House - Episode 13 (Season 4): “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
Tonight features the first of four new House episodes. It was a decently mediocre episode — not bad, but not particularly outstanding, either. Kind of “House Lite.” An episode recap, medical discussion, and spoilers follow!
Jeff, a carpet cleaner by trade, is spending his lunch hour with his wife, a nurse on the picket line in front of the hospital. While there, he starts to have nystagmus (twitching eyes) and then collapses. He is admitted to the hospital Emergency Room for evaluation, but — thanks to the chaos from the nursing strike — is given a low priority and basically sits there waiting for several hours. House, who is in the Emergency Room avoiding Cuddy, is perplexed by Jeff’s constant cheerfulness and niceness. He decides that something must wrong with him and admits him to his service for evaluation.
Jeff’s initial complaints are syncope (fainting), dysgeusia (altered sense of taste), and “niceness.” The altered taste (everything tastes like lemon meringue pie) and happiness have been present for eleven years. House suggests that Jeff may have a metabolic disorder, toxic exposure, carcinoma of the tongue which has spread to the brain, epilepsy, or multiple sclerosis. Taub suggests he just has the flu. House disagrees and orders Foreman and Kutner to search Jeff’s house for toxins, and tells Thirteen and Taub to check an MRI and EEG. The tests are normal, but the team searching the house finds carpet cleaning chemicals including hydrofluoric acid, which is known to affect calcium. From this, House deduces that Jeff has Williams Syndrome. Taub disagrees, pointing out that Jeff is missing some of the necessary symptoms to make the diagnosis including the characteristic facial appearance, lower than normal intelligence, and musical ability. While the team is arguing, Jeff suffers a stroke.
Thirteen suspects that Jeff has a heart defect (a patent foramen ovale) and this is what is causing his symptoms, but never gets the chance to run the test because the patient’s VDRL — a test for syphilis — has come back positive. The team now suspects that Jeff has neurosyphilis. He is started on penicillin to treat the syphilis, and a short time later he begins to vomit blood (”hematemesis”). According to the team, this could be from the syphilis, or it could be due to a reaction to the penicillin, carpet cleaners, or even alcohol. More tests are run and the patient is determined to have “hepatitis” — not viral hepatitis, but some other non-specified kind. House orders a test for sarcoid, and starts Jeff on steroids to treat the hepatitis.
Jeff’s wife returns to visit him, and he is uncharacteristically mean and angry. He then suffers a heart attack (which actually seems more like a cardiac arrest). The team considers the situation: is the rage due to the steroids (too soon; not as common on glucocorticoids as anabolic steroids), a penicillin allergy, a heart defect, or maybe his real personality finally re-emerging? In the middle of an echocardiogram to look for a heart defect, Kutner has an epiphany. The patient doesn’t have syphilis — he has another condition which gives a false positive VDRL result. Jeff has Chagas Disease, a rare parasitic condition (rare in the U.S., at least) which he picked up while in the Peace Corps. He has had a low-level encephalitis since then, and the immune suppression from the steroids caused it to flare up and his symptoms — the anger — worsen. He is started on the appropriate treatment and House assures him that he will be cured in a month — but what personality is the real personality?
I don’t have too much to comment about this one, medically. In this episode, the medicine was clearly secondary to the personality issues (What is Jeff’s real personality? and House vs. Amber). House and the team skipped over a bunch of more common causes of Jeff’s symptoms, going straight for the obscure. They then focused on these obscure causes, when some simple — and frankly standard of care — follow-up tests would have shown them their error from the beginning.
Syphilis antibody tests such as the VDRL are notorious for their false positives. That’s why you always run a confirmatory test such as the FTA-ABS, which was never done. For neurosyphilis, you should test the spinal fluid and not just the blood. Many different things can cause a false positive VDRL, not just Chagas Disease. The list includes HIV, Lupus and other autoimmune diseases, Lyme disease, mycoplasma, hepatitis, mononucleosis, and certain drugs.
