House — Episode 18 (Season 5): “Here Kitty”
I thought this would be a good episode of House — the last couple have been pretty good — but I was mistaken. It was surprisingly boring and the medicine was hap-hazard and illogical as well.
Morgan, a thirty-five year-old nursing home nurse comes to see House in the hospital clinic complaining of frequent colds and feeling rundown. As she is asking for some tests to be run, she suffers a tonic-clonic seizure and becomes incontinent of green urine. House decides to admit her.
The team’s initial differential diagnosis consists of infection (especially Pseudomonas) or toxin exposure. House sends Taub and Kutner to search Morgan’s office where they find a bottle of methylthionium chloride (better known as “methylene blue“), a medication that can cause green urine. Taub suspects that she has Munchausen’s Syndrome and has been faking her symptoms. Rather than admit that Taub was right, House sends him off on a fool’s errand.
House now goes to see the Morgan and pretends to induce a photosensitivite seizure. He catches her faking a seizure and she realizes it. She admits that her symptoms were fake, but insists that she is really sick. She knows that she is sick because Debbie the nursing home cat came to sleep beside her. Debbie has a reputation for only sleeping next to people who are dying, so now Morgan is certain that she is at death’s door. House is unimpressed, but then she collapses outside his office, wheezing. Foreman declares that she has bronchospasm, which both House and Foreman agree cannot be faked.
The differential now consists of bronchitis, emphysema, or visceral larva migrans (infection with intestinal worms from the cat). House suspects the latter and has the team perform a bronchoscopy (looking down the lungs with a flexible fiberoptic camera) to find any worms. The test is negative, and so now the team considers acid reflux, allergic asthma, or a panic attack. House thinks the allergy idea is the most likely, so orders a methacholine challenge (a test which provokes asthma is the patient is asthmatic). The challenge test is negative, so Cuddy tells House the he has to discharge Morgan. He takes her out to the smoking area to talk about the dissolution of her marriage and death of her step-son. While there, he notices a rash and she begins to wheeze again. He has another nearby doctor diagnose her with bronchospasm then wheels her back into the hospital. He thinks she has Churg-Strauss Syndrome (a type of vasculitis more common in people with asthma) so starts her on steroids. Morgan now develops brown urine, but there is no evidence of kidney failure, liver failure, an intestinal fistula (an abnormal connection between the intestine and bladder), or blood in the urine. Foreman suggests that the urine only looks brown because it still has traces of green dye and something is making it purple, and purple + green = brown. House thinks this means she may have a Strep bovis infection from colon cancer (about 15% of colon cancers have a concurrent S. bovis infection. The exact relationship between the two is unclear). The team reminds him that her colonoscopy was normal. He orders a pill-cam (capsule endoscopy), which is also negative for cancer.
Kutner suggest that Morgan may have a skin cancer which has spread to her colon. House has him check her over for melanomas. He finds no skin cancers, but does find prominent spider veins on her back which weren’t there before. House now determines that she has Cushing’s Syndrome (Cushing’s is caused by elevated levels of cortisol in the body. This is most commonly caused by high levels of ACTH, a chemical that tells the body to make more cortisol. ACTH-secreting tumors can most commonly be found in the pituitary gland — part of the brain — or the adrenal glands near the kidneys. House is trying to determine which is the source of the ACTH.) An MRI is negative for a tumor in the adrenals or brain, and blood levels of ACTH are equivocal, so House wants Chase to sample the blood from within her brain to see if there are high levels of ACTH there. The surgery is completed, and Morgan is found to have slightly elevated levels of ACTH in her brain. Incidentally, she also suffered a cardiac arrest while in the operating room. House decides that the cause of her Cushing’s Syndrome is an ACTH secreting tumor in the pituitary. The symptoms can be controlled with medication, but surgery can correct the problem permanently. Chase tries to dissuade her from the surgery, but she decides to have it anyway.
About this time, House has his Eureka! moment of the week when the cat comes in to his office and plops down on his laptop. He realizes that Debbie likes warm places to sleep, so she lay down with patient with fever or those on a heating blanket. She chose to sleep next to Morgan because she was giving off heat due to a carcinoid tumor hiding in her appendix. House is able to stop the brain surgery in time — and presumably Morgan has her appendix and tumor removed.
A very blah episode of House. Basically a weak copy of the themes of House versus God, with much less exciting medicine. The best part was Taub’s side story, and that — like a car crash — was painful to watch but you couldn’t look away. Poor guy.
This episode did inspire me to develop Scott’s Sign: If the cardiac arrest occurs off-camera, it’s not going to be a good show.
Their really weren’t any huge medical errors this week, but there was a great deal of confusing medicine, leaps of logic, and poorly explained reasoning. Since I didn’t have any major complaints this week, I’ll just go with minor complaints in blue and nit-picking in green:
It always amuses me when House, a show about a physician which prides itself on finding the most obscure presentation of a particular disease, limits itself to only looking for the most common causes a condition knowing it must be one of them (in this case, it was Cushing’s Syndrome having to be from an ACTH-secreting tumor in either the brain or adrenals. Sure, they’re the most common, but many other more obscure causes are known and this show thrives on obscure.)
All her MRIs and CT scans and no one ordered a scan of the abdomen, which would have found the tumor.
The purple urine/Strep bovis infection is quite a stretch. Strep bovis is one of the possible culprits in PUBS (Purple Urine Bag Syndrome — a condition seen in catheterized patients), but the evidence is far from convincing.
House seemed to be saying the Cushing’s explained the brown urine (which, incidentally, I can find no information on), but the team also told him they tested for every cause of brown urine, which would presumably include Cushing’s. So did they test or not?
Labyrinthitis is only very rarely treated with antibiotics. It is not treated with the Dix-Halpike maneuver either — Benign Positional Paroxysmal Vertigo is (though, admittedly, they do have similar presentations)
The medical mystery wasn’t given a chance to be interesting, so only earns a B-. The final solution was slightly clever, but relies on too many missed opportunities earlier, so earns a B. While there was nothing hair-rendingly bad about the medicine this week, there was nothing remotely commendable either, and so it is awarded a strictly average C. The soap opera was disappointing as well. The Taub scenes were painfully good, but the rest was just goofy. I give it another B-.
