MRI table "standing on principle" :-) Loved House popping his pill at the same time Tritter popped a piece of nicotine gum :-) And, of course, House playing guitar . . . ;-)

I think he could be charged with obstructing at the very least. He lied, he looked at the signatures and said the he does vary his signature. He gets bored writing it the same way all the time so he varies it. That is intent and that makes all the difference.

If he had said what you said about the signatures at that point, that would have eliminated intent. He could have plead ignorance and probably gotten away with it.

He basically said he knowingly changes his signature. If Tritter can get a good sampling of Wilson issued perscriptions (which I doubt will be a problem). If there is no variations over a lengthy time period you could easily convince a prosecutor, judge and jury that Wilson knew the perscriptions were forged and he intentionally lied to cover up for an illegal act. And Tritter is the kind of guy that will do it becasue I'm sure at this point he has lumped Wilson into the same category as House. Doctors that think they are above the law.

Tritter's pursuit of Wilson, if it happens, will be because Wilson is a lawbreaking enabler in Tritter's mind, not because he's trying to get at House through persecuting his friends. Tritter sees it as justice, if they happen to be buddies, it just proves him right in that they all hang together. He'll probably go after the ducklings next. After all they put up with him and have not reported him. They must know something and are either covering up or are just as involved and need to be brought down too.

Wilson had stepped across the line. He knows it, Tritter knows it and there's a very good possibility Tritter can prove it. But House has no clue. I'm sure he will soon but I'm betting he'll handle it like he did with Vogler. "It's nothing, they can't hurt you or me". This will move onto "Well don't blame me you were stupid. You shouldn't have lied to protect me." and that's where I think the big damage will be done to the friendship.

Wilson will be pissed at the deception and the theft of the perscription pad but I think House turning the blame to him, when he has really sacrificed his career and reputation for him, will be a hard thing to recover from.

I'm not going to go into a full analyst, mostly because I haven't had coffee.

I don't see why the signature is a big deal, mine varies a whole bunch and if you ever read a page of my hand writing it varies in style on the page sometimes its small half form letters, others its big, sometimes its spaced wide sometimes i loop my y.The point is people's handwriting does vary of course we know this isn't the case with Wilson but Tritter doesn't.

Hmmm . . . maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there could be legal consequences for Wilson. I'm not sure.

But I definitely agree, rtlemurs, that the way this seems headed it will be a major blow to House and Wilson's friendship.

Will Wilson "dump" House (at least temporarily)? Will House deserve it? How is this betrayal different from Wislon's lying to House about the patient he cured at the beginning of the season?

More shallowly: House sleeping in his chair? Very cute. And Cuddy had a great slightly affectionate look on her face when she woke him, which morphed quickly into her "game face" when discussing his legal troubles.

Me, post-episode: *blank stare* ...Okay.

I wasn't quite sure how to react to it. I half liked it and half didn't, and I'm still trying to put my finger on exactly why, although I think you guys have covered some of it already.

I liked the first scene with House in the cage. The lighting (or lack thereof) was nice, and I thought it was well-shot: we got wide shots of the cage as a whole, with House as kind of a small figure in the middle, rather than a bunch of close-ups of him. (Adding the drunk guy in was a nice touch. After one or two refrains of whatever it was he was singing, my dad goes "...House is in hell.") I was hoping House wouldn't start yelling for Tritter to come get him out--no matter how glib and righteously irritated he was, there was still a hint of pleading there, and Tritter picked up on it. I think if I were in that situation I'd be just perverse enough to wait for him to come to me, and be sitting there indifferently like none of this bothered me one bit. Or at least make him be the one that starts talking first so I could play defense. He has to, right? It's his responsibility to let House go or arraign him. House didn't have to do a #*$& thing.

Anyway, though, the scene with Tritter walking in was beautifully sinister. I've never been arrested; are real holding cells dark, echoey, and filled with ominous mist like that one? ;)

Other than that scene, though, I felt like Tritter kind of got in the way of this episode. I was enjoying the PotW case and I wanted them to do more with the parallel between House and George (preferably without Cameron keeping up a stream of helpful remarks such as "It reminds me of someone else...someone...who isn't friendly." *cue close-up/significant music*). If we hadn't had to deal with Tritter every two scenes, we might have been able to figure out the House/George thing ourselves without having to have it shoved in our faces for time's sake. And it was an interesting parallel that I thought could've carried an episode on its own if left to its own devices, but instead we had two things going on at once and it made the whole episode seem a little cramped and cluttered to me.

