Apologies in advance for being disjointed and rambling...just like the episode.
I'm genuinely unhappy (I don't want to misuse the word "depressed") about what has happened to this show. Obviously that's not a bombshell. Constant readers know exactly how long it's been since this was the show I fell in love with. But now that we're nearing the end, the magnitude of the destruction is more and more blatant. Think of ANY episode from the first two seasons. ANY EPISODE. And then look me in the eye and tell me THIS is even remotely close or deserving of even being considered the same show.
Was there anything remotely surprising? Did you give a flying Philadelphia fuck about the patient? And if you're still lapping up what's passing for House/Wilson these days then I just pity you. The elements might once have made a moving story. ONCE. Before we'd been burned over and over. Back when House MIGHT have been believed to have any element of Wilson's well-being in mind. Before it was anything, but tearing Wilson down because House needs Wilson. Yes, it's still slashy, and I'm not sure that's what the fanservice/fanfiction bits were meant to tell us, even though they did. But it all felt so fake and rehashed and stupid and UGLY.
Just because I'm proved right again that House and Wilson will always hurt each other, doesn't mean I'm always happy when it's done this grossly.
I loved this show so much. It was so clever and smart and snarky and dark. AND FUN. When was the last time this show was actually fun.
For those who don't know the Twin Peaks story...I loved that first season of Twin Peaks. LOVED IT. Went around saying "The owls are not what they seem," and playing the soundtrack and trying to do the cherry stem trick. And it all went tits up the very next season. The last few episodes were so awful and depressing and horrifying that I didn't watch network television again for nearly 10 years.
The major difference is that I went through that alone. I wasn't on-line and the only "fandom" I had was to talk about it with Hubby, who being Hubby was like, well, it's just a TV show.
This time the disintigration has been long and slow, although the amazingness and specialness of the show was already in decline by the end of Season 3. But I was in fandom and I couldn't let go. I was still writing, I was still "living" my online life with people who were equally obsessed. Plus there was always the sad, sad illusion that it would go back to being great, and then that it would go back to being good and then that it would maybe not be awful.
THIS EPISODE WAS AWFUL. Maybe not ODOR awful, but let's face it, the show is now officially awful. Hugh Laurie had one really great scene in this one, and it did come alive when he got in Taub's face. Even the H/W stuff was phoned in. Omar Epps apparently had the week off and Odette Anable might as well have.
The patient was pointless and only existed give us more Taub and sorry Taub-lovers, but the last thing any episode needs is more Taub. I could also live without close-ups of Peter Jacobsen in profile. Not attractive at all.
The Park and Chase stuff was stupid and completely OOC, so I choose to ignore it, since I think we can all safely assume it will never be mentioned again. Chase's issues are not about lack of family or guilt about skanks. Please stop insulting my intelligence. Maybe the current writers didn't watch the first three seasons. I did.
So, the main plot. The kid. Fanfic. Nothing but fanfic. Hllangel hasn't watched in years and she called it as House setting Wilson up from the first diner scene. I said, this might have worked in the earlier seasons, but now even RSL's patented adolescent voice break is nothing but a tried, played out technique.
This is not about love. This is not good slash. At the very most it's just House being a prick. Which is awesome, but not telling us anything we didn't know. If you try to tell me this is great slash or at least proof of LOVE, we're going to have to disagree and I'm going to think bad things about junk-food.
Which brings us back tot he Twinkies. Apparently, some people did not appreciate my Twinkie analogy.
I don't apologize. I believe "spoon-fed slash" is bad and that all the shows that are doing it deliberately should not be rewarded for it.
HOWEVER, based on some comment discussions, I will at least check my privilege. I live in San Francisco, which means my daily enviroment is completely gay-positive. So having hints of male flirtation, or "fake-out" gayness meant to titillate and feed a fetish is insulting if it's ONLY there be fan fodder rather than an actual relationship, because I don't need to have gayness validated.
Not everybody gets that privilege. Some people live in the Middle East, or parts of Europe that are still heavily Catholic or just in fly-over country USA. For them it's possible that the slightest implication of a gay joke is still liberating and exciting and Squeeee-worthy. In other words, if you're starving and all you've got to eat are Twinkies, then the Twinkies are going to taste damn good and I can't tell you not to eat the Twinkies. I still think Twinkies are disgusting and no one should have to settle for them, however.
Even the scene at the end was just a weak echo of previous H/W home eating scenes. It's all so lame and tired now and what should be fun subtext just sits there.
It's just fanfiction. Very bad fanfiction. Make it go away.
On the other hand, I'm still writing my Wilson/Park epic. And it's gonna be awesome.