Last week’s House review
A list of all prior House reviews
March 16th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
I actually really liked this episode of House. I thought it was a lot more fun, with finally some of the good witty comments it was missing.
“Hooray! You’re finally sick!”
“STOP IT DR. WILSON! It’s just not cute anymore!”
March 16th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I agree that this episode looked good but was disappointing.
But why did the coma patient the cat sat next to die? It doesn’t seem like there was any reason why he was giving off heat or under a heating blanket. Even if he was, presumably it wasn’t new, yet after a year and a half he dies within two days of the cat coming in.
Also, wasn’t really a fan of the pro-superstition message. Might have been nice for House to be around when she said life is only worth living if there’s a higher purpose. His arguments and reaction would be a little more interesting than Chase’s.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I thought they were going to make the cat have Toxoplasmosis.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Up already!? Wow, thanks a lot!
March 16th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I liked this episode, it’s the first one of House really being House in a long time. Caustic, funny, going to incredible lengths to annoy people, and great when combined with the new Wilson (Wilson Mk 2, now with backbone!). Spending a day in an exam room building a Goldbergesque shark jumping device, getting a ladder just to screw with Kutner – nice details.
Yes, the medicine was boring, but had the advantage of being less incorrect than usual. The autopsy scene was bad (masks and face guards are for wimps, and why would he start with what looks like a line straight down the sternum?).
The Taub storyline was interesting too, even if everyone knew it would backfire from the beginning.
This episode also gets an extra point for using my all time favourite Bond villain quote :-)
March 16th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I agree entirely that this was a disappointing episode. Does it really take a medical genius to figure out that cats like to sleep on warm surfaces? Such an weak ending!
March 16th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I am an archaeologist, all I know about medicine is well over 2000 years old so I can say I usually have no clue what is going on in that aspect. But I have owned well over 30 cats in my twenty some years and the whole thing with the cat only laying next to the patients who had fevers and heating pads…sorry but cats do not think like that. In fact I have noted that cats rarely come to people if they are cold lest it be freezing out, I fear that explanation fell into dead waters. Also, how would the cat know to come back to House’s office?
March 16th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
I thought Chase was better used this week than in recent episodes. By the way, where has Cameron been lately? I thought this show made a mistake to equivocate religion with some silly superstition about a cat. If this woman needs a magical cat to find meaning or higher purpose, she doesn’t sound very spiritually mature. Anyway, Scott is right. They have beaten this “House vs. God” thing to death in several episodes.
As far ar the explanation for the cat, that was not very satisfying. Like most things on house, this cat story is based on a real cat who made it into the news a few years ago:
http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/pet-sixth-sense.htm
Apparently, most experts think the cat was smelling chemicals that the patients’ bodies released right before they died. This explanation seems better than House’s.
March 16th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
It felt kind of unsatisfying, kind of “empty”. I personally wanted to see more of House ripping into the patient’s superstitions but that’s just me…
March 16th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Thanks for the reviews Scott.
The people who write the show must be running out of ideas for episodes. Now, they’re taking stories straight out of the news and just adding a little bit to it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6917113.stm
I wonder if this cat just likes heat as well.
March 17th, 2009 at 12:09 am
I used to work at a nursing home, and while we had one resident who owned a cat, I’m kinda dubious about a facility that had a cat (or any animal) that has free run of the place. For one thing, there’s too great a chance that a resident would have an allergy to the pet. Not to mention the potential fall risk such an animal would present. (Getting under foot or getting in the way of a resident who used a walker or a cane.) And if the pet was to suddenly become agitated and attack the resident, the facility would be open to charges of abuse and/or a lawsuit.
I could be wrong on that, though. I mean, some people do bring in their pets to visit someone at the home. But the animal is not allowed to roam free.
March 17th, 2009 at 1:56 am
IMPORTANT QUESTION :
During the opening credits , WHY is there a river shown for JEnnifer Morrison ?
Everyone else has their name appear against a background related to medicine .
I’ve searched the entire web , Google and Wikipedia .
NOBODY seems to know .
PLEASE , SOMEONE answer this .
I REALLY need to know .
Nice Review , Scott .
I thought it was a nice episode , not bad .
March 17th, 2009 at 2:29 am
When the patient collapsed the first time my first thought was: “Faking it!”. When she collapsed the second time (well not collapsed but heavy breathing and stuff) my first thought was: “Fake again!” So 50% guess I think is not bad for a House maniac like me but believe me when I say – until the very end I thought that it was some kind of scam that House will figure out in the end. I mean the patient was a nurse – why not sort of Munchhausen when she actually did it to herself to promote the miracle cat? It would have been a better idea for an episode like this – fraud instead of plain, old… something. Still I laughed at this episode LOL at moments and was pleased to see House pick up (finally!) on the fact that 13 and Foreman are jerking him around. What took him so long? May be we’ll see some action there in the next episode? Not much to say about the medicine – it seemed too plain for a show like HOUSE and with no visuals or dramatic turns anywhere. Halfway trough the episode as wasn’t curious anymore (and as I said I was convinced it was a fraud). I was also happy with the same old House vs God routine although some religious jobs here might say that superstition and faith are different things. Who am I to argue House? Am not and still pleased especially with the fact that the writers remembered to point out that when somebody swims in the lake of denial, nothing and I do mean NOTHING even drowning can get him out of there. House practically rubbed this woman’s nose in it and she still preferred to “believe”. Ah ignorance truly is bliss. OK nothing much to say about medicine except that House Foreman and now apparently Taub are becoming more and more psychic with every episode. Trouble breathing? Just one quick sweep with the stethoscope and we know – it’s a bronchospasm. Green urine? She must be a fake. The DD is now made within seconds of the symptom and without even looking at the patient. I mean it was OK for HOUSE it is a show about how brilliant he is but let’s have some reality check people…As for D-r Scott remark about the Cushings I thing that you were wrong here – thay tested for every reason (presumably Cushings too) but there was not enough evidence to suggest Cushings right? All the tests were inconclusive – which is why they didn’t know whether they should do the surgery right? It was the spider veins that suggested Cushing’s but blood works and ACTH never proved it. I agree though that Cushing’s has nothing to do with purple urine.
Apart for the “boredom” of the medicine the episode was good and watching House jerk Cutner and Taub around was hilarious. I think the soap opera was actually an A-.