(I realize there was some effort to make the PotW case connect to what was happening to House during the episode--the scene in House's home with Tritter, where he held up that ginormous bag full of pill bottles, was probably supposed to glaringly expose the extent of House's addiction the way George's weight was obvious to everyone around him. But the two stories still didn't gel for me. *shrug*)

I think it's been mentioned, but Tritter's acting a little stalker-ish. I understood the arrest thing. House sticks a thermometer in him, he sticks House in the drunk tank for a night. Fair enough. But keeping after House the way he is seems like an over-reaction. I could even believe he was doing it out of some crusade against people abusing authority if so many of his charges against House weren't so shady. "Resisting arrest?" What, talking? And Tritter made it pretty clear that even he didn't believe House was really trafficking the Vicodin. It made me lose respect for him; now he looks more like your standard "cop-abusing-authority" than someone who could genuinely nail House while staying within the truth and the rules, which to me would've been more menacing.

And like rtlemurs said, the ending of the PotW case was interesting in light of the parallel, although I wish it hadn't had to be so rushed so that the implications could have been clearer. George spent the whole episode insisting, and he really seemed to believe it, that his weight wasn't a problem. If the Vicodin's the parallel, and it was the only one that was really implied in the episode (although I think that's just one aspect of it), House also insists that it isn't a problem--but every time he does, the expression on his face implies that he's trying to believe it. Everyone keeps accusing House of not really needing the pills, or of not needing so many; that he's out-of-control, and that that should scare him. But I think the thing that hurts House is that he does legitimately need them. He's weak and dependent and controlled in a way that's obvious to everyone, so he acts like it's not a weakness, that it's what he wants: he ostentatiously pops pills in public, he lets himself enjoy getting high, he clings to the fact that they allow him to do his job--because, he says, that's all that matters, he doesn't need anything else. In this way, by deciding that what he has to do is going to be what he wants to do, he makes it so that no one can prove he isn't in control of the situation.

And even though the addiction seems to be worsening, and it's probably getting harder and harder to make it look like what's happening is what he wants, I think hearing "look what you've done to yourself--you're out-of-control" might gratify him more than what he probably heard a lot of following the infarction: "It's not your fault--it's out of your control." Making everything that's wrong with him very obvoiusly his own fault also implies he had, at some point, control over it. But like I said before, I don't think he actually believes that. I think he sees what happened to him as God/Fate striking him down, and he's bitter over that. But blaming God/Fate also admits that God/Fate did it to him--it was in no way his decision, he had no control. There's something out there--whether it's a sentient God or just random chance--that he can't control, and that can control him. And I don't think House can handle that, so he finds a way to make the whole thing his fault, for better or for worse. The problem is that he gets all the lonliness and depression that come with knowing you have only yourself to blame without even getting the benefit of believing it: "Well, I'm miserable, but at least it was my decision." Because I think House knows that the truth is, it wasn't.

(I think it would've been interesting if House himself had told George "yes, what's killing you has nothing to do with what everyone sees when they look at you." Knowing Hugh, he would've given us some great facial expression that would've pulled off the parallel quite nicely without having to say much about it at all.)

Oh, yeah, and Wilson...I think I'm with everyone else. He shouldn't have even tried the "I vary my signature" line, especially since he has such a (cute) bad poker face. I even thought he might not cover for House--he's been on this weird kick lately about giving House what's "best" for him. Vogler used his leverage over Wilson's job as a power-play to House's face. I wonder what Tritter will do with it.

One more thing and I'll quit; I didn't really mean to say as much as I did. ^^ I hadn't thought about it, rtlemurs, but now that I have I think I might agree with you about Chase. It would fit nicely, anyway. And it it's true then there's potential for interesting conversations between him and House, especially after (if) Tritter brings House's "self-destruction" into a more public light. And did we ever figure out what happened to Chase? :blink:

Amen to that sister! I adored that shot from the moment I saw it in the preview last week and the scene didn't disappoint.

:lol: I thought the exact same thing!!

That's what makes Tritter far more dangerous than anyone we've seen House confront to date. And, why I think this isn't a vendetta thing. Yes Tritter want a little justice for himself but I think the only reason he has pursued this is he sees a man who believes he is above the law. Compare this to House and it's like the clinic patients that come in and have done their research on the internet and think they know everything.

House pretty much sets them straight. Tritter is doing the same thing, it's just that Tritter has more "worldly" power. He has the power to, by doing his job, effectively damage House, his career, his reputation, basically all the things society values. Whereas House, in doing his job, should not be damaging the folks he deals with. But then, sometimes he does. How many transplant have been caused by House's initial misdiagnoses or mistreatment of a PotW? How is Tritter different?

I like to think that this was a planned effect. To give us that short attention span, distracted kind of feel to match House's feelings. I'll have to rewatch but I don't think he was overly distracted about the PotW case until after Tritter did the search. His stash is gone and his source is questionable and his mind is looking for where he can fill that gap before he runs out.

