What’s with all the hallucinatin’?

Folks, I’m a little concerned. Throughout this past television season I’ve noticed that some of our favorite characters are somewhat under the weather. To the point that reality is slowly fading away for them and being replaced by a series of hallucinations. This isn’t an isolated incident, either. There are no fewer than four or five instances where the characters that we love are losing their marbles.

The most recent ones have appeared on the same network: FOX (which, when you think of it, is logical). Over on House, the main character of the series, one doctor Greg House, has been seeing dead people as of late. The one that has been haunting him the most is former So You Want to Be on House’s Team contestant Amber. Portraying the darker side of House’s brain, Amber has played havoc with her host, which finally caused him to admit himself into a home for not-so-balanced doctors.

On FOX’s other show, Bones, Special Agent Seeley Booth has been doin’ some hallucinatin’ on his own — though we didn’t think there was much to it. That’s because the visions were stretched out and connected to stressful situations. For instance, after hitting his head on the ice, Seeley believed he saw Luc Robitaille standing over him. In a recent episode Seeley was haunted by visions of Family Guy’s Stewie as he contemplated donating his sperm to Bones so she could have a baby. Turns out, the visions were all due to a brain tumor.

Other instances of hallucinations popped up on ABC. The most prevalent of those hallucinations came from the main character of Eli Stone, who was apparently having these visions thanks to the Man (and/or Woman) upstairs. A more recent instance of hallucinatin’ took place on The Unusuals, when Detective Eric Delahoy, in the midst of a brain tumor, had visions of his old high school girlfriend. Then there was Grey’s Anatomy’s Izzie Stevens, who had visions of, and apparently had adult relationships with, her dead romantic counterpart Denny.

Coincidence? I’d like to believe that all these show writers just didn’t get together in a basement conference room to determine who would be having hallucinations. Maybe brain clots and tumors are this season’s particular medical malady. Or, maybe the success of Ghost Whisperer has motivated these writers to add their own version of poltergeist conversations to their own shows. Either way, it seems very strange that all these programs are using this type of tactic to tell stories.

Sure, it allows characters that you had thought were long gone to make an appearance again. However, it also lessens the impact they had when they were actually living, breathing cast members. Personally, while I find the ‘House going insane’ storyline interesting, I think having Amber appear as the ‘evil’ side of his brain diminishes her last heart-wrenching appearance in living form. In another example, plenty of Grey’s fans complained when Denny had more screen time as an apparent ghost then he did while he was alive.

One can only hope that there won’t be as much use of this plot point in the upcoming season. Perhaps another malady, like swine flu, can attack our favorite characters next season. At least they won’t have visions of past students and lovers while their lungs fill with fluid.

Clacked by Richard Keller
on May 15, 2009 @ 10:30 EST5EDT