'House M.D.': Wilson's friendship put to the test again

I admit that lately, I've been slightly underwhelmed by "House." I've felt that some of the hard-earned character development has been discarded in favor of advancing the plot, or as an easy means to an end.  But tonight's episode, "Wilson," renewed my confidence in producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs. Sometimes a fresh perspective makes all the difference, and a Wilson-centric episode was well-deserved. 

I was hooked the first minute, when Wilson is awakened on his day off by House strumming a guitar in the living room, singing George Michael's "Faith" at the top of his lungs. I love when they show off Hugh Laurie's considerable musical talent.

For his day off, Wilson plans to go hunting with Tucker, a former patient, close friend and, according to House, "a self-important jerk."  Wilson is unfazed by the comment.  "Seems to be what I'm attracted to," he quips.  Wilson 1, House 0. 

Even in his very own episode, though, things don't go Wilson's way, and his plans are ruined when Tucker suffers a frightening paralysis of his hand — frightening because he was holding a gun at the time.

As Tucker, Josh Malina ("The West Wing") is one of the most intriguing patients we've seen on "House," and that's saying a lot, considering the caliber of the series' guest stars.  Upon being admitted to the hospital, Tucker is quickly surrounded by three beautiful women: ex-wife Melissa, daughter Megan, and his much younger "new adventure" of a girlfriend, Ashley.

Noticing Ashley's cold sore, Wilson has "a House moment" and diagnoses Tucker with transverse myelitis, an infection that could have spread from her to Tucker's spinal cord. House, however, is sure that Tucker's cancer has returned, and he and Wilson go so far as to wager $100 on it. Of course, it's never the first guess, or the second (a fungal infection). During surgery, Chase finds that Tucker has pneumonia, meaning that his immune system is compromised.  At that point, House gets impatient and just tests for cancer.

It turns out that Tucker is afflicted with what he cleverly calls "ironic leukemia" — cancer that was probably caused by his previous chemotherapy.  Wilson administers more chemo to fight the new cancer, and the double dose causes Tucker's liver to shut down.  It's hard for Wilson to face the fact that his treatment may have dealt his friend a death sentence, and when the only viable donor liver becomes unusable, Tucker boldly asks Wilson to donate.

As his doctor, it's unethical, but as Tucker points out, Wilson is also his friend.  It's difficult for Wilson to shrug off his role as a medical practitioner first, though.  With Wilson usually in House's shadow, it's easy to forget what an incredible doctor he is, since his role as Official House BFF has to come first.  This episode reminds us that he's skilled and observant.  When a patient suddenly quits bragging about his grandchildren's report cards and Little League skills, Wilson takes note and orders up some tests that save the man's life.  Such a subtle change may have eluded more self-involved doctors, but not Wilson.

In last week's interview, Robert Sean Leonard mentioned that though  Wilson may seem bright and shiny compared with House, Wilson's actually "a very strange, dark guy."  Cuddy reminded us of Wilson's three ex-wives this week when she asked Wilson if she could get in touch with one of them — Bonnie, a realtor.  Cuddy is moving in with Lucas, and she dodgily seeks Wilson's blessing and, indirectly, House's.  Wilson, loyal as ever, gives her neither.

Despite the episode's title, everything really does come around to House.  Wilson's P.O.V. gives us a brand new perspective on his relationship with House. In most episodes, we're invested in House's patient, but this time, our focus is on Wilson's.  Thus, House carelessly bumping Wilson's patient out of the O.R. to make room for his own seems even more callous and inconsiderate than these types of shenanigans usually do.  Wilson's quiet acceptance of the act tells us a lot about Wilson.  He's learned to choose his battles: After House calls him a doormat for considering the liver donation, he's not such an easy sell.  He tosses House's "cane-shaped margarita Jell-O shots" into the trash and demands that House leave the apartment.

It was no surprise to me that Wilson decides to give up a lobe of his liver.  Perhaps some of his decision is based on his guilt, but to me it seemed that friendship ultimately motivated him to make the donation. If there's anything that we've learned about Wilson over the years, it's that his loyalty to his friends — self-important jerks though they may be — knows no bounds.

Wilson asking House to be with him during the operation was possibly my favorite scene so far this season.  House relies on Wilson every day — for guidance and companionship, but also for his freedom from the institution.  "House has a deal with his psychiatrist that released him from his care. It was kind of dependent on him having someone to look after him, that he didn't live alone," Robert Sean Leonard mentioned in last week's interview. It's easy to forget that Wilson needs House just as much. Leonard and Laurie portray their characters' friendship masterfully. House and Wilson are easily the most important people in each other's lives, but even in poignant, game-changing moments such as this, they remain stoic and stubborn as ever.