Despite what House implies, cure rates for chronic Chagas Disease are dismally low. Treatment is not recommended for those who have been infected for over 10 years due to the low success rates (less than 25%). By this late in the disease, the damage to the heart and other organs has been done — this damage cannot be reversed, but can be fixed with appropriate medications, and in some cases, surgery.
I give the medical mystery a B+ because it brought up some interesting points — is being too happy a bad sign? And if so, is being too curmudgeonly equally bad? The final solution was moderately clever, but even more an out-of-the-blue answer than usual, earning a C. The medicine was weak and sloppy throughout and could have been handled better by a second year medical student; it deserves only a measly D. The House/Amber/Wilson/Cuddy soap opera was good, the House-has-syphilis not as good. Still, I give the soap opera aspect a generous A-.
(And as an aside, why would House and Amber submit to Cuddy’s punishment? When has House ever done anything Cuddy has said, and what power does she have over Amber?)
The previous House review
A list of all prior House reviews
April 28th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
It was a pretty “meh” episode but it was still nice to see House back in action, even with the old gang!
I think House and Amber have both submitted to Wilson’s deferrence to Cuddy as the official “Wilson” free time moderator.
Next week is looking promising though, with the kidnapping and all.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Wow, you got this up quickly.
I enjoyed this episode, though I suspect it was really more of a “reacquaint us with the characters” story than an actual medical story. We got lots of House, plenty of Wilson and Amber, a bit of Cuddy, and just enough of all six mini-doctors to remind who they were. On top of that, the whole thing about “is niceness a defect?” was really just a primer for the series as a whole. So, enjoyable but not especially great.
My favorite part was imagining the House writers standing in a picket line and saying “We totally need to do a picket line in our next episode.” Where do they come up with these brilliant ideas?
April 29th, 2008 at 12:02 am
(And as an aside, why would House and Amber submit to Cuddy’s punishment? When has House ever done anything Cuddy has said, and what power does she have over Amber?)
House honors “contracts” (as long as they are not legally binding) and he probably felt he deserved to be punished; and apparently so did Amber.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:06 am
Well, it certainly beats having fingers chopped off, haha.
I’m glad this is back in action so quickly; I feel like House eps aren’t complete without reading one of these articles afterward.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Nice review.
I think my favourite line had to be the “Is this guy Canadian!” at the beginning.
Then again, I may have some bias there ;)
The 13-31 “I thought it was OK either way” thing was great too!
But again, I have some bias ;)
-Cat
April 29th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Am I the only one sick of CTB by now? Her personality has exactly one dimension - Domme - and it (IMO) isn’t going to make her a Worthy Foe of House no matter how hard the writers try.
House is a Dom, Wilson is a sub. That’s why their relationship works. CTB is a Domme, Wilson is (still) a sub. That’s why their relationship works. There’s no inherent conflict there; both the dominants dominate the submissive and all’s well. (The fact that Wilson continues submitting to both House and CTB shows that.) But the writers want conflict, so they make Dom and Domme butt heads. But why would House want to do that when he already passed on the opportunity? If he was crazy/stupid enough to want to try dominating a dominant, he could have just hired her as a Young Gun. He didn’t, for exactly that reason.
As far as why they both submit to Cuddy’s punishment, it’s because they both tried using her to leverage the other. Trying to get out of it would be backing down and submitting to the other person, so they suck up the punishment to save face.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:30 am
This was indeed a House Lite. As much as I enjoy the soap opera in general, it looked like they didn’t much care about the real patient.
For some reason I tend to think that if something like neurosyphillis could alter one’s personality, it still shouldn’t be able to turn the volume to 11.
Cameron just couldn’t say no.
I just had my annual review at work. This is just too amusing.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Yea, Scott! Rah! Rah! Rah! This episode hasn’t even reach me, and already I am reading your review. And loving it. Thank you!
