Chase, MD

[swatkat]

I never thought I would say this about an episode that's so House-lite, but man, this was the best episode in a long, long time. I love ethical quandaries. I loved when Cameron—what were the things she was called back then? oh right, self-righteous, whiny, annoying Cameron—had them, and I loved when she did not hesitate to call House on them. I loved even more when Chase and Foreman got involved, and then there was ethics and poor ethics and questions of Doing the Right Thing. And while I love Thirteen and Taub (and Kutner, and Amber), they've never had the chemistry together that the Ducklings had. And so it was good to see OE, JS and JM do their thing again. The show has never trusted just the three of them with this much space, and I was so happy to see them do justice to it and wish to see more of it in the near future. ♥




the last temptation is the greatest treason:




In action movies, the undercover!secret agent!hero infiltrates into Enemy Territory and, after a lot of Heroic Action, kills the evil dictator and saves the day. A new day dawns in the history of the dictator's country, a new—usually democratic, always benevolent—government is sworn in. There are a lot of slow-motion shots of the hitherto oppressed people cheering. The credits roll, the audience claps, all is well in the world.

A physician's task is to save lives. Sometimes their errors kill ('The Mistake'), and there are consequences. Sometimes there is the question of what you would call mercy killing ('Informed Consent'), and there are consequences. And sometimes, sometimes, a well-meaning doctor in a fancy hospital with glass walls is tempted to play God and miraculously save millions of lives in Africa by killing Darth Vader the ruthless African dictator he is supposed to save, and oh, there better be consequences.

It would probably have been simpler if Dibala were Darth Vader. (Or Uther Pendragon. But I will stop before I digress and make this a post about Morgana.)

I am a little irritated by the endless stream of 'oh, but wouldn't you want to kill Hitler if you had him under your charge' and 'ask a Holocaust survivor if they would want Hitler to live' comments, because Godwin's Law exists for a reason, and the removal of one man—the one on top, the most powerful, most public face of an evil regime—is seldom the magical solution to a country's problems.


Dibala: She is too weak to act on her beliefs. That is not her fault. Everyone is. My own advisors, my own Colonel—all they do is negotiate and debate and sign treaties. They are appeasers, when all the while we are beset by assassins, the traitors, the scum—
Chase: Cockroaches? What're you gonna do about them?
Dibala: What is an enemy to you? Some younger physician who covets your office? In my world there are dangers and bloodshed and death, and that makes you a man, and men make choices.
Chase: Your choice? To send bands of crazed, drunk children to massacre an entire people?


Chase: Why are you doing this now?
Cameron: Because I didn't want to kill him, and because you're right, I have to take a side, so I'm going to do what I can to keep him alive.


Foreman: I don't care what he was gonna do. He came to us and put his life in our hands.
Chase: All the good we've done, every life we've saved, it would've meant nothing if we just sent him to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Look at the news! The moderates are taking over! There is hope for peace talks!


I would have been a little horrified if Chase had been that undercover!secret agent!hero from action movies, and I am very glad the show did not play it that way. It was perhaps JS's delivery of that last line, the way he scrambles to convince Foreman (himself) that he had to do what he did, that his actions have indeed saved the hundreds and thousands who were going to die (have they really? what about the law and order situation now? how many people are going to die in the streets? how 'moderate' are the 'moderates'? what will happen to the 'hardliners' when the 'moderates' take over? what about Dibala's supporters, are they out on the streets massacring people now because their leader is dead? will the peace talks actually lead to anything?), and the way OE played Foreman's refusal to back down, even though you know he's never going to stop thinking about it now and going to obsessively keep track of the news, just as Chase is going to, while replaying that conversation with Dibala in the end in his head, 'In my world there are dangers and bloodshed and death, and that makes you a man, and men make choices.'




to do the right thing (for the wrong reason):




Meanwhile, House broke into a guy's place, tied him to a chair and gagged him, and then bullied him into curing him of his pain. Yes, there is a parallel to the A-plot here, ladies and gentlemen, it's about ethics, thank you for noticing. Now can we please have the same outraged reactions that we did after 'Broken' and Nolan 'blackmailing' House?

*crickets chirp*

Oh wait, that's right, House can do anything he wants, and he was persecuted by Wilson in this episode, persecuted, let's talk about how mean Wilson (and Cuddy) is to House instead.

Sorry, I should not be reading fan reactions before posting my own. Ahem.

I was reminded of something Stacy said in 'The Honeymoon': 'Because you browbeat patients, intimidate them, lie to them—if you think you're right, you don't give a damn about what they think.' Cool as the mirror therapy was, I wonder - how far is too far?





Etc.:




+ Is it just me or was JM looking unusually hot in this episode?

+ Also, there were references to Chase's seminary past and anvil-y parallels about the son who did not speak to his father for years and call-backs to 'The Mistake'. All this continuity, guys, I don't think I can handle this, it's like we're watching a different show altogether.

+ Yes, Cameron, thank you for telling Foreman that he was wrong to fire Thirteen—why is his job more important than hers? and she could have filed for discrimination if she wanted to, and she should—and that he is usually brave enough to admit his mistakes but sometimes he's just stupid about them and digs himself into a bigger hole. Aww, Ducklings.

+ The crack in Foreman's voice in the end? Oh man. *draws sparkly hearts around the Ducklings*

+ I don't watch 'True Blood', but I'm very amused that Wilson does.

+ Eeee House and Wilson on the couch watching alligators and making noises, eee!

+ Cuddy was barely there in this episode, but she was awesome in her little scenes.

+ That does not change the fact that she has very studiously not commented on Foreman firing Thirteen, which is just. WHAT?

+ I am disappointed by the lack of Star Wars jokes. Not even one, show, really?

+ JEJ was fabulous, though, even if I did notice that his 'African' accent was sort of wavering.

+ DUCKLINGS! GROWN-UP DUCKLINGS! ♥ ♥ ♥