Obligatory televisual aside couched in non-spoilery generalizations

[sigma7]

I want to give the writers of House credit for planning this season's arc out from the very beginning, because if so, it's a fantastic piece of misdirection. But I can't. I'm willing to believe they stumbled into the shape the season took (influenced, I'm sure, by the writers' strike), sort of how Lost only acquired a sense of direction when its end-date became firm, or Preacher's final issues, for that matter. I can't believe Ennis intended the Alamo showdown to be between...the characters it featured, though there's a poetry in God being conspicuous by His absence yet again. And I found Cassidy's final letter to Jesse too metatextual to be taken otherwise: "Isn't it funny when you think your story's going one way, and it turns out it was going another way all along?"

That's how I felt after watching the House finalé tonight. Because if they drew this arc out from the very beginning, with this ending in mind -- that's bloody brilliant, that is. Even if it's unintentional, in the right light, it still looks good.

(Warning: spoilers in comments, some protected, some not.)

Comments

[autobotsrollout.livejournal.com]

For someone who generally doesn't watch the show, spoiling, plz?

[aardy.livejournal.com]

'Twas an excellent episode (I was tearing up a bit towards the end), but arrrgh, that ending (for all of the plots/subplots)! With writing and twists like that, they definitely don't need an explicit cliffhanger like they've done the last couple of seasons to make me wonder what the heck they're going to do at the start of next season, and have me waiting there, glued to the TV, with bells on.

And I was happy to again hear mentioned the words of the Immortal Jagger that seem to have become the overarching theme of the show, but this time without trudging out the song itself yet again. (Though even without that, this ep. was rather heavy on the music, wasn't it?)

(Off in Rule #34 Land: Given their respective hangups and predilictions, I predict Cameron/Thirteen and/or Cameron/Chase/Thirteen slash.)

[foenix.livejournal.com]

Yeah, since we knew from the start that they didn't know WHO would be sticking around on House's new team, I find it hard to believe they had this planned when they didn't know where Amber would be after 10 episodes.

Of course, I'm guessing, since I've yet to watch the episode. Gimmie two hours. ;)

[querldox.livejournal.com]

I tend to think this came about post-writer's strike, if only because Cutthroat Bitch/Wilson seemed to come a bit out of left field. I don't recall any small moments between them prior to her initial departure that would've set up a possible relationship or even dating, particularly given Wilson's previous choices of women who need him/look at him as a hero.

Don't get me wrong; I think the relationship did work, particularly when House realizes that Wilson's dating a female version of House, but I think if that was the plan all along, there would've been more of a setup for it.

However, I'm on a mailing list that includes a House staff writer. Don't actually know them myself, so don't know what the odds are on getting a response or whether they'd want such public, but I could post a query and see if they respond.

[wenchamok.livejournal.com]

Fantastic episode. I <3 Wilson, and he had me close to tears. *wibble* I don't think it was planned out all season, and Amber/Wilson did seem a little weird at first, but wow. What an ending.