House Party
Mr. and Mrs. Qualler's lovers getaway left me to my own devices as I house/dog sat yet again this weekend. My Saturday and Sunday were fairly event-less as a result, which was exactly what I needed after finishing my monster research paper last Thursday. But even a relaxing weekend at Casa Qualler with all the Skinemax, (errr, I mean History Channel?) I could handle, couldn't satisfy my need for some good old-fashion guilty pleasure television - which is funny because Brigitte owns the ultimate collection of guilty pleasure DVDs, including at least two Hillary Duff movies and every season of The O.C. and 90210 that have been released. But I was looking for the kind of guilty pleasure television that only Monday night prime time can provide. I'm talking the season finales of the Bones and House, neither of which I had seen in a long time. Fortunately, these are the kinds of TV shows you don't have to watch every week to understand what is going on.
Bones:
I was shocked to watch the cast debate in the opening scene about whether or not Bones should attend the funeral of her longtime partner, Booth. Bones, being an unrelenting cynic and bottler of emotions, of course doesn't see the point in funerals - probably because she's totally suppressing her love for Booth, at least according to their FBI-appointed relationship therapist, whose job it is in the show to simply point out every instance of sexual tension between the two main characters. At this moment I thought to myself, "what's the point of continuing the show if you kill off Bones' unrequited love interest?!"
To my relief, Booth's death was all just a plot by the FBI to catch a killer at his funeral, and Booth, disguised as a soldier firing shots to honor himself, popped out just in time to stop the criminal. The rest of the episode had absolutely nothing to do with the opening scene, except for Bones walking in on Booth reading comic books naked in his bath tub to yell at him for not telling her he wasn't dead. We then spend the other 51 minutes of the show chasing the same serial cannibal the crew of top-notch forensic scientists have been trying to identify all season.
The big twist: Bones' genius but socially inept assistant, Zack, is the cannibal's apprentice, though up until 3 months prior he had been a totally normal, logical person. What a twist! Now that Zack is locked up and Bones' other two assistant are married, where will the show go from here? Who will replace Zack in the next season? Will Bones and Booth pull a Pam and Jim from The Office and ruin the show for ever? Who knows.
House:
The other season finale in my Monday night lineup was House, which provided me with another predictable, cookie-cutter episode where "one of their own" has some hard-to-detect disease. This time the patient is the wife of Dr. House's best friend, Wilson. She had come to the bar to give a sober ride home to a belligerently-drunk Dr. House, but ends up following him onto a city bus after he refuses the ride.
Of course, in addition to the bus getting in an accident she has a rare medical condition that takes an entire episode to diagnose and House has the clue but can't remember anything from his drunken escapade. Apparently, though, one can jog the memory of a lost drunken night of stupor by shocking the brain through a small hole drilled into the skull without any anesthesia. Not only will this help you remember your night with extreme clarity, it actually puts your sober self and all the doctors in the room inside of your memory so you can look around for clues. I sure hope they can put out a DIY kit for that procedure soon so college students all over the country can remember why and who they woke up next to. As per usual, throughout the whole ordeal, the only voice of reason comes from the one female doctor, who points out that they shouldn't be working on this woman's case because she is their friend. But House give her a good talking-to and we learn that she is just projecting her fear of being diagnosed with Huntington's disease onto the situation. A bit random, but exactly what I expect from this show.
The twist: Wilson's wife cannot be treated and dies anyway - but somehow the doctors could bring her back to life just so Wilson could say goodbye. To my surprise, though, she dies to the tune of the relatively new Eau Claire artist, Bon Iver's, "Stacks."
All in all, it was a great night for TV. Consider my thirst for guilty yet pleasurable television quenched!
Bones:
I was shocked to watch the cast debate in the opening scene about whether or not Bones should attend the funeral of her longtime partner, Booth. Bones, being an unrelenting cynic and bottler of emotions, of course doesn't see the point in funerals - probably because she's totally suppressing her love for Booth, at least according to their FBI-appointed relationship therapist, whose job it is in the show to simply point out every instance of sexual tension between the two main characters. At this moment I thought to myself, "what's the point of continuing the show if you kill off Bones' unrequited love interest?!"To my relief, Booth's death was all just a plot by the FBI to catch a killer at his funeral, and Booth, disguised as a soldier firing shots to honor himself, popped out just in time to stop the criminal. The rest of the episode had absolutely nothing to do with the opening scene, except for Bones walking in on Booth reading comic books naked in his bath tub to yell at him for not telling her he wasn't dead. We then spend the other 51 minutes of the show chasing the same serial cannibal the crew of top-notch forensic scientists have been trying to identify all season.
