Everyone is clamoring over Jennifer Morrison leaving the show at least temporarily, so here's my take.
Our journey begins in season 3. Chase and Cameron start sleeping together, but Cameron ends it after Chase wants it to be a real relationship. The season finale ends with Chase getting fired, and Cameron and Foreman quitting. Cameron shows up at Chase's door and thus their relationship begins.
Season 4 started with a whole new cast of characters with Chase and Cameron on the periphery occasionally popping in to do something unimportant. Their relationship continued until season 5 and they finally married in the season finale.
Cut to season 6. The new team is split, so Cameron and Chase fill the void. The short story is that Chase kills sometime, and later Cameron finds out. They decide to leave the hospital together, but then Chase decides to stay, so Cameron apparently leaves him.
WTF?
Let's face it. Chase and Cameron weren't given enough screen time in the two previous seasons to make their relationship believable. The writers spent more time with Foreteen than them which is a shame. Now we're supposed to believe that somehow the allure of diagnostics and House made Chase willing to destroy his marriage. Without any pretext, he just decides and Cameron exits. And this is also disregarding all the episodes where Cameron was totally fixated on House. The final word on that is that she's over him, and he's responsible for what Chase did, which essentially makes him a terrible person in her eyes.
Perhaps the blow was softened by the last scene which was quite excellent, but I was left with the thought "that's it?" Five years at on House, and Jennifer Morrison has to leave due to... Not only did it not make sense for her to leave, but also the manner in which she left was pathetic. The writers couldn't think of anything better, so they sent her out uncharacteristically
I suppose Cuddy and Lucas fit in the pattern of things randomly popping up. After Lucas was absent for an entire season, he shows up and has a few snuggly scenes with Cuddy. Huh? We've rarely seen Cuddy with another guy, and then Lucas who showed only a physical interest a year ago is now fully embedded in her life.
The porn star medical story fit nicely with all the Cameron Chase drama going on, but it really wasn't the focus of the episode.
Once again, the redeeming factor of the episode was House who went around pestering Taub and Thirteen in funny ways. Eventually they caved and joined back in which by itself is a snore.
Episodes like "Teamwork" make me wonder how the writers ever made it to a sixth season. Then I remember that Hugh Laurie carries the show and without him, the show would be dead. The writing is already dead, but as long as Hugh Laurie stays, the show is safe.
Score: 8.1/10
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
2 comments:
I disagree. I mean, you are right, Chase and Cameron didn't get enough time in seasons 4 and 5 but in the little patches we see them, we can tell that their relationship is in trouble. For example, when they have the guy with agorophobia, Chase tells her that she don't want him at her appartment, that she is keeping her self distant (i.e. emotionally running away), then again we see this tendency when Chase wants to propose and she keeps stalling it (i.e. physically running away), and to think that he is convinced that she loves House after all that has happend, we can conclude that despite everything they said, it more then likely a reaction to Kutner's death then anything else. So when Chase does something like this and she finds out, we can see where the sudden need to leave comes from. She is very good at running away from things like this.
The Lucas thing though, I agree with. Still, they needed more material to work with so they threw this in. Besides, it would have been worst if it was someone we didn't know.
All in all, I am glad to have Chase back on the team. I really missed him. Cameron too, but not as much, and as much as I hate to say this, the moment I saw Tyrant, I knew their marriage would implode. Still, it is nice to have her fade out rather then just have her their one episode, then gone then next. It gives fans a chance to, for lack of better terms, say goodbye.
You are so right about wondering how the writers got to a season 6. I agree that Hugh Laurie is carrying the show, aided by Robert Sean Leonard, but with episodes as WTH? as this one, even that is not going to take them to season 8.
I never could figure out why Chase and Cameron were together other than to end the House/Cameron ship so that Cuddy could have him. Nothing about their relationship made sense and that I believed in them as a couple in The Tyrant was entirely due to the acting of Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison. And now, after five years of wooing Cameron and two of saying he doesn't want to work for House any more, Chase picks House over her. Huh?
I also agreed with you that it didn't make sense for Jennifer Morrison to leave the show and that the storyline for her leaving was bad.
I thought the two Thirteen-free episodes were a delightful break. I like Taub but only because of how Peter Jacobson delivers the one-lines. I don't care about his marital problems and I care even less about Foreman/Thirteen. I'd much rather have Cameron and Chase on the team than Foreman and Thirteen.
The whole Cuddy/Lucas thing is completely random, made worse by the fact that it's only there to further the Huddy plot.