April 29th, 2008 at 4:32 am
The episode wasn’t so good, but as usual your review was awesome. The whole “House has syphilis” thing was kind of stupid, I figured there was something fishy about that. Hopefully the episodes to come will be better.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Have to agree that I wasn’t at all impressed by this episode. I did like the first 10 to 15 minutes which had a bit of the old House feel and humor (nurses strike, Canada, believe in the existence of extreme jerk-ness), but it went downhill from there.
I was confused as to why Wilson went to Cuddy to sort things out between House and Amber.
Cuddy did have influence over House - House wanted a ruling, she wanted performance reviews.
But Amber? Why should she listen to Cuddy? And even stranger, why would she accept the punishment at the end, changing bedsheets with House.. was this a scheme to make them bond or something??? (Wilson was watching them at the end.)
And the whole syphilis thing…didn’t make any sense.
And judging by the preview for next week we’ll have more soap opera stuff coming :(
April 29th, 2008 at 7:27 am
So, is House supposed to be an exceptional MD? Because his ideas about the patient’s condition this week were as lame as his assistants’ usually are.
Like CirclMstr, I don’t buy House giving in to Cuddy’s punishment. I thought the episode was badly written.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Just me, or did we get a short episode and more commercials?
I too found it poorly written and irritating in some way. Maybe House/Amber/Wilson just too childish.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:28 am
The whole “House has syphilis” thing reminded me of when he pretended to have cancer to get high (season 3, I think), just this time he had even less of a reason to fake an illness.
My 2 biggest (non-medical) questions are: When are they going to actually get rid of CTB, and are they ever going to use 13’s real name?
April 29th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Regarding House and syphillis:
Forman has already gone through a whole episode of House using someone else’s diagnostic test results as his own, ala Half-Wit (http://house.wikia.com/wiki/Half-Wit). He (and the rest of the old Fellows) should have been a lot more skeptical that the blood was really House’s, after all “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…” At least I was saying it when they were confronting House. And how long would a hospital keep someone’s blood for testing and how long does blood stay good to even test?
Regarding Amber/Wilson/House:
Why did she tolerate both House and Wilson putting her through this game? House has no leverage on her. When he wouldn’t leave her apartment, I would have expected her to either kick him in the leg (the bad one) or call the police. Instead, she submits to some stupid game?? And Wilson… at first I was just disgusted that they wrote him as such a pansy to House in this situation, but perhaps he is/was being more cunning. The shot of him watching the ‘punishment’ of Amber and House is telling, but of exactly what, I’m not sure. I think it was meant to show that he wanted House & Amber to be forced to spend time together, but why? And Amber doesn’t work for the hospital, does she?
Kutner:
And since when does Kutner have such out-of-the-blue-House-like epiphanies? As far as I can recall, he hasn’t displayed such intuitive thinking before and suddenly twice in one episode he has them like House? That seemed odd to me.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:37 am
I’m no syph expert, but didn’t House himself say in season one (108 - Poison) that killing the spirochetes would NOT repair the brain damage (which certainly makes physiological sense)? So not only should House’s theoretical syphilis being cured not make him nice, but he was watching the patient for a personality change that shouldn’t happen either way.
Incidentally, hydrofluoric acid is really bad stuff, every chemist I know is terrified of it; I’d imagine he’d have a lot more going on than low serum calcium from an exposure. I also cannot imagine how he’d ever use HF in cleaning carpets.
And I think the punishment was disimpacting bowels, not changing bedsheets (hence the “you’re both losing a finger” line).
April 29th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I could be wrong (I’m no doctor) but wasn’t Williams a completely absurd diagnosis? I would assume that Williams probably has a spectrum–there are probably always more and less extreme case–but isn’t it always characterized by some kind of retardation? It doesn’t seem possible that one can be a unusually cheerful but otherwise normal person and have Williams. (Not to mention that, at least as far as my non-specialized medical knowledge goes, fainting and altered sense of taste aren’t symptoms of Williams.) I mean, the House team has made some pretty far-off guesses in the past, but this just seemed ridiculous, and I was surprised that Scott didn’t jump on this more.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:04 am
I really didn’t like this ep too well. I couldn’t really buy into the whole House and CTB fighting for custody of Wilson bit. But reading the other posts on this board made me wonder something. I’m probably wrong, but is it possible that what Wilson is angling for is to get House and Amber to hook-up? Maybe he thinks they’d make a great couple and is trying to get them together?