March 17th, 2009 at 4:57 am
I suffer from Benign Positional Vertigo from time to time. It can not be cured that quickly. It can not even be diagnosed that quickly. It can be cured by Epley or Dix-Halpike but you need to diagnose with quick turns of the head and watching of the eyes and then treatment.
March 17th, 2009 at 4:58 am
I don’t find it too surprising that this is based on a real life news story. The writers probably thought it was an interesting concept and wanted to run with it. And it is an interesting concept (at the very least, it’s one that has potential to be interesting), in my opinion. Unfortunately, it definitely did not make for an interesting episode of House. The medical stuff was very boring; I think the reason you didn’t find any major errors in your review was because nothing major really happened. And did they really say that the cat cuddled up to the dying patients solely for warmth, or did I just doze off and miss an important part? Could they not think of some more interesting way to explain why the cat was part of the show at all? (on a related note, shouldn’t the guy with the extreme cat allergy be the warmest of the bunch by far?)
On the bright side, I am enjoying Kutner more and more as I slowly stop thinking of him as Dr. Kumar. I’m glad he played a more prominent role, but his last line was weird. Is he insinuating that he pissed on the chair himself? Isn’t it pretty hard to confuse cat urine with the human variety? Minor point I guess, and it’s just nice to see him play into House’s game.
Taub’s side story should have been decent but it was a little too compressed. They could have made the scam artist twist a little more surprising if they spent a bit more time fleshing out a relationship there. The minimal information that we’re presented with on the scam artist doesn’t exactly leave it as a big shock when we hear that he’s been arrested. Taub didn’t even invest, nobody’s situation changed, so what’s the point of the story? Perhaps just that he’s unhappy with House?
This episode felt far too “modular” or self-contained and didn’t advance any part of the season’s storylines. I hope that the writer responsible for the last episode (17) is used more often for the upcoming shows- it was disappointing to see this week’s episode after last week’s great one.
March 17th, 2009 at 5:16 am
I share House’s frustration regarding superstitious and religious people. To me, the best part of the episode was House’s attempt to knock some reason into the woman’s head. It always amazes me (as it does House) how superstitious and religious people cling to their beliefs even in the face of a thousand counter-examples. It’s almost a lost cause and it’s painful to witness.
Case in point, the last conversation House had with the woman, where she refuses to accept any logical reasoning and claims that the cat chose that precise moment to land on his laptop because the cat has some special powers after all. For once, I relished House’s condescending and insulting response (”You’re an idiot!”) because, frankly, she deserved to hear exactly those words.
March 17th, 2009 at 5:33 am
I remember laughing more than being interested in the show this week.
House did and said some pretty funny stuff, but it was almost too much, you know? Like, too many silly things going on in one episode for there to even be a chance for some good medicine and mysteries.
Also, did anyone else recognize how fast this woman recovered? She did have surgery right? It felt like she had surgery then the next day she was like “Oh, well I’m off to continue my life, thanks for saving me AND calling me an idiot four or five times, House. Golly you’re swell.”
March 17th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Am I the only one who enjoyed this episode? It was funny and not boring at all. Maybe it’s because I don’t really care that much about the medicine, but medicine aside, I loved the eppy!
March 17th, 2009 at 6:50 am
The whole House vs. God theme is getting very old. They also didn’t consider another pretty obvious explanation of the cat mystery – since people near the cat tended to die, maybe the cat is the cause of death.
I’m still waiting for someone to knee House in the groin…his hi-jinx are just way over the top this season. Spitting juice on an employee? That’s an ass-whuppin’
March 17th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Taub getting scammed was great.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:11 am
I was flipping between this and TBBT/HIMYM (paying more attention to the two sitcoms than this). But, Chase! In three scenes! And he was relevant in one! That made me happy.
When this episode comes up on Hulu, I’ll watch it, but it seems to me like House is really not the same show it was. It seems like everyone’s getting bored on it. The writing has gone flat.
It’s sad.
Kat
March 17th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Another Monday, another evening left scratching my head.
Over the weekend, I have the pleasure and privilege of… popping Season 1 of “House” on DVD into my PS3 and boy, was it pure gold! From the odd orange skin tones of the pilot, to what is still IMO the greatest episode ever – Maternity (01.04) – continuing on with Ed Vogler buying his post as chairman of the board and attempting to run Princeton-Plainsboro as a “business, our product being good health,” Chase’s strained and poignant relationship with his dad, on to Cameron’s first “date” with House at the monster truck rally, and so on and so forth, it’s easy to see why this show won over viewers, critics, and medical professionals alike. The Season 1 DVD box set was a sad reminder of what “House” used to be, and even more so, what it no longer is.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Huh. So this was what my co-worker was probably talking about when they started discussing “the uncanny ability for cats to lie beside people about to die”. Me, I chimed in with the comment that cats are naturally predators and scavengers who have been known to consume dead owners when lacking other food and that it’s probably a natural instinct of “this meat is about to die. Best to eat it before it spoils.”
March 17th, 2009 at 8:01 am
First time commenter lurking around this site for nearly a year now…
I liked the humour in this episode. But I honestly thought the cat would prove to be a much greater cause of mystery than it turned out to be. I have to say I got kind of disappointed with that… otherwise, I really enjoyed seeing Jesse Spencer back in a few scenes (which were relevant! hooray!) because I really miss the old House cast (even though Foreman’s still in, the whole Foreteen thing got on my nerves something mad).
Thanks for your review! I always come here after every episode, in case I missed something when the team’s doing their usual diagnostic routine. I’ve yet to be disappointed by your reviews (unlike some episodes this season…).
March 17th, 2009 at 8:02 am
No mention of Oscar the cat (http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/4/328/)?
March 17th, 2009 at 8:20 am
My cat is going to the Office with me. How much should I bill the patients insurance for the CAT SCAN?
Do you have a fever Ms. Smith? Oh wait, Tabby will let us know!
Really I wanted the Nurse (Morgan) to be an Angel of Death that was killing the patients to promote the cat’s special powers.
The cat should have been black. And Debbie is a dumb name for a cat.
March 17th, 2009 at 8:23 am
You guys just can’t accept the fact that the show has changed. But why not? Change is good. I’ve enjoyed season 5 so far. Well, maybe that’s because I don’t really care if the medicine’s good or bad, but you guys obviously do..I understand. It also seems that people are unhappy with what’s going on besides POTW and medicine. I really don’t know why. I think the show has always been and still is very clever and funny. I also enjoy the relationships..especially the one between House and Cuddy. It’s Huddy, right? =) And this episode was also excellent.
