11:55 to 12:12 Seizure Warning. S2 - E21 House: "Strobing lights and high-pitched sounds can provoke a seizure. WoooOOoooOoo!" Girl: "You're a goof." House: "Takes one to know one, loser...wait, that means I'm a loser. Scratch that."
At about 23 minutes you said that some of the sub-plots didn't really link together. I think I can link some of them from the info you gave (others I'd probably have to watch the whole episode again). What does House's Green Card wedding have to do with homelessness? I think it's trying to show the juxtaposition of America bringing more people into the country whilst not being able to provide for those already there. How does the crucifixion fit in with Taub suspecting his wife of having an affair, Wilson proposing and Sam breaking up with him, and House fighting with Cuddy? Taub has lost faith in his wife (possibly adultery from lack of commitment), Sam shows a lack of commitment and a loss of faith in her relationship with Wilson (I'm not too sure about the House/Cuddy fight). Loss of faith/lack of commitment have links to religion.
....I found you thru this, are you also a XenniaL? ....Hey HOUSE is my FAVE and if not, darn close as a close second or even tied as the only other TV persona I can compare, ever was not even that popular as far as I know with its limited few seasons run due to misfortunes as the show was aces but I would be speaking of DR. Cal Lightman... (Tim Roth) ....can you do this with Lie To Me as they are basically the SAME in many ways even though other ways not so much but I think the major most important reasons, they are or nearly ALL the important ways as close to 100% so I would LOVE too see a Lie To Me version(s) of this if you watched it - if not, you will agree so we will wait... Of course Walter White is great but nobody compares to HOUSE & Dr. Cal Lightman IMO and I will admit over the web, what is the common denominator for ME, what do I envy or maybe miss... (I said maybe...) ... for/about myself - maybe?.... HELP! Great run here.... BTW: HOUSE is so good you could do one on at least FOREMAN and be big if not other characters as well however hoping one day for a Lie To Me .....
The garage door to Wilson's office, and his reaction, is probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. I laughed for almost an hour after that episode aired. It still kills me when I rewatch the series.
That was a good call-out to how the doctors over time became perfect little diagnosing machines. I remember Amber Tamblyn's character bugging me throughout her time on the show, but I couldn't articulate why. It pissed me off that the last scene of her featured House's theme song.
Indeed? I really like her for being kinda nerdy and awkward and disagreeing with House more morally than diagnostically. It worked well that she eventually outgrew House's mentoring and didn't come back. But i guess it's a bit sad that humanizing details got lost. Depends what kind of show you like.
I like the comparison of Finding Judas and The C Word. They were similar in framework, but in the C Word, 2 stories were going on simultaneously. Wilson was being treated for cancer in House's apartment, and as such, House was unavailable for the diagnostics of the show. At that point in the series, House had one thing left that he cared about, and that is Wilson, who was legit dying before his eyes. I know how that feels personally. Before that, diagnostics medicine was his baby. He had forsaken it once Wilson was dying. House had shown that, in the end, House did love Wilson... probably more than anyone could have. Leading to the next dilemma... House was out, and the team had to go it alone, and in that, a leader presented himself. That episode was to set up that, come the end of the series, Dr. Chase would be taking the place of Dr. House in the post series time line, and Chase proved...AGAIN, why his talents as a diagnostician were as cutting edge as House's. As a matter of fact, in both of those episodes, it was Chase that figured out the illness. And I would have totally watched Chase MD if that was a spin-off series. Jesse Spencer made a great Dr. Chase.
I think my favorite part about Laurie is how you can separate him from house, house is an entity in itself. Two completely different people he did such and amazing job with this performance
The problem with a lot of TV series involving police, firefighters, paramedics etc. is that the early seasons focus mainly on the job of whatever the main characters are doing. Then during the later series, they mainly focus on character development. The shows go from a medical drama with some character background to a soap opera set in a hospital. It probably doesn't help when the salaries of the stars get higher and higher, reducing the amount of money available for effects. (You also get writers making changes for change's sake.)
While I do agree there's an uptick in absurdity as the show goes on and an overall decrease in quality, I personally feel the ideal ending isn't at Broken. I think House's post-Broken character arc is at least theoretically great. At the end of season 6, House prepares to use vicodin again because he lost a patient, he can't deal with what life has to offer without the drugs. I feel like the relationship with Cuddie was being built up to for far to long for it not to happen. The relationship should have acted as a temporary crutch for House, but it should have been represented in a more negative light. The show acts like their relationship was perfect, and then it just ends. Instead the relationship should have been difficult, with House refusing to end it because he needs Cuddie. The season should have ended with Cuddie forcibly breaking it off and then leaving (instead of the stupid car crashing). Season 8 was a great season for me because it shows House's downward spiral. The ending was great for me because it shows House was wrong. House couldn't fix himself for himself, but he could change for Wilson. He stepped up, sacrificing his career in order to spend time with Wilson.
Typical American I agree the relationship with Cuddie needed to happen, (and I loved it). It also could have been done better, but hindsight I suppose. The car crash was a crazy but I suppose they were trying to show how angry/broken House was about losing Cuddie. I liked that he changed for Wilson, I think that’s the best way to end things, but thought the fake dying in the building was a bit over the top. That said, the funeral scene where he texts Wilson with “SHUT UP YOU IDIOT” was classic. 😆
You must have watched the wrong show, because their rship was clearly portrayed as toxic. If you notice, cuddy and house brought out the worst in each other, the manipulation and games were at their peak during their time together & it even started getting out of control & dangerous(like secretly switching arlene cuddys course of treatment, house saying its fine if people die as long as he gets to be happy with cuddy), so much so that it culminated into house driving his car into her home because of the level of jealousy & hurt it brought of house. I think they did a good job in showing that these two were eventually never going to work out.
I loved, LOVED the C word because of House and Wilson’s relationship arc. I didn’t care about the patient at all but I think it was great in character exploration, just like Broken.
Man, I discovered your channel by accident yesterday when YT recommended me the first part of this series and I loved it. I kept thinking "Well, I'll have to wait for the next part. I hope he doesn't take too long to release it" and here we are lol. Keep up the great work, you have a lot of great ideas and a good way of making content to support them.
UA-cam recommended this for me (I never watched House) and I genuinely thought that this was going to be an in-depth house analysis and this part was about the kitchen sink.
@@TXbird007 I did watch scrubs! It was great too, but house was unique in that I could try to guess the diagnosis alongside the team. Though, I'm not a medical doctor or anything like that, which I'm sure would've made it easier. I did physics instead.
The mainstream formula: People say they want a _________ show but what they really want is a show with ________ in it. Also good characters. A good examples of this are attitude era WWE and the old Top Gear.
Most people are not financially privileged enough to gain access to the kind of psych treatment available to House. Most of us get a band-aid for a gaping, festering wound. If we're lucky.
I'd like to think that Curtis Armstrong during the Dr House asylum episodes is actually the same character as Metatron from Supernatural, who hides there.
Yeah, but it was still a writer's choice to write the character like that. He's not saying it doesn't make sense logically, he's pointing out a difference between earlier seasons and final seasons doctors. Masters is just the epitome of that different path the writers decided to go for.
