House ~ 5 to 9

If we learned anything from this week's episode, it’s that Cuddy is without a doubt is the HBIC, well at least a HBIC – she was definitely in control of this episode, and barely a scene went by without someone calling her a bitch – so it fits, right? Much like “Wilson” from earlier in the season, we took a break from the usual episode formula and focused on one of our favorite, but often neglected characters – Lisa Cuddy.

This episode showed us that Cuddy has got a shit-ton of stuff going on, plain and simple. In the course of one day she had to deal with a sick baby, an inconsistent boyfriend and impossible to reach nanny, a bunch of chauvinistic jerks from a seemingly heartless insurance company, the hospital board’s threat of firing her, a steeling sociopath pharmacologist, a cancer patient who wanted a prescription for breast milk, hospital legal issues, and House’s high jinks. Despite a fist fight between Chase and the Chief of Surgery, which was clearly egged on by House, some tampering with the surgical bays’ air conditioning, and an obsession with trying to use Malaria as a diagnostic tool, House came in easily as the least of her problems.

Overall I liked the episode, but I can bet that it will be getting mixed reviews. The tone was of the episode was drastically different, and the plot focused a little too heavily on the heartless insurance company which felt a little forced. The point of that plot was to show how tough as nails she could be, even though it brought her to the point of a near breakdown in the elevator, stair case, and car (with House always near by). All of her struggles throughout the day served more an insight into Cuddy’s character, rather than edge of your seat plot devices. From where I stand the episode was a success, and Lisa Edelstein really shined.

Side notes:

• Cuddy’s big “YES!” with the cheesy pull away shot was pretty lame. Not gonna lie.

• Lucas is kind of a douche. Not quite bad enough for us to outright hate him, but we’ll be totally fine when he disappears.

• Cuddy is surprisingly flexible.

• How is it that Cuddy doesn’t have an assistant? That poor nurse!

Quotes:

Cuddy: What'll you do next time one of your patients needs a liver transplant?
House: Go talk to Wilson about something completely unrelated and see what happens.

Cuddy: She’s not massaging your leg.
House: She will. Eventually.

House: I tried to cure a guy with cancer by using malaria to win a $50 bet. You really wanna be more like me?

TV Blind Dates ~ Part 1

Courtney is out of town for a few days and new episodes from this week’s programming will wait patiently in the DVRs for her return. So in the interest of satisfying my own boredom I have put together this little time waster.

With the aid of an extremely handy online secret santa name drawing tool I have randomly put together 15 TV Blind Dates featuring some of our favorite characters. Ignoring current (or potential) romantic entanglements, as well as geographical and temporal barriers specific to their respective shows, let’s see show these characters match up! Here are our first five match-ups!


Temperance Brennan (Bones) and Mark Sloan (Grey’s Anatomy)

Common Ground: They are both doctors, and are extremely good looking. They are fans of sex without romantic entanglements. They are neither humble nor shy, and both are well off financially.

Possible Conflicts: Brennan’s literal way of thinking may become a bit tiresome to Mark, who is a fan of obscure references and insinuation. Mark may be a little too smug for Brennan’s tastes.

At the end of the date: 87% probability of a one night stand. 7% chance of a second date.




Sue Sylvester (Glee) and Phil Dunphy (Modern Family)

Common Ground: Phil was a cheerleader in college, so that should give them plenty to talk about. Plus they are both remarkably tall.

Possible Conflicts: Phil is much too weak of a man for Sue. She would destroy him physically and emotionally. But it sure would be fun to watch, right?

At the end of the date: 99% chance that Sue says “You think this is hard? Try __________. That’s Hard!”, 10% chance of this happening in a sexual circumstance.




Callie Torres (Grey’s Anatomy) and Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)

Common Ground: They both have mighty fine singing voices (well, Sara does if Callie doesn’t). They both like the ladies, so they could always talk about that. Whenever Barney gets something broken by a jealous boyfriend or a particularly strong lady conquest, Callie could patch him right up.

Possible Conflicts: Callie’s more of a relationship kind of person. Also, I’m going to go ahead and call her mostly gay nowadays. Barney just came out of a real relationship with Robin, so he’s definitely going to be playing the field for a while.

At the end of the date: 0% chance of a second date, but Callie might be up to being his occasional wingman (wingwoman . . . winglady . . . whichever).




Olivia Dunham (Fringe) and Seeley Booth (Bones)

Common Ground: They are both highly skilled FBI agents (sometimes Olivia is classified as DHS, it’s so hard to keep track). They both look good in suits. They each spend a significant amount of their work day around dead bodies. They are both willing to bend the rules a little if it’s the right thing to do. Olivia is good with kids, so visits with Parker would go smoothly.

