House: "Half-wit." And no jokes about the production team.

[bironic]

Kind of bleh for a large part of the middle of the episode, but enough at the beginning and end for an overall favorable verdict.

The good stuff:

1. Dave Matthews in this role = adorable.
2. Abbreviated opening credits for the sake of just having the dramatic piano chord = funny but a little weird. Wasn't until the actors' names came up in subtitles in the next scene that we knew for sure there hadn't been an error.
3. Cameron/House kiss = hot.
4. Chase/House hug = really touching. With the massaging fingers and the tears. Especially after being set up for something lighter what with all of House's previous jokes to him and Cameron about Chase or Foreman kissing him or Chase grabbing his ass.
5. House/Cuddy ass grab and Make-a-Wish jab = hilarious.
6. Foreman’s attempt at making his peace with House = good effort.
7. How spectacular was the doorway scene, their faces all alight with joy at using their super diagnostic skillz to save their cantankerous boss and then moments later crumpling into horror and disappointment and embarrassment and disgust and hurt?

Wilson:

1. Needed way more screen time. His best friend supposedly had brain cancer!* Where was he? And why did he keep calling it "brain cancer" when he's an oncologist and would use the specific term for whatever kind House had?
2. Rolling his eyes while Cameron chased after him.
3. Conniving with Cuddy again, leaping to conclusions when it was so clear it would blow up in their faces later somehow.
4. Delivering that line about “Why didn’t you tell me?” with such brief but palpable pain. Ow, ow, ow, and *sniff*.
5. Still holding strong to their friendship even when House treats him, and himself, like crap.
6. The body language, the facial expressions, the heroin line, the holier-than-thou lecturing about pushing people away in favor of seeking artificial pleasure -- well, better to have annoying!conscience!Wilson than no Wilson at all.
7. That last little scene, with Wilson’s “please eat comfort food and watch movies with me because I love you, you idiot, we all love you”? Oh, House, why did you leave him to that stale, lonely hotel room and hang out with your fellows? Being social is a big step for you, we get that, but your older, closer and more earnest friend practically begged you for your company and you snubbed him.

*The fact that House didn’t have brain cancer was not only completely obvious, it was distracting. Maybe that was done on purpose, to reflect the way the fellows were themselves distracted from the patient case, but still, how could you be expected to engage emotionally in everyone’s reactions to House’s supposed condition when you’re sitting there shouting, “He doesn’t have brain cancer, you morons”? The interest there was in figuring out how House didn’t have cancer. (Switched samples? Patient’s info? Parent? Testing his fellows’ and friends’ reactions?)

So, Kurtwood Smith, a.k.a. Neil’s dad in Dead Poets Society, also a.k.a. a quietly heroic Cardassian on DS9. Too bad there weren’t any Smith/RSL scenes for the multifannish plot line combo possibilities. Doubtless the vidders will work some splice magic. He seemed like a decent enough guy and a good father. There was a minute -- when he and House were arguing about the hemispherectomy, and he said all those things about how his son is great and has a gift and is doing fine and he couldn't take away what makes him special -- when it became so very clear that House was dealing with a man who's the complete opposite of his own father. I wish they'd gone a little further with that. Also I was disappointed that he followed House’s advice and approving the procedure. Piano-playing was Peter’s “one thing,” and his father sacrificed that. Was greater self-awareness and the possibility of learning new skills worth the price? Will Peter’s brain somehow compensate so he can play piano again -- or will he slowly become conscious of the fact that he used to be a musical prodigy but can’t even play a simple melody anymore, making the ending to House’s sweet junior-high song Peter’s last composition? Probably we are meant to hope, since House took an important step tonight too.

Commentaries: Pru

Post-ep Fic: “When I See You There” by nightdog_barks, "Half-wit Ending Rewrite" by savemoony (drabble), "Halfwits" by daasgrrl