@@92brunodyeah but Adams and Park weren't like that. Masters was different for good reason and she was not representative of a trend, she was meant to be an exception
'Eidetic' or 'photographic' memories don't exist, no research has ever reliably proven they exist. I know this show stretches reality often, but I really hate the spread of urban myths
@@funkyfranx okay but I don't think it was ever stated that she has a Mike Ross style magic eidetic memory, we see her studying with mnemonics and stuff, she trains her memory.
Ever notice how the later season's color grading looks like muddy concrete? Do you know why that is? Love your analysis by the way. House was my favorite show back in the day. Can't wait to see the rest.
The first episode popped up on my timeline, you sir are a legend. How you don't have 10 times the amount of subs as you do is beyond me. Thank you for hours of well researched and enjoyable content
I complexity agree on the point that the medical mysteries of season 6 onwards were on the whole less interesting - or at least less relevant to the emotional core of the episode. But, at the same time, I loved what they were able to explore the characters on a deeper level, especially House. Season 8 was kind of an outlier because both the medical mysteries were uninteresting and the character drama wasn’t as good as some of the previous seasons, but what it did with the final three episodes - showing so brilliantly that connection between House and Wilson - made up for it.
loving this series. you touch on thematics and you’re absolutely right. i’m still entertained by the later seasons, but thematically, they aren’t just unhinged/all over the place, they’re actually barely there. from a writing perspective, they should’ve been majorly reworked- it’s like the writers didn’t understand what really worked. house isn’t a regular medical procedural. the point of the show is to pull you in via the cases to get to know the characters. that’s why it was so refreshing. the writing’s themes were successful: tied together, constant, well-executed. looking forward to what else you have to say!
This series is amazing. In this installment, the author's casual familiarity with every moment of the show is really noticeable in number of cut scenes that tend to assume that the viewer really remembers the context of the scene.
The contrast and the texture of the image in the first season are way better than in the latter ones. I hate that bland low contrast look of modern television and, thanks to Marvel, cinema.
Completely agree. The pilot has a weird colour grading but everything else from the first season looks beautifully warm. Now a lot of tv shows have very cold looks.
Dude this was excellent , I was going to catch up on the whole house emancipation ,only had watched a few episodes years ago , but to hear Hughes actual voice normal non acting shocked me , unbelievable , thank you
I will say this though, and i know im gonna catch flak for it, but i seriously wouldve continued to follow the show if they picked up where they left off at the end of Season 8 with Chase taking over. After following Chase intensely from season to season, he is the ONLY person that could ever fill Houses shoes. He IS extremely good at diagnosing thanks to his experience on the team and his surgical stints, not to mention there would always be a rivalry between foreman and chase, just not sexual tension like house and cuddy... i dont know man, just after everything that has happened, i would have seriously continued on with Chase front and center
I do find it very interesting what a show does to stay fresh after it has been on for about 4 to 6 years. Anytime I think of a show really failing the longer it went on would be something like How I Met Your Mother. Can't wait to see part 3 and hope you're well.
After Broken and especially after break up with Cuddy I'd say it's just creators having fun. It is a fan service so it's fun to watch but they just throw whatever they want, most crazy ideas, pranks, bizarre scenarios - earlier is way more down to earth, realistic. But I'd say Broken wasn't the episode House should've ended. For me it was last episode of S6. When he's sitting in the bathroom holding vicodin I was extremely disappointed it was Cuddy who showed up. I thought it'd be perfect if it was actually Chase, Foreman and Wilson. His karaoke buddies. That would show that House is able to form friendships, that he's managing and "you can't always get what you want but you might find you get what you need" could be played. That would be perfect character Arc. House not getting what he wanted but learning to be a much better person even with pain. Instead we got Cuddy who decided on relationship after decades of knowing him, relationship that was doomed to fail and 1.5 last seasons of pure out of reality fun service. It wasn't bad but getting everything House wanted and then putting him where he was at the beginning of Season 1 was basically scratching the whole character arc. What was the point of his battling addiction, therapy, opening yourself, dealing with pain etc (basically what was the point of a whole "Broken" episode) if in the end it didn't matter.
I love this series, both as a film maker and a massive house enthusiast this is ticking every box in an incredibly in depth way that so far I cant fault in the slightest. Cannot wait to see what else is yet to come.
I personally loved season 6, maybe I'd say it's even my favorite. We could see house trying to change, his relationship with Wilson being explored more deeply and he was flashed out more in general, giving "broken" a point. I was less fond of seasons 7 and 8 but I'd say both had redeeming qualities and while the formula was getting a little tired the underlying base with house at it's center was still solid. They could have stopped at broken, it would have been a nice finale, but looking back at all of it, I personally think it served the series and it's memory better that they didn't stop there, even if the later seasons had a few weak spots.
You know what’s funny about the forum thing? I’m a Tf2 player and we’ve gone since 2017 without an update, and even before then the devs were lacking behind their usual pace. Then I find a forum post from 2010 complaining about the state of the game (for context it came out in 2007)
Ah dang it I hate finding a new content creator I like and dropping in the middle of a series. Excellent work btw, I hadn't thought of House since the finale, and now I may rewatch it. Looking forward to the rest of the series !
i saw this pop up in my feed and instantly clicked, your editing is fantastic and I'm amazed how fast you are too lmao, i didn't even realize half an hour had passed when I finished it. once again, thank you for making this series man.
I was a big fan of House back during its run. Definitely suffered from sloppy or lazy writing in the later seasons. I remember reading the AV club's reviews and agreeing with them. They said after Amber dies at the end of season 4 and it fails to lead to any meaningful changes in the main character, the strings became too obvious. There were a long series of cheap gimmicks that suggested character development without actually leading to anything meaningful. The Huddy arc in particular was awful in that House became the sort of cliche (can the love of a good woman fix his damaged soul?) that the show was predicated on eschewing. At no point in the Huddy arc did they mention Stacy, who actually was the love of his life. That said seasons 1-3 were brilliant. 4 and 5 had many good parts also.
@@justagrump5627 Somewhat but I feel like they failed to even try to explore any of the real reasons for House's underlying issues. I do think getting off of vicodin was a meaningful thing to try but the whole "He has to try to be nice to people" thing was too cliched.
for me, the middle of season 7 is where the show died for me. it's where cuddy and house broke up and didn't want to watch the eps after that. usually the end of season 6 is where I end my binge. 7 and 8 is just...not for me.
I hated the break up. People try to explain and justify it but for me it felt like a hasty and badly constructed way of having Lisa start making her way out of the show. Just a stupid idea overall
House and Cuddy's breakup brought the show back from dead for me. His crazy hotel scenes, Dominika, Adams (who he only got as a result of going to jail), etc are some of the best parts of the show
Thanks for these videos. I am Dr House fan since a long time and still watch the series from time to time again. Looking forward to the other parts of this essay.
I have never seen an excellent dissertation of House MD until today. I must agree with your point on the series should have ended then and there. House is not the only show that suffers from extended seasons after its perfect conclusion; there are other shows like Smallville, Charmed, One Life To Life, Scooby-Doo (50 years), General Hospital, Supernatural, etc. After so many seasons the later episodes lack that uniqueness or creative ideas, and they recycle the old material hoping the viewers won't notice. Other than that, I do love the fact that House MD lasted for eight seasons. After Wilson died I went outside my apartment and screamed in anger. Afterwards, I felt like having a drink.