March 17th, 2009 at 8:37 am
A minor error: when House says, “No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die!”, 13 says something about Blofeld never smoking cigars.
But House’s quote was originally spoken by Goldfinger.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:09 am
I’ll agree with the other poster.
Perhaps the writers are acknowledging that they too feel that the series has jumped the shark. They’ve got House doing it. (or almost doing it).
That wasn’t accidental.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:09 am
OK, all you guys who’ve been saying for three years that House has finally jumped the shark…now you can truly say it! Methinks the writers just got in a little jab at you.
March 17th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Scott, why are you so interested in soap opera? I really don’t think that’s important on a show like this…LOL
March 17th, 2009 at 9:29 am
@ HBK :
Apparently you have missed it in the Wikipedia page for House, it’s explained right under the “opening credits section” with link to the interview of Katie Jacobs :
“Some images we initially wanted to use included a shot of a cane and one of a bottle of Vicodin. The network was not on board with those two choices and requested that we replace them. As a result the image with Jennifer Morrison’s name became the shot of rowers on a river — we needed another shot.”
March 17th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I finished reading an article about appendix carcinoma and I have to pick the bones of the writers a bit more now:
Appendix cancers have some symptoms that cannot go unnoticed just like so, namely peritoneal seeding (which basically means that the tumor infiltrates the peritoneal cavity on some level). This on the other hand leads to accumulation of blood or mucus in the abdominal cavity. Both are easily noticeable on the physical examination (fluid in the abdomen pain and compression on the other organs there) The patient never even once said “my tummy hurts!” right? Also when they checked for cancers with the pill camera and the scopes they probably checked for TPM (tumor protein markers)? Just a thought… And Wilson must be an idiot for not ordering a CT scan of the abdomen (well he is the oncologist he should know…)
March 17th, 2009 at 10:17 am
You wrote “They’re really weren’t any huge medical errors this week.” It should be “there.” They’re/there/their confusion always bothers me…
March 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am
The whole cat plot was fantastic. Just couple things I don’t quite get:
1. Is fever really the sign of inevitable, imminent death, and are all people with electric blankets doomed to die very soon?
2. One might think that after all those centuries some might finally invent a device for measuring body temperature, so doctors don’t need to rely on cats. Anyway, if some invents such magic artefact, I already have an extremely cool name for it: a thermometer.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Wagner, I agree with you. This was essentially a replay of “Faithless” with a cat standing in for Jesus as the presenting source of superstition. I don’t mind them exploring these themes–hell, I RELISH it. And I don’t mind statements such as the one by blonde English surgeon what’s-his-name about prayer belonging in the waiting room but not in the OR (I don’t see any harm whatever to praying in a waiting room–it often gives humans something useful-feeling to do while they wait for results). But I do hate the obligatory red meat consistently tossed to the superstitious. Just once couldn’t something obviously irrational just end up BEING irrational without having someone turn a contrived coincidence of some kind into a miracle or sign or some other metaphysical nonsense? The most positive thing I can think of to say about that kind of timid and dishonest writing is that it is probably just meant to make obvious to the viewer the process that all religious and other superstitious people use, which is to find or imagine a pattern that confirms their irrational commitments. But I would love to see, just once, superstition shown for exactly what it is: a coping mechanism because we cannot easily accept that reality is indifferent to our fates. There is no master plan, no beneficent intervention. That is why we need the medical genius of a Dr. House, the compassion of just about everyone else on the show, and the very human will on the part of patients to live.
But I also wished that just once on “The X -Files” it would have turned out to be a Scooby-Doo style hoax, and the elderly owner of a roadside attraction would have complained that he would have gotten away with his crazy scheme, too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling FBI agents. So don’t go by me.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I loved this episode.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Hello again, Greg. Now don’t get me started again… ;-)
I’m not sure I can even agree with you that the whole cat thing was completely irrational and superstitious. It was shown that the cat sought warmth, which was often associated with patients with a fever or patients under a heating blanket (or laptops!), which in a senior facility often correlated to patients about to die. In other words, the cat had no supernatural knowledge of impending death, but the thing the cat sought (for a very logical, rational reason) happened to correlate to a higher risk of dying among the elderly (again for rational reasons). Thus the appearance that the cat was predicting the deaths. There was in fact a connection, but it wasn’t direct or supernatural.
Obviously the lady’s fear that she was dying because the cat lay down next to her was irrational, but it turned out to have a rational component to it. She was ill, produced heat, and thus attracted the cat. Since she wasn’t elderly, she didn’t die as a result of her illness, but she very well could have had the cat not tipped House off that something was wrong. And it all is very logical and rational, although it may not appear that way when you don’t see the connections in the middle, and jump right from the cat to the deaths (which is where House was at the beginning of the episode).
March 17th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
“Yeah… a cat…” -Kutner
Me = on the floor
March 17th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
This episode of House was good, it made me laugh and it also made feel sorry (taub) and the cherry on top grossed me out with the ending. Overall good episode and I do not mind the medical mystery to be as it was because I don’t know about that stuff, I’m not a doctor.
Favorite show and I miss Cameron.
March 17th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Hi! Does anyone else think the cat was computer generated?
March 17th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Oh come on John H stop playing stupid! I’m pretty sure that what irritated Greg the most, was the end conversation between the patient and M-r logic D-r House, with hte patient managing somehow to turn the rational explanation (the same one you so shrewdly outlined!) into an act of god. And I have already ranted enough about how you can rub the nose of that kind of people into reality and they’ll still see divine intervention left, right and middle. And if you allow me to make a House impression from my own all time favored episode “Don’t ever change”: No it’s not (what is irritating here…) And you know it’s not… You know quite well what is bugging Greg (and me) so stop playing stupid. BTW in this particular case I thought you’d be ticked as well – after all the nurse is basing her fears on a CAT (not God or religion or anything even remotely close to the actual christian FAITH) and to find the answer and escape death she fakes symptoms, so that she can be checked by the greatest non-believer-in-anything D-r House. Was that Hypocritical or what? I mean come on – that is what made me laugh the most – the way that nurse actually searched for the truth – with a bottle of pills in one hand and a Promo video tape in the other…
March 17th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
I’m not terribly surprised that this episode received a fairly negative review. This was a comedy-heavy episode with House and Kutner’s antics completely overshadowing the medical mystery, which isn’t a bad thing, just different. I thought the episode was great, and I too felt terrible for Taub.
