Hugh Laurie:A Real American Doctor FROM AMERICA (House M.D.)

[Knigel]

Does this mean that the show is now officially dead?

[FearoftheDomo-Kun]

Yes, yes it does.

Did this really warrant its own thread?

[emceng]

It did? Maybe I should not apply for that detective job...

[broken_escalator]

Can someone help me get a decent-quality image of the boats from the House, MD intro? I figure this is the best thread to do it in!

Did you mean this scene? I can see if I have a video at home I can take a screen capture of if you're still looking for it.

[big boss]

Spoiler:

I can't believe Wilson believed House when he said it wasn't a real gun without 1st bothering to actually inspect the gun more, come on its House...

[Angua]

Spoiler:

I hope the last House gets a lot of complaints from the asexual community.

Somewhat funny that this came out just after the bbc had an article about what it's like to be asexual.

[Chen]

Spoiler:

I hope the last House gets a lot of complaints from the asexual community.

Somewhat funny that this came out just after the bbc had an article about what it's like to be asexual.

Spoiler:

Why exactly? The wife saying she was asexual rather than celibate is technically incorrect, though she may have been portraying herself as actually asexual as a lie to her husband. Now House trying to "cure" them could be an issue, but its well within his character to do something like that. He thinks people who do normal things (like the generous guy or the heroic guy in previous episodes) are in fact sick because their views don't correspond with his. Now granted, since its his show he tends to always be right on these things, but that's more of a common problem with the show in general

[Angua]

Spoiler:

I hope the last House gets a lot of complaints from the asexual community.

Somewhat funny that this came out just after the bbc had an article about what it's like to be asexual.

Spoiler:

Why exactly? The wife saying she was asexual rather than celibate is technically incorrect, though she may have been portraying herself as actually asexual as a lie to her husband. Now House trying to "cure" them could be an issue, but its well within his character to do something like that. He thinks people who do normal things (like the generous guy or the heroic guy in previous episodes) are in fact sick because their views don't correspond with his. Now granted, since its his show he tends to always be right on these things, but that's more of a common problem with the show in general

Spoiler:

Because the whole idea was that asexuality isn't a valid thing, and if they're asexual, something must either be medically wrong, or they're deluding themselves for some reason. If this had been 50 years ago, the same story line could have been done with a gay or lesbian couple, and House saying 'homosexuality isn't a valid thing because we naturally have to have sex with the opposite sex to procreate' and him finding a medical reason and then curing the homosexuality would have been just as insulting to the rest of the homosexual community who is trying to not be seen as unnatural.

[SlyReaper]

Spoiler:

The fact that Wilson had apparently never even heard of asexuality struck me as somewhat odd, but the big issue here was the message "if you're asexual, you're either lying or there's something wrong with you".

[Angua]

Spoiler:

The fact that Wilson had apparently never even heard of asexuality struck me as somewhat odd, but the big issue here was the message "if you're asexual, you're either lying or there's something wrong with you".

This is a much more succinct way of saying what I was trying to say.

[Chen]

Spoiler:

The fact that Wilson had apparently never even heard of asexuality struck me as somewhat odd, but the big issue here was the message "if you're asexual, you're either lying or there's something wrong with you".

Except as I said, that the way House (the character) treats almost anything he doesn't directly agree with. The people who are too honest, the people who were heroic, the guy who was just being altruistic etc. Now I'll grant it would certainly help if he was wrong about these more often than he's right. That aspect does somewhat show the trait (whichever one it is) as being "wrong" but it is not always the case. It does seem like a subtle difference and I do suppose most people wouldn't catch that which in turn could make it a poor thing to put on TV, but I didn't read it that way personally.

[Angua]

Spoiler:

The fact that Wilson had apparently never even heard of asexuality struck me as somewhat odd, but the big issue here was the message "if you're asexual, you're either lying or there's something wrong with you".

Except as I said, that the way House (the character) treats almost anything he doesn't directly agree with. The people who are too honest, the people who were heroic, the guy who was just being altruistic etc. Now I'll grant it would certainly help if he was wrong about these more often than he's right. That aspect does somewhat show the trait (whichever one it is) as being "wrong" but it is not always the case. It does seem like a subtle difference and I do suppose most people wouldn't catch that which in turn could make it a poor thing to put on TV, but I didn't read it that way personally.

It doesn't matter how House the character would treat it - unless he ended up being wrong, they should have left the issue alone. This show has basically illegitamised the sexuality of a whole group of people by letting him be proven to be correct.