Duuude you deserve much more views than this. Your analysis can only be seen only in channels with a ton of views, I'm certain that by the end of this series, you'll be at at least 1m subs
A lot of these criticisms hit the nail on the head of problems with the narrative over time. But I do still find even those problems as critical or specific to House as a series, in that they're so perfectly in tune with the problems of the show that they kind of become endearing to me. The classic 3 fellows are kicked out of the proverbial nest or leave before they can be clipped, but the short amount of time forces the next generation to grow a lot faster, the environment they're learning in is way different, harsher, with a lot more unknowns, there's no time for Cameron's ethical concerns and Foreman's attempts to deflect house like before because there's a new group of yes-men who are more willing to tell House "no". 6-7 are messy seasons and the growing pains are visible, but these are also the most impacted seasons due to events in House and the rest of the characters' lives. He leaves Mayfield, his team has moved on, he's barely clinging on after what happened with Amber and Kutner, he went to jail and Cuddy never looked back. The mirroring in Season 8 makes sense not only as a callback but to show just how much has changed, we are no longer in the warm comfort of season 1, this is the cold harsh world of realization that House has come to find himself in. But the element I find most compelling is that the futility, the lack of meaning and depth in the later seasons and the thematic ties every episode had in earlier seasons, is also so visually communicative of something that is also within House's wheelhouse of believing that nothing has meaning, only logic and reality exists. All during a period in his life where nothing seems real and his actions are more and more dictated by his feelings. This show is so damn good that even the things you've criticized the show of in this part are also so easily a way to describe the character himself in the most narratively accurate way possible. It's great.
I’ve also noticed how a lot of tv shows (especially comedies) become more and more absurd as the seasons go on. How I met your mother was quirky but grounded in the beginning, but by the end every character transformed into their own caricatures. The same thing with The big bang theory (although I stopped watching after 3 or 4 season), The office, or even Stranger things. It seems like there’s little show runners can do to prevent it, except for stopping the show while it’s still not too late. But it’s rarely happens.
In The Office's case, that seemed to be connected with Daniel and Schur leaving at the end of s04 to do Parks & Rec. Paul Lieberstein played down the more realistic tone.
I tired reading a book about the "Philosophy of House". Didn't really hit it home because it was just about the philosophy of course. But what I love about this is that it takes into account, a lot of other aspects; writer's choice and thematic evolution. Looooooooove it.
I like the later seasons for their less cohesive episodes. It’s good to feel like there’s lots of things going on, like characters have lives that don’t all coincidentally relate to each other all the time. It can get in the way of a character’s development, to only flesh them out when it’s completely thematically relevant. Although, it is also nice to have the different plots mirror each other and have similar paving and emotional paths. But I feel like it’s ok to do one without always doing the other.
This is a fantastic multi part essay. House MD is 100% my favourite prime time network show. I was honestly hoping after the series ended we'd see some special of the last days with Wilson
ramble - seeing some of the differences between the early seasons and later seasons put together did actually shock me. i think some of the more outlandish gags are still funny, but i agree that maybe there is a point where it has become too unlike where it started. my least favorite episode is the one where house wears all that eyeliner and the show briefly turns into a musical. i know some people enjoyed it and the cast put a lot of effort into it, but i just hate it. i also hate those two s8 girls, especially the red hair girl, with a burning passion. i kind of dread u talking about them later because my life is better just forgetting they exist. its interesting to hear ur perspective about how the cases need to be involved with the other plots to work because i remember watching those later seasons and feeling tired of the medical stuff. i thought it was just me, but maybe that's the reason for it. not really related 2 what u talked about but- i think the consistent rise and fall of house and wilson's relationship is what makes the show important to me. they're the only ones that truly lasted the entire show and i think wilson plays a big role in rebuking house's fear of people leaving him. the classic holmes and watson, brain and heart situation. i hope you look into that more during a later episode.
Well, "The C Word" is an important stepping stone in establishing Chase(another C Word worth mentioning) as a diagnosis team leader(with "Post Mortem" almost working as the finishing piece), while House, one of the parental figures in “Finding Judas”, is out. Funnily enough, in this weaker counterpart to the "Judas" episode, both of the mirror parental figures(House and Cuddy) are out of dramatic commission, so it could interesting to make a case(bountiful with innuendos) for Cuddy as another "C Word". Had she been present in this ultimate season, she would have dealt with the infant patient in "The C Word" episode in a way worthy of contrast and showing character development regarding her "Judas" episode days. That might have been an interesting vein to explore. But with both of the mirror parental figures out, the team continues to endure the growing pains of having to outlive House(who has now been long expecting his trusted trainee Chase to unburden him of HAVING to be The Boss) and "outsource" House's genius medical takes, with Chase in both cases proving to be the indoors solution to the problem. House amazingly passes on the puzzling medical challenge provided by the overzealous Treiber and entrusts it and the future of his medical legacy to Chase once more in "Post Mortem". House is the elephant in the room, “The H Word” not (if rarely) spoken. In this diptych of episodes, Chase finally willfully(!) escapes House's fatherly and cozy grasp. "The C Word" is a quite straightforward, sometimes apparently unripe and plain episode even from a directing standpoint (which is intentionally[?] efficient in showing how Chase's leadership can ALSO lead to a smooth and natural resolution of a case, opposite to the more chaotic, accidental and Housesque formula of "Post Mortem") but I think there's some more meat to it than it might appear at first: the patient’s parents question HOW and HOW WELL they've spent the sparse time they've had with their loving daughter and how they've related to her throughout the years(either as parentdaughter or rogue doctor/scientistpatient/experiment), while Wilson throws "everything but the kitchen sink" around in a last ditch effort to reject that House is all he has, to face that his daydreams' wife and family wouldn't do what House (also) criminally DID for him, while he questions the hypocrisy and irony of his survivalist efforts to fight and deny his cancerous fate and he struggles not to (already) embrace a type of House/”Kyle Calloway” nihilism and self-destructive and hedonistic pulses that will assail him in "Post Mortem". House, for once and having already concluded throughout the seasons that he can't live without Wilson(as he outwardly confesses in the bus ride home in "Post Mortem"), remains mute, lets Wilson throw his much justified tantrum and gratuitously hurt him* and lets Wilson almost unilaterally(for the first time!) reassess and review their relationship, Wilson finishing the episode with a now "hands-on"/internal/organic(!) acknowledgement of House's pain and way of life(«Wilson: So the way I felt...You feel that -what? Most of the time?? Really does suck being you, doesn't it?»). * Wilson: Why me? I'm always telling my patients not to torture themselves because there's no answer. House: Sound advice. Wilson: It's cruel advice. They were just trying to make sense of what was happening to them and I'm there telling them not to bother? I should have spent my life being more like you. Should have been a manipulative, self-centered, narcissistic ass who brought misery to everything and everyone in his life. House: You'd still have cancer. Wilson: Yeah, but at least I'd feel like I deserved it.
This happens with all mystery shows. At first it's about the cases but eventually the case takes a back seat to what the characters are doing. I don't like complaining about later seasons of house because everyone does it. The show had to evolve, I know that. But it is not the same show anymore at the end and while that's fine in a sense, it does make you sad when you see how much work they put into making it realistic in the early seasons and they themselves are actively destroying that realism.