March 17th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Hello, John H my new old friend. If I’d seen that you’d posted more comments on the “Faithless” episode, I would have responded because you’re just so wrong. Wink wink.
Actually, in this case you are mistaken, but it’s my fault for not having been more clear. It was the statement that the coincidence of the cat just happening to hop up onto the laptop to warm itself when it did was some how magically significant that I’m referring to. Almost ALL of House’s big “a-ha” moments are precipitated by some coincidental inspiration, but this time we were treated to a comment that made it seem as though there was something mystical or metaphysical about the cat choosing to warm itself when it did. My request is that sometimes a coincidence just be allowed to be a coincidence. Of course it’s always possible to “find” deeper meaning in absolutely anything. But that meaning, or sense of it, resides in us, not in external reality. And what’s wrong with that?
March 17th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Scott, I wondered about this too :
“All her MRIs and CT scans and no one ordered a scan of the abdomen, which would have found the tumor.”
D-r Bulgaria – Wilson was not the attending. He knew about the patient because it appeared the team was complaining about House’s behavior.
March 17th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Didn’t anyone else manage to both cringe and guffaw (in shock) at the same time when House took Death Cat to the pediatric cancer ward? They also led up well to this very dark humor scenario, rather subtly: all you saw was Oncology spelled backwards on the glass when House walked through the doors.
One of the kids says something snarky to House, to which he replies, “My, aren’t you feisty,” and attempts to hand Death Cat over to the bathrobe-wearing kid before Wilson enters and suggests they go elsewhere. My husband said, “Ow, I don’t believe the networks let them keep that one in there.”
March 17th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
i don’t understand , house make her fake a seizure and then raise her hand and drop it, how does that prove that she is faking it?
March 17th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Official Comment
In a patient who is truly not in control of their body (coma, seizure, unconscious, etc.), the hand will hit their face.
Patients who are faking will stop the hand before it hits the face, or have it land just to the side of the face.
March 17th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I actually liked this episode because house was more like house. I thought it really had some great moments in there. Such as the House/Wilson/cat bit.
Although I do think it was a little extreme of Kutner to pee on his chair ( although that’s confusing since I’m pretty sure cat pee smells different then human pee) . I mean that just seems a little unbalanced.
March 17th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I was most certainly not computer generated. I was generated the old fashioned way…
March 17th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
“No, Mr Bond, I expect you to die!”
was actually spoken by Mr. Goldfinger (Gerd Fröbe) during the famous scene when Bond had a laser near his “privates” :
“I do not intend to be distracted by another. Good night, Mr Bond.”
“Do you expect me to talk?”
“No, Mr Bond! I expect you to die!”
March 17th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
The carcinoid tumor was hiding in her appendix? A bronchial carcinoid tumor would make more sense because it has the highest rate of eptopic ACTH syndrome (Cushing’s). Also, 0.5-2.0% of small-cell lung carcinomas cause that too … This could have explained the bronchospasms, which i think were just forgotten (right?). ACTH secreting tumors in the appendix do happen, but prolly only in case reports (which is House’s forte). Did they do an iodocholesterol scan or a dexamethasone suppression test? That prolly would have been a more prudent way to differentiate the Cushing’s etiology than cutting into her head (but i know they loooooove to do this on House). Also, cat lady is supposed to have all the symptoms of cushing’s except the central/facial obesity? Seems like spider veins is all she’s got (no petechia, bruising, hypertension, amenorrhoea). Either the medicine is super weak or I am super dumb.
In grade school ART glass, we learned that RED + green = brown which made me immediately think hematuria & all it’s wonderful causes (nephrolithiasis, rifampin like Cynthia Nixon’s Munchausen character, pyelonephritis, etc.). But apparently blood is more likey to turn purple than red (to make brown) at PPTH.
P.S. I love Taub. His epic fail made me sad.
-Pharmacy Student
March 17th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
When Chase is telling the patient about the pituitary surgery he said that it’s brain surgery. I have a pituitary adenoma. I’ve discussed the surgery options with the surgeon at Mass General. They go in through the nose and punch a hole in the back of the sinus. While not great – not really brain surgery.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Responding to HBK:
I’ve always had a theory about why all the names in the opening credits appear with a particular background. I came up with this after the first season. Here it goes for all of you:
1.) Hugh Laurie – First name listed and full shot of head, brain, and face because he’s the star of the show.
2.) Lisa Edelstein – Veins/capillaries because she’s the one who always gets under House’s skin and thwarts most of his plans.
3.) Omar Epps – Chest x-ray because he was the most emotional of the original team. Think of all the times he loudly and vocally confronted House’s logic and decisions.
4.) Robert Sean Leonard – Brain because he’s head of the Oncology Dept. and House’s best friend, plus they usually seem to share the same thinking/logic.
5.) Jennifer Morrison – Beautiful scenery for the most beautiful female TV doctor ever!!! Remember what House says in the very first episode? “I hired you because you are extremely pretty. It’s like having a nice piece of art in the lobby.”
6.) Jesse Spencer – Spine because he’s tough and keeps his emotions in. Look how long it took him to shed a tear for his dad in Season 1.
7.) David Shore – Just for the hell of it, a headless body with his name on top because without him, the show wouldn’t exist.
So yes, people, for 4 years now I’ve strongly believed that the choices made in the opening credits as far as matching names with backgrounds weren’t by accident, but rather with heavy symbolism in mind.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I’m pretty oblivious to the science/medicine side. I totally enjoyed the subtle pinging back and forth amongst the team. Including 13’s reactions in the background. It was fun! And subplots – I thought the Taub scam was pretty good, and probably close to reality.
I don’t agree it was a straight religion vs. science story. What the nurse and Kutner were exhibiting was superstition, and misuse of religion as superstition. There IS a difference. Right?
March 17th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
You asked “During the opening credits , WHY is there a river shown for Jennifer Morrison ?”