As for the whole House has syph subplot, I kept wondering where House got the blood contaminated with the STD? For the longest time I was guessing that the big reveal would be that it was actually CTB’s blood Kutner tested and this was what House wanted to tell Wilson in private. But IIRC, it was stated that the blood was House’s. So… Did House just take a sample of his blood (and how many samples does the hospital have?) and infect it with syphillis? Could he have done that so easily? Where’d he get the syph?
Overall, this was a weak, weak, cartoonish episode.
(BTW, this IS my first time to post here, but I have read all of the excellent reviews. Thanks for providing this site!)
April 29th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I’m having trouble remembering from earlier in the season, but does CTB even work at the hospital in any capacity? How would she be allowed to change diapers and linens in a hospital she doesn’t work in? Yes, this is TV, but it’s ridiculous to believe she would be allowed to do that, even with Cuddy running the show.
I agree with OJ. Everything I had ever learned about neurosyphilis said that the damage couldn’t be reversed, and the previous episode concurred. And Cameron could have gotten syphilis from House (if he had it) even if they didn’t have sex if House had chancre in his mouth. They kissed somewhat extensively in Half-Wit, coincidently the same episode in which he tricked the team with fake results.
I love House, but this episode was somewhat of a disappointment. He is becoming more of a jokester who plays tricks for no real reason, and obeys Cuddy and CTB, which he would have never done.
Thanks for the review!
April 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I enjoyed the Amber storyline. Wilson likes watching strong people behaving like jerks, it is the basis of his relationship with House; he gets vicarious pleasure from it; watching Amber and House be jerks together must be quite the thrill.
I also enjoyed Kutner’s epiphany, mostly because I think Kal Penn is doing good work with the character. And I enjoyed Chase’s bowling and his fighting with Cameron.
Other than that, the whole episode was dull and lifeless.
April 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Worse House episode ever. Bad plot lines, bad writing, unmotivated (even for House) character actions. I think the writers must have walked the picket line in the sun to long.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Wow, no episode of House is complete until I come here and read reviews. Thanks again, Scott!
CirclMastr :
“As far as why they [House & Amber] both submit to Cuddy’s punishment, it’s because they both tried using her to leverage the other. Trying to get out of it would be backing down and submitting to the other person, so they suck up the punishment to save face.”
I agree; and I think the writers showed unusual insight when they wrote scenes. And, of course, the acting was great.
Koray
“For some reason I tend to think that if something like neurosyphillis could alter one’s personality, it still shouldn’t be able to turn the volume to 11.”
Some researchers attribute Al Capone’s extraordinarily violent behavior to neurosyphillis. Scott, does that qualify as turning the volume to 11?
Jbee
Just me, or did we get a short episode and more commercials?
I noticed we got a commercial break about every 7-9 minutes. I think we did get a short episode.
On the medicine:
I agree the final diagnosis of the POTW was good. But what do they they need with a white board? From the path they took to this dx seems like it was guided by tarot cards, or perhaps they cast runes.
As for House having neurosyphillis, my first thought was “It’s not House’s blood.”
On bowling:
I know that people with disabilities do amazing things. but, IMHO, on tv, it makes House seem more and more cartoonish. I suppose it’s consistent with inconsistencies of House’s alleged disability. Oh, I know. Maybe House is wearing a brace?
On the soap opera:
House and Amber are both very competitive in all the aspects of their lives. Submitting to Cuddy’s ruling merely gives a new arena in which to test each other, i.e., ‘I can take it if you can.’
IMHO, the House-Wilson-Amber & Cuddy relationship is a metaphorical fourway. Everybody gets to enjoy playing with their power, including Wilson. I believe to him to be like many enablers: a passive-agressive player. Notice that Wilson doesn’t have to make any decisions, not even how much to drink. He doesn’t even have to drive! [I'm assuming here that House drove to the bar and Wilson took a taxi home.] Yet Wilson doesn’t appear to be angry about not having sex. Amber is angry.
