I liked this episode. It was pretty good. I liked that there was more Cuddy and Wilson involved. Although there could've been more snarkiness from House.

I liked how neither Cuddy, Wilson, or the Ducklings believed that House couldn't pee or that he was sleep deprived.

The dream House had was neat, his reaction to it when he woke up was pretty cute.

It was nice to see Hugh shirtless sitting in the bathtub! I loved the glasses!

The scene when Cameron told Foreman that she and Chase were having sex in the sleep lab, Chase's reaction was funny.

I don't think this was one of the best episodes of the season. jmho. Maybe it was because the Ducklings and Wilson and Cuddy focused more on House than the patient.

God and peace
Vanessa :)

Was the name of this one "Top Secret?" I couldn't find out for sure.

I agree, HouseFan, it wasn't one of my favorites for the season but it still had some great moments. Foreman strolling into the lab and looking around all nonchalantly while Chase and Cameron are doing it in the next room, Chase trying to cover it up, House walking in on them at the end. That subplot is starting to feel like a PG-13 episode of I Love Lucy. :D Foreman's reaction when he found out was great. He's definitely the Duckling of the Week. ^^

So are we supposed to assume that House's difficulties this episode are because of the Vicodin, or did they imply that it might have been another one of House's physical reactions to emotional stress--the dream? I can't remember if he said he'd been having trouble before the first dream, but everything went back to normal when he solved everything in the second dream. (Catheter could've helped too, I guess. <_< )

Was it just my imagination, or did Wilson seem really testy tonight? Everything he said sounded aggravated. I especially liked his "you're changing the subject to cover up your obsession" line when House told him he wasn't peeing. Well yeah--if I dreamt about a guy I thought I'd never seen and then had his picture handed to me right after I woke up I'd probably be a little curious too. House's incredulous look after he said that was funny too.

It seemed like there was less background music than normal this time--it somehow made the episode seem more subdued than usual. I haven't decided whether I liked the effect or not.

Nothing else to say right now, except that House wearing his glasses gave me serious flashbacks of him in Stuart Little. You remember, where his sweet, caring optimism wasn't sarcasm. I cringe every time I see it now. :rolleyes:

as far as I can recall the not being able to pee thing and not sleeping were part of the long term effects of using the Vicodin, I could be wrong.

I do agree, Wilson did seem a bit on edge more than usual tonight. I think in the beginning of the episode he didn't believe that House's not being able to pee nor sleep were legit, to say. But I think towards the end of the episode he "got it"

I liked how House walked in on Chase and Cameron like nothing was happening between them! LOL

God and peace
Vanessa :)

The not being able to pee thing, makes me wonder if whatever created us gave us bladders to torture us. I hate having to get up to go pee when I'm in the middle of something; or was their a prototype and didn't have a bowel or bladder and ended up exploding/crashing because the functions got backed up with waste. maybe their was human version 1.0 beta.

The episode was good the POTW played Buffy's boyfriend in season 4 and 5 can't remember his name (the character or the actor's except that his character was from Iowa and he also played a military person) the bacteria on his tongue, mmm appetizing... I love things that make me want to barf at the idea of them growing on my tongue, I love feeling sick from a foul taste/smell.

I need sleep and can't remember what I was going to say except this episode was distracting I couldn't focus on the character development because of the sexual tension in it and other things in it having to do with a small fantasy of mine
:ph43r:

Yeah, not my favorite so far, but also not bad.

I believe the not peeing is supposed to be related to the Vicodin use. I'm not sure about the insomnia though it may just be the difficulty of trying to get comfortable enough to sleep with a really full bladder (consider how much it hurts right about when you hit the point where it feels like your molars will start floating, also why he didn't want to ride the bike: at that point any bump is torture).

As for why the problem resolved, I thought what happened was that once House drained his bladder with the catheter the spasm that was keeping the urine in went away and things went back to normal, the fact that he also had a dream that gave away the key to the patient's problem was just coincidence. And what Wilson said is true, your mind will often put clues together in your sleep: for the most part dreams are just a case of garbage in, garbage out and purging all the random info you've been holding onto, but they do also allow the more intuitive parts of your mind to come to the surface.

As for the disconnected catheter making its way into the dream, I have heard of people who dream they are using the bathroom only to wake up having wet the bed. I haven't had that experience, but I do have dreams where I'm in a random place desparately searching for a bathroom and then wake up and realize that I do need to go. I'm assuming that the hose must have disconnected because, while I am not intimately familiar with catheters the kind that are meant to be left in have an inflatable part on the end that goes in the bladder to keep them from accidentally slipping loose. It is possible to yank it out with the bubble inflated, but it's difficult and really hurts--for some reason demented, elderly males tend to do it anyway because catheters are uncomfortable, apparently more so for men (at least we women get off easy in one area i guess), as I can attest via experience with my grandfather. Though I'm not sure why he had to leave it in if just draining the build up once was all it took as there are catheters that are designed to go in and come back out (for that matter in the TMI category I would have expected him to just use a syringe and needle, like how he stabbed Mark's bladder, to take off some of the pressure first).