The answer is “The rest of the stars are all about the medicine, the puzzle, the solution, or contrasting House. Cameron (played by Jennifer) is about the big picture, the meaning for why medicine matters in people’s ethical and emotional lives.”
March 17th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
How is worshiping a rabbi who lived in Judea 2000 years ago any more of a rational decision than worshiping any given cat?
For that matter, what particularly makes an adopted Egyptian prince, an illiterate businessman, an Indian prince, or a few Chinese sages in various royal courts any more reliable witnesses to god’s plans/objects of worship/enlightenment than, once again, any given cat?
These writers need to move away from the Christians for a while. I think the cat was a good start – I mean, as far as objects of worship go, cats do the job halfway for you by more or less demanding worship. Here’s my thoughts for next season:
House vs. Allah (a patient mysteriously comes out of a coma in order to pray towards Mecca on the first day of Ramadan)
House vs. Confucius (a patient contracts a deadly illness after disobeying his father)
House vs. Joseph Smith? (a polygamists’ wives all suffer different symptoms)
House vs. Quetzalcoatl? (A Mexican priest gets drunk and sleeps with a virgin nun, only to experience burning sensations)
House vs. Vishnu (patient with five different personalities, and traces of vestigial limbs)
March 17th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Why has house drastically reduced his pill popping?
March 17th, 2009 at 11:35 pm
David you just made me laugh harder than House did this entire season. Great ideas – all of them. Just remembered that House once had a Mormon under his orders – it was plain hilarious but it would have been even funnier if he actually hired him. Could you imagine all these religion centric episodes + a Mormon? With House commenting. Boy my stomach begins to hurt from the uncontrollable giggle :):):):)
March 17th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
I think this episode was the calm before the storm. Read some spoilers and things are gonna get out of hand soon. Brace yourselves…
March 18th, 2009 at 6:12 am
House vs Cthulhu!
March 18th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Munchausen Syndrome: Apparently, a devastating illness wherein patients have an irresistible urge to munch House. Or so one would presume by listening to how the cast pronounces it.
Isn’t there a single person in the production team and cast who’s heard of, say, Baron Munchausen? Or who’s familiar with the role of the ever so mysterious umlaut?
March 18th, 2009 at 8:41 am
I really wished the laptop would die after the cat sat on it.
One of the things that does bug me about this stuff is that (TV conventions aside) there’s really no reason why House has to come up with an explanation for everything in each episode. Sometimes it takes years to understand the workings of a particular phenomenon; why can’t they leave a mystery unsovled and return to it later in the series?
wg
March 18th, 2009 at 9:12 am
I think the writers put the shark-jumping in there as a plea for us to stop watching. They don’t have any new ideas and have just been rehashing the old ones over and over, throwing in unconvincing relationships whenever they need to fill time.
March 18th, 2009 at 9:38 am
I love how they intentionally allude to other shows the actors have appeared in. Like Lisa Edelstein, who played a transsexual on Ally McBeal and Olivia Wilde, who was a bisexual teenage girl on the OC.
In this episode, the actress who plays Morgan (Judy Greer) also starred as a crazy secretary called “Kitty” on Arrested Development. Ironic, isn’t it?
March 18th, 2009 at 10:20 am
garberpog, I would say the difference is between thread and cloth. A superstition is like a thread. And a religion is more like a tapestry.
But in any event the emperor has no clothes.
March 18th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Is anyone else getting tired of the members of the new team quitting/being fired every other week? The old team was a lot more interesting than the new one (though I do find Kutner entertaining) and I’d love it it they could find a way to bring the old team back. So, I always find myself hoping that this time the quitting/firing will stick.
March 18th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Also, House’s rationalization of the cat thing doesn’t make sense: the cat chose sicker people because they were warmer… because of heating blankets? Doctors out here, tell me: is it a sign you’re dying when you receive a heating blanket?!
March 18th, 2009 at 10:48 am
So the magic cat is still magic for all we know ;)
March 18th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Well, I didn’t expect this episode to be so negatively reviewed!
Honestly, I’m in medicine too, but instead of being annoyed about the technicalities I rather enjoyed the fact that House was House again. Maybe… Maybe you just don’t like a kitten ;), but I certainly squeeled everytime that cute cat was on screen. And another thing, House really did feel light again, not that personal drama (except fot Taub, but… yeah) making it heavy to digest… just nice banter and pranks… like the good old days
In my opinion, if you’re really annoyed about medical things not being correct; stop watching a show like that, it’ll probably always have some errors. I usually ignore most medical stuff (unless it’s completly unrealistic, like Grey’s Anatomy… stopped watching that, ‘cus of it) just because I really want to enjoy House’s snarky-ness :)
March 18th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I’m just gonna say it: I was really hoping that Taub was actually leaving, and that this was the start of the entire new team leaving and the return of the OLD team! Man I loved getting to see Chase in the show again. I miss Cameron.
lol @ the computer generated cat. I love coming here and reading all the discussion just as much as the show itself.
March 18th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
LOVED THIS EPISODE!!!(regardless of the review Dr Scott gave,which I think is a bit harsh for this episode(said with all due respect))
Clinic sessions are back even though its just to introduce a character this episode.As mentioned earlier by many,change is good.We can’t expect to see the things we loved from season 1 now simply because it’s not season 1 anymore.On the same note,so what if House doesn’t retell a story in his head like he did in Three Stories or another Vogler is going to take over the hospital or he gets seriously injured?Been there,done that,so kudos to the writers for attempting to bring some new stuff into the series though I admit they made some mistakes(Fourteen???)BTW,there’s talk about one of the characters breaking off and getting his/her own show!!WOOT!I bet it’s Wilson or Taub.Also,dunno if I heard this correctly,but did House say “I don’t think the changes they made in American Idol really work for me?”
March 18th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
I really thought they were going to go in a different direction with this episode — I had thought that this was going to be the nurse that Taub had had an affair with, hence his aversion to treating her at the beginning of the episode. Glad to see an episode that focused on him, though.
March 18th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
The whole thing with the cat just looking for warmth felt a little anticlimactic to me. Why did no one else figure that out? Also, presumably the people at the nursing home probably put plenty of people under heating blankets and they didn’t die. Did the cat not visit them or did the nursing-home workers just not notice? Taub getting conned, however, was awesomely fun.