With Wilson refusing to play the game, the Three have to go looking for someone who will. Cuddy loves power games (she administers an entire hospital); and look at the power available! Power over House and Amber, power over the relationships. I think for Cuddy this might be a dream come true, and fun to boot. Not to mention House is doing what she tells him.
But to me the kicker is that delighted smile on Wilson’s face as he watches House and Amber work together. Could Cuddy have done that by herself? Seems doubtful. By acting passive, Wilson did his passive-aggresive thing, even drawing in Cuddy for extra help. He got results that made him happy. House probably even paid for Wilson’s drinks! And Wilson did it by refusing to make his own decisions. Let the power brokers sweat it out, and be happy with the results.
Wilson, you’ve changed, and I like the effect on the soap opera.
Finally (yes, I’m nearly done), on Kutner:
Yeah! I think he’s going to be a doctor! I am so glad to seem him shedding Kumar. I hope this episode bodes well for the development of Kutner. Frankly, I’m glad to see another doctor who has epiphanies. It fits ;)
I love this website.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I had a positive Syphilis test once and it really freaked me out. They automatically retested a week later and it was negative. Six months later I was diagnosed with Lupus. I didn’t know the connection between the two until last year, when my husband (a med student) told me Lupus can cause false positives in Syphilis tests.
April 29th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Oh, and was is just me, or did the paralysis of the facial muscles switch sides? It seemed to present on the right, then switched to the left. Odd.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I loved this episode mainly because there was lots of H/W and of course H/W+Amber. And Mr. Nice Guy was very similar to Wilson. Notice when the UPS guy shoved his wife and she turned and looked at her husband for support, Mr. Nice Guy just smiled and did nothing, wasn’t outraged, nothing. Then we go to the bowling alley where House and Wilson’s substitute, Chase are bowling. Chase tells us that he doesn’t want to spend every evening with Cameron so he encourages Cameron to spend one night a week with her really obnoxious friend Chase can’t stand. Then we move to Amber’s apartment where House proposes a joint custody arrangement, for their love child, Wilson. Wilson tells Amber House is being reasonable since he’s not switching out your lube for glue (what kind of sex are they having that would require a limber young woman like Amber to need lubricant?).
The group sessions made all the newbies, and the old ducks more tolerable. They should do more of those type scenes.
House takes Wilson to a bar. House gets Wilson drunk because he wants to piss off Amber and deprive her of the delicious Wilson sex that his second wife Bonnie went on and on about. But Wilson knows that the more he drinks the less the chances of Amber enjoying the deliciousness that is Wilson. But as House said what is more interesting is why I’m getting you drunk and why you’re letting me. Yeah, House i’m interested too. Hope it gets addressed in the next episode.
In the end, we find out that Wilson is the master of manipulation - beating out both Amber and House.
I really hope we get to see “certifiable” Amber because apparently we’re going to see certifiable House - kidnapping a soap opera star off the lot? Wel actually kidnapping anyone and holding them against their will is a felony. Let’s pray the guy has something seriously wrong with him and he’s so grateful House saves his life that he forgets all about all those pesky little felonies House committed.
April 29th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Better than some other recent episodes.
The team is actually coming along nicely
Taub is no longer a foreman stand in, he’s actually more of like a cross between House and Cuddy (House’s morals, Cuddy’s use of manipulations)
Thirteen has shown to be quite a bit more mature than the old Cameron in many ways
Kutner is like a cross between old Chase, and new Chase, a little sneaky, very honest about emotions (the whole ‘it matters if our boss dies because it actually affects us’, let’s face it, everyone thinks that way)
And he has Chase’s epiphonies, which Chase used to have and which Kutner HAS occasionally had since the end of the competition
April 29th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
The best thing about this episode - Chase bowling. It was also the only new thing - seems like the writers on this show have run out of ideas for the team & the medicine. Everything else we’ve seen before.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
hp, I’m fairly sure CTB still works at Princeton-Plainsborough. Didn’t she send a text message in one of the earlier episodes, saying something like “I’m sending out a consult for another patient, I’m not giving up my old job until I’m sure I’ve got this one”?
