Tonight's Episode

[nightdog_barks]

Well.

I'll have to think about this some more, and we're about to eat dinner, so I'll just say ... hm. Some of it was very funny, some of it wasn't, if the title of the episode ("Two Stories") was supposed to suggest "Three Stories" ... I don't think it succeeded.

Also, somebody couldn't write more lines for Wilson than that? Dude.

More later. Maybe.

Comments

[nightdog_barks]

Well, this. To me there was a ... what's the word I'm looking for ... a cognitive dissonance (?) in the storytelling, in that the parts with House's team (which were like a funhouse mirror of exaggeration) came across as more real to me than the problem with Cuddy. Those team bits were more like "Three Stories" than anything else in the episode, and they're what we got the least of.

One other thing I was thinking was that perhaps House was playing the school principal when he said "I need her in my life" and asked her if she'd ever needed anyone. People know that Wilson can be a master liar and manipulator, but House is right up there with him. It's what Tritter said -- addicts will do and say anything to get what they want, and House quoted Tritter not two episodes ago. Maybe House said what he knew would elicit sympathy from the principal, not some heartfelt confession. *throws up hands in bemusement*

[felis]

that perhaps House was playing the school principal

Yep, I'm definitely fanwanking that and I don't care if Mr. "Whatever It Takes" Moran intended it that way or not. :-)
He must have seen the family picture behind her, and the last time he said "I love her" in front of someone else, he was playing Lucas. It was very clear that he was still trying to get Rachel in there and - in his own words - "dig himself out of a hole".

in that the parts with House's team [...] came across as more real to me than the problem with Cuddy

I was wondering if that might have something to do with the fact that House was the (unreliable) narrator here? His own confusion and reluctance colouring the story? The backwards/disordered structure didn't help either.
On the other hand, I have to admit that Cuddy's anger was one of the few things that did work for me in this episode. Found that more understandable than her reaction to his lie in "Office Politics" for example.

[nightdog_barks]

Well, I do believe House loves Cuddy, and that he cares deeply about her. But I just can't wrap my head around him saying "I need her in my life" to a near-complete stranger. I'm not sure that House ever admits his deepest feelings to anyone but himself (his "I don't want him to hate me" line to Subconscious!Amber), and when it sounds like he's doing that, he's actually trying to get someone to do something he wants.

Heh, Cuddy's anger worked for me, but not up to the point where she was breaking up with him. I couldn't buy that, because the writers didn't do enough to sell it to me.

[felis]

Yes, I absolutely agree, that's what I meant, too. I didn't want to imply that I don't believe he loves her, it was just the "in front of strangers" thing that bugged me a lot, especially with the principal.

Hee, I keep reading that Cuddy broke up with him! I didn't understand it that way at all! She wanted time and after he completely disrespected that, she blew up and "couldn't deal with [him] anymore", but I never took that as her seriously breaking up with him. Plus, it's House talking, his fears might be exaggerating a lot there.

[nightdog_barks]

Oh, no, I knew you weren't implying that he doesn't love her! Yes, it's definitely the "in front of strangers" thing. :-D

Plus, it's House talking, his fears might be exaggerating a lot there.

I can see that. Perhaps she wasn't breaking up with him, but that's what he thought he heard, and because he's the "narrator," that's what got passed to the audience. Some of the audience. *g*

[felis]

Hee, yup, I insist on the "some" in this case. *g*

Not trying to annoy you or anything, it's just that I was really baffled to read this everywhere. Take House's conversation with Wilson for example: to me it came across as "Cuddy is mad, we are in a fight, I have to fix it", but not as "she broke up with me". Wilson's level of concern didn't seem high enough for that either. I think House was afraid that this could become something they would break up over, but I didn't read him as already there at all. Hm.

[nightdog_barks]

*g*

Just speaking as someone who thought she dumped him, it wasn't the scene with Wilson that made me think that. At that point, he was just trying to break into her laptop and he wanted help from Wilson on that point -- hence Wilson's "Try the name of her first pet" suggestion.

I thought she dumped him in the later scene, where he came to her in her office, and she basically told him what an inconsiderate bastard he was and that she couldn't deal with it anymore. Which sounded to me like -- "You're an ass, I can't take it anymore, I want you out of my life."

So. That's the way it seemed to me, anyway. And no, no annoyance here. :-D

[felis]

But that later scene in her office was still before the whole laptop thing! Hee, I knew the structure was too convoluted!

[nightdog_barks]

Good god, was it really? I could have sworn it came later!

Heh, then I am left with the conclusion that House didn't want to reveal to Wilson how serious the problem was, and was concentrating on the concrete problem in front of him, which was how to break into Cuddy's laptop.

[felis]

You know what? It is SO convoluted that I didn't have it completely right either. The House/Cuddy office scene was right after he left her mad in the morning and before the evening scene at her door. Which makes more sense and House a bit less of an inconsiderate idiot, but proves that this episode was a structural mess.

[nightdog_barks]

This.

It seemed a hell of a lot more convoluted than "Three Stories," which I think was actually a more complicated episode but seems a paragon of straightforward storytelling compared to "Two Stories."

[felis]

Here's the structure. Basically, day 1 = House/Cuddy scenes, day 2 = laptop, day 3 = school. Geez.

[nightdog_barks]

YIKES.

Well. That makes my head spin.

[felis]

Yikes indeed. I mean, I do appreciate a good puzzle, but there is no way anybody could have understood the actual course of events by watching just once. And I can only imagine how a couple of commercial breaks might have added to the confusion.