March 18th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Sorry Scott, I have to go with the people who enjoyed the episode, I thought it was one of the best of the generally weak season.
(Probably because of almost no Foreteen-time this episode!)
I’m proud to say I actually called ’scam’ right away when the old classmate-turned-CEO showed up for Taub, even before the foreshadowing by House (I have go conduct business with the deposed Prince of Nigera, a nod to ‘419′ fraud. (go to http://www.419eater.com for information on this, and some incredibly funny stories of people reverse-scamming the scammers.)
Not a huge Taub fan, and the scam was pretty full of holes, but I liked the way it was presented, as well as the medical story this week.
March 18th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Hi,
This has nothing to do with this episode (I just picked the most recent review). I’ve seen most episodes of House, but I somehow missed finding out exactly what is wrong with House’s leg. Would it be okay for you to do a synopsis of what is ailing House? I do remember one episode where they showed his upper leg – and it didn’t look good. Did the writers ever reveal how his problem developed?
Cheers, and keep up the good work.
March 18th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Yeah, in my limited experience, nursing homes are kept very highly heated and have a lot of people under blankets (not sure about electric ones, suspect incontinence might make that a fire hazard). How much hotter would the feverish have to be to draw the cat?
I remember the original death-cat story, and agree it could probably smell something different on the dying patients – the RL cat, by all accounts, only lies down next to people about 4 hrs before they die, and doesn’t particularly like the living. The real mystery is why he likes the smell of failing organs – none of the other cats in the hospice do. (Maybe someone died the day he was brought to the hospice, and he imprinted.)
March 19th, 2009 at 3:33 am
ADJ I simply cannot believe that you watched so much House but you missed the one episode that has won an Emmy award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series “Tree stories”. It is Season One episode 21 and I do hope nobody actually answers your question cuz it will ruin it for you. Just watch it the whole thing with the leg is explained there along with many other things such as why House and the love of his life are not together or why he is who he is (actually the leg just raised his personallity to another level).
March 19th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Two straight episodes now with no animations…BOOOOOO!!!!!!! :(
As an addendum to “Scott’s Sign” no animation=sub par show as well!!
March 19th, 2009 at 7:46 am
I agree with Rooster and the rest of the posters who thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Scott needs to take a day off, get some sunshine and fresh air, smell the flowers, and loosen up a tad. Television eats its young–everybody knows that. This series is still so much sharper and hipper and quicker and funnier than anything else on American cable (except maybe The Simpsons) that it smacks of ingratitude to rip it to pieces over every medical imperfection and script lapse. These guys are still the sharpest monkeys in the typing pool, even if every episode isn’t Shakespeare.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
ADJ: The leg is explained pretty well in the episode “Three Stories”, which I think was in season 1. So if you want you can look up Scott’s synopsis of that episode. But basically, there was a clot that cut off blood supply to House’s leg, causing muscle to die. House’s ex-gf, Stacy, decided to have the dead tissue removed while House was under an induced coma, offered as a middle ground between cutting off the leg, or keeping the leg and likely dieing from the pain.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:08 am
scott: i think there actually is a consensus behind the s. bovis connection to colon cancer: with mucosal damage in colon cancer, commensal s. bovis can gain access to the bloodstream. also explains why s. bovis endocarditis is also associated with ibd, not just colon cancer.
March 20th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
@David:
I think House focuses so much on Christian religions because House (the character) was probably raised as a Christian. The majority of citizens in the US identify with a Christian religion and probably aren’t too familiar with other “exotic” religions, so if it were House vs. Quetzalcoatl, there would be a lot of people scratching their heads saying “huh?” Christianity is something we all know about in the USA. Hinduism and Krishna, not so much. I agree with what you are saying though, only trying to provide some insight.
@ Scott:
Thank you for explaining the brown urine thing. I thought brown urine might have had something to do with blood, but then I realized that yellow and red make orange! Wouldn’t the color of blood “dominate” the color of urine anyway?
March 20th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Two straight episodes now with no animations…BOOOOOO!!!!!!! :(
Except for the cat. 8^)
And the funniest moment for me was when House was doing the Bond-inspired commentary and the cat’s tail whacks House right in the face. I think it’s a testament to Laurie’s acting skills that he kept on without breaking up and causing a re-shoot of the scene. There was a great expression on his face.
March 21st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
The most disappointing part is how much they’re making House relent on his (correct) condemnations of moronic belief systems.
“Maybe he just gave them something to live for.”
Fucking hell, lady.
The correct response to bullshit like that is “It’s criminally moronic to place a person like you in the position of medical responsibility for others, dead son or not.”
March 21st, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Reading the last couple of posts about nurse “Wannabelieve” I just realized something – she needs to believe that the cat has magical powers and condemns people to death if she approaches them. Now what kind of a sick person you need to be to actually want that because you are sad and looking for “Meaning”. I can’t believe I’m saying that but she actually needs a priest to explain to her some basics about irrational believes – she needs to learn the rules to being a “Believer”. Otherwise she might as well start her own religion – Cat the almighty, the ruler of Death! Bow down before him or He will smite you by sleeping next to you!
March 22nd, 2009 at 5:24 am
Still watch and kinda love House, but old seasons and team were the series I really fell in love with. According to the spoilers someone´s gonna die at the end of this season. Really curious who cause it´s supposed to make House suffer (again). I´ve found a pattern in the season finales: odd seasons=something uncomfortable happens to House, even seasons=House almost dies. So what I´m supposed to get ready to?
1. I didn´t really get the diagnosis (again), neither the a-ha moment, but those I ususally don´t get:-/
2. Another Cameron-free ep.
3. Cuddy never goes home to see her baby??? She seems to spend all her time in PPTH babysitting House.
4. Taub´s side plot didn´t impress me. I don´t care about his personal life at all.
March 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Just curious as to how the scam got played out. I know that Taub wanted to work for the “C.E.O.” but I don’t get how it got to the point where Taub was going to pay him ridiculous amounts of money.
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Jay, the scam artist pulled the oldest trick in the book.
First, he told Taub he was interested in hiring Taub (”I need a guy like you.”) and showed off “his” office after buying Taub dinner.
Then, when Taub wanted to take him up on his job offer (near the middle of the episode), the con man said that he couldn’t afford to hire Taub right now.
Because Taub was desperate for a chance to upgrade his lifestyle, Taub suggested that maybe he could invest his money with the con man.