Shawn, valid point. Then again, we didn’t see Chase have a House-style epiphany until the Tritter story line (”House was wrong about the puppy dogs”).
April 29th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Best line: Is this guy from Canada? Hysterical!
April 30th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Amber is insufferable, and Wilson looked so wishy-washy and spineless in this episode. At least both the old team and the new team had enough space and I liked the interactions.
All in all, a weak episode, possibly the least convincing of Season 4.
Cheers
Rick
April 30th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Reading a review here after each episode of House is very helpful. I’m a medical doctor and I believe what is done here is very brilliant.
This episode was not a huge one but was OK as a starter for the new surge of House episodes. It seemed that the medical parts were altered/modified and even mislead to help the soap opera going.
But what bugged me in this episode:
The patience was nice enough (even before Chagas) to go to Costa Rica and work for For Habitat For Humanity to catch the Parasite so it is hard to say that the disease altered his personality! So I should say: Maybe House is Biased ;)
I read somewhere about upcoming episodes and I am pretty excited about them. Keep the great reviews coming.
Benign
April 30th, 2008 at 11:30 am
On the whole, I thought this episode was a mostly take-it-or-leave-it, since the mystery didn’t seem that interesting. However I loved the references to the nursing strike, which I felt was obviously meant to refer to the writers’ strike that caused such a long hiatus in the middle of the season. It was especially funny when House’s response to the strike was a simple “what exactly do they do around here?” attitude.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
How is a “test for sarcoid” supposed to look like? I have never heard of a thing like that.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
As a future nurse (I graduate next month!!!!) I have to say it was nice, at the very least, to see *some* respect given to nurses. The chaotic ER scene at the beginning is exactly what would happen without nurses.
I know House is all about the brilliant doctors, but it’s rather misleading, showing them hanging IV bags and doing blood draws and such. I bet half the doctors I see at the hospital I’m at couldn’t hang an IV bag without getting a saline shower.
Anyway, I’m please, at least, with the first 10 minutes or so of the episode. Gave me some good laughs and you gotta love a good crack at Canadians.
April 30th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
House clearly knew Wilson would tell Amber, who would then tell his team that he did not have syphilis.
I was really expecting the episode would end with him taking some penicillin in his office.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
“Syphilis antibody tests such as the VDRL are notorious for their false positives. That’s why you always run a confirmatory test such as the FTA-ABS, which was never done. For neurosyphilis, you should test the spinal fluid and not just the blood. Many different things can cause a false positive VDRL, not just Chagas Disease. The list includes HIV, Lupus and other autoimmune diseases, Lyme disease, mycoplasma, hepatitis, mononucleosis, and certain drugs.”
Ok, I’m sorry — it could have been Lupus and the writers’ didn’t pounce on the joke? I know that since it’s been Lupus by now it’s not supposed to be nearly as funny, but I would have appreciated the joke considering it’s been a few months since we last saw our Caned Defender.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Juan
That was exactly what I was thinking. That House is double-bluffing everybody. We know about his using of call-girls so STD would be in-character. Too bad it’s an American series, not an English one. No STD for leading characters in soap opera.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:28 am
I loved the Syphilis bit in the episode. Goes to show how devious House can be. By planting the blood sample in the lab where the team was testing Mr. Nice Guy’s blood. He got them all seriously concerned that he had Syphilis and that he would lose his brilliance if he was cured. He then told Wilson about him messing with the team’s minds and they both got a laugh.
Up to this point, the prank is a red herring.
When he told Wilson about it, he made Wilson swear not to say anything to Amber. Later, Amber struts into Mr Nice Guy’s room and tattles to the team that House didn’t have Syphilis and was scamming them. Obviously, Wilson told her. Kutner confronts House about it and says that Amber spilled the beans.