Wilson's small smile as he slipped under the anesthesia and saw House watching the operation from the observation window brought a smile to my face, as did the montage of scenes with House at Wilson's bedside. I loved it when Wilson decided to outbid Cuddy on the loft she was thinking of moving into with Lucas. "She hurt my friend. She should be punished," Wilson quipped.

Last week's Thanksgiving episode was such a lonely experience. I'm glad that "House" will go out on a less depressing note for 2009. Of course, things aren't perfect, but as Wilson told his patient earlier, "In oncology, familiar pain means all is well."  My interest in the show is revived, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the diagnostics team in the future episodes.

What were your thoughts on tonight's Wilson-centric episode?  Did you find it a refreshing change of pace? How do you feel about House and Wilson's new digs? What are you hoping to see more of when "House" returns?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

--Carina MacKenzie (follow me on Twitter @cadlymack)

Photos: Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) commandeers the diagnostics team (Olivia Wilde, Peter Jacobson, Jesse Spencer, Omar Epps); Wilson asks House (Hugh Laurie) to be there for him during a surgery. Credit: Fox

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Comments

[emily]

Quip:
1. joke, witticism. 2. gibe, sally, jape.
(Dictionary.com)

I don't think, "She hurt my friend. She should be punished," was a quip, exactly.

[Carina MacKenzie]

Thanks, Emily. While there was definitely sentiment behind what Wilson said, I don't think he's under the illusion that he has the authority to truly "punish" Cuddy - that would be disturbing. After all, she's just living her life, not deliberately acting with the sole purpose of causing House pain. So, yes... I think it was a bit of a joke.

A+ in vocabulary for you, though!

[KaramelwithaK]

I LOVED this episode!! Every single second of it!! My only observation that I didn't understand was why was House so mean to Wilson while a friend of his was dying? Was House jealous of this friend? I think a little..yes. But, he didn't have to be so mean to Wilson. He COULD HAVE taken it out on...say...13....or Taub. Just sayin'.
THANK YOU to everyone involved with making this such a FANTASTIC episode. It was very refreshing! A+ for all of you!!!

[Leo]

Can I say that even if I liked this episode I'm still missing Cameron?

[Rrene128]

Carina, I concur 100% with your opening paragraph. I too have been "underwhelmed" by the last few episodes. This was definitly a refreshing change.

Ditto to Leo; I too am missing Cameron. BTW I am not convinced that she is gone for good either; she'll be back.

Lucas needs to go away; I don't trust him and the show does not need another character to say one thing and do another.

Love the new digs, and am glad to see Wilson finally stand up to something (House included); Kudos to Wilson!

[Katharine Saavedra]

House is desperately afraid that Wilson may come up against a loss that he can't handle. If James "Rock of Gibraltar" Wilson falls apart, House is screwed. His actions are an attempt to force Wilson to distance himself from his patient and to prepare him for the very real possibility that Tucker was going to die. Of course, his methods have the subtlety and kindness of a jack hammer but that's House.

How about Tucker's dumping his family, again, once he no longer needed them? This after immediately calling them so that he could dump a new crisis on them in the first place. House was spot on. Tucker's a self important jerk.

[Ian]

It is important to break up the standard formula because as fascinating as the characters are, the situations have become all too predictable. This episode demonstrates how to breath new life into a familiar storyboard and lets hope there are more episodes like this to come. Or as House said - you can change a table, you just need the guts to repaint it.

[Where is the House I love?]

Actually right now the House and Wilson friendship is the only reason to watch House at all. The new team is still boring, the cases don't get better either, I miss Cameron, and don't even get me started on Cuddy 2.0 (the stupid and evil version) and Huddy (I hate that from the bottom of my heart). I'm really grateful for that Wilson centric episode.

[Alice]

"Can I say that even if I liked this episode I'm still missing Cameron?"
Can I say this too?? I really hope that she will come back eventually

[Doreen]

This episode was wonderful. Robert Sean Leonard and Hugh Laurie just have an amazing chemistry together. Both men did an exceptional job with this. The deep and intimate bond between their characters is palpable when they are on screen together, and, frankly, I don't think any of the other characters (including Lisa Edelstein's "Cuddy") can even come close to it. I know fans of the show want to see House "hook up" with Cuddy (or Cameron, or whomever). But, I just don't see her ever being able to give him the kind of support that Wilson does - and vice versa! If this episode showed anything it showed that Wilson needs House just as much as House needs Wilson. They are an extraordinary pairing, and I hope the shows creators will keep them together for the duration of the show. I honestly think they would be lost without each other.