I think that's what a lot of the searching around was. Trying to find any extras he may have lying around and maybe even that pilfered perscription pad. One last persciption before slipping it back into Wilson's desk unnoticed. Wouldn't want to get caught with that and now there's a chance that could be exposed. (and we find out that in fact it has but House doesn't know that yet, he just knows that they're going to be looking at all the perscriptions.)

Lily, I'm not going to quote the whole thing for space purposes but I love your theory on House and the in control/out of his control reaction to his life. I think you are correct in many ways but since he's a complicated guy I don't think this is the whole issue either.

I think he did cover because the end result of forging a perscription is not going to be "What's best for House" and Wilson knows that. He knows that it is the end of House's career and without the work, Wilson feels House will implode. Wilson might go so far as House needs to be suspended for a while but the option of returning to work once things are under control is the key. Without a license he can't practice medicine. He has no job and with that kind of conviction (a felony) hanging over your head and his reputation he would have no chance of getting any kind of work let alone work he found interesting enough to bother with. (Hmmm, Drugs, insomnia, bad attitude, problems with authority? He could join a band! ;) :D ) That, I think, is the only reason Wilson put his own ass on the line. He knows what's at stake.

Never apologize for long posts around here, I'm lovin' it! :D

prpl-- You'd be shocked ot learn that a hand writing expert would be able to connect that with you. The wide variances may make it tougher and harder to convince a jury if you've got a good defense lawyer but the inconsistancy suddenly becomes the consistancy. That was very obviously not even close to the same signature and wit hhandwriting samples from both House and Wilson it won't be too hard to prove the forgery even without an expert.

tpel1 --

There are legal consequences and I think it would depend on how far Tritter wants to take it. Some cops would let it drop or would not have even gone after Wilson that hard. They'd have shown him all the stuff up front and basically laid out their theory. Used the old "It's obvious your friend has a problem, we just want to help." (Would Wilson have bought that? I don't know but it would have been a better approach.). But Tritter set him up. Cornered Wilson to force him to choose between the law and breaking the law. Forcing Wilson to choose sides and in Tritters mind his true colors. Is Wilson a law-adibing citizen or is he a problem too.

Anyhow, I think the question is more should ther be legal consequences for Wilson. His actions in lying didn't hurt anyone but Tritter looks at it as Wilson enabling House and eventually House will hurt someone and needs to be stopped.

:wub: I had forgotten about that! Yes, that was nice, thanks for the reminder! B)

I actually liked George, strangely enough. He knows who he is and doesn't give a damn what others think and I think that's admirable, even if his weight is rather ridiculously high. But in the end I think the point he was trying to make to the doctors and everyone else is that it's his body and he should be able to do what he pleases with it, what makes him happy, not what other people find aesthetically or philosophically pleasing. Obese people get a lot of shit in this country, and I don't think all of it is deserved. Yea they don't live as long, but is it really any body else's business?

As for Wilson covering House's ass - oh man I was cringing that whole scene. Wilson is such a terrible, terrible liar. And I think as somebody mentioned previously, Tritter is going to put Wilson in his crosshairs now too. Tritter comes off as the type that once he's decided somebody isn't playing to his tune, like a rabid pit bull he won't let go until his quarry is crushed or he's been defeated himself. It's ironic that he accuses House of being a "bully" when he's clearly ten times worse himself.

I also liked Cameron in this episode. It's nice to see she's grown a backbone over the past season or so. Of all the ducklings, I think House has had the biggest effect on her, she's grown up a lot since the first episode. I can't say i'm sad to see the whinging and brown-nosing and crying go. Like Lemurs, I just hope it doesn't come back.

I just wanted to add something I forgot. During the scene in House's apartment when House walks in to find the place is being searched. When House puts his cane down and walks over to pick up the guitar, did anyone else thing he might just whop Tritter with it? :blink:

Just the way he was holding it I thought "No, he is not going to do that. Even House isn;t that nuts. Yet anyway!" Nice to see he just put it in it's case.

Only three words for this ep

Wilson IS love

Sooo wonderful, RSL was nail on and House........oh boy oh!

Hee -- No, I didn't think of that. But I was kind of hoping that Steve the Rat would chomp Tritter :-)

So, my big question is, what the hell happened to Chase? He just vaporized. Come back, Chase, we need you to explain yourself.

House sure is lucky that Tritter doesn't seem to have found his needle-based drugs (remember the wooden box?). I think House would be in even worse trouble, if Tritter had found those.

I thought George was a good character too, and it really sucked about the lung cancer. The part where he said, "I never smoked" was really sad.

Poor Wilson. I figured by now he knew about House filching the prescription pad, but apparently not. Hard to hide being kicked in the gut that hard. Yet he has to try.