That proved to House that Wilson was more loyal to Amber than to him, as Wilson broke the promise he had made previously. That was the House’s objective all along. He let the team think that he had Syphilis so that if Amber did tattle, she had someone to tattle to who would then confront House. The whole Syphilis plot line was House’s attempt to determine where Wilson’s loyalties truly lie.
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Well, I was so happy to have House back that I am ready to forgive most anything.
Yeah, the medical mystery was pretty lame, but that was OK. I guess the real mystery for me was why such a cute nurse would be happily married to Jabba the Hut… but anyway…
I am tired of CTB already, but at least they made the by-play funny. I am hoping House ends up getting rid of her in a inventive way — the only thing that can salvage her. The fact that he told Wilson and he immediately blabbed to CTB should not go unpunished, I think.
My favorite part was the performance reviews, which unhappily was almost thrown away. I could have done with more on that…
Several funny lines throughout. I laughed my way through the whole episode.
“She saved his life” “Yes, or she’s a scab, depending on your point of view…”
In Cutty’s performance review: “And as for how the staff feels about her, well, they’re walking around outside carrying signs.” “They’ve been back to work for four shifts now.” “Really, you would have think I’d have noticed. What do they do around here anyway?”
Looking forward to next week…
May 4th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
The Canada line was funny - both for the (alleged) niceness of Canadians and for the putting-up with long waits in the ER.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:50 am
“VDRL, not just Chagas Disease. The list includes HIV, Lupus and other autoimmune diseases, Lyme disease, mycoplasma, hepatitis, mononucleosis, and certain drugs.”
I had a false positive for syphilis when I was 16 and donated blood — and as far as I know I’ve never had any of the above. I’m now 45 and have never been diagnosed with anything.
What else could cause a false positive?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Please note how House tells Taub not to use his marker but later in the show he willingly gives it to Kutner… I think House likes Kutner’s way of doing things.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:41 am
I am just catching up on the reviews and House episodes. I agree luc69, I think House likes Kutner and he is the best of the newbies. An earlier post remarked the intuitive flashes were out-of-character, but I don’t think so. Kutner was the first one to stand-up to House in the “get Cameron” strategy. Kutners seems oblivious to the power games — he’s just curious and interested in the puzzles. He had to have the power games mapped out for him. Very funny. I like Kutner!
May 19th, 2008 at 2:56 am
I appreciate your reviews. Keep up the good work.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
the best line ever:
House: I invited you because bowling isn’t one of the two things guys can do by themselves,
Chase: And what’s the second thing? {The first one is obvious:-)}
H: second hand
very housian, I’m surprised nobody commented on that;-)
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:52 pm
just got to see the episode for the first time now (we’re lagging way behind here in ireland) and got to agree, the medical stuff wasn’t overly impressive. the soap stuff, though… YAY! :-D house faking syphillis sure as hell made sense to me, for starters it fucked with his team’s minds, then it would have been a way of making them rethink their diagnosis, and then, yes, it was a good way of testing wilson’s loyalty (in his universe at any rate).
as for house’s disability and bowling, what’s the problem there? i couldn’t help but notice that his scores were crap because his ball kept diverting to the right. why? because he can’t put weight on his right leg, thus his balance is off and he can’t possibly throw the ball straight. on the whole, it all looked like a pretty accurate portrayal of the way someone with his problem would bowl.
actually, that was one of the rare occasions when they did deal with his disability in reasonably realistic terms, usually its effects are pretty much ignored bar the limp. in real life, anyone with his level of disability would need a few more accessibility adjustments than he’s actually using, for instance a grab handle by his bath tub. also, while he keeps bitching about his difficulties walking on snow and ice, i’ve never actually seen him have these difficulties, and that’s definitely twaddle; realistically he’d be struggling on any sort of slippery surface.
so - actually, hats off to the writers for giving an accurate portrayal of his cripple status almost for the first time ever.
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