On less gross, well depending on how you feel about her, fronts, I'm liking Cameron less and less all the time. Chase is trying to keep things at least moderately appropriate--as if friends with benefits ever is-- and Cameron is just completely letting herself go. It's sort of shocking that Cameron, who is supposed to be "little miss ethical and caring" is the one who wants to sneak off during the sleep tests--and also the one who wants to go home-- and Chase, who seems to get characterised as the lazy one, is the one who tries to stay on task and didn't think of ducking out. Also totally not convincing that all Cam had to do was put her legs up on the desk, in what I would consider not very sexy shoes, to change Chase's mind about sneaking off. I know guys are supposed to have high sex drives--and as a straight female I'm not the target audience-- but come on.

And I felt sorry for Chase when Cameron made such an vehement denial that they would ever sleep together. I like Chase can see that maybe she doesn't want everyone to know about the "arrangement"-- but then why do it at work when there's a chance someone could catch you in flagrante-- but she could have just not answered Foreman rather than making so much of a big deal. Maybe a case of the lady (Cam? Lady?!?) protesting too much, but if I were Chase I'd be a bit insulted too.

Nice to see House really smile too, both as Cuddy is walking away-- and if you compared my bum to a super tanker, I'm afraid I'd have to bean you with my clipboard-- and when he finds Chase and Cam about to get "down and dirty" in the closet. I'm pretty sure House was not entirely suprised that that's what they were getting up to. He just had this smile on his face like "So Cameron and Chase are doing "it". I figured as much".

Definite yay on my part for scenes of House in various stages of undress (buns of yogurt, not--okay technically didn't see the actual buns, but still--; if he had to see what I see every time I get in the tub, then we could talk buns of yogurt :rolleyes: ). And it is simply unfair how HL can make glasses look sexy.

Also I feel a even deeper kinship with House knowing he too reads in the tub. Okay, maybe the extended time in the tub was an effort to get things flowing, so to speak, but still, bathtub readers of the world unite! I enjoy every view we get of the "House of House", as I take great glee in calling it, as well.

Oh, and the name of the episode was "Top Secret", because, while they made less of deal about it than it seemed they were going to, there was a point when they wondered if the army was up to something and that was what was causing the POTW's problems.

At first I was irritated with Wilson for not taking House's urinary issue seriously. But then I remembered that House had just faked cancer last episode, so maybe a little skepticism about his health status is warranted.

Now we finally know: House slept with Cuddy!

prplchknz -- the Buffy-boyfriend was named Reily, and the actor's name is Marc Blucas.

”A dream is an answer to a question we haven't yet learned how to ask”. --Fox Mulder.

This is probably my favorite quotation from the only other character on the only other television show with which I’ve been obsessed. In the fourth season episode Paper Hearts, Mulder keeps having very eerie and disturbing dreams that point rather obliquely to the solution of a series of child murders. They are disturbing to him, as I recall, because he thinks that perhaps this serial killer is the key to his long-missing sister. Although the situations are different, I couldn’t stop thinking about this quote for awhile after viewing this week’s episode of House, “Top Secret.”

The episode opens with House’s first dream. It is a violent reenactment of House’s real loss. He’s a marine like his dad (oh, House and his daddy issues) so he’s processing himself as a marine. The dream starts off with “normal” (as normal as life as a soldier in Baghdad can be): listening to music, singing, camaraderie. It’s interesting that in his dream, he’s being a social creature. Suddenly everything’s changed and his life (if he survives) will never be the same. His leg (his right leg of course) is blown off. He lies there, alone and afraid, gripping his weapon, life out of control. It’s a perfect metaphor for House and what he’s come to at this stage. And he recognizes the person who saves his life. I read someone’s take (and it makes sense, so I’m stealing it) that he must’ve met the guy just before his deployment and knew he was a marine. And how many marines does House actually know who are young? So, his place (anonymously—and who knows how often House has this particular nightmare.) in the dream almost makes some sense (as much as dreams can make any sense at all.)