One thing I miss about the first season or two is that the Chase or Cameron would crack a smile when House made a good joke. Even Foreman, the hardass, had light-hearted moments ("Hey, I'm not ready for any Foreman-juniors yet"). They weren't all stone-faced and exasperated ALL the time. It felt more natural. Now, one could say they got used to it and tired of it as the show went on, but then the new fellows in season 4 should've found these equally funny, instead of immediately rapid-firing back an answer or a quip. I believe it is a result of what's discussed in this video, what I call narrative powercreep.
25:32 just a side note on a great video: It's not news worthy because it's a cultural thing. It actually happens more often than you'd think. It's a devotional practice of sorts.
I started watching casually and it really suprised me how good it was. I'm 'in' season 3 now but Ive not watched everything. I think about starting from the top. So many questions. Such great actors. And an intelligent show.
taking me like quadruple the amount of time to watch this series because any time you mention an episode i think “ooo thats a good one” and then have to go back and watch it before i can continue
I feel like they had a very interesting idea with Masters in season 7 that they completely wasted. The disconnect was already there in season 7 but the romance of Cuddy and House made things kept the show interesting. 3 episodes into season 8 and you could clearly see the disconnect and they were just trying to finish the series. Nothing was really given time to breathe.
And its absolutely amazing how the first patient was beyond annoyingly optimistic. Verses the ones that are so incredibly screwed up they just want to be left alone.
if you don't give the season 4 finale at least 20 minutes in one of these episodes, I will LOSE MY MIND but overall, thank you. this is great. I joined your patreon :)
Season 4 was too good for House to be concluded a season before, even years later I still feel the same after the show ended. Seaons 5-7 had some good moments. House's Head and Wilson's Heart are a masterpiece and display everything that made you watch House over and over again. Broken, while really good and a bit of fresh air in the series might of made a good literary ending, but thank god it's not a book or novel. It's a TV series. If I had to show someone an episode and let's face it, they are one long episode cut in two, and I would point to this one because it could stand on it's own and tell you everything you need to know, regardless of whether you have prior knowledge of the series, you would find it to be a great work of art.
i can't really agree when you say him leaving the psyche ward is the end of house because he changed. in a movie, yeah you would assume change occurred and stuck. but the whole season just reinforces that notion. and to be totally honest, that final shot on the bikes is genuinely a nice bow tie ending where change happened, struggled to keep it and actually kept it. in a movie or other story medium, it would seem likely to end it sooner. but it's not and this show, in my opinion, does best when a story is crammed with details and drip feeds you throughout the runtime. the nuances for all the characters and knowledge of thier current mindset, is invaluable to the audience. the only problem is most of the audience want a snapshot of what to think and don't want to invest time to enjoy the content. Supernatural sufferred with this disease too. it was on life support for at least 5 seasons.
Eh, cant say i agree about the side stories matching thematically being that big of a deal. Personally, i found the banter between the cast to be the most important part.
That's probably for the best. If you were a viewer invested in a cool patient story, you were fucked, since I think they got less interesting over time, while still making up a decent chunk of the episode.
Agreed. Earlier on they have to establish the basics. After they've done that you either have to end the show or shift the focus from establishing the basics to getting into the nuts and bolts of the characters. It has to be more about character moments and the personal lives of the characters later on
i've watched House since I was 12. I love this so much. can't wait to get to the Love part, I really like House and Cuddy's relationship, but you don't seem to enjoy season 7 that much. pacing myself with the series tho
Honestly, maybe season 6 should have ended on what season 8 ended on, Wilson gets his cancer and a Vicodin-free House has to cope with it similar to what happened with cuddy but with house eventually giving up his career as a doctor without pretending he is dead. Honestly I would have loved to see house's character arc ending without him relapsing, then if the show would spawn a sequel, it could be after Wilson died, and house coping with losing the person he was closest to, while revelling more of his and Wilsons backstories. Maybe he becomes a theoretical physicist as he said.
But House ending after “Broken” it would have been so out of place, because it would be like a sort of happy ending and that type of ending is for conventional TV Shows, House M.D. was everything but conventional, the ending of House sacrificing everything for Wilson was perfect because it was a bittersweet ending, happiness mixed with sadness just like the show was.
11:55 to 12:12 Seizure Warning.
S2 - E21
House: "Strobing lights and high-pitched sounds can provoke a seizure. WoooOOoooOoo!"
Girl: "You're a goof."
House: "Takes one to know one, loser...wait, that means I'm a loser. Scratch that."
Brilliant work. Also you have excellent taste in video essay channels.
At about 23 minutes you said that some of the sub-plots didn't really link together. I think I can link some of them from the info you gave (others I'd probably have to watch the whole episode again).
What does House's Green Card wedding have to do with homelessness? I think it's trying to show the juxtaposition of America bringing more people into the country whilst not being able to provide for those already there.
How does the crucifixion fit in with Taub suspecting his wife of having an affair, Wilson proposing and Sam breaking up with him, and House fighting with Cuddy? Taub has lost faith in his wife (possibly adultery from lack of commitment), Sam shows a lack of commitment and a loss of faith in her relationship with Wilson (I'm not too sure about the House/Cuddy fight). Loss of faith/lack of commitment have links to religion.
....I found you thru this, are you also a XenniaL? ....Hey HOUSE is my FAVE and if not, darn close as a close second or even tied as the only other TV persona I can compare, ever was not even that popular as far as I know with its limited few seasons run due to misfortunes as the show was aces but I would be speaking of DR. Cal Lightman... (Tim Roth) ....can you do this with Lie To Me as they are basically the SAME in many ways even though other ways not so much but I think the major most important reasons, they are or nearly ALL the important ways as close to 100% so I would LOVE too see a Lie To Me version(s) of this if you watched it - if not, you will agree so we will wait... Of course Walter White is great but nobody compares to HOUSE & Dr. Cal Lightman IMO and I will admit over the web, what is the common denominator for ME, what do I envy or maybe miss... (I said maybe...) ... for/about myself - maybe?.... HELP! Great run here.... BTW: HOUSE is so good you could do one on at least FOREMAN and be big if not other characters as well however hoping one day for a Lie To Me .....
BTW: The Black Donelly's was also awesome but think on a different spectrum!
@@datguitarplayer1656 you are a fake
The trio doing karaoke together is one of my favorite scenes.
Yep, riding that midnight train to Georgia
literallyyyy my favorite scene, i rewatch it on the reg!
Nothing will beat House S01E21, "Three Stories", with the big reveal about House's leg.
true this, three stories is still my favorite episode
I feel like house's head and Wilson's heart go up there with three stories
House's head and Wilson's heart was the best 2 episode of the show for sure
Two stories and dead and buried 🙂
A fav, watched it multiple times.
"Cameron forgets the name of a disease."
Me: Was it Lupus?
"Wilson's Disease"
Me: It's never Lupus...
Except when it is.
@@samiraperi467 S4E08 - "You Don't Want to Know"
Wilson's disease turned out to be Cancer...see what I did there?😉
House sees Wilson….
Aha!!!
An immunologist can't forget Lupus
Hugh Laurie’s British accent seems less real than his American one.