[Nubo]

I was beginning to fear that once House got his "State Astronaut's License" back, he was regressing rapidly. This episode helped dispel that notion somewhat. He actually admitted his vulnerability explicitly, and also implicitly through his actions.

Still, I'm hoping for another crisis and a self-directed return to Mayfield's psychiatrist as a further sign of real change in House. In my view, the underlying theme of the series is House's evolution towards redemption.

Or, the underlying theme could be "nobody changes", in which case I might be out a TV.

[Kiona J.]

Minimum Cuddy. Even less Huddy. Maximum Wilson and lots of Hilson. Now this is what I call an awesome freaking episode. Especially prior to The Great Hiatus of '09.

Cuddy started strong has become boring and repitious. Huddy has all the flavoring of Splenda. A relationship filled with constant negativity does not a relationship make. Besides, when has Cuddy ever been able to make House smile, let alone laugh, the way Wilson does? Didn't think so.

Long live Hilson!!

[TV Obsessed]

I liked the episode and it was much better than some of the crap we've gotten this season, but you have to remember, it's just one episode. We'll go back to the same pattern next week, and "Wilson" will be an afterthought. Review of the episode on my blog.

http://th3tvobsessed.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-house-season-6-episode-10-wilson.html

[James not Jim]

EXCELLENT REVIEW.

The Wilson episode was definitely one of the best ones this season, the show has always been pretty good at breaking the format, specially when it includes our favourite bromance, and last night proved that.

The House & Wilson interactions are still the best ones and HL and RSL keep nailing those scenes, from the very beginning of the episode with House waking Wilson up to their fight after when House calls Wilson a dormat, from Wilson asking House to be there with him during the surgery to House telling Wilson he's proud of him at the end of the episode. Brilliance after brilliance

Wilson screwing Cuddy in everyway but the literal one? It was mean and childish, and funny and exactly what Wilson needed at the moment. It was exactly the point that House had made earlier in the episode when Wilson asked him if he was OK, House said 'no' but he was being mature about it and then pointed out that being childish was more fun. And Wilson snorted when House said that, because there's a small part of Wilson that agrees, it's the part of him that attracts him to House and made him screw Cuddy over at the end. It wasn't right and Wilson has no authority to decide whether or not Cuddy deserves to be punished, Wilson was just standing up for his friend. I liked it very much :)

[Sheldon]

I loved "Wilson" for the same reason that I've enjoyed Sherlock Holmes pastiches in which it's Watson who solves the crime.

Holmes and House are so brilliant that we sometimes forget that their associates are bright, tough, resourceful fellows themselves.

It's nice to be reminded of that.

[Jennifer]

Whp plays the Ashley character on the Wilson episode?? I've seen her on something before but I can't remember what.

[Carina MacKenzie]

Jennifer, my friend and I were talking about the same thing on Twitter as the episode was airing! Her name is Marnette Patterson - she's done "Charmed" and a memorable guest role on 'Supernatural," but we remembered her best from "Camp Nowhere," an awesome kids' movie she did in the '90s with Christopher Lloyd and Andrew Keegan.

[TV Obsessed]

Thanks for commenting on my blog. This was my follow-up comment:

"I think my post was directed towards a lot of the reviews out there, but your praise of David Shore and Katie Jacobs caught me especially by surprise since they bungled the past few seasons so badly.

I agree that the episode was good, but I guess we disagree about the show in general. My opinion of House has gone down dramatically while you seem to still like the character arcs.

Anyways, everyone has their opinion and can justify it every which way. Thanks for commenting."

[Teege]

Who played Wilson's assistant? She was written as a fully-developed character, having a comparative level of professional intimacy with Wilson as House's team has with him. I thought her character was very well-conceived, completely believable and well-acted.

She would only be visible in a Wilson-centric episode, and her inclusion in the script was smart and savvy, minor as she was.

[B. Gagnon]

I also enjoyed this episode. It showed a side of the Wilson/House friendship never seen. The scene where you peek into Wilson's room after the surgery and they are talking and laughing was delightful. BUT, Since when do you ever get to see House so giddy??? It was almost surreal and exposed a layer of his character I wish we could see more of. I also did not understand the "punish" Cuddy remark. If Wilson is going to keep buying the house a secret, how is that going to punish her? And Baby steps, what was that referring to? Baby steps in punishing her, or ...?

I think House should fall in love and we should see more "giddy-ness". It would make the show more fun.

Also, in general, the show has lost it's appeal (not to me, but others) because it is the same thing over and over. Patient comes in, wrong diagnosis 4 or 5 times, then brainstorm right diagnosis. I think they were on the right track with "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart" where is was sooo different. They need more episodes like that.

Just an opinion. :)