[folkhero]

Spoiler:

The fact that Wilson had apparently never even heard of asexuality struck me as somewhat odd, but the big issue here was the message "if you're asexual, you're either lying or there's something wrong with you".

Except as I said, that the way House (the character) treats almost anything he doesn't directly agree with. The people who are too honest, the people who were heroic, the guy who was just being altruistic etc. Now I'll grant it would certainly help if he was wrong about these more often than he's right. That aspect does somewhat show the trait (whichever one it is) as being "wrong" but it is not always the case. It does seem like a subtle difference and I do suppose most people wouldn't catch that which in turn could make it a poor thing to put on TV, but I didn't read it that way personally.

It doesn't matter how House the character would treat it - unless he ended up being wrong, they should have left the issue alone. This show has basically illegitamised the sexuality of a whole group of people by letting him be proven to be correct.

Just curious: would you say that they should have left the issue of religion alone, and that the show illegitimized the religion of a whole group of people by letting House be proven correct?

[Angua]

Spoiler:

The fact that Wilson had apparently never even heard of asexuality struck me as somewhat odd, but the big issue here was the message "if you're asexual, you're either lying or there's something wrong with you".

Except as I said, that the way House (the character) treats almost anything he doesn't directly agree with. The people who are too honest, the people who were heroic, the guy who was just being altruistic etc. Now I'll grant it would certainly help if he was wrong about these more often than he's right. That aspect does somewhat show the trait (whichever one it is) as being "wrong" but it is not always the case. It does seem like a subtle difference and I do suppose most people wouldn't catch that which in turn could make it a poor thing to put on TV, but I didn't read it that way personally.

It doesn't matter how House the character would treat it - unless he ended up being wrong, they should have left the issue alone. This show has basically illegitamised the sexuality of a whole group of people by letting him be proven to be correct.

Just curious: would you say that they should have left the issue of religion alone, and that the show illegitimized the religion of a whole group of people by letting House be proven correct?

Well, the ones with religion have generally been left to when people start seeing visions (which are generally hallucinations) - he doesn't generally manage to stop people's faith, even once they find the base cause for the hallucinations (people might stop being so fervent, but they generally don't lose their core beliefs once they've been treated). It's definitely not being treated with the same air as 'asexuality? sounds unnatural - they're either lying or something is terribly wrong with them'. Religion (and also the other traits that House generally decides are problems like heroism, altruisim, etc) also has the advantage of being well known enough not to have such a deleterious effect as something like asexuality, which not that many people know about.

[KrazyerKate]

I think the show jumped the shark for me, I want to know if it did for anyone else. I still enjoy the show, but the episode where House jumps off the hotel balcony (and it turns out he's just jumping into a pool) really changed how I viewed House's character. Up until that point, he had been getting worse and worse and worse, being more and more reckless and crazy. His character felt like it was developing (even if it was in a negative direction). The next logical step in his downward spiral would end in him seriously hurting himself. Maybe we'd have a part of a season where he's trapped in a hospital bed or something. Instead, we realize that there is a limit to how far House is willing to go, and that means that his downward spiral is over.
I thought that

Spoiler:

Going to jail

would be an attempt at continuing that motion downward, but

Spoiler:

Now his ankle bracelet is off

so we're back to a status quo where House is just a doctor that cracks wise and causes silly shenanigans for Cuddy (and now Foreman) to clean up, and I don't see any reason that the writers would do anything to change that.

[quantumcat42]

I haven't watched it since the episode where they had to hypnotize someone to get past her multiple-personality-amnesia. It had jumped the shark long before, but that was really the moment that drove the point home for me.

[wellingtonsteve]

So I think everyone guessed this anyway but..

Spoiler:

official confirmation that House will be ending after this season

[emceng]

I haven't watched at all this season, and missed a few from last season. Kind of gave up on it. Park is annoying, the new brunette has no personality, is annoying and not as pretty as Cameron or 13, and I don't give two shits about baldy and his two babies.

[sdkelso]

I think the show jumped the shark for me, I want to know if it did for anyone else.

I consider everything past season three a spin-off.

[emceng]

Ok, saw a new episode for the first time in...a year? Something like that. So yeah, spoilers:

Spoiler:

I mean it.



[spoiler]So Wilson has cancer. I just thought 'this is dumb'. It seemed like an emotional ploy, or just something to try and shock people. At this point I don't care about the show enough to care about this, or House's reaction.

