'House' writers' room: Talking about love and death and this week's episode

Supervising Producer John Kelley wrote Monday's episode of "House," titled "Fall From Grace." He took some time to answer questions about the episode. 

Ferris Bueller (Dan or whatever his name is) tells a lot of anecdotes: stint in rehab, dad burned him as a kid (with cigarettes?), that he had been a scholarship student and intended to become a doctor, that he nearly beat his girlfriend to death. Something happened to make him into the monster he is. Which stories, besides “I’ve done some evil things,” are we supposed to believe?

JK: Like all good liars, our patient never strayed very far from the actual truth. Almost everything he told our team was true -- the major exceptions being his real name and the story about his girlfriend in college. In the real version, her roommate didn’t arrive in time to save her life.

Regarding the casting of “Joan of Arcadia’s” Christopher Marquette as our POTW -- was that in the works a while? Did you watch old “Joan” eps, to gauge the chemistry those two characters had?

JK: Don’t tell Amber Tamblyn, but I’ve never seen an episode of “Joan of Arcadia.” The truth is... I had never heard of Christopher Marquette before we cast him. He earned the role the old fashioned way, by giving an incredible performance when he auditioned. I didn’t even realize they knew each other until the first day on set. It also turns out Chris is old friends with Karolina Wydra, the actress who played House’s new wife. The guy really gets around a lot. 

 House seems to have gone from an AdultCon hedonistic bender (sex, drugs, etc.) to adolescent slacker (model helicopters, monster trucks, ping pong, etc.), at least this week. Why? 

JK: Last week he pampered himself.  This week he attempted to have “fun.” All of these activities could be considered mindless distractions. House’s way of avoiding the emotional trauma/fallout from his breakup with Cuddy.  What really has me worried... What will House do when he runs out of distractions?

How do the writers keep from writing themselves into a corner, especially with a major story arc like House getting married? You’ve driven down the alley, now, how will you back up? Or will you? (Unless Chase indeed isn’t licensed to unite couples in the state of New Jersey…)

JK: Two words -- David Shore [the show's creator].  He has the road map and continues to guide everything the writers do on the show.  So far we’ve only had to stop a few times to ask for directions, but it was raining and fellow writer Sara Hess needed to use the restroom anyway.

I’m trying to figure out Cuddy. She told Wilson last week that she still loves him, yet when she had a chance to step forward and win him back, she balks. Did she think he wouldn’t go through with the wedding or what?

JK: You can still love someone and realize you’re better off as friends. Cuddy knows she hurt House and feels horrible about dumping him, but she didn’t make the decision lightly. She has to do what’s right for her life and, more importantly, what's right for her daughter. 

House has treated some people on the wrong side of the law before, but never one like this. A cannibal serial killer who has a disease which renders it difficult to digest vegetables –- it drips with irony. How in the heck did you come up with this one?

JK: I wrote most of this episode over our Christmas break. At the time, I was in a blizzard freezing my @%* off and I had the flu.  I think the high fever had something to do with it. Also a big shout out to our medical miracle maker, Dr. John Sotos. He’s one of our medical advisers and helped immensely with this episode.

Masters has been put through the ringer in the last few weeks: She’s discovered that when you are truthful with patients, it can be detrimental. She’s also lied to a patient's family member. She has discovered House is an addict and finally, she has facilitated in curing a suspected serial killer. Is a catastrophic meltdown in her future?

JK: Depends on your definition of meltdown. Stay tuned.

While you were sitting there at your computer writing the final act, weren’t you just a little worried that viewers might look at the serial killer angle and think, “Hey, too much!”

JK: Um... yeah?

I knew it! Thanks for your time, John.

-- Linda Whitmore

RELATED:

'House' writers shoot the bull

'House' writers talk about the Huddy breakup

Full Show Tracker coverage of 'House'

 

--Linda Whitmore

Photo: Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) and Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) attend House's wedding. Credit: Michael Yarish / Fox

Comments

[Somaya]

I think a lot of frustration with this episode of House stems from the fact that many people find it hard to put something BEHIND THEM that's never really been explored.

As an example, this episode featured House kissing the Green Card Girl for about 10 times as long as he ever kissed Cuddy during their whole relationship. They never kissed properly, not once, on screen (unless it was edited out). They never had a quiet conversation that reflected their earlier, intimate and unconventional understanding of one another, never had a medical or intellectual debate that wasn't about toilet seats or toothbrushes, never went on a date that the viewers got to see (there were some rumours of a road trip or something being filmed, but since we never got to see it, it doesn't count).

I'm sure the writers have all moved on in their heads, but we haven't, and this is why.

It's difficult to accept "just friends" when we feel like we blinked and missed something.

And don't even get me started on the Green Card Girl. House used to defy political correctness to make a point about other people's hypocrisy or add to the humour of the show, but forced labour/sex in exchange for a Green Card is domestic slavery. I'm sure the show's very many Russian and Polish fans would agree.

[Erin]

Listen John if you really think that you can love some one and just befriend you more of an idiot then i thought! Usually these things go hand and hand. Besides Cuddy and house both have much more stronger feeling for one another then just friendship! You can say oh hey lets just be friends but that does not stop you from having stronger emotions then friendship...so friendship is not really going to work. Also i have to say that this story you wrote was such a piece of crap! House getting married! to some random women! you guys have really jumped the shark! You guys are also idiots if you guys try and pretend that this relationship between them never occured. far as i am concerned House should have ended at the end of 6x22 that would have been a good way to end this show. I love House and Cuddy and i want to them to be together because in my opinion that is where they both belong.

