[H]ouse, M.D. Episode 8x07 "Dead & Buried"

If at first you don't succeed try and try and try again. 

In this episode, Gregory House shows his humanity and I have to say it's about time! By this I mean it is about time we finally get a glimpse of the Gregory House we know and love--the man who is a misanthropic pain in the ass who underneath it all really does have a heart and soul and the diagnostician who will stop at nothing to get a diagnosis.

The POTW case of a fifteen year old with Dissociative Identity Disorder who was pregnant but not pregnant was interesting but not as riveting as the subplot of House attempting to solve the case of a boy who died five years ago. It reminded me of "All In" when House was trying desperately to save Cuddy's young patient in while at the same time using the case to to diagnose Esther, the old woman who had died years earlier from an undiagnosed illness.  

House's reasons for solving the second case (the subplot) are twofold. First, he wants to help the guy in his anger management group who has never been able to accept his son's untimely death due to an unknown cause and second, he wants to solve the puzzle. Remember the puzzles are really all he has these days, besides Wilson of course. In this episode, House was never cruel towards the father and he never berated him (or the POTW for that matter), which is odd because it's what House does so well. The only reason he acted like an ass with the dead boy's mother in the clinic was to get a rise out of her as a means of diagnosing the boy's illness. Speaking of the mother in the clinic, she said something to House that could be applied to her and the boy's father, the POTW  and House as well. She said, 

"There are two kinds of people, those who can move on and those who can't."

That statement describes the POTW and her mother. The mother has moved on from the accident that killed her husband thirteen years ago. Her daughter who was only 2 years old at the time was in the backseat and watched her father die. Neither mother nor daughter thought she would have remembered anything yet her subconscious did and blocked it out out of guilt (she was in the backseat crying and blamed herself for her father's distracted driving) and trauma by creating multiple personalities and this disorder. So while the mother moved on, the daughter really never did. 

The statement also describes the parents of the dead little boy. Is it safe to say the mother moved on by putting the past in its place and remarrying and having another child and living her life? Is it safe to say the father did not move on because he wallowed in anger and alcohol and pity and made a wreck of his life because he could not deal with his grief?  Or should this be reversed? Did the mother in fact not move on as evidenced by her refusal to talk about her son, deal with her grief, even going so far as to divorce his father simply because his eyes reminded her of their son. And did the father actually move on by dealing with his son's death openly and actively even if it was indulging himself in a miserable, lonely existence?  The more I thought about it the more I wondered who had really moved on and who had not.

And finally, this statement also describes House. Has House moved on? He's out of prison and working. He has his team back and best friend back but that's pretty much all he has in his life. Can there even be any more than what he has now? Hugh Laurie does another amazing portrayal of his character by once again giving us fleeting glimpses into House's feelings many times through his non-verbal expressions. He seems so sad, especially with the few references to Cuddy that have been made. 

Knowing House and how much he loved and needed Cuddy, he likely does regret his actions (author's note: changed from the original phrase "He regrets" after reading MaxTheGirl's comments about how I could infer his actual regret that since it hasn't been directly addressed in any episode so far) which drove away the woman he loved, who loved him and put up with him for so many years, and who was one of the few constants in his life. Cuddy had always been there, now she's not and given his feelings for her in addition to the fact that House doesn't handle change well, this loss has to be hurting him deeply. It is likely the same for Cuddy when you think about the longstanding relationship they had. Can House move on? I do not see House being able to ever fully move on with his life without Cuddy being a part of it. (As a longtime loyal fan of the show I maintain hope for some kind of positive resolution for them.)

Now, for more on the story. It was just plain creepy when House entered the mausoleum to take samples from the dead boy. I laughed my ass off when his phone rang and he nearly crapped his pants. But there was House, resolute in taking the sample while at the same time doing a phone differential with his team. Gotta love it.I held my breath wondering what House would say to the father when he asked House "how did he look?" and when he said "peaceful" I was amazed. House actually told the father this so he could have even a little bit of peace. Maybe people don't change in such ways which are noticeable to everyone, but they change. Either House is changing or he's just bringing out things within himself that he's thought he needed to keep hidden for so long. Is it really change if it's always been there?