House is having major physical problems this episode. A major side effect of long term narcotic use is Acute Urinary Retention. Sometimes the only way to fix it is by catheterization. House tried one of the drugs (which is, by the way, what he asked Wilson to prescribe) and it didn’t work for him. It’s a problem that will recur for him. It is painful (which is why House was gobbling up so much Vicodin as well in this episode). Also having to walk with a distended bladder probably puts addition pressure on his upper thigh muscles, causing more pain. And the sleeplessness is a side effect of the distended bladder and the agony he’s in. Brilliant acting by Hugh playing the increasingly hurting House, who finally gives up and goes home to find both relief from his bladder issue as well as some much needed sleep.

House’s second dream helps him solve the POTW’s physical problem as House’s subconscious is able to concentrate where his conscious mind cannot at the moment. He puts all the pieces together, answering the question that his conscious mind could not. But somehow Cuddy worked her way into House’s dream as well. “Why are you here?” he asks. “Because you need me,” she responds. He does need her, and it’s a nice acknowledgement (albeit subconscious) that he does really need her. Later he asks her again: “why are you here?” This time she answers that she’s always there. And I’ll be she is hovering in the backroads of House’s brain. I think he’s always either consciously or unconsciously observing her. He knows her menstrual cycle for goodness sake!

But in his dream he also can’t sleep because of the discomfort of the catheter tubing. His concern about the urinary retention, despite his very not-panicked demeanor must have him seriously spooked. Like so many episodes this year, House is dealing with the real dilemma he faces: pain or narcotics. No wonder he’s spending so much energy on identifying novel solutions to his chronic pain.
I have to say it was the saddest of sights to watch House in his bathroom, ice-pack applied and no relief. He shuffles his way, in agony, to the sink and downs yet more vicodin to make the pain at least tolerable: vicious circle, anyone? The way he looks at himself in the mirror both before and after dosing himself is heartbreaking. He’s having a whole conversation with himself. Probably the same one

Wilson would have with him if he were there (and, in fact later does have with him). House, I’m certain now, tells himself the same things that Wilson does.
We learn quite a bit about House in this episode. We learn that House is suffering real side effects of his long term narcotic use, and that has to unnerve the nephrologist in him. We learn that he harbors a great affection for Cuddy (yeah, I know a lot of us suspected it before) and she know it. And I think he’s OK with that. Their final scene was nothing short of amazing. House leaning languorously against the hospital wall, waiting for her. “I’ve been thinking about you,” he says. Did it just get 10 degrees warmer in here? Whoo. Cuddy’s reaction to his saying that says everything about how she feels. She smiles warmly, flattered and very pleased. But he tells her that she lied. And, of course, she knows about what. But she then completely understands something about House: that he likes her. A lot. Yes, in that way .

“Get over me. Stop looking at my ass when you think I’m not looking. Stop showing up in restaurants where I’m on a date…” She’s right, of course. And House’s beatific smile after her admonishment (“I am sooooo outed,” he’s gotta be thinking.) He completely sees her remark about their ship sailing as a personal challenge. Punctuated by her sashaying away from him as he (once again) eyes her ass.

We know that when Cuddy hired House he “could not get a job in a blood bank.” Genius doctor, self-destructed, lashing out and angry at everyone, especially (probably) the medical establishment for contributing to his physical destruction. He was fired from four places before Cuddy hired him (Humpty Dumpty). He may have been on death’s door or barely eking out a living when she hired him. She may have bumped into him somewhere; heard about his plight (or she might have been his doctor during the infarction –we don’t know that for sure). She knew of him—from U Michigan and probably his reputation in ID. We don’t know if the night they shared was just before she hired him or something fondly remembered from back in college. But clearly she hired him when he was very down on his luck and gave him everything he wanted: no need to socialize; do the cases he wants to, etc…

We also get to see more of Chez Gregory. I can’t wait to get high def screen caps so I can see some of his trinkets closer up. His bathroom evidently has two entrances perpendicular from each other. One exiting into his bedroom and the other into the hallway to the living room. I had an old apartment like that with a two door-ed bathroom. He also gets around the need for grab bars because of all the fancy wood moldings around the room. Nice. So what products does he have in his bathroom? Shampoo (Johnson’s baby shampoo?) what else did you all see? Oh yeah, he hangs his shirts from the shower rod: t-shirts and dress shirts. Oh yeah. Another large bookcase filled with books in his bedroom. He has more books than some libraries and I love that about him! And his banjo is back and sitting right next to the bed! I love also that he has photographs hanging even in the bathroom. There is just so much hidden class in House. A genteel-ness that is incongruous with the rest of him. I wonder if it’s something he picked up by living all over the world growing up.

He has a stack of newspapers next to the “throne”. Lots of trinkets. I do have to jump into the shallow end here and say how fetching House looked in those specs. I’m not sure what it is…maybe they enlarge his eyes, increase his vulnerability, whatever…simply stunning. He just looked flat out beautiful in that bathtub scene. He was cute in those J&W bathtub scenes. But now he’s just flat out sexy.