[Tauwja]

Everything Somaya says. Plus the fact that throughout the entire series, there's always been so much sexual tension between them things positively spontaneously caught fire whenever they were in a room together. They've been madly in love with each other for years. Feelings like that cannot be ignored. There's just nothing realistic about the idea they could ever be 'just friends', and no more. They never have been, and never can be. Sure, it works like this for some people, but definetely NOT for House and Cuddy.
And how can Cuddy be friends at all with someone who is so cruel to her?

[chicagoannie]

This season of House is SO much better than last year (and the year before.) It was my favorite show for the first few years, but last season, it became boring and painful to watch. I'm glad it's back to it's former high caliber. Keep up the great writing!

[Amy]

House and Cuddy still love each other and should have gone to couples counseling to see if they could work something out that they could both live with. That would have been fun for the viewers to watch and might have led to a more realistic story outcome.

[Lena]

If you believe somebody will buy the crap that House and Cuddy are going to be only friends from now on, you are wrong. The fact that writers are trying to make ppl believe that nothing ever happened between House and Cuddy is a huge mistake that will never be forbidden.
Marrying House off to another woman is a huge slap in the face. Making her a new love interest out of nowhere is the most stupid thing this show could do. Destroying your female lead character just to make people like the new one you are introducing is beyond disgusting.
On the bright side this is the last time i post something about this show because i´m totally done. I say good riddance and i hope i´ll never see you again.

[Belle]

Um John when you were sitting at your computer writing the bit where House gets married didn't you look at that angle and say "too much?" It amazes me that we get this explanation of Cuddy didn't make the decison to dump House lightly ( hadn't she just been through a major traumatic event and surgery, wouldn't that mess with your thought processes just a bit? Why hasn't that been addressed?) and that she is happy not to fight and move on so that they are back in friends zone only? That is just so much rubbish and so less than these characters and that storyline deserved. Putting this Dominica roadblock into the story is an annoying, stupid and as lazy a plot device as the introduction of Lucas last year,

I can not believe the gimmicks and shonky storylines that this once great show has fallen too. In three weeks we have had a traumatic breakup shoehorned into a badly constructed and edited mess of an episode, an episode that should have been titled Hookers MD and now this "the one with the Segway and Monster Trucks where House gets the mailorder/green card wife." I have found none of these episode particularly interesting to watch.

And the most concerning thing not addressed in this interview nor in the previous one with Lawrence Kaplow or Thomas Moran is why is blatant sexism and misogyny towards woman such an increasing accepted part of this show. How Cuddy was being written as a whiny girlfriend only concerned about toothbrushes and toilet seats was concerning me but then the Writers of House top that off by an episode chock full off hookers followed by an episode that condones the practive of mailorder brides and therefore by association treats a serious Human Rights Issue of Sex Slavery as a punch line then I turn from concern to full on disgust. If House as a show is trying to disgust and drive its female auidence away let them know they are on the right track. I have watched this show faitfully for 7 years, this week for the first time I turned it off with no intention of watching again.

[Crystal]

It was great to see Chris Marquette and Amber Tamblyn on screen together again. I know it's not like showrunners have a lot of free time but John should check out the first season of JOA, it's pretty amazing television.

[Freyah]

"You can still love someone and realize you’re better off as friends. Cuddy knows she hurt House and feels horrible about dumping him, but she didn’t make the decision lightly. She has to do what’s right for her life and, more importantly, what's right for her daughter."

I'm sorry did I miss that part where this was explained by Cuddy at any point in the episode or the episodes preceding it? Do the writers get that you sort of have to give the audience some clues as to what the hell is going on instead of relying on gimmicks and searching looks to convey the entire storyline or is that why they keep appearing here to try and explain and justify storylines that, if well written, we would have worked out by watching the show. Do I think House and Cuddy are better off as friends? No I don't. I thought the last 7 years was leading up to the writers giving that funny and mecurial relationship a shot but honestly I don't think they even tried past episode 3 this year, they are too invested in the angst and pills and everything is doom and gloom always.

Any House/Cuddy dissapoinment asside this season has just gotten too lame, mean spirited, gimmicky and in these last episodes frankly sexist for me, I don't have anything to hope for in the show anymore so what is there for me to tune in for?. Wherever the writers are going good luck but I'm getting off the bus.

[dalilita]

What really bothered me in this episode (and the episode before) was that the writers presented things as if House was the only person who was really suffering because of the break up. It´s like Cuddy doesn´t really care. Yes, she feels guilty, but that´s all there is. They are making her act as if she wasn´t hurt and as if the decision she took didn´t imply any conflict whatsoever with her feelings and emotions. And it doesn´t feel realistic, specially considering that for the majority of the show (seasons 1-5) it seemed that it was only Cuddy the one who was sentimentally envolved, while House regarded (and treated) her mostly as a sexual objetc.
On the other hand I loved to see her standig up to him and not taking any of his crap (just like the old Cuddy used to do), and having her sense of humor back. Those two things made me so ridiculously happy that I think outweighed the ones that I didn´t like.

The hooker thing was lame and disturbing; I knew the marriage was coming, but when it turned out that she was going to be introduced at the beginning of the episode, my stomach turned, and the same happend to me when I was watching the plastic helicopters scene and House and her attacked Cuddy. That was mean and base, not only coming from House and the hooker, but also from the writers, as if they hadn´t punched the character enough with the lines they have given her and the role they have made her play for a very long time now. However, I´m satisfied with the ending concerning House and Dominika so far.

So, mixed feelings about this ep. Overall -and at first watch- I really liked it (contrary to my expectations), but I´ll need to see what happens next. Please, please writers, be more respectful to the characters, the actors and the audience!