Was thoughtful of House to cover up Cuddy's "quest." The fact that he forgot shows how rattled he was, and also in a way how much he is starting to trust his staff. It just sorted slipped out like they were in on it. And then when Foreman raised an eyebrow House was quick to cover for Cuddy.

Too tired to think more. You people keep on truckin'. -_-

Put me in the camp that liked this episode.

I'd already typed most of one of my typically humongous rambling posts then I somehow brushed a key with the side of my hand--I'm not even sure what it was--that flushed the whole thing off into the ozone, leaving me wanting to bash my head against the keyboard until I pass out. I'm not sure I have the strength, patience, brain cells, or the resiliency in my aching left hand--job hazard of having spent the majority of the last decade as a writer/student/person who spends too much time on the computer/with a job that requires a lot of typing who also plays the piano, I'm afraid-- to redo the whole thing, so I'm probably going to leave stuff out, regret it later and deluge you with further nonsense.

Anyway, I like/related to George the POTW. Food is pretty much my one vice in life besides ultra-hot baths and staying up way too late. In that way I probably share a kinship, that I'm reluctant to admit to, with smokers everywhere you know they're trashing their lungs/bodies, but keep it up anyway. Food is good!!! Thank you. I'm not really very overweight at the moment (maybe five pounds or so), but even when I do everything right, my body seems to "like" the upper end of the reccommended weight for my height. Even if I utterly starved myself, I would still have wide hips and, this isn't as bothersome to me, wide shoulders. It's just my bone structure. I am okay with this most days and try to be proud that I have a body that is strong enough to do what needs to get done without any problems even if it's not petite, but I still feel cheated some days that no matter what I do the only simularities between my body and Kate Moss' (or Calista Flockheart's for that matter) is that both are female. I also have relatives who have fought eating disorders (and I know that the urge to be thin is only a small component of them, but it is still a component) including one who has come out the other side for the most part (although recovery from them is like recovery from addiction, you're never done entirely) and testify about all the negatives it brought about for her and the things she missed out on. Anyway, sensitive topic for me.

And George's complaint is realistic from what I've heard. There are overweight people who claim to be in relatively decent health (they may not be as healthy as they claim I realize, but some people's bodies do just tend toward a higher weight no matter what) and constantly hear their health care providers harping on the need to lose weight and how they're ruining their bodies to the point of ignoring other health concerns they may have. I don't really believe that someone as grossly (in many senses of the word) overweight as George fits into the category of having gotten that way from a combination of genetics and only mild over indulgence, but I believe for some people it's a valid excuse.

On the simularities between George and House, while I do believe House's assessment that Cameron could look at a dirt clod and come up with simularities to him--as could most of us, myself, including I'm afraid-- there were definitely some there even though the show did try to push them on us a little harder than neccessary. The one I saw that made me reasses my thoughts on House's self-awareness, wasn't made a very big deal of though.

Up until now I've thought that while he may choose to ignore them House is pretty aware of his quirks or defects and the problems they cause for him. I definitely thought he was troubled by Ezra (consider we have a brilliant person, who is not really very cuddly, who tend to not let people in and doesn't really feel the need to do so, who is controversial at times, and is now facing declining health on his own, and is sick of having people interfere and tell him they know better than he does what's good for him, then add that he may well have been a hero to House at some point in his career if he still isn't now). In this episode I saw huge similarities between George who acknowledges, yes, he is grossly overweight and, yes, that does cause some problems for him, but has to keep insisting that it is not the only factor that contributes to who he is or any problems he may have, physically or psychologically, and is not always a representation of those problems and House who acknowledges does have a bad leg for which he does take a lot of Vicodin--some might say too much, too often-- it is not the only factor that contributes to who he is, what he chooses to do, or any issues he may be facing, nor can it be said to always be a demonstration of his underlying issues. Given that, I expected House to be more receptive to George's insistence that the problem was, in fact, not related to his weight having fought similar battles himself.

In general House usually seems to be sympathetic, almost more sympathetic than usual, to people who society deems less worthy of care or attention because they, at least in part, can be said to have brought their problems on themselves (witness Carly's Buliemia induced heart problems, or Anica and her Munchausen's, or for that matter House's statement that even drug seekers/addicts get legitimately sick once in awhile). Not so this time. I'm not sure why.

Chase still apparently has it in for overweight people though (yeah, consistency although I imagine the Chase fans are not happy that "Heavy" wasn't a fluke). We still don't know why. Although I know that while the US doesn't have a corner on the overweight, or even the grossly overweight, the image of the typical American in the minds of those from other countries is not flattering in many aspects and we probably even deserve it. I'm beginning to suspect though that maybe Chase is a former fat kid too. Given what we know about his background it's a possibility as he'd certainly not be the first person to have turned to food for comfort when he didn't get the love he needed from those around him. And after all, no one preaches for a cause quite a zealously as the converted.