Possible Conflicts: Olivia’s work in the Fringe division lends itself to secrecy and government cover-ups, both of which Booth has major issues with.

At the end of the date: 67% chance that at least one of them will get called in to work before the date ends. Possibility of a second date, 25%.




Juliet Burke (Lost) and Gregory House (House)

Common Ground: They are both doctors. House would probably be able to figure out that pesky island pregnancy problem, but sending his team to break into the island’s apartment would probably prove tricky. They both command authority, and at first glance it’s difficult to tell whether they are a good or bad guy.

Possible Conflict: Juliet would put up with a certain amount of name calling and sarcasm (she was with Sawyer after all), but eventually he’d go too far and she would be forced to kick his ass.

At the end of the date: Likelihood that Juliet puts up with House for an entire date, only 35%.

Foxy Monday ~ House and Fringe

House ~ The Down Low

Ethan Embry guest starred this week as a drug dealer who has all sorts of stuff wrong with him, but refuses to share useful information. Scratch that, he’s an undercover cop who doesn’t want to blow his cover or mess up the big bust they have planned. Anyone else feel bad for Eddie, Mickie’s drug dealer friend? Sure he’s probably killed dozens of people and he’s a criminal and all, but he was totally there for Mickie. I felt bad for him too, until about 10 minutes ago when I realized that the actor played Donnie Pfaster on The X-Files, who abducted and tried to rape/murder Scully TWICE. Sympathy officially gone. Sorry. Oh yeah, and Mickie totally dies, which is pretty rare on House. Sorry, dude.

Most importantly, we had some pretty hot House/Wilson action this week. Wilson tried to ask a neighbor out on a date, only to find out that their entire building thinks that House and Wilson are a gay couple. House decides to mess with Wilson by reinforcing this idea (why hello giant Chorus Line poster and Evita listening parties). House then decides that he wants to sleep with this girl too and is planning to pull the whole backrub turns into a front-rub, “I’ve never felt this way about a woman before”, routine. Then, in a moment that will live forever in Hilson infamy, Wilson proposes to House in a restaurant. And they lived happily ever after. Wait, no . . . neither one of them gets the girl (although House tries to put in a good word for Wilson with the girl during his confession/semi-apology).


Fringe ~ Unearthed

Okay, apparently we were warned ahead of time in commercials or something that this episode was actually a first season reject, but Courtney and I (plus a whole lot of other viewers) totally missed that heads up and had a mini-heart attack when Charlie popped up part way through the episode. Not only did Charlie die in the beginning of the season, but Olivia shot Shape Shifter Charlie right between the eyes during “Momentum Deferred”. After a few minutes of trying to remember what the heck happened before the Winter break we were quite confident that this was an old episode. Astrid’s first season hair (which we prefer) reinforced this a few moments later.

Besides all of that confusion, this was a perfectly okay episode. Nothing particularly spectacular, with the exception of some Olivia/Peter stuff brought up by possessed girl. We can see why it was left off the schedule. I wish they had just put it on the first season DVD as a bonus instead of confusing the hell out of us though!

Regardless, here is your Observer sighting (looking how clear Michael Ceveris is! A sure sign of being shot in NYC) and your glyph.

Quickies - HIMYM, Castle, Eastwick, House, DH

And now, some randomly ordered quickies:


How I Met Your Mother

Another great HIMYM, and it was super Barney/Robin-centric. We loved Barney’s classroom ADD – “Can we have class outside?” And as an added bonus Lilly totally said she has sex dreams about Robin. What what? I am very disappointed in the GIF-creating community that I don’t have anything to share from this episode yet. But, I can share with you this link to Barney’s blog to see his notes from class.


Castle

Not only do we love this show, but it turns out that the Neilson Families out there are starting to catch on too! The ratings are way up for this season, which is awesome and totally deserved. Now if only all of these people could start watching Dollhouse too while they’re at it. Another great episode, and next week’s episode looks hilarious, so keep an eye out!


Eastwick

We’re still really liking it. The plot is starting to pick-up in pace and we’re get a sense of the town’s past, which turns out to be chock full of Darryl. As a very special bonus, Cybil Shepherd showed up as someone we most certainly will be seeing again. Score!

House

House is back on the job – kind of. He basically just there to give input, but has no real authority since he doesn’t have his license back yet. Taub seems to have stuck his his word about quitting, since he was no where to be seen. 13, however, is still bouncing around in Foreman’s personal life. *Spoiler Alert* - she’ll definitely be back on the team once Cameron leaves later on in the season. James Earl Jones guest starred as an Evil dictator, who ends up basically being murdered by Chase. Our Geeky selves couldn’t stop giggling when he said “rebel”. I can’t believe Chase killed Darth Vader. On the home front, House has clearly been watching too much Dexter during his recovery. He broke into his Vietnam vet neighbor’s apartment, shot him up with drugs, duct taped him to a chair, and . . . cured the guy of his phantom arm pain? Ummm, thanks?