And for anyone who saw the episode last night: What was the freaking point about flooding the bathroom? I missed the first 10 minutes. It was also hard to believe House would be idiotic enough to use items with his own name and fingerprints on them to block some pipe.

[ArgonV]

Ok, saw a new episode for the first time in...a year? Something like that. So yeah, spoilers:

Spoiler:

I mean it.



[spoiler]So Wilson has cancer. I just thought 'this is dumb'. It seemed like an emotional ploy, or just something to try and shock people. At this point I don't care about the show enough to care about this, or House's reaction.

And for anyone who saw the episode last night: What was the freaking point about flooding the bathroom? I missed the first 10 minutes. It was also hard to believe House would be idiotic enough to use items with his own name and fingerprints on them to block some pipe.

Spoiler:

Foreman gave him season tickets for hockey next to him, House saw that as trying to replace Wilson.
I thought House would be getting sued for attempted murder, not vandalism.

[KrazyerKate]

At the end of the series, I want House to kill himself. His entire character is based around being a junky and a selfish dick. It's established over and over that House takes advantage of even his closest friends, and when times get tough he hides in whatever addiction he has available, be it his puzzles or his pills.

most recent season spoiler:

Spoiler:

I want the stress of losing his friend to be enough to cause him to take his addictions to dangerous levels. Maybe heroin overdose. Or messing with patients in such a careless manner that he ends up killing people. The worse, the better.

In other words, the more "likable" they make him, the less I seem to like him. But at the same time, the writers are under pressure from the general TV-watching public to write a "happy ending". The amount of hate that they'd get if they killed off a beloved character on a popular TV-show would be huge. Heck, you might even get Fox News reports like "Is This Popular TV-Show Encouraging Your Children To Commit Suicide?".

They're going to have to make a decision one way or another though, because that's the huge question of the show: Does House's self-destructive nature eventually get the better of him, or will he "see the light" and decide to live a better life? I'm hoping they go with the first option because I feel like it'd be more true to his character, and it would be a ballsy move to kill the main character on an already ballsy TV-Show which has a character that nobody likes.

Series Finale Spoilers (NO SERIOUSLY DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN THE FINALE)

Spoiler:

And they pussied out. how disappointing. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, they could have killed him off plenty of times, and had several "haha, you thought we finally did it!" pull-the-rug-out moments, so I dunno why I let my hopes get raised at all. I don't think I've ever gone from absolute joy to absolute facepalm faster than when Wilson said at his funeral "you know what? he was an ass. I'm glad he's dead. He deserved it" and then he got the text from House. House deserved to die and for everyone to hate him, and instead he got a sunny smiley motorcycle ride with his best bro.

[Adam H]

Series finale

Spoiler:

I don't know, I thought it was OK. Corny, but nice. In a sense House did die, and was reborn.

You kind of sound like a asshole when you say you want fictional characters to commit suicide. Would you wish for a real human that was exactly like House to commit suicide? There are people like House out there... in fact we all have it in us to be addicted, selfish dicks.

I suspect you are just trolling, but it seems like every time I think that of someone, a whole bunch of people come along and agree with them.

[broken_escalator]

Spoiler:

I was kinda expecting the false suicide dealy. House is Sherlock Holmes M.D. so it was rather fitting.

[KrazyerKate]

Series finale

Spoiler:

I don't know, I thought it was OK. Corny, but nice. In a sense House did die, and was reborn.

You kind of sound like a asshole when you say you want fictional characters to commit suicide. Would you wish for a real human that was exactly like House to commit suicide? There are people like House out there... in fact we all have it in us to be addicted, selfish dicks.

I suspect you are just trolling, but it seems like every time I think that of someone, a whole bunch of people come along and agree with them.

Finale Spoilers:

Spoiler:

Nope, not trolling. I believe everything I said in my post and stand by it. Of course I wouldn't want House to kill himself if he were a real person. But I also wouldn't think it was funny when he treats his patients like shit if he were a real person. Or when he plays pranks that would endager lives if done in real life. Or when he manipulates his team into doing what he wants. But it's not real life, It's a fantasy world with no consequences. I watch House because I like to watch the slow-motion trainwreck of his life without the fear or sadness that comes along with a real human life being at stake. The writers deprived me of that catharsis by changing the story from "miserable addict self-destructs spectacularly" to "miserable addict learns to appreciate the value of life and friendship". There are plenty of stories in which the character goes through darkness and comes out stronger because of it that have "corny but nice" endings. How many great trainwreck stories can you think of?