I can't decide if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I really didn't notice Chase being MIA in the latter half of the episode. I like Chase too. House is, and always will be my favorite, but I have no problem with Chase.

As far as House in the cell. It was both cute and hearbreaking. Poor House had this look on his face the whole time that said, "Well here's another fine mess". yet at the same time, as we see through the rest of the episode, he's just not capable of cooperating to save himself either. And unfortunately, yes, that is a real song. It's a bit before my time, or at least before the time I was really conscious of music, but I have heard it before. I'm afraid in that situation I would either start singing along, loudly, just to be annoying, to both the cellmate and the guard(s) or--I'm surprised House didn't because he has to know the song-- launched into a rendition of the "Plastic Dashboard Jesus Song" (I don't care if it rains or freezes/ 'cause I got my plastic Jesus/sittin' on the dashboard of my car. . . in a really annoying country twang; if you've seen Cool Hand Luke you've heard it before and if you haven't seen it shame on you).

Oh yes, and Tritter has now proved his evilness. How, you ask? The nurse comment. LFFlight, our resident RN, and Auditrix, who is or was apparently in healthcare are not here so I will make the statement as the relative of one nurse and a neighbor/friend to a few others, Nurses rule! They are also not to be messed with. While they are by nature kind and caring, they do have subtle ways of making your life more difficult whether you are a patient or a fellow hospital employee. Nurses are, from what I understand, given more authority now than they used to be, although probably still not enough respect and even in the "bad old days" after dealing with belligerant patients and stubborn or even clueless doctors for a few years, most nurses were made of pretty stern stuff (meaning good luck trying to intimidate them). And if you've ever been in the hospital you know that, while many of the really disgusting, menial tasks have now been assigned to nurses' aides, doctors may get the credit and prestige, but nurses do the hard work and if you wake up in pain in the middle of the night or things start going south (see also if you have just thrown up all over yourself or otherwise made a mess) the nurse is the one who usually deals with it. And that is my rant in defense of the nurses of the world.

I still have mixed feelings on the changes in Cameron. With the exception of "Lines in the Sand" and parts of "Meaning" she's annoyed me much less for the most part. It's good to see her changing and being more able to handle it when people, especially House, give her grief about something. I'll fanwank that House himself is probably happy to see his quest to toughen her up has finally borne fruit--despite the fact that he doesn't show it, or at least doesn't show it often, I think he is perfectly aware of the responsibility he has to equip his fellows to be better physicians when they leave him than when they came and is trying hard to live up to it, just in his own unique way. The only thing is, and I know I've said this before, I keep worrying that the writers are trying to angle themselve into position to say that since Cameron has grown up so much she's now capable of being a good match for House. I asked myself the other night if I could even conceivable see Cameron becoming the right person for House--and of course none of us ever get involved with inappropriate people do we ;)-- and I have to say no. That may just be me though. We have seen Cameron become more like House in some aspects, and become better able to deal with the various indignities that being close to House inflicts on people, but there's still an intangible quality missing that House requires, not only to be happy, but to even be interested. And frankly, no I don't think Stacy had the quality House needed either for happiness--because of course he's meant for me :P-- (but seriously, I could compose a whole post on what I think House really needs to be happy with someone, and I do think it's possible, just difficult) but she did have something about her that would lead you to believe that House would find her attractive enough, not just in the physical sense, to want to find out more about her and interact with her on a personal level. Anyway, at the very least, I'm hoping that if the writers are planning on trying something with the two of them in a relationship they hold off for a bit longer.

On the handwriting thing, it's true that you sign your name a little different each time. As a matter of fact I was led to believe by one of my previous television obsessions that if two signature are exactly the same that's a sign that they're forged (Highlander: the series if you must know, also interestingly involving a physician and prescriptions, though it was a villian who was trying to get to the main character through his girlfriend, an emergency room physician, by getting her suspended for having written a prescription for a medication to which the patient/coworker was known to be allergic, or else giving glucose to a known diabetic; our hero saves the day by showing that while the signature on the prescription in question is exactly the same as one on another prescription there are actually subtle differences between the way his girlfriend signs her name each time). My handwriting differs depending on what I'm writing and why I'm writing it; it looks different when I'm trying to make my signature look cool in anticipation of the day I become wildly famous than when I'm trying to write neatly because someone else will have to read what I wrote, and when if I'm trying frantically to take notes on something that only I will have to read later, in addition my mother, who knows shorthand and used it for many years in her job, sometimes writes half in cursive and half in short hand if she gets in a hurry. Anyway, your contention that signatures differ is valid. The only thing is from what I saw the signatures didn't just differ a little the way that individual signatures from the same person will, one was relatively neat and one was an illegible, may-I-please-buy-a-vowel-here kind of scrawl (who ever wrote those definitely has mastered the stereotypical doctor's handwriting, though oddly enough the worst handwriting I've seen has not neccessarily always been generated by a doctor). Unfortunately for House, signatures usually don't differ that much. I will save you the rant on why it seems out of character that House has such neat handwriting though.