House knows Wilson is right when he warns House that if he keeps pursuing the case of the dead boy, Foreman will throw him back in prison. (Is anyone else besides me tired of Foreman threatening House with prison and clinic hours?)  We see House make a decent attempt to stop thinking about the case but after a little pondering and driving himself crazy, he can't keep his mind off of it. The House we know and love will not give up on a case just because his boss tells him to. I loved that resolute look on House's face as he realized what he had to do. Prison be damned, he was willing to sacrifice his freedom to solve the case. House doesn't make any comments alluding to the idea that perhaps he can manipulate Foreman. He is resolved to doing what he believes is right and whatever the consequences are, so be it. In fact, instead of attempting to evade the consequences, it seems he accepts them--he steps right into the back of the police car without any handcuffs or escort.

I feel that House wants redemption but he doesn't even know where to start. He feels the only thing he has that anyone wants is his talent.  He makes an effort to do right by someone by using the only thing he thinks is valuable about him--his gift for solving puzzles---to help a tormented, sad and lonely man. House himself is tormented, sad and lonely but House has never really known how to help himself. In this case I do not believe he's specifically seeking redemption or a "thank you" but rather he feels it's just something he has to do, even willing to go back to prison for it. 

I've been thinking about what I can say about Foreman. I'm pissed about Foreman's character. I used to like him but somewhere in Season 6 he just began annoying the crap out of me. I definitely don't like this Foreman, he's become even more arrogant and what's worse than arrogant is not even having anything to back it up! House is arrogant but he can back that up with his talent. Foreman? He's just a control freak with something to prove. Hell we know Cuddy was a control freak, it but at least she knew when to use it and when not to use it. Maybe Foreman feels the only way he can justify his position and authority is by controlling House's every move. This is going to backfire or at least I hope it does. 

I loved when Wilson, our voice of reason just hands it to Foreman and tells it like it is:

"Your job is to keep this machine running. It's your choice to make House a useful tool or a monkey wrench. Cuddy's way didn't fail because she didn't try to control House, she managed him. She knew better than anyone what a tool he can be. What would Cuddy have done?"

I like the dual meaning of tool here. First, it refers to House as an important piece of equipment needed to keeping the hospital  running. Second, though tool can also mean someone who can be taken advantage of and used by people, House is not one who can be taken advantage of....except by Cuddy, it can also refer to the idea that only Cuddy could manipulate House into doing what she wanted him to do. Of course he wasn't being taken advantage of but she always had her ways of convincing him.  

Finally, I thought Chase's "Doctors Down Under" was funny as hell. You know based on past episodes that there is no way that you can hide anything that good from House. He's always going to find it. Remember the episode where he finds the college porno Wilson starred in? We knew there had to be a reason Chase was so well groomed and I'm just glad it wasn't a woman because goodness knows last season we had enough of his debauchery. I also liked that Chase stepped up to the plate and took over the team as House tended to the other case. Nobody asked Chase to do this, he just assumed it. This shows how far he's come working with House over the years. He's not that spoiled little rich kid everyone thought he was. In earlier seasons I thought it was Foreman who had what it took to lead the team but the problem was that Foreman lacked leadership and he lacked the ability to take risks like House. Oh there were a few times Foreman took risks like when he worked at NY Mercy and when he took that biopsy of the young boy in "Family" but really when you compare risktaking between Foreman and Chase, Chase is much more capable of it. Chase doesn't mind doing what it takes to get the diagnosis while at the same time his seminary training and moral compass still exists. Chase is a good balance of good and bad and I think he and House probably share more in common than they do with anyone else on the team.

By the way, remember the times we all salivated over the funny-as-hell deliciously wicked showdowns between the intelligent, bossy, sexy, controlling Dean of Medicine and the obnoxious, rude, crude and socially unacceptable but oh so brilliant Diagnostician with an attitude?  

I miss those days.

Compared to every episode thus far this season I believe this was an improvement. Finally, we got to see a little of the depth and humanity of Gregory House that has been missing all season and while we're at it--- for the latter half of last season as well. We know it exists because we have seen it, we have felt it, it's part of what made us love this character and the show.

This episode doesn't make up for the mess Shore & Co. made of the show and our favorite characters ( I don't know that anything can), but least for the first time this season TPTB did House's character some  justice.

Thanks for reading!


Oh yes, let's not forget the weekly Monday night shout-out to my #House pals Michelle, Veronique, Anne, Iane, Kelly, Claudia, Katie, Andree, Anthony, Lisa, Max, Mindy, Meg, and Maya for helping make it all bearable! 

Cheers!