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swatkat+ All this talk of MANPAIN reminds me: you know who doesn't have MANPAIN (so far, anyway)? Castle! And that's one of the many reasons why I adore him. And, also, there is this great post (via ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
metafandom on the representation of fans and fannishness; it discusses, among other things, Castle's little nod to Firefly fans by having Nathan Fillion dress up as a space cowboy in the Halloween episode. But you know what (who) - as far as I'm concerned - the show's biggest nod to us fannish types is? Beckett! Beckett, who is a complete and utter fangirl, who knows the tiniest details of the worst episodes books and stands in line for an hour to get her book signed, who makes time for the new book amidst everything - and who somehow also manages to be a sane person, who is competent and efficient, who does not wallow in her womanpain and does not melt into a fangirly puddle every time Castle is in front of her. Beckett is one of us, and I cannot tell you how much that pleases me.
+ You know how I have been threatening to Have Thoughts about the Lydia episode in Broken ever since the episode aired? Here, have some tl;dr.
'Why are you so nice to me?'
'I think you have a good heart.'
'Would you still be nice to me if I told you that lied? I'm not just driving around the grounds in your convertible, I'm kidnapping him and stealing your car.'
House and Lydia, Broken
'I need to know what this is.'
'It's sheet music…. I told you, it's just two people having fun.'
'There're two possible outcomes. It ends, someone gets hurt, or it doesn't end, someone gets hurt.'
'So, the end sucks, it doesn't mean the beginning has to. Everything ends, life ends, it doesn't mean that we can't enjoy it.'
'I can't do this.'
'All I know is I was happy five minutes ago, and now I'm not. How's that better?'
House and Lydia, Broken
If episodes have keywords, 6.01's would probably be: change, responsibility, enabling, happiness. Through the past two seasons, starting from 'Alone', TPTB have been doing something really interesting by setting up the season's keywords—key themes—in the first episode of the season, and then exploring and expanding upon them throughout the rest of the season. 'Broken', in this respect, was particularly ambitious. I'm not exactly that episode's greatest fan—too much medicine!fail and plausibility issues, and I missed the rest of the cast—but I do think it did a good job in establishing and foreshadowing certain things about the season.
There is a lot of enabling going on in 'Broken': Alvie enabling House, Lydia enabling House enabling Freedom Master; Nolan not enabling House, and more importantly, Wilson not enabling House in a brief but awesome scene. Even though Alvie and Lydia both enable House, the enabling is performed on different levels. Alvie's enabling is overtly recognized by the narrative, and ultimately turned down by House. Lydia's brand of enabling, however, is more problematic. Some of the problem lies with the narration itself, which fails to flesh Lydia out as a character (if it weren't for Franka Potente's performance, the episode would have fallen flat) and to acknowledge the problems with her actions. From a Watsonian POV, though, it's very interesting to look at Lydia's actions in the episode: the fact that House is a patient in the facility and she is not, that her handing over the keys to House (because he 'has a good heart') makes her, in a way, unwittingly responsible for Freedom Master's fate (House and Amber), that she justifies her involvement with House with the logic that it makes her 'happy': 'All I know is I was happy five minutes ago, and now I'm not. How's that better?' On one level, you could read Lydia as a free-spirited optimist, helping House to break out of his shell and lead his life, be ~truly happy~. On another level, though, Lydia comes across as rather reckless and irresponsible. And even if she hands the car keys over to him because it will make him happy (and House takes Freedom Master to the fair because it will make him happy), it's ultimately a form of enabling—less apparent than Alvie's, perhaps, but enabling nonetheless. If the doctor whose name I've forgotten is 'cruel' in his radical disillusionment of Freedom Master (which, by the way, is his job), if his actions indeed form one extreme, Lydia's (and House's) make up the other. The pursuit of happiness, important though it is, cannot come at the cost of your responsibilities, and that's why Lydia must, in the end, think of her husband and her children.