I was looking for this comment
I feel this and I even grew up with his work on british TV. His American accent is just that convincing
He's such a good actor he's just convinced the world he's british
Honestly I just think that British roles are so tethered to bad acting that it has reshaped how Brits come across haha
Agreed
The garage door to Wilson's office, and his reaction, is probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen in my life. I laughed for almost an hour after that episode aired. It still kills me when I rewatch the series.
... No
I love that too :3
It's unrealistic on a cartoon level, but it's a finely delivered joke.
@@fantasyarch Yes ...
I love that the show delved into farce in the final seasons
Dude, how fast of an editor are you? (not that i'm complaining, i love this series, haha)
Did not expect to see The Volgun here
Maybe he made it all or most of it in one go, then just tweaked it and uploaded.
My favorite youtuber likes my favorite youtuber. Yeet
Wow. It must be my lucky day when thevolgun replies to another one of my favourite youtubers
Well, this was an unexpected encounter.
That was a good call-out to how the doctors over time became perfect little diagnosing machines. I remember Amber Tamblyn's character bugging me throughout her time on the show, but I couldn't articulate why. It pissed me off that the last scene of her featured House's theme song.
I liked Amber because she has hot lips
कुंआ
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Indeed? I really like her for being kinda nerdy and awkward and disagreeing with House more morally than diagnostically. It worked well that she eventually outgrew House's mentoring and didn't come back.
But i guess it's a bit sad that humanizing details got lost. Depends what kind of show you like.
@@volbla Amber Tamblyn was the worst character on the show
@@sridhariyer6143 K.
I like the comparison of Finding Judas and The C Word. They were similar in framework, but in the C Word, 2 stories were going on simultaneously. Wilson was being treated for cancer in House's apartment, and as such, House was unavailable for the diagnostics of the show. At that point in the series, House had one thing left that he cared about, and that is Wilson, who was legit dying before his eyes. I know how that feels personally. Before that, diagnostics medicine was his baby. He had forsaken it once Wilson was dying. House had shown that, in the end, House did love Wilson... probably more than anyone could have. Leading to the next dilemma... House was out, and the team had to go it alone, and in that, a leader presented himself. That episode was to set up that, come the end of the series, Dr. Chase would be taking the place of Dr. House in the post series time line, and Chase proved...AGAIN, why his talents as a diagnostician were as cutting edge as House's. As a matter of fact, in both of those episodes, it was Chase that figured out the illness.
And I would have totally watched Chase MD if that was a spin-off series. Jesse Spencer made a great Dr. Chase.
I cant believe it took this many years for someone to finally do a House retrospective. Subscribed.
House's Head and Wilson's Heart are still my two favorite episodes.
+
Agree and "Help me" season 6 finale
I think my favorite part about Laurie is how you can separate him from house, house is an entity in itself. Two completely different people he did such and amazing job with this performance
Season 3 “One Day, One Room” is one of my favorite episodes. It’s one of the few where he lets his guard down.
It's my favourite episode for sure. Of all the patients that changed House permanently she was my favourite
The problem with a lot of TV series involving police, firefighters, paramedics etc. is that the early seasons focus mainly on the job of whatever the main characters are doing. Then during the later series, they mainly focus on character development. The shows go from a medical drama with some character background to a soap opera set in a hospital. It probably doesn't help when the salaries of the stars get higher and higher, reducing the amount of money available for effects. (You also get writers making changes for change's sake.)
While I do agree there's an uptick in absurdity as the show goes on and an overall decrease in quality, I personally feel the ideal ending isn't at Broken. I think House's post-Broken character arc is at least theoretically great. At the end of season 6, House prepares to use vicodin again because he lost a patient, he can't deal with what life has to offer without the drugs. I feel like the relationship with Cuddie was being built up to for far to long for it not to happen. The relationship should have acted as a temporary crutch for House, but it should have been represented in a more negative light. The show acts like their relationship was perfect, and then it just ends. Instead the relationship should have been difficult, with House refusing to end it because he needs Cuddie. The season should have ended with Cuddie forcibly breaking it off and then leaving (instead of the stupid car crashing). Season 8 was a great season for me because it shows House's downward spiral. The ending was great for me because it shows House was wrong. House couldn't fix himself for himself, but he could change for Wilson. He stepped up, sacrificing his career in order to spend time with Wilson.
Typical American
I agree the relationship with Cuddie needed to happen, (and I loved it). It also could have been done better, but hindsight I suppose. The car crash was a crazy but I suppose they were trying to show how angry/broken House was about losing Cuddie. I liked that he changed for Wilson, I think that’s the best way to end things, but thought the fake dying in the building was a bit over the top. That said, the funeral scene where he texts Wilson with “SHUT UP YOU IDIOT” was classic. 😆
yess you said it perfectly.
it was perfect, and then it just ended
You must have watched the wrong show, because their rship was clearly portrayed as toxic. If you notice, cuddy and house brought out the worst in each other, the manipulation and games were at their peak during their time together & it even started getting out of control & dangerous(like secretly switching arlene cuddys course of treatment, house saying its fine if people die as long as he gets to be happy with cuddy), so much so that it culminated into house driving his car into her home because of the level of jealousy & hurt it brought of house. I think they did a good job in showing that these two were eventually never going to work out.
I loved, LOVED the C word because of House and Wilson’s relationship arc. I didn’t care about the patient at all but I think it was great in character exploration, just like Broken.
Man, I discovered your channel by accident yesterday when YT recommended me the first part of this series and I loved it. I kept thinking "Well, I'll have to wait for the next part. I hope he doesn't take too long to release it" and here we are lol.
Keep up the great work, you have a lot of great ideas and a good way of making content to support them.
The exact same thing happened to me.
Ditto
And I discovered it yesterday. Loving it.
Oh you were in an accident ? Did Dr. House treated you miserable and now you are cured ?
house invading operating theaters is always hilarious.
UA-cam recommended this for me (I never watched House) and I genuinely thought that this was going to be an in-depth house analysis and this part was about the kitchen sink.
I always preferred the earlier season because they had a stronger medical basis, it's interesting that it was of less importance to you.
If you want strong medical basis watch Scrubs!
@@TXbird007 I did watch scrubs! It was great too, but house was unique in that I could try to guess the diagnosis alongside the team. Though, I'm not a medical doctor or anything like that, which I'm sure would've made it easier. I did physics instead.
The mainstream formula:
People say they want a _________ show but what they really want is a show with ________ in it. Also good characters. A good examples of this are attitude era WWE and the old Top Gear.
Most people are not financially privileged enough to gain access to the kind of psych treatment available to House.
Most of us get a band-aid for a gaping, festering wound. If we're lucky.
This series has motivated me to finally watch the show. I'm in season 3 now and loving it so far!
Medusa
Awesome! So glad for you.
I'd like to think that Curtis Armstrong during the Dr House asylum episodes is actually the same character as Metatron from Supernatural, who hides there.
Ahh you're a person of culture as well
I loved the fist tripping scene. It felt pretty real and was definitely more accurate.
To be fair, the med student did have eidetic memory, so it made sense that SHE was knowledgeable.
Edit: I love that go-kart scene lol
Yeah, but it was still a writer's choice to write the character like that. He's not saying it doesn't make sense logically, he's pointing out a difference between earlier seasons and final seasons doctors. Masters is just the epitome of that different path the writers decided to go for.