Let's see, a few other things:

yay, for the rowing shout-out with the women's eight (though why from Cambridge?) These kind of references to the actors', writers', or other staff's real lives always make me giggle and squee a little.

also, we got to see another of Hugh's myriad talents with the guitar playing at the end and it answered the question of whether House just collects them or if he actually uses them.

Finally, a tidbit from the literary nerd in me:

Pickwickian syndrome, or as they called it, incorrectly I believe, Pickwick's, is named for a character in the Dickens novel The Pickwick Papers. I have never read the book in question so I don't know if Pickwick is in fact the one with the condition or not. It is also the first novel to mention spontaneous human combustion, occur to the charcter for whom the condition was named. Again, if I remember correctly, I read that the condition is related to either sleep apnea or narcolepsy, possibly both. My memory for random tidbits of trivia from things I've read before may not be good for anything, but it definitely keeps me amused--and most like those around me, including you, dear board members, annoyed.

Great point about the nurse dig from Tritter, cATLADY. Add that to the million reason I don’t like him.

Just one thought on Wilson – how much trouble is he really in? Surely it was an off-record, inadmissible and informal ‘chat’ with Tritter? His warning to Wilson to think about his answer seemed weird in that context.

I felt bad for Wilson what House had had filled in the blanks, the ‘moods when you cut me off’ with faked scripts. That’s got to hurt and to lie for him… I loved Wislon before but that was incredible. I don’t think it was a bad move. He needed to talk to House before he said anything. Coughing to Tritter would have nailed House as it would give him ‘lead’ time to dig even further before fronting him.

RT – Cameron? Seemed to suddenly be way to wise for Cameron in this one and Chase? Damn it why is Cameron front, left and centre again? Chase is relegated to two lines in half an ep and his ‘fat’ issues are interesting!!! If she ends up being the one to help House out of trouble and his confident – just……. arrrrrrrghhh? I don’t want any more “seductive Cameron hangs out in the doorway to House’s office when it’s dark tellin’ truth” moments.

Ah yes, the nurse dig. Tritter better not even have the need to be admitted to PPTH! If he thought House's little thermometer stunt was revenge worthy he ain't seen nothin' yet!! :o :lol:

I don't think it was informal and off-the-record at all. He wouldn't have brought the perscriptions (the evidence) with him for that. This was official in the same sense as interviewing witnesses to a crime at the scene are official. Not everyone is taken down to the station for questioning.

I think he wanted to do it in an informal setting to keep Wilson at ease. Wilson wasn't his target and he wanted cooperation. Easier if the person being interrogated is in an environment they are comfortable in. More likely to get straight answers or at least they are relaxed enough that something unintended may slip out.

I don't think Tritter's intent was to get Wilson. The way I see it, and it's great detective work mind you, is that Tritter had a pretty good assesment of House in the clinic because Tritter himself is very like that (whether he knows it or admits it to himself or not.) It's the old 'it takes one to know one' thing.

So Tritter figures House out and has a feeling that House is abusing his medication. Once free of the rectal thermometer he goes back to the office and takes a look at House's sheet. Sees that he has multiple speeding tickets. He figure it's a good bet that he still speeds, will be speeding tonight, and will have enough drugs on him to at least make a charge.

Not a charge that will stick but that's not his point. At this point he guesses that House doesn't have a lot of friends and those few that he has are probably people he works with and quite possibly the ones that are writing the perscriptions.

So, Tritter's looking for enough to toss House in the slammer for a night and a search warrant. A speeding ticket isn't enough so he provokes him. House doesn't really take the bait but he hesitates enough to loosely get a resisting charge. Tritter knows this is weak and will probably fall though but it gives him two things. A right to seach House's person at the scene, which gives him the drugs and the grounds for a search warrant, and enough for the night in jail if the resisting charge is questioned. By the time they fight it out over the fact that the evidence was obtained through a very weak and dismissable resisting charge, Tritter will have already gotten what he wants.

The night in jail is so he can flush out the perscription writer. The person who is supplying House so to speak. His intent isn't to nail the persciber but to make them aware of House's problem, thus, so he thinks, effectively cutting off House's supply, and tossing on some added humiliation on House.