If there's one device the show writers absolutely adore it's parallels, and that's why I have been inclined to think of the Lydia episode as a cautionary tale of sorts, as well as a glimpse of what's to come. In my head, this ties up to Wilson and Cuddy's current plotlines (Cuddy's 'I'm trying to live my life' echoing Wilson's in the previous season; Wilson's 'what do you see in Lucas anyway' echoing Cuddy's 'do not date Amber she is ev0l' lecture in S4).
metafandom on the representation of fans and fannishness; it discusses, among other things, Castle's little nod to Firefly fans by having Nathan Fillion dress up as a space cowboy in the Halloween episode. But you know what (who) - as far as I'm concerned - the show's biggest nod to us fannish types is? Beckett! Beckett, who is a complete and utter fangirl, who knows the tiniest details of the worst + You know how I have been threatening to Have Thoughts about the Lydia episode in Broken ever since the episode aired? Here, have some tl;dr.
'Why are you so nice to me?'
'I think you have a good heart.'
'Would you still be nice to me if I told you that lied? I'm not just driving around the grounds in your convertible, I'm kidnapping him and stealing your car.'
House and Lydia, Broken
'I need to know what this is.'
'It's sheet music…. I told you, it's just two people having fun.'
'There're two possible outcomes. It ends, someone gets hurt, or it doesn't end, someone gets hurt.'
'So, the end sucks, it doesn't mean the beginning has to. Everything ends, life ends, it doesn't mean that we can't enjoy it.'
'I can't do this.'
'All I know is I was happy five minutes ago, and now I'm not. How's that better?'
House and Lydia, Broken
If episodes have keywords, 6.01's would probably be: change, responsibility, enabling, happiness. Through the past two seasons, starting from 'Alone', TPTB have been doing something really interesting by setting up the season's keywords—key themes—in the first episode of the season, and then exploring and expanding upon them throughout the rest of the season. 'Broken', in this respect, was particularly ambitious. I'm not exactly that episode's greatest fan—too much medicine!fail and plausibility issues, and I missed the rest of the cast—but I do think it did a good job in establishing and foreshadowing certain things about the season.
There is a lot of enabling going on in 'Broken': Alvie enabling House, Lydia enabling House enabling Freedom Master; Nolan not enabling House, and more importantly, Wilson not enabling House in a brief but awesome scene. Even though Alvie and Lydia both enable House, the enabling is performed on different levels. Alvie's enabling is overtly recognized by the narrative, and ultimately turned down by House. Lydia's brand of enabling, however, is more problematic. Some of the problem lies with the narration itself, which fails to flesh Lydia out as a character (if it weren't for Franka Potente's performance, the episode would have fallen flat) and to acknowledge the problems with her actions. From a Watsonian POV, though, it's very interesting to look at Lydia's actions in the episode: the fact that House is a patient in the facility and she is not, that her handing over the keys to House (because he 'has a good heart') makes her, in a way, unwittingly responsible for Freedom Master's fate (House and Amber), that she justifies her involvement with House with the logic that it makes her 'happy': 'All I know is I was happy five minutes ago, and now I'm not. How's that better?' On one level, you could read Lydia as a free-spirited optimist, helping House to break out of his shell and lead his life, be ~truly happy~. On another level, though, Lydia comes across as rather reckless and irresponsible. And even if she hands the car keys over to him because it will make him happy (and House takes Freedom Master to the fair because it will make him happy), it's ultimately a form of enabling—less apparent than Alvie's, perhaps, but enabling nonetheless. If the doctor whose name I've forgotten is 'cruel' in his radical disillusionment of Freedom Master (which, by the way, is his job), if his actions indeed form one extreme, Lydia's (and House's) make up the other. The pursuit of happiness, important though it is, cannot come at the cost of your responsibilities, and that's why Lydia must, in the end, think of her husband and her children.
If there's one device the show writers absolutely adore it's parallels, and that's why I have been inclined to think of the Lydia episode as a cautionary tale of sorts, as well as a glimpse of what's to come. In my head, this ties up to Wilson and Cuddy's current plotlines (Cuddy's 'I'm trying to live my life' echoing Wilson's in the previous season; Wilson's 'what do you see in Lucas anyway' echoing Cuddy's 'do not date Amber she is ev0l' lecture in S4).
