March 27, 2007: Top Secret
Does it ever happen to you that when someone asks, What's your favorite movie song whatever, you cannot arrive at an answer? And though you had one moments before, their questioning has left you completely blank? Happens to me all the time. But I have a feeling that were one now to ask me if I had a favorite episode of
House, I just might have an answer. Tonight's smartly told episode was so embarrassingly full of the good stuff that I fear I'm on the verge of gushing.
From beginning to end - Marines blown up by a roadside bomb to House discovering Cameron and Chase's indiscretions - the show was both riveting and jarring. John Kelley (
Marc Blucas), nephew of a hospital benefactor and one time date of Cuddy's, complains of Gulf War Syndrome. As the skeptical team searches for his true ailment, John loses his hearing and the use of his legs and develops an infection in his mouth. His prognosis is not promising and as his symptoms accumulate, John becomes more isolated from those trying to help him until at last he has to communicate with them via scribblings on a whiteboard.
John is not the only man suffering. The side effects of House's long-term Vicodin use have rendered him unable to urinate. With a distended bladder and three day's worth of urine, House weasels a prescription for a different pain killer from Wilson. But relief is not forthcoming, and House chooses to handle the matter on his own. "You cathed yourself?" Wilson asks. "It's not so bad after the first nine or 10 inches." Male posturing aside, House alone, in pain and unable to pee was the saddest thing I've seen on the show.
It didn't stop there. The show tightened the loose threads of its various characters by weaving their histories and futures closer together. We learned the answer to the long-running question: What's really up between House and Cuddy? Apparently, it's House and not Cuddy who is hoping to play doctor. After all this time believing Cuddy had feelings for House, we learn they had a thing long ago and that she's over it and he is not. Or so she says. I'm still not convinced.
What about Cameron and Chase? This pair, with their "it's just sex" relationship, neglected a patient and christened the sleep lab and the storage closet and were busted both times - first by Foreman and then by House. Foreman chose not to believe the evidence before him but House was amused that his suspicions had been confirmed. Sadly, Chase is falling for Cameron, but he will most likely end up alone.
That's the thing. Though I enjoyed it immensely, this whole episode left me sad. John Kelley on the brink of death from a genetic disease that destroyed his capillaries; Cameron, declaring she's over House and resigning herself to an emotionless affair; Chase wanting more. Foreman already chose career over companionship. Cuddy is looking for fulfillment through parenthood. Wilson's most committed relationship is with House; and House, in the grip of chronic pain, is allowing his body to break down so long as he doesn't have to feel it. Things are falling apart. It's hard to witness, but I can't turn away.
So if it was
that sad, why did I like this episode so much? I'm not sure - but I knew why a second ago.