The big twist: Bones' genius but socially inept assistant, Zack, is the cannibal's apprentice, though up until 3 months prior he had been a totally normal, logical person. What a twist! Now that Zack is locked up and Bones' other two assistant are married, where will the show go from here? Who will replace Zack in the next season? Will Bones and Booth pull a Pam and Jim from The Office and ruin the show for ever? Who knows.
House:
The other season finale in my Monday night lineup was House, which provided me with another predictable, cookie-cutter episode where "one of their own" has some hard-to-detect disease. This time the patient is the wife of Dr. House's best friend, Wilson. She had come to the bar to give a sober ride home to a belligerently-drunk Dr. House, but ends up following him onto a city bus after he refuses the ride.Of course, in addition to the bus getting in an accident she has a rare medical condition that takes an entire episode to diagnose and House has the clue but can't remember anything from his drunken escapade. Apparently, though, one can jog the memory of a lost drunken night of stupor by shocking the brain through a small hole drilled into the skull without any anesthesia. Not only will this help you remember your night with extreme clarity, it actually puts your sober self and all the doctors in the room inside of your memory so you can look around for clues. I sure hope they can put out a DIY kit for that procedure soon so college students all over the country can remember why and who they woke up next to. As per usual, throughout the whole ordeal, the only voice of reason comes from the one female doctor, who points out that they shouldn't be working on this woman's case because she is their friend. But House give her a good talking-to and we learn that she is just projecting her fear of being diagnosed with Huntington's disease onto the situation. A bit random, but exactly what I expect from this show.
The twist: Wilson's wife cannot be treated and dies anyway - but somehow the doctors could bring her back to life just so Wilson could say goodbye. To my surprise, though, she dies to the tune of the relatively new Eau Claire artist, Bon Iver's, "Stacks."
All in all, it was a great night for TV. Consider my thirst for guilty yet pleasurable television quenched!
This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on
Monday, May 19, 2008.
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Oh NOES! I love Cutthroat Bitch! Meanwhile, boo on Thirteen, she's annoying, of course they should treat her BEING THE BEST DOCTORS IN THE WORLD AND ALL. Well, except Thirteen. She's not very good, actually. :( Sad. In other news, I need TV.
If I cared about either of these shows, I would be the umpteenth person to yell sarcastically "THANKS FOR THE SPOILER ALERT!"
I love that cast picture of Bones. Like catching a cannibal is a zero gravity romp with smiles and hoorays.
Friends of qualler, long time reader, first time commenter on your article.
Amber and Wilson weren't married, they just said that when they needed to move her out of the hospital. That's one the only negative about your entry.
I was shocked when I heard Bon Iver. I've seen him twice and he's well worth it. You forgot to mention how great the entire soundtrack for the season finale part deux was with the final leg including the new Jose Gonzalez, the aforementioned Bon Iver, as well as Iron and Wine.
It's not a spoiler alert when it airs on live TV, Chris!
And yes, I forgot to mention the rest of the super awesome soundtrack - but it was hard to focus on the music when I kept thinking "can a person really survive without their heart working if you just freeze them?" So does that mean that the plot from "Encino Man" could actually happen?
aw, way to out my dvd collection, Lady Amy. You forgot to mention all the non guilty pleasure DVDs also in my collection, such as....
*crickets chirp*
..well...there are tons of them! I only own two Hilary Duff movies, and I only regret purchasing one of them. Cinderella Story was NOT what i thought it would be.
Correction: It's not a spoiler when it airs on live TV and it's a show that no one here cares about. In this age of DVRs, TV on DVD, and streaming shows on network web sites, I would have been disproportionately outraged at Brigitte's recent Gossip Girl post had it not included the spoiler alert.
Regardless, Boreanaz faking his death and House being drunk on power (and booze) is nothing earth shatteringly important that merits a spoiler alert, you are correct.
Good point. If I blog about a show that matters, I will put a spoiler alert in front of it.
Sorry about outing you, Brigitte, but doesn't it feel good to have it out there?
does every episode of bones involve looking at a skeleton to solve a case? cause how many times does it really come down to skeleton-analysis?
"oh, no, we have no evidence or leads at all, better look at the skeletons!"
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