@@92brunodyeah but Adams and Park weren't like that. Masters was different for good reason and she was not representative of a trend, she was meant to be an exception
'Eidetic' or 'photographic' memories don't exist, no research has ever reliably proven they exist. I know this show stretches reality often, but I really hate the spread of urban myths
@@funkyfranx okay but I don't think it was ever stated that she has a Mike Ross style magic eidetic memory, we see her studying with mnemonics and stuff, she trains her memory.
Ever notice how the later season's color grading looks like muddy concrete? Do you know why that is? Love your analysis by the way. House was my favorite show back in the day. Can't wait to see the rest.
I've been wondering this for a while too
I think it has something to do with the color contrast
"When they fight, it's only because they're worried about you."
"So it's my fault?"
Midnight train to Georgia is the peak of House for me
I love that at 10:13 , When they say Wilson desease, you put Dr Wilson in the frame for a gist :D
The first episode popped up on my timeline, you sir are a legend. How you don't have 10 times the amount of subs as you do is beyond me. Thank you for hours of well researched and enjoyable content
I complexity agree on the point that the medical mysteries of season 6 onwards were on the whole less interesting - or at least less relevant to the emotional core of the episode. But, at the same time, I loved what they were able to explore the characters on a deeper level, especially House. Season 8 was kind of an outlier because both the medical mysteries were uninteresting and the character drama wasn’t as good as some of the previous seasons, but what it did with the final three episodes - showing so brilliantly that connection between House and Wilson - made up for it.
loving this series. you touch on thematics and you’re absolutely right. i’m still entertained by the later seasons, but thematically, they aren’t just unhinged/all over the place, they’re actually barely there. from a writing perspective, they should’ve been majorly reworked- it’s like the writers didn’t understand what really worked. house isn’t a regular medical procedural. the point of the show is to pull you in via the cases to get to know the characters. that’s why it was so refreshing. the writing’s themes were successful: tied together, constant, well-executed. looking forward to what else you have to say!
This series is amazing. In this installment, the author's casual familiarity with every moment of the show is really noticeable in number of cut scenes that tend to assume that the viewer really remembers the context of the scene.
The contrast and the texture of the image in the first season are way better than in the latter ones. I hate that bland low contrast look of modern television and, thanks to Marvel, cinema.
It's so ugly that it actually looks older. I haven't watched house in years and I was genuinely confused
Dolly I feel you on that. I have the same opinion of Law & Order
I was really disappointed that they didn't maintain the extreme use of color from the pilot episode in the rest of the series.
The comments of the pilot scenes say otherwise.
Though I did like the look as well.
Completely agree. The pilot has a weird colour grading but everything else from the first season looks beautifully warm. Now a lot of tv shows have very cold looks.
Dude this was excellent , I was going to catch up on the whole house emancipation ,only had watched a few episodes years ago , but to hear Hughes actual voice normal non acting shocked me , unbelievable , thank you
I will say this though, and i know im gonna catch flak for it, but i seriously wouldve continued to follow the show if they picked up where they left off at the end of Season 8 with Chase taking over. After following Chase intensely from season to season, he is the ONLY person that could ever fill Houses shoes. He IS extremely good at diagnosing thanks to his experience on the team and his surgical stints, not to mention there would always be a rivalry between foreman and chase, just not sexual tension like house and cuddy...
i dont know man, just after everything that has happened, i would have seriously continued on with Chase front and center
I do find it very interesting what a show does to stay fresh after it has been on for about 4 to 6 years. Anytime I think of a show really failing the longer it went on would be something like How I Met Your Mother. Can't wait to see part 3 and hope you're well.
After Broken and especially after break up with Cuddy I'd say it's just creators having fun. It is a fan service so it's fun to watch but they just throw whatever they want, most crazy ideas, pranks, bizarre scenarios - earlier is way more down to earth, realistic.
But I'd say Broken wasn't the episode House should've ended. For me it was last episode of S6. When he's sitting in the bathroom holding vicodin I was extremely disappointed it was Cuddy who showed up. I thought it'd be perfect if it was actually Chase, Foreman and Wilson. His karaoke buddies. That would show that House is able to form friendships, that he's managing and "you can't always get what you want but you might find you get what you need" could be played. That would be perfect character Arc. House not getting what he wanted but learning to be a much better person even with pain. Instead we got Cuddy who decided on relationship after decades of knowing him, relationship that was doomed to fail and 1.5 last seasons of pure out of reality fun service. It wasn't bad but getting everything House wanted and then putting him where he was at the beginning of Season 1 was basically scratching the whole character arc. What was the point of his battling addiction, therapy, opening yourself, dealing with pain etc (basically what was the point of a whole "Broken" episode) if in the end it didn't matter.
My point exactly that’s why I have stopped watching after season 6 , I refused a miserable end for House
I love this series, both as a film maker and a massive house enthusiast this is ticking every box in an incredibly in depth way that so far I cant fault in the slightest. Cannot wait to see what else is yet to come.
best show ever , watched 3 times and last time i watch it during treatment for leukemia in hospital
I personally loved season 6, maybe I'd say it's even my favorite. We could see house trying to change, his relationship with Wilson being explored more deeply and he was flashed out more in general, giving "broken" a point. I was less fond of seasons 7 and 8 but I'd say both had redeeming qualities and while the formula was getting a little tired the underlying base with house at it's center was still solid. They could have stopped at broken, it would have been a nice finale, but looking back at all of it, I personally think it served the series and it's memory better that they didn't stop there, even if the later seasons had a few weak spots.
You know what’s funny about the forum thing? I’m a Tf2 player and we’ve gone since 2017 without an update, and even before then the devs were lacking behind their usual pace. Then I find a forum post from 2010 complaining about the state of the game (for context it came out in 2007)
The algorithm delivers.
Ah dang it I hate finding a new content creator I like and dropping in the middle of a series.
Excellent work btw, I hadn't thought of House since the finale, and now I may rewatch it.
Looking forward to the rest of the series !
i saw this pop up in my feed and instantly clicked, your editing is fantastic and I'm amazed how fast you are too lmao, i didn't even realize half an hour had passed when I finished it. once again, thank you for making this series man.
I was a big fan of House back during its run. Definitely suffered from sloppy or lazy writing in the later seasons. I remember reading the AV club's reviews and agreeing with them. They said after Amber dies at the end of season 4 and it fails to lead to any meaningful changes in the main character, the strings became too obvious. There were a long series of cheap gimmicks that suggested character development without actually leading to anything meaningful. The Huddy arc in particular was awful in that House became the sort of cliche (can the love of a good woman fix his damaged soul?) that the show was predicated on eschewing. At no point in the Huddy arc did they mention Stacy, who actually was the love of his life.
That said seasons 1-3 were brilliant. 4 and 5 had many good parts also.
What about all the therapy bits with Nolan? Did you enjoy any of that throughout Season 6, or House's arc as a whole during the season?
@@justagrump5627 Somewhat but I feel like they failed to even try to explore any of the real reasons for House's underlying issues. I do think getting off of vicodin was a meaningful thing to try but the whole "He has to try to be nice to people" thing was too cliched.
for me, the middle of season 7 is where the show died for me. it's where cuddy and house broke up and didn't want to watch the eps after that. usually the end of season 6 is where I end my binge. 7 and 8 is just...not for me.