Desperate Housewives

Well Julie looks like she’s going to pull through, and she’s not pregnant (which apparently was a worry?), so that’s good. They’ve already arrested the new kid for her strangling, which of course means he didn’t do it – that’s way too obvious, right? I’m seriously loving Bree and the fact that she’s basically hoping for Julie to wake up with brain damage or memory loss (so that she doesn’t remember seeing Bree and Carl making out hardcore next to her coma bed). Also, I take this is a sign that Gabby should be paying a little more attention to her actual children – especially this one that we never see:

Quickies - DH, House, Castle, and P&R

Desperate Housewives

We loved vengeful Katherine, especially when she wore Susan’s wedding dress while stirring a messy pot of tomato sauce. We know that she’s seriously hurt, and we feel bad for her, but I for one kinda hope she never gets over it. I can take this Katherine all season long. Not sure how we feel about the new neighbors yet. It’s weird to have them assimilated so quickly, what with the quick time passage and all. They’re clearly on the run from something. The mob? The police? Something to do with their creepy kind? And her big ass back scar? Interesting. We’ll see how you go new guys. As far as Julie goes, the easy suspects are Katherine (I don’t believe for a second that she would actually do that) and the creepy new kid or his sketchy Dad. I’m sure fingers will be pointing by next week. Also, we love Lynette and this story lien. We hope you end up loving your babies by the time they pop out and that you don’t do anything drastic.

Two quotes from the night that amused me:

''I got really lucky. The woman who handled the properties in the area, she slammed her car into a pole and got fried by a power line.'' – Lee, explaining how he had gotten such a great house for his first listing.

''We will never be done if we birth two every time one moves out — that's just math!'' - Lynette

House

All House and Wilson all the time please. Their scenes were pretty much the only good thing about this episode. The case wasn’t that interesting, and Foreman suck ass as a boss. Oh, and for the love of gob shave that pube beard, Foreman! We can’t take it anymore. Also intolerable are him and Thirteen (Foreteen – gag me with a spoon). Our hate for them as a couple burns so bright that it has completely erased any memory why (or if) we ever liked them as individuals. Being in charge put a serious strain on their relationship, which led him to fire her (ummmmm, I’m pretty sure that’s sexual harassment). Oh, and Taub quit, which I keep forgetting. Next week House is back at work, and we get James Earl Jones as a patient – so things should be looking up!


Castle

This show just keeps getting better and better. We loved the inter office bet on who could solve their murder first, and thought it was great to have Becket be just as competitive as Castle instead of standing to the side judging him like we would have thought. While the show is improving with each episode, poor Becket’s hair is not so lucky. She’s got some unfortunate stuff happening. Hope they fix that soon.

Parks and Recreations

Keeps being funny! You go, guys! I especially loved the C-plot line of Ron Swanson stuck in his chair all day from a hernia. Over all it wasn’t quite as funny as last week, but it keeps hopes high for the rest of the season.

House ~ Broken

And the season premiers keep on rolling in!

House made a bold choice this week in having its 2 hour premier set entirely in the asylum where House has committed himself. We got some really strong character work, a peak at a new side of House (one where he can admit that he’s broken), and some fun guest stars (I see you there, Booger – being all paranoid).

Since I got a little carried away with the Mad Men post (see gigantic ramblings below), I’ll keep this one short. So in a NUT-shell (see what I did there? No? Ok), here are some brief thoughts on the premier of the sixth season of House.

• Hugh Laurie can act his ass off. Sure, we already knew this, but it’s nice to be reminded. This episode was completely and utterly his. Wilson popped up for a minute on the other end of the telephone, but other than that there were no reminders of the world outside of the asylum. This was a great episode for him. Maybe they should have called it a tv-movie, 24 style, and tried to swing some Emmy nods in the Mini-series/TV movie category.

• We were totally prepared to be enraged at seeing House with another woman (we had been thoroughly spoiled on this part of the plot), but his encounter with Franka Potente really didn’t bother us. Cuddy loyalists though we are, it was interesting to see House actually with someone, and being completely and totally honest with them. Yes, the fact that we knew it was doomed from the start, and that it was completely fleeting, may have made it easier to stomach. Still – seeing House all vulnerable and teary eyed broke our little hearts.

• So after some fun and games, some legitimate breakthroughs, and an admission of having serious problems to work through, House is unleashed back into the real world. We’ll be seeing the rest of the gang next week, but we can rest assured that things won’t be the same as when House left.

FYI, next week’s episode is called “Epic Fail”.