The con man initially said, “No, there’s a 2 million dollar minimum for entry-level investors.” After Taub pleaded with the con man, the con man “graciously” decided to let Taub invest despite Taub not having the “required” 2 million dollars.
The best way to get someone’s money is to specifically not ask for it and pretend you don’t want it. That’s how Bernie Madoff was able to get so much money. After seeking out potential clients, he never asked them for money; his potential clients asked him to take their money.
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Remember the last scene, with Taub in the office looking at Deathcat? I predict Taub will die, or almost die, or try to commit suicide.
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:39 am
Three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. Green = blue + yellow. Brown = red + blue + yellow. Purple + green will make brown. So will red and orange. To conclude that purple was needed was an incorrect conclusion that improperly ruled out causes of red or orange urine. I know nitrofuran turns urine orange, because my wife takes it for urinary tract infections.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I was really hoping it’d be caused by the cat… but that’s a little simplistic, for House, anyway.
Poor Taub. I don’t like the guy much, but he can’t seem to not get screwed, can he?
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Good episode. Especially enjoyed the ‘upskirt’ camera shot of Lisa Edesteins incredible legs. Her ass is pretty too.
:)
Interestingly calling someones belief ’superstitious’ is actually quite derogatory in the first place – ‘The word is often used pejoratively to refer to supposedly irrational beliefs of others, and its precise meaning is therefore subjective. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings.
Words[1] and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval[2] or contempt. When used as an adjective, pejorative is synonymous with derogatory, derisive, dyslogistic, and contemptuous. When used as a noun, pejorative means “a belittling or disparaging word or expression”.’
Just thought I’d add to the Religion/Spirituality vs Superstitions thing.
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
@Frederike: I don’t think it was that negatively reviewed. There are plenty of episodes (especially in Season 4) that Scott reviewed as much worse. It’s just run of the mill, more so than the last couple of episodes.
As a non-medical-professional type, I found the episode a little silly, but not altogether illogical, and illogic bugs me more than medical errors. I usually gloss over things like pleural effusion vs edema because honestly, the name of something doesn’t really make it through to me. But if the team makes some kind of hasty conclusion, that’s more annoying.
But overall, I find that some of the commenters here–not Scott, because he’s basically maintained a pretty level perspective on the show, which I think he’s said he still enjoys (otherwise why continue reviewing it)–have sort of ventured into “uphill both ways in the snow” territory with how the show used to be so much better than it is now. I don’t see that; it seems “shockier” than it used to be–maybe in order to attract viewers to a “House like you’ve never seen before–but not dramatically worse. And with the first three seasons (soon to be four) on DVD, I like to think I’m pretty familiar with the entire run.
I still watch “House” regularly, as well as “Numb3rs”–a show that I think has gotten quite a bit worse, at least in terms of the mathematics on the show. Since that’s much closer to my field of expertise, I was tempted for a while to do a blog like Scott does here for “House,” but I don’t think I could hack it. I wrote up a similar post on a recent episode that involved an AI program and the Turing Test, and it just sucked it out of me, it was such a disappointing episode. Maybe it’s because you’re writing about a better show, Scott, but I honestly don’t know how you do it!
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:07 pm
HBK:
WP: “Originally, the producers of the show wanted to use shots of a cane and of a Vicodin bottle, but FOX did not agree with those, this resulting that, as a replacement, Jennifer Morrison’s name has a shot of rowers on a lake in the background.”
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_md#Opening_sequence
March 24th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Young doctors learn bad habits from TV medical dramas.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1419824
March 24th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Does somebody know why did the FOX postponed the next episode twice now?
March 25th, 2009 at 10:13 am
This is my fav show
March 27th, 2009 at 5:54 am
how did Kutner got away with the urine thing? Does it smell like cat urine? and that House just walked away? I don’t understand. and sorry for being stupid, what sort of superstition has to do with umbrella, spilled salt, and a leader at the door?
March 27th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I have BPPV and was sort of excited to see it on the show, since a lot of people think it’s something I’ve made up.
March 27th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I nearly fainted when I heard Chase say he wasn’t a neurosurgeon. There was actually something that the didn’t learn in his apparently endless residency.
Oh, and on the superstitions, not sure what areas they’re common in, but it’s considered bad luck to walk under a ladder, open an umbrella indoors, and spill salt in most English-speaking countries.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I enjoyed the fact that House’s character is finally developing again. They overdid the superstition by a lot, cramming it down your throats the whole episode – but the very first thing that happened was House jumping a car over a shark.
March 30th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
What I thought was funny was that when they said what mixes with green to make brown. . . purple. Actually, the simple answer is red or magenta since they are opposite green on the color wheels. I am sure Green, Purple will make a brown (esp. when mixed with yellow) – but it isn’t usually the answer you automatically think of.
Side Note: I couldn’t figure out what Kutner said when he said “yeah. . . a cat” until reading the comments. Eew. Two things wrong with that – none of them have owned a cat, or they wouldn’t mistake human for it. and 2 aren’t doctors trained to avoid bodily fluids?? actually 3, there is a big old glass wall there looking into the hallway – kinda hard to be discreet.
and again EEW
April 13th, 2009 at 8:55 am
This episode resemble the “Deception (Season 2 Episode 9)” where house deals with a woman with Munchausen’s Syndrome. Episodes has become boring since season 4. Foreman, Chase, Cameron, Wilson and Cuddy are in the background.
April 25th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Hello, if anyone ever makes it down this low, trust me it was worth it.
Well the physician who writes this review, all the bloggers missed the most important medical inconsistency here. Carcinoid tumor of the appendix never causes flushing/heat or carcinoid syndrome, because the liver metabolizes the seretonin before it can have an effect due to the portal circulation!!
June 10th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I agree with F. Carcinoid tumor of the appendix need a hepatic metastasis to be symptomatic!
August 27th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Dr. House is a fiction,doesn´t need to be real, i saw a series called the Tudors about Henry the VIII, the king of england who had many wives (and cut some neck lol) in the story is sister married a portuguese king, well it never happend (not commenting on the view of the portuguese kingdom was awfull) but as it is fiction i can´t say anyhing ;)
January 15th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
A fictional show based on medicine is similar in a lot of ways to a fictional show based on history. The Tudors is not a documentary.
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