Once he has the perscriptions he can prove that House has more than perscribed and nail him. Although, a good defense attorney could probably get it all thrown out because of the initial bogus resisting charge leading to the search, the search warrant, the written perscriptions, and all the rest of the evidence against House. (And this may be the writers out for House)

He went to Wilson with the forged persciption for just that purpose. Not to nail Wilson becasue I'm sure he expected Wilson to fully cooperate once he was presented with the evidence. Why would Wilson put his carrer in jeopardy over an ass like House? And that was Tritter's mistake and House's bad fortune. He underestimated that Hoouse could inspire that kind of loyalty. Proof that he doesn't truly understand House.

Now, Wilson has incurred Tritter's singlemindedness in getting the bad guy and has been added to the list of folks to "get" so to speak.

Okay, I'll quit with the Tritter/Wilson/House who's after who stuff. :unsure:

Oh, I think Wilson did the right thing, I just hink he should have done it better. He can't help House if he's sitting in the cell next to him. But I can see, as several have mentioned, that it would be really tough to come up with anything terribly creative when you've just been punched in the gut. Wilson is once again paying the price for House's friendship and it'll be interesting to see where this part goes.

An absolute and positive AMEN to all of that brother! :D

I had a thought. So we know that POTW's lung cancer has nothing to do with his weight. We also know he loves to cook, I figure that he's cooked some things that smoke and maybe he's inhaled so much smoke from cooking, of course I'm not a doctor so maybe cooking smoke does not cause cancer. So maybe I'm reaching actually I think my theory is a little cracked.

My thoughts on this awesome ep haven't jelled yet, so pardon this runny post.

1. Tritter's remark about nurses shows that he doesn't know much about nurses or doctors. It's true that there are disrespectful docs out there, but in my professional experience I saw little outright belittling or intimidation. So his vile crack shows that he seems to get most of his ideas about the way doctors and nurses treat each other from soap operas and M*A*S*H*. (Which is unfortunately where a lot of TV writers seem to do their research about nurses..... )

It's especially funny because I've heard other nurses remark that cops are generally very respectful of nurses.

2. George? Awesome, awesome character. There's so much reflection you can do about his attitude toward his weight, his possible "food addiction", etc. I got the impression that he wasn't pretending to himself that he's 600 pounds and just doesn't know why. I think he's perfectly aware that he overeats but perhaps his thinking is, well, I've always been big, and now I'm really big, but I like fine dining and fine wine and lots and lots of it, and it makes me happy and I know it's always there, and iif that means I'm 600 pounds then I'm okay with this tradeoff.

Or maybe he's secretly not okay with it, but he just can't step out of his comfort zone.

George does have a point that it's not right for doctors to blame every problem he has on his weight.

True story. We had a patient on the floor once who was a very large lady -- 400 pounds at least. She had a job, she was living her life, and she developed sharp pains in her lower legs. She goes to the doctor; doctor says, well, duh, of course your legs hurt, you're 400 pounds. Go lose weight. (Never mind that she was 400 pounds the week before and didn't have pain in her legs then.)

So the pain doesn't go away, she lives with it for a couple of weeks and finally seeks a second opinion at our hospital.

By now her toes are black. Turns out she had a genetic disorder that caused her blood to clot too easily and she'd developed blood clots to her lower legs. She ended up needing both legs amputated.

So yeah, Chase. Sure, George is fat because he overeats. But that doesn't mean his obesity is obviously the cause of his current problem.


3. And while I'm ranting, I wonder why Chase (and certain real-life people) think it's okay to deny medical care to extremely obese people because "they did it to themselves"? I once read a sanctimonious left-wing writer who was bitching about a story in the paper about a man who weighed 700 pounds and was on welfare (disability). She was indignant that her tax money was being spent on this man because He Did It To Himself! Now, if you suggested to this same writer that AIDS patients should be ineligible for welfare because they were the ones who chose to use drugs or have unprotected sex, they Did It To Themselves -- she'd have a conniption! She'd call you mean and prejudiced and uncompassionate and maybe even a Republican! But the fat guy? Waste of tax money.

More later. Enough ranting for tonight.

Okay, back. Re: Pickwickian syndrome, Catlady wrote:

In The Pickwick Papers the character with the syndrome is Joe the fat boy (and that's all the name he gets: The fat boy, Joe.) Joe is fat, red-faced, and dozes off to sleep all the time, even in between knocks when he's knocking on a door.

The syndrome in real life is a form of sleep apnea. The sufferer's weight makes his chest wall heavy, so he doesn't breathe as deeply, which leads to low levels of blood oxygen and high levels of CO2, which leads to his dropping off to sleep, even in the daytime, even in situations that would command his full attention.

The article in Wikipedia is droll. It quotes one of the first articles to use the term: After a few months of worsening symptoms...

There is no spontaneous human combustion in The Pickwick Papers. That's in Bleak House.

You beat me to it. That's one of the few things I remember from that book. It's been awhile.

