House — Episode 7 (Season 6): “Teamwork”
The mystery was fairly bland in this week’s episode of House, but the medicine was much better overall. Good bye Cameron. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Hank, a successful porn star is admitted to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital after developing a severe headache and photophobia (sensitivity to light) while on set. House starts off by ordering a series of tests: an STD panel (to look for sexually transmitted diseases), a toxin screen (to look for common toxins), C-Reactive Protein (”CRP”, a measure of inflammation), ANA (antinuclear antibodies, to look for autoimmune diseases) and a lumbar puncture (to look for viral encephalitis). While the patient is having his spinal tap performed, he develops severe muscle spam and pain (tetany) in his arms. Foreman orders meperidine (Demerol, a strong pain medication).
About this time, House starts hitting up Taub and Thirteen for ideas, trying to lure them back on the team. Taub suggests that Hank must have a brain problem, such as a tumor or seizure. Foreman believes that Hank suffers from cerebral vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels in the brain). House agrees with Foreman’s assessment and starts the patient on steroids. He also orders a brain angiogram (an x-ray of the arteries in the brain), as well as an EEG and a nerve biopsy, just to be sure. Foreman convinces Chase to perform the angiogram, but he and Cameron suspect that the patient is suffering from Vitamin D deficiency, so instead of checking the angiogram, they decide to start Hank on light therapy and intravenous vitamin replacement. Unfortunately, while undergoing the light therapy, Hank develops a nosebleed and is found to have petechiae on his legs.
Hank is now diagnosed with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC, a weird, but very serious, condition, where the patient is both bleeding too much and clotting too much). Sepsis is suggested as a possible cause, but since he is showing none of the shock associated with sepsis, the idea is discarded. Bacteremia (bacteria in the blood) is suggested, but Cameron shoots it down suggesting instead Meningococcemia (meningococcal bacteria in the blood — really a subset of what Chase suggested). House concurs with Cameron’s diagnosis and Hank is started on heparin (a blood thinner, for the clots) and a broad spectrum antibiotic that covers meningococcus (but if you know which bacteria you’re treating, then you don’t need a broad spectrum antibiotic).
Hank does not improve and he starts to run a fever. Taub suggests that he might have an infection hidden away in his sinuses, where the antibiotics have difficulty reaching, so Chase performs sinus surgery to clear out the sinuses. Now Hank begins to complain of severe abdominal pain and Cameron discovers something on the exam (apparent ascites — fluid in the abdomen) that makes her diagnose liver failure. She suggests a Klatskin tumor (cancer of the bile duct), but it doesn’t quite fit the symptoms. Foreman suggests that Hank has sclerosing cholangitis (a disease that damages the bile ducts). House agrees and an ERCP (an endoscopic exam of the bile duct and pancreas) is ordered — surprisingly it shows a mass in the common bile duct that ends up being a large clump of worms. Hank apparently has strongyloides (”whipworm threadworm”), and is given mebendazole to kill the worms.
Once again, Hank’s condition dramatically worsens. He develops severe pulmonary edema (fluid build up in the lungs). Chase thinks it might be a combination of a hematological (blood) problem and cardiomyopathy (a heart problem). Foremen suspects Hank has lymphoma, with peritoneal carcinomatosis (malignant spread of cancer across the abdomen) and paraneoplastic syndrome explaining his symptoms. House sides with Foreman, and Hank is started on chemotherapy. A short time later, Hank’s condition takes another turn for the worse when he starts urinating blood. Next, his blood pressure and heart rate skyrocket, and he starts to bleed from his mouth. He then suffers a cardiac arrest, but the team is able to stabilize him.
The latest labs are back and show that Hank barely has any red