House: Birthmarks
By fred | October 15, 2008
(S05E04) Of course, House is a medical drama, and every week there’s a new patient with a very unusual set of symptoms that keep not making sense and killing said patient, hence why the brilliant doctor Gregory House and his team must work the case and solve the mystery before it’s too late – something they pretty much managed to do about every single time, and of course by ‘they’ I mostly mean House, will solve the mystery.
But we all know that’s not what this show is really about, and that’s why we shall focus on the other part of this episode first. It’s not the first time an episode features so clearly another plot, something that doesn’t take place at the hospital and/or doesn’t revolve around anything medical. There’s many issues still pending so far, and a few of them where addressed or even resolved this week.
First of all, we have Wilson of course. His loss drew him away, away from House and away from the hospital. And up until now he was clearly not showing any sign of remorse or regret, and yet - this being a TV show and all - we knew he would eventually be back, one way or another. All it really took, was for House’s father to die.
You know House, he’s not gonna be affected by this death, nor is he going to care (or at least he won’t admit to it) - that’s why he’s not picking up the phone when his mother calls, and why he’s not planing on going to the funeral. And so in a brilliant move that House completely did not see coming, and neither did I, Cuddy drugged him and Wilson drove him there.
Not because he cared, of course, because he was still mad at House, no it was for House’s mother. But this little trip was the best thing that could have happened to the duo, it allowed for some great moments, humor, everything. Even a glimpse of the past, and how those two first met — in jail. Wilson was trying to get someone to stop playing Billy Joel’s Leave A Tender Moment Alone over and over again, unsuccessfully. Out of frustration, he just threw a bottle into a mirror which incidentally started a fight. House wasn’t the annoying prick who wouldn’t stop playing the song, he was only a witness of that.
But already then, he was himself, and thought that of all the boring people there, Wilson was the one worth attention, so he bailed him out. And that’s how those two became friends, in jail, as House was rescuing Wilson (maybe even being nice to him), and not the other way around. I guess even then, Wilson liked how House would behave, not caring about what other people would think, often going against what’s expected of him, just for the sake of it. He probably envy House sometimes, because House doesn’t let himself become frustrated like he does, so he never has to throw any bottle of alcohol just to let it out and calm down, release the frustration.
At the funeral home, even though it took them longer than originally planned, they got there, House got there. I loved how he seemed for a moment like a child again when interacting with his mother. Even better was during the eulogy, because it’s not every day he lets his guard down and open up. Of course, House started to talk his father down, reminiscing how he used to treat him or anyone under him as worthless, but then it soon became obvious that House was also talking him himself.