I hated the break up. People try to explain and justify it but for me it felt like a hasty and badly constructed way of having Lisa start making her way out of the show. Just a stupid idea overall
House and Cuddy's breakup brought the show back from dead for me. His crazy hotel scenes, Dominika, Adams (who he only got as a result of going to jail), etc are some of the best parts of the show
Thanks for these videos. I am Dr House fan since a long time and still watch the series from time to time again. Looking forward to the other parts of this essay.
I have never seen an excellent dissertation of House MD until today. I must agree with your point on the series should have ended then and there. House is not the only show that suffers from extended seasons after its perfect conclusion; there are other shows like Smallville, Charmed, One Life To Life, Scooby-Doo (50 years), General Hospital, Supernatural, etc. After so many seasons the later episodes lack that uniqueness or creative ideas, and they recycle the old material hoping the viewers won't notice. Other than that, I do love the fact that House MD lasted for eight seasons. After Wilson died I went outside my apartment and screamed in anger. Afterwards, I felt like having a drink.
Duuude you deserve much more views than this. Your analysis can only be seen only in channels with a ton of views, I'm certain that by the end of this series, you'll be at at least 1m subs
A lot of these criticisms hit the nail on the head of problems with the narrative over time. But I do still find even those problems as critical or specific to House as a series, in that they're so perfectly in tune with the problems of the show that they kind of become endearing to me.
The classic 3 fellows are kicked out of the proverbial nest or leave before they can be clipped, but the short amount of time forces the next generation to grow a lot faster, the environment they're learning in is way different, harsher, with a lot more unknowns, there's no time for Cameron's ethical concerns and Foreman's attempts to deflect house like before because there's a new group of yes-men who are more willing to tell House "no".
6-7 are messy seasons and the growing pains are visible, but these are also the most impacted seasons due to events in House and the rest of the characters' lives. He leaves Mayfield, his team has moved on, he's barely clinging on after what happened with Amber and Kutner, he went to jail and Cuddy never looked back. The mirroring in Season 8 makes sense not only as a callback but to show just how much has changed, we are no longer in the warm comfort of season 1, this is the cold harsh world of realization that House has come to find himself in.
But the element I find most compelling is that the futility, the lack of meaning and depth in the later seasons and the thematic ties every episode had in earlier seasons, is also so visually communicative of something that is also within House's wheelhouse of believing that nothing has meaning, only logic and reality exists. All during a period in his life where nothing seems real and his actions are more and more dictated by his feelings.
This show is so damn good that even the things you've criticized the show of in this part are also so easily a way to describe the character himself in the most narratively accurate way possible. It's great.
The series has been fantastic so far! Can't wait for Part 3.
Wilson totally deserved the net suspending from the ceiling scene when he broke into the house😂
I’ve also noticed how a lot of tv shows (especially comedies) become more and more absurd as the seasons go on. How I met your mother was quirky but grounded in the beginning, but by the end every character transformed into their own caricatures. The same thing with The big bang theory (although I stopped watching after 3 or 4 season), The office, or even Stranger things.
It seems like there’s little show runners can do to prevent it, except for stopping the show while it’s still not too late. But it’s rarely happens.
In The Office's case, that seemed to be connected with Daniel and Schur leaving at the end of s04 to do Parks & Rec. Paul Lieberstein played down the more realistic tone.
I tired reading a book about the "Philosophy of House". Didn't really hit it home because it was just about the philosophy of course. But what I love about this is that it takes into account, a lot of other aspects; writer's choice and thematic evolution. Looooooooove it.
I like the later seasons for their less cohesive episodes. It’s good to feel like there’s lots of things going on, like characters have lives that don’t all coincidentally relate to each other all the time. It can get in the way of a character’s development, to only flesh them out when it’s completely thematically relevant. Although, it is also nice to have the different plots mirror each other and have similar paving and emotional paths. But I feel like it’s ok to do one without always doing the other.
Aww, you should have included Wilson's reaction to the new movable wall. It's one of my favorites.
5:46- I appreciate the clip from Avenue 5. That series was insane and hilarious.
This is a fantastic multi part essay. House MD is 100% my favourite prime time network show. I was honestly hoping after the series ended we'd see some special of the last days with Wilson
ramble - seeing some of the differences between the early seasons and later seasons put together did actually shock me. i think some of the more outlandish gags are still funny, but i agree that maybe there is a point where it has become too unlike where it started. my least favorite episode is the one where house wears all that eyeliner and the show briefly turns into a musical. i know some people enjoyed it and the cast put a lot of effort into it, but i just hate it. i also hate those two s8 girls, especially the red hair girl, with a burning passion. i kind of dread u talking about them later because my life is better just forgetting they exist. its interesting to hear ur perspective about how the cases need to be involved with the other plots to work because i remember watching those later seasons and feeling tired of the medical stuff. i thought it was just me, but maybe that's the reason for it.
not really related 2 what u talked about but- i think the consistent rise and fall of house and wilson's relationship is what makes the show important to me. they're the only ones that truly lasted the entire show and i think wilson plays a big role in rebuking house's fear of people leaving him. the classic holmes and watson, brain and heart situation. i hope you look into that more during a later episode.
Well, "The C Word" is an important stepping stone in establishing Chase(another C Word worth mentioning) as a diagnosis team leader(with "Post Mortem" almost working as the finishing piece), while House, one of the parental figures in “Finding Judas”, is out.
Funnily enough, in this weaker counterpart to the "Judas" episode, both of the mirror parental figures(House and Cuddy) are out of dramatic commission, so it could interesting to make a case(bountiful with innuendos) for Cuddy as another "C Word". Had she been present in this ultimate season, she would have dealt with the infant patient in "The C Word" episode in a way worthy of contrast and showing character development regarding her "Judas" episode days. That might have been an interesting vein to explore.
But with both of the mirror parental figures out, the team continues to endure the growing pains of having to outlive House(who has now been long expecting his trusted trainee Chase to unburden him of HAVING to be The Boss) and "outsource" House's genius medical takes, with Chase in both cases proving to be the indoors solution to the problem. House amazingly passes on the puzzling medical challenge provided by the overzealous Treiber and entrusts it and the future of his medical legacy to Chase once more in "Post Mortem". House is the elephant in the room, “The H Word” not (if rarely) spoken. In this diptych of episodes, Chase finally willfully(!) escapes House's fatherly and cozy grasp.
"The C Word" is a quite straightforward, sometimes apparently unripe and plain episode even from a directing standpoint (which is intentionally[?] efficient in showing how Chase's leadership can ALSO lead to a smooth and natural resolution of a case, opposite to the more chaotic, accidental and Housesque formula of "Post Mortem") but I think there's some more meat to it than it might appear at first: the patient’s parents question HOW and HOW WELL they've spent the sparse time they've had with their loving daughter and how they've related to her throughout the years(either as parentdaughter or rogue doctor/scientistpatient/experiment), while Wilson throws "everything but the kitchen sink" around in a last ditch effort to reject that House is all he has, to face that his daydreams' wife and family wouldn't do what House (also) criminally DID for him, while he questions the hypocrisy and irony of his survivalist efforts to fight and deny his cancerous fate and he struggles not to (already) embrace a type of House/”Kyle Calloway” nihilism and self-destructive and hedonistic pulses that will assail him in "Post Mortem". House, for once and having already concluded throughout the seasons that he can't live without Wilson(as he outwardly confesses in the bus ride home in "Post Mortem"), remains mute, lets Wilson throw his much justified tantrum and gratuitously hurt him* and lets Wilson almost unilaterally(for the first time!) reassess and review their relationship, Wilson finishing the episode with a now "hands-on"/internal/organic(!) acknowledgement of House's pain and way of life(«Wilson: So the way I felt...You feel that -what? Most of the time?? Really does suck being you, doesn't it?»).
