HouseLocked In
Original Air Date: Mar 30, 2009
Patricia Morris Buckley - Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
I love House, even though it is so formulaic that I probably could write an episode. Blindfolded. With one hand behind my back. You get the idea.
That’s what makes this episode great — it’s a small break from the House formula.
Continue Reading...
[photo: FOX]
Posts
I love House, even though it is so formulaic that I probably could write an episode. Blindfolded. With one hand behind my back. You get the idea.
ReplyDeleteThat’s what makes this episode great — it’s a small break from the House formula.
For about 80 percent of the action, we see everything from the eyes of Lee, a married man with two kids who ends up next to House in a hospital. Seems House’s motorcycle went down as he was on route to Middletown, N.Y. and he’s a patient in another hospital. Lee is there because he couldn’t pull the breaks on his bicycle and slammed into an open car door and now he can’t move anything but his eyelids.
Lee wakes up to hear the doctor talking about harvesting his organs, but he can’t communicate to let them know he’s alive. House, annoying the ER doc, diagnoses Locked In Syndrome, laughing manically that he has another case (that last part isn’t true, but it captures the glee in his eye he gets from stealing a patient).
After Lee’s transferred to Princeton-Plainsboro, there’s yet another clever twist. While getting a MRI, Lee is given virtual reality goggles that make him feel as if he’s at a beach. There, he interacts with House as they two men enjoy the sun. From that point on, Lee often goes to this “happy place” and the two men talk. The special effects are very cool (can I get goggles like that? Maybe at Goggles R Us…).
The best thing about this storytelling device is that Lee is saying all the things we do when we’re watching an episode. He remarks (in his head) about House and Cuddy’s close relationship. About the different doctors and even House himself. It’s nice to have our thoughts echoed right on TV. Mos Def, a brilliant actor, as Lee is a good part of the reason this works.
There are two subplots. Wilson is trying to figure out why House was visiting the other town. House keeps giving him options, from visiting Foreman’s brother in prison to checking out Wilson’s new squeeze. But it turns out that he had been to visit a psychiatrist. When Wilson figures it out (by stealing House’s phone — very crafty), House says he’s not going back and Wilson tells his friend he’s going to be unhappy for the rest of his life.
The other subplot continues the story of Taub, who quit last episode. House says he is now accepting Taub’s resignation, even though Taub no longer wants to leave. House puts him all through hell with the notion of proving to Taub that he needs the job. In the end, Taub steals Kutner’s credit for saving Locked In Lee and House takes that as Taub admitting he really wants his job after all. And Kutner still gets credit for the save.
And there’s one last twist. House’s team had to stay with the patient to irrigate his eyes after he stops being able to blink. Since Lee can’t talk, they end up talking to him. At the end, when Lee is beginning to regain use of his body, House takes a tape recorder out from under the patient’s pillow — he’d been spying on his team.
I have to give a shout out to the writers of this episode — very well done. It’s one I’ll remember for a long time as breaking the formula. Your turn to sound off… Locked In Lee style, if you like.
Oh. My. GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! I missed the part where House had been taping them!!! I have got to stop watching these shows while my kids are awake, I miss too many things.
ReplyDeleteI really thought I was going to hate having a patient's view - that's tried so many times & it's just so. bloody. annoying. - I was glad to see how well it worked with this crew. There was just enough of the patient's view & yet break aways to the rest of the action. It was a bit scary to see how freaky it would be to have that condition - Mos Def did a great job with the role.