After everything that’s happened between them, and Wilson’s annoying preaching (glad that House called him on it again), it’s nice that House still confides stuff in Wilson. He clearly told Wilson about his dream. But I’m angry with Wilson for dismissing House when he asked for meds to help him urinate. “I passed agony at four o’clock yesterday” speaks greatly to the amount of pain House must be in and explains a lot of why he keeps taking more and more vicodin—and why he needs to do something about it.

As for the catheterization scene. How pathetic was that? I suppose that’s the way one has to do it, and House is in such pain all the time, the pain from inserting a catheter – and, of course knowing how to do it correctly, etc.—can’t be a lot worse than anything else he experiences and well worth it not to suffer a lecture from Wilson or another doctor on the ills of narcotic use and the humiliation and embarrassment of asking for this sort of help. And bravo to Hugh Laurie for expressing House’s desperation, anguish and ultimate relief. 100 emotions passed through those amazing eyes in those couple of minutes.

I am not going to extensively comment on Cameron and her motives regarding House. I think Cameron’s always had a darker side and is far from the guileless fellow of her season 1 image (big clue when she held House hostage to get him to take her on a date and then told the whole staff against House’s specific wishes.) I don’t like her. Period. In her effort to be a “big girl” she’s become sleazy and trying way too hard.

Great episode. I thought this was going to be heavy and angsty. It was neither. I tend not to like “light” episodes, but this one, focused on House as it was, was a delight to watch. Emmy worth performance by Hugh; House/Cuddy sparks; Glasses!House. And sooooo much more. New episode in 6 days!

Cameron sure has changed a lot..from being all caring about House to 'let's have sex with Chase' I think she's using Chase to cover up for her feelings for House that she still has. I still don't like her and won't ever.

Huddy forever!! :D It was good to see that House finally has out in the open his feelings for Cuddy. That discussion and snark between them was the best part of the show for me, only second to seeing Hugh shirtless in the bathtub and wearing glasses! :D

God and peace
vanessa :)

My mom hated this episode . She did not like the Cameron and Chase thing at all. My mom's not much of a shipper and I've determined she's reached the age group of the old lady, with a closed mind and traditional values. The idea of people sleeping outside of Marriage or at least not any romantic involvement are foreign concepts to her. It's interesting how our age difference of 32 years causes very different view points on issues. When she was my age she'd be less offended by it, life's interesting I look at my parents and I knew by the time I was in Highschool I was either going to be a workaholic complaining about not having enough hours in the day, but still taking on projects. Or be an alcoholic with tenure, pissing their partner off, and doing just enough work to not lose their job, and only really doing stuff when threatened(remind you off anyone, though my dad's very different then House, as he has tons of friends). I'll start at liberal and end up conservative. I'll begin atheist and end up a devout Orthodox Christian. That's my future in the nut shell. Things like sex, drugs, smoking, and under age drinking will end up offended me without real good reason. Or it could be different


So to get back on the topic, I swear my thought processes are very similar to House's the whole not being able to recognize faces well but will remember a face if they've done something like made out with a person I liked or pissed me off to a certain point. I went to prom with a friend at the school we went to middle school together. He ended up going on to high school their so at prom all these people I was suppose to know I didn't because I have hard time remember faces and names; particularly if I don't like the person/the bore me. I'm not exactly like House, I mean I'm no where near as smart as him. and probably even more socially awkward

I need to rewatch this I sort of zoned out for a good chunk of it, and as soon as I looked up 20 minutes had passed and their was 5 minutes left. I'm going to go do that and be back with better comments on the episode

I didn't like/buy the Cameron and Chase thing either. Really drove me crazy when she kept going "Don't pout."

Poor Chase - "She did me once!" "She was stoned!"

Ugh. I thought Cameron was kind of an interesting character first season, but is now getting really annoying. Chase is totally right about her just wanting House to see them together. (I was pleased that her plan failed and House didn't seem at all phased.)

Ah well. I watch the show for the dialogue and the men anyway ;)

Hugh in glasses was oh so nice. Can't wait to see that on DVD, without static.

This was a fantastic episode! Wilson was a really strong character this time, and when Cuddy told House to let it go, it was amazing. Although, they'd be perfect for each other, he didn't deny his feelings. It's a start. The Cameron/Chase sex scenes were hot, but she was overall too horny for it to be realistic. Also, Chase was such a pushover. That was probably the thing that bothered me the most. Just ONCE, he should've said no to Cameron. He's never had the balls to stand up to anyone, especially her. The patient (as usual) was so interesting, so it really was a great episode. And House was so hot, as usual. *drool* House and Chase shirtless *drool*