Even if it's not cooking smoke, we absorb secondhand smoke all the time. And of course, if you live in a city, you probably inhale all sorts of fumes, which can't help.

And, as with other folks, I'm not happy with Chase's super-hyper-mega-unexplained freak out and disappearance. That boy's got some explaining to do.....well, the writers do, anyway. They never explained the "I'm not rich" comment from last season, either. Apparently he has a very traumatic life, in between episodes. Who knows?

And does anyone think it's odd that we never really saw House "crash" after the pain came back, the way everyone assumed he would?

Of course, the 600 vicodin in his apt isn't exactly a healthy sign....

My bad. I haven't read Bleak House either. The Dickens novels I've read are David Copperfield--read so fast I barely remember what happened, it only stayed with me long enough to write the required paper/report--, Great Expectations, and Hard Times. Somehow I never could get into Dickens. As for Bleak House even my Victorian Literature professor had trouble with that one.

I heard a character in a book say that it was entirely possible to get a degree in English while ignoring at least one, if not more, period in literature entirely. Turns out the statement is pretty accurate. Guess which period I ignored? And lately it keeps coming back to bite me. In addition to this slip-up, I was briefly supposed to lead a discussion in a book group I just joined on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde just barely fits in that period too, or perhaps the Edwardian period. I had to do some serious brain wracking, and net surfing to refresh my memory on the period,--previous to that all I could recall about Wilde was he was 1 primarily a dramatist, 2 very witty, and 3 arrested for "gross indecency" aka homosexuality, none of which would much help the discusssion. Fortunately I was saved when another member said she wanted to do it.

On the other hand, ask me about The Second Shepherd's Play, The York Crucifixion, or the joke my professor once told in relation to the York Realist, or conversely about Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams (nice medical and Jersey tie in there), or Eugene O'Neill--am now sorry that I missed the documentary on PBS since RSL narrated, but at the time I was just too depressed to deal with O'Neill without becoming suicidal myself--, or another professor's stories of various meetings with Edward Albee, and you'll never shut me up.

On topic? Let's see. . . did I mention Hugh looked yummy playing the guitar? Why oh why must he be both beautiful and talented when I am neither? Not to mention unavailable.

This is very messy but...

That is what I want to see at the end of this arc.

I did not like this episode as much as some of the others. The POTW was not given near as much attention as the usual POTWs, and when he was, they spent most of their time alternating between listening to the stuck record of "I'm fat, that's not the problem," and that guy kicking and screaming over/during his treatments.

Cameron has successfully confused me. In the episode "Heavy", Case at least acted the same way as he did here, but Cameron was no where near as bonkers about her as she was about this guy (granted that here she is not so worried about being fired). And wow, House doped his ex's husband to get him into the hospital, she doped this guy up to keep him in the hospital.

I will say that I liked him playing that guitar at the end.

Warning...the rest of this is not for the squeamish...

I don't know about the steam and smoke from cooking being a carcinogen, but I do know that the blackened sear on grilled food contains a carbon compound that is carcinogen, and that vitamin C and sodium (or potassium) benzoate in soft drinks reacts (especially in heat) to make small quantities of benzene, another carcinogen. And I have had labs in bacteriology that have shown the mutagenic properties of hotdogs on bacteria. http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/food/hotdogs.htm is a site about cancer and hotdogs.

Wow, cakemixo. Everything really *is* out to get us.....

It's true. There's a lot of ground to cover.

Don't feel bad about Bleak House . . . it's called that for a reason :D Still, I got more out of that one than "Our Mutual Friend." The feeling was not mutual.

And yet I haven't read A Christmas Carol yet. Isn't that weird?

Yay House and guitar! We need to see him playing more things. (Though preferably not harmonica in prison.....)

Another Hugh Laurie character (Lt. George on Blackadder) once described himself, "I'm as thick as the large-print edition of the complete works of Charles Dickens."

As they say, "Life has been known to cause cancer" Either that or "lab tests have been proven to cause cancer in rats". Frankly, I give up. Between the cancer, thyroid problems, and tendency to unexpectedly stroking out that I seem to have inherited, I might as well live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse--or at least a less wrinkled one as it wasn't all that beautiful to begin with frankly. As I was joking with my mother about her family, it's just as well all their legs give out when they get old because since their vision is so lousy they wouldn't be able to see where they were going anyway. :rolleyes:

Must say the Hugh via Lt. George quote would have rung even truer had he mentioned either The Riverside Shakespeare or the Chicago Manual of Style as I've had the distinct (dis) pleasure of dragging those around with me.

And now that I've dragged us utterly off topic, I'll show myself out.

I've added my review for Que Sera to my LJ at: House Reviews

Enjoy and please comment!

barbaera