* Wilson: Why me? I'm always telling my patients not to torture themselves because there's no answer.
House: Sound advice.
Wilson: It's cruel advice. They were just trying to make sense of what was happening to them and I'm there telling them not to bother? I should have spent my life being more like you. Should have been a manipulative, self-centered, narcissistic ass who brought misery to everything and everyone in his life.
House: You'd still have cancer.
Wilson: Yeah, but at least I'd feel like I deserved it.
This happens with all mystery shows. At first it's about the cases but eventually the case takes a back seat to what the characters are doing. I don't like complaining about later seasons of house because everyone does it. The show had to evolve, I know that. But it is not the same show anymore at the end and while that's fine in a sense, it does make you sad when you see how much work they put into making it realistic in the early seasons and they themselves are actively destroying that realism.
The Britishness of Hugh also takes me back
Dude, we have such a similar relationship with House. I did the same thing and it was the first show I bought and binged. It was sacred for me.
One thing I miss about the first season or two is that the Chase or Cameron would crack a smile when House made a good joke. Even Foreman, the hardass, had light-hearted moments ("Hey, I'm not ready for any Foreman-juniors yet"). They weren't all stone-faced and exasperated ALL the time. It felt more natural. Now, one could say they got used to it and tired of it as the show went on, but then the new fellows in season 4 should've found these equally funny, instead of immediately rapid-firing back an answer or a quip. I believe it is a result of what's discussed in this video, what I call narrative powercreep.
25:32 just a side note on a great video: It's not news worthy because it's a cultural thing. It actually happens more often than you'd think. It's a devotional practice of sorts.
How wonderful to hear Hugh Laurie speaking in his native English accent. I've been a fan of his for ever and everything he does is awesome 🏴
I started watching casually and it really suprised me how good it was. I'm 'in' season 3 now but Ive not watched everything. I think about starting from the top. So many questions. Such great actors. And an intelligent show.
That tripping on acid scene with Get Miles playing is one of my favorites
taking me like quadruple the amount of time to watch this series because any time you mention an episode i think “ooo thats a good one” and then have to go back and watch it before i can continue
25:00 no the House-Cuddy arc in this episode was directly influenced by the patient
Season 3 and 5 are my favorites 6 was awesome but different. It has a Sunday evening feel.
I feel like they had a very interesting idea with Masters in season 7 that they completely wasted.
The disconnect was already there in season 7 but the romance of Cuddy and House made things kept the show interesting.
3 episodes into season 8 and you could clearly see the disconnect and they were just trying to finish the series.
Nothing was really given time to breathe.
And its absolutely amazing how the first patient was beyond annoyingly optimistic. Verses the ones that are so incredibly screwed up they just want to be left alone.
if you don't give the season 4 finale at least 20 minutes in one of these episodes, I will LOSE MY MIND
but overall, thank you. this is great. I joined your patreon :)
I've started rewatching house because of these videos 😂 cant wait for the next part!
Holy hell my dude this is such an in depth video series. Definitely deserves more views and subscribers its just relaxing content ya know
Thank you for your awesome and expert selection of clips to reinforce your opinions. It was very enlightening.
Can't wait for the rest of this series. Really well paced and i like the way you just talk about the show and how you see it.
oh god... do I rewatch house again D:
Season 4 was too good for House to be concluded a season before, even years later I still feel the same after the show ended. Seaons 5-7 had some good moments. House's Head and Wilson's Heart are a masterpiece and display everything that made you watch House over and over again. Broken, while really good and a bit of fresh air in the series might of made a good literary ending, but thank god it's not a book or novel. It's a TV series. If I had to show someone an episode and let's face it, they are one long episode cut in two, and I would point to this one because it could stand on it's own and tell you everything you need to know, regardless of whether you have prior knowledge of the series, you would find it to be a great work of art.
This feels like christmas
Hey man, I absolutely love these video essays
thanks for making them!
i can't really agree when you say him leaving the psyche ward is the end of house because he changed. in a movie, yeah you would assume change occurred and stuck. but the whole season just reinforces that notion. and to be totally honest, that final shot on the bikes is genuinely a nice bow tie ending where change happened, struggled to keep it and actually kept it.
in a movie or other story medium, it would seem likely to end it sooner. but it's not and this show, in my opinion, does best when a story is crammed with details and drip feeds you throughout the runtime. the nuances for all the characters and knowledge of thier current mindset, is invaluable to the audience. the only problem is most of the audience want a snapshot of what to think and don't want to invest time to enjoy the content.
Supernatural sufferred with this disease too. it was on life support for at least 5 seasons.
Eh, cant say i agree about the side stories matching thematically being that big of a deal. Personally, i found the banter between the cast to be the most important part.
That's probably for the best. If you were a viewer invested in a cool patient story, you were fucked, since I think they got less interesting over time, while still making up a decent chunk of the episode.
Agreed. Earlier on they have to establish the basics. After they've done that you either have to end the show or shift the focus from establishing the basics to getting into the nuts and bolts of the characters. It has to be more about character moments and the personal lives of the characters later on
Damn dude, this is as good as watching the show was. Super beautiful and fun nostalgia
I love House so much so these deep dives are amazing
That bald spot bit hit me right in the feels. Then I put on a hat.
i've watched House since I was 12. I love this so much. can't wait to get to the Love part, I really like House and Cuddy's relationship, but you don't seem to enjoy season 7 that much. pacing myself with the series tho
This is easily one of the best videos that I have watched. Thanks for bringing back the memories. Keep it coming please :)
Honestly, maybe season 6 should have ended on what season 8 ended on, Wilson gets his cancer and a Vicodin-free House has to cope with it similar to what happened with cuddy but with house eventually giving up his career as a doctor without pretending he is dead. Honestly I would have loved to see house's character arc ending without him relapsing, then if the show would spawn a sequel, it could be after Wilson died, and house coping with losing the person he was closest to, while revelling more of his and Wilsons backstories. Maybe he becomes a theoretical physicist as he said.
You deserve more views. I clicked on this immediately after finishing part 1. Keep up the great work!!!
severely underrated content
Personally I loved the mystery medical diagnostics as much as the characters
"We're all people"
wE LivE iN A sOciEtY
So apparently this is happening. I am binging your retrospective, Just finished part 2... Off to part three, great job
'new directions can be a fork in the road for people' when he said that my head went hehe fork and then that guy said the same thing
But House ending after “Broken” it would have been so out of place, because it would be like a sort of happy ending and that type of ending is for conventional TV Shows, House M.D. was everything but conventional, the ending of House sacrificing everything for Wilson was perfect because it was a bittersweet ending, happiness mixed with sadness just like the show was.
I'm enjoying your analysis so far.
Im enjoying this discussion! I always did think the middle seasons of house were great fun