Series finale

Spoiler:

I don't know, I thought it was OK. Corny, but nice. In a sense House did die, and was reborn.

You kind of sound like a asshole when you say you want fictional characters to commit suicide. Would you wish for a real human that was exactly like House to commit suicide? There are people like House out there... in fact we all have it in us to be addicted, selfish dicks.

I suspect you are just trolling, but it seems like every time I think that of someone, a whole bunch of people come along and agree with them.

I didn't know that. That makes that plot point make a bit more sense then.

[SlyReaper]

Series finale:

Spoiler:

I always thought House was like a medical version of Sherlock Holmes, and probably deliberately so. I suppose they just had to shove a Reichenbach-style fake suicide in there at the end.

[The EGE]

Spoiler:

I don't think there's ever been an adaption of Sherlock Holmes - certainly not within my lifetime - where they actually killed off Holmes. Seems to be a tradition to find interesting ways of not letting him die. SlyReaper's right.

I thought his hallucinations were an interesting way of looking back on his character. Having Cameron try to convince him to die was a cheap before-commercial surprise but ended up being serious indeed.

I don't think House is going to be permanently changed. He got hit hard enough in the one place that affects him - Wilson - to make him change for a little while. But once Wilson's gone, he's got nothing to prevent the curmudgeon from returning. So he's not going to go to a third world country and play doctor - he's going to find somewhere and something that gives him puzzles, regardless of what it is.

[cphite]

Spoiler:

Didn't mind the concept of the ending - faking his own death actually seems like a very "House" thing to do. But the execution was horrible. There is absolutely no way anyone (even someone without his leg problem) is getting from where he's standing to out some back door in the time between Wilson seeing him, the collapse, and the explosion.

Also, the thing about him switching dental records with the dead guy implies that he planned this thing in advance; and just doesn't jive at all with him being unconscious at the beginning of the episode, and seriously contemplating suicide throughout. If he was actually planning this thing, there's no reason for him to have ever stayed at all after dropping the guy off and lighting the fire - much less waking up and having to figure out where he is.

[Isaac Hill]

Finale Logistics:

Spoiler:

A couple episodes prior to the finale, the patient was the hospital coroner. He was a huge admirer of Dr. House, and had applied for a spot on the team. He even mentioned the previously established fact that Chase's dad pulling strings to get Chase the spot, which seems like the show's way of telling us this guy's important to continuity.

I figure when House realized that his friends think they saw him die, he called the coroner and was able to get him to fake the paperwork. House may have told Wilson he did it, but everybody lies, sometimes to protect an accomplice.

They didn't show the coroner in the finale because people who don't watch the show regularly might tune in for the finale, not know who the coroner is, and be confused. I have no proof for this theory. It just makes more sense than a large limping guy who's been missing for two days sneaking around his place of employment without drawing attntion to himself.

[folkhero]

How many great trainwreck stories can you think of?

The Greek tragedies, the Shakespearean tragedies, Thomas Hardy's tragedies, Breaking Bad...

Spoiler:

I didn't mind the ending, the House and Wilson relationship has always been the best and most important of the series. Also, in what world is staging your own death by destroying a building and planting a corpse so that you can spend time riding a motorcycle with your friend not a totally selfish thing to do? Though, as someone else said the execution did leave me scratching my head a bit.

[charonme]

how far into the episode did you realize that Henry's girlfriend Amy

Spoiler:

is a realdoll

?

[KrazyerKate]

How many great trainwreck stories can you think of?

The Greek tragedies, the Shakespearean tragedies, Thomas Hardy's tragedies, Breaking Bad...

So, four? And only one that's actually a currently-airing TV Show? Against the libraries of happy endings out there I'd say TV-Shows with sad endings are a rarity.

Spoiler:

I didn't mind the ending, the House and Wilson relationship has always been the best and most important of the series.

Spoiler:

I'd argue that House's relationship with addiction holds that place. His relationship with Wilson is just another way of framing how pain and addiction impact his daily life by sometimes making him choose between respecting his friend and getting his fix.

Spoiler:

Also, in what world is staging your own death by destroying a building and planting a corpse so that you can spend time riding a motorcycle with your friend not a totally selfish thing to do? Though, as someone else said the execution did leave me scratching my head a bit.

Spoiler:

That's only true if you completely ignore the entire episode where House tries to convince Wilson to go into Chemotherapy and Wilson says something like "Can't you just respect my wishes? I don't want to have to go through this alone". The whole buildup to the finale sets up that the conflict is whether or not House will be strong enough to be there when his friend needs him.