Hulu - House: Broken - Watch the full episode now.
What's so important about fiction?
From an engineering standpoint, it doesn't seem to do anything. It doesn't exert any force (F=ma), accomplish any work (W=F*d), generate power (P = dW/dt). Storytelling just seems to waste time. Creative writing isn't a real major. You don't earn money until you're a professional, one of the best, as opposed to engineering, where you just need a degree and a job.
But engineering doesn't feed the soul. There's no mathematical formula for hope. On the surface, fiction can make us laugh, release endorphins, space the day out so one isn't doing civil engineering assignments from sun-up to sun-down. Fiction also gives us examples, lessons from others' lives. Non-fiction can do that, too, and so can communities, but fiction can do it succintly.
Take this episode of House. Who doesn't secretly admire House's attitude and his courage in confronting others? We know it's not practical, but it's fun to imagine. This is an episode of consequences and of hope. No, most of us aren't on the same jerk level as House. We don't manipulate people like he does, but it doesn't mean we're any less broken. I love what the psychiatrist says at one point:
"Why do you value failures more than your successes?"
...
"Sucesses only last until someone screws them up. Failures are forever."
"So you accept that fact. You accept that there's nothing you can do."
"Okay, I accept the fact that there's nothing I can do. Now, what can I do?"
"You acknowledge failure, and you move past it. You apologize."
"Wow, powerful things, these apologies. You get someone to jump off a building. You say two little words and move on with your life. Hardly seems fair."
"Is that the issue?... You caused him pain. If the world is just, you have to suffer equally? ... You're not God, House. You're just another screwed up human being who needs to move on. ... Apologize to him, let yourself feel better. Then you can keep feeling better."
On a social level, too, this episode is important. I think, in general, people in the US are afraid of admitting they need help, and there seems to be a huge amount of disgrace associated with getting help. It's as though we are expected to do it all on our own, to be self-sufficient, to have everything in our lives under control, but in reality, we can't. If you're smart enough to handle everything life throws at you, you're not only a genius but also an abnormality. Use it to help the rest of us. The best feature of this episode is that it follows House's perceptions. It starts out with a load of resentment against the institution that builds and builds and builds as he sees more and as he fumes against it, but once he learns he can't always win, once he starts seeking for himself to find an answer, the people around him, the doctors and psychiatrists and even the other patients become real people, people he can care about and work with. The episode gets lighter, and I think his life does, too. That's something I think the viewers really needed to see.