Dexter is a changed character, but not… by much? Once again, he’s more a “he’s changed to the fans,” but he’s not really changed in overt ways. His shifts are ultimately minor in that the Primary Things that define him remain unmodified.

– c.

I think as people have more and more ability to follow multi-episode stories that we’ll see more of this. I’m continually excited and pleased to see how a show like House is courageous enough to reinvent its own formula to keep things interesting.

Hunger!

– c.

-Rob D.

I don’t know where to comment. Here? Or at Terribleminds? Here, or there? HERE OR THERE THE WEEVILS ARE EATING MY BRAINCORN

…

Uhh. I’ll post here, and cross-comment there.

Your comments on House are spot on. The mystery is a false flag. I have no way to diagnose what happens when someone bleeds out of the rectum, an act that occurs more often than I might’ve thought was possible. If it’s not a genuine mystery show, and it’s not a genuine medical show — what is it? A show about relationships and about a broken genius? Could be, and it could be that the writers want to showcase that more. I dunno.

I’ll throw a half-agree, half-disagree toward your Burn Notice comment. (Though, I’ll also add: I haven’t seen any of the new season.) He’s changed, yeah, but it’s in such subtle, tiny ways, it’s more like Rob D. was saying — for fans of the show, they’ll be pleased by those subtle shifts in his character. Really, though, he’s not a different character. He hasn’t changed in any significant ways — this isn’t white to black, it’s light gray to darker light gray.

– c.

Michael is sort of held up now as something better than a spy, because he helps individuals and doesn’t do dirty missions. He has principles that we’re lead to believe spies often don’t — and that reverting to Company Man status will jeopardize. That is, Michael’s shifted gradually deeper into the role the show requires of him, and it’s point B on his arc rather than point A. The question is if he’ll revert, if he can stay at point B. That kind of tension may be what we can get out of HOUSE this season.

For one thing, I think HOUSE has sort of toyed with this idea before, in tiny doses. (Get it? Doses?) Dr. House is an asshole because he cares, but about being right. Now he’ll be an asshole because he cares… about people. Aww. Still, I predict his behavior will be enough the same that the casual viewer can tune in to see House be witty and brilliant.

It works because the procedural on HOUSE is utter bullshit — it’s a mystery that we in the audience cannot participate in, because we are not doctors. We can’t guess the culprit. We just watch the doctors be wrong for 40 minutes so they can make a choice/breakthrough/discovery in the final two minutes. The medical stuff only diverts me because I like to watch people work and talk, but as a mystery-of-the-week the show is bogus. Thus so many medical mysteries come down to personal drama on the show, and we find the final twist comes from patients lying and doctors making dramatic assumptions, rather than medicine.

I say this as somebody who hated HOUSE in its first season and came back during this past season because the character dynamics and dialogue are just too good to resist. I enjoy watching the writers juggle the medical stuff, but again that’s because I like to watch people work, whether they be writers, doctors, or former spies.

True dat. In gamist terms, the characters are gaining +1 or -1 to various personality traits — but, no more than that, and their core traits remain the same. They don’t change *overall* — they remain roughly calcified, their character sheets inked in dark, uneraseable pen.

– c.