bbarnett ([info]bbarnett) wrote in [info]house_md,
@ 2008-03-09 11:40:00
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"Meaning" Revisited
 
In honor of "Meaning" being rerun Friday on Fox, I decided to take another look at the episode in retrospect. It's posted up at Blogcritics, but here's the opening.

QUOTE
There is a scene at the beginning of the season three House premiere, “Meaning,” that reveals a healed Gregory House (the brilliant Hugh Laurie). Graceful and quick, he runs through a park, free of pain and the shackles of disability. It is but a brief glimpse, and by the end of the episode, we know that for House, it will be (as Wilson will say by episode two) only a taste of what is not meant to be. And by midway through the season, House will have crashed and burned, reaching the depths of despair.


the rest is here

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[info]superduper88
2008-03-09 05:59 pm UTC (link)
I absolutely love this episode, it shows how House could be.

I love how he is with his patient's family.


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[info]bbarnett
2008-03-09 06:05 pm UTC (link)
I also like how he was with the family. Even his surfically cruel statement about the dad tyring to commit suicide proving that there was still "something in there."

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[info]superduper88
2008-03-09 06:44 pm UTC (link)
Yes, when he started saying that I thought it was going to be another mean House thing, but knowing that his father still was in there means a lot to people. (I have an uncle who's brain damaged so I know)

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[info]bishojo_kitsune
2008-03-10 05:10 am UTC (link)
I loved your interpretation of House in 'Meaning'. It reminded of all the ups and downs that was season 3.
After I read your article on House I decided to reflect on Wilson's character in that episode.
To me personally, Wilson seemed a little 'distant' to the "new" House. I remember Wilson bringing up House's hallucination at one point in the episode which told me that over House's recovery period he must have confided this with Wilson. To the "old House" this seems like a very unlikely action, so it shows that House was growing to be more open. However, I also noticed that Wilson did not seem to enjoy House's new-found openness (maybe he spent all his excitment for his friend over the summer?). It's no secret that Wilson basically thrives on the neediness of others, but how did he react at the sudden prospect that House was not as needy as he was before?
Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of the House/Wilson friendship/pairing (whichever one chooses to see). I remember how he sat in Cuddy's office at the beginning of the episode trying to find a way to welcome House "back". He also did sound happy for his friend when he realized that House was looking for a new 'meaning' in what he does.
However, there was the scene when House went to Wilson's office and confided in him his new physical pain, which was touched upon in your article. From Wilson's side it is understandable, from the kinds of tricks House has most likely pulled in the past, that House was probably overexaggerating his pain. Change is a slow process for everyone, especially a major change like this in House's life. I have a feeling that Wilson did not realize that instead of House keeping all of his problems securely bottled up like he did in the past, House was actually confiding a deep-rooted fear in him, just like the article touched upon. However, Wilson did give his friend a glimmer of hope as he was leaving the office. I do agree that House was taking a big step in putting so much trust in his friend and it was a little heart-breaking how Wilson rejected him outright, but, at the very least, it shows that Wilson was not willing to be House's doormat at every given moment. However, that fact that House was beginning to lack neediness, Wilson's sudden refusal to bend to his friend's whims is also reflected. As House began to go downhill in the Tritter arc, Wilson also mirrored House's state of being. It seems that whatever majorly affects House will also affect Wilson at some point, however, it is unclear whether this is vice-versa.
The final scene with Wilson was when he and Cuddy decided to keep the news of House's success a secret from him. This scene was the final straw for most fans to question Wilson's judgment, and his true loyalty to House. From the simpliest point of view, one can see that Wilson wanted the success withheld from House because he wanted his friend to taste a bit of humility. Especially with the previous House/Wilson scene, Wilson saw first-hand that House was sincerely humbled with the knowledge that he cannot fix everything and that not everything is a puzzle for him. After years of watching a friend slowly desend more downhill with each day, watching that same friend slowly start rising up was a big thing for Wilson. He probably wanted House to see that there was more to life than a high from solving puzzles or an addiction to vicodin. There may be a slight truth in the fact that Wilson allowed his judgment to become clouded with the prospect of a "new House", which prevented him from seeing the possible consequences from his actions.
As House began to change in that season, Wilson remained the same. Everyone has their own weeknesses and shortcomings; with a personality like House's, shortcomings are very obvious. However, with a character like Wilson, all the various, buried sins are more deep and more difficult to be seen, but that does not mean that they are not there. Wilson is a very complex character, especially in regard to House.

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[info]superduper88
2008-03-10 07:57 am UTC (link)
oh wow=D This was a great read!
I agree with Wilson having changed in this episode, I was also kind of mad at him from keeping House's success a secret.
I liked that House didn't blame Cuddy at all, but instantly knew that it was Wilson who was behind it, and also that he didn't really get mad at Wilson for doing it.
Wilson's character changed a lot during 3rd season, I think for the better, he stands up for what he believes, whereas in season 1 & 2 he more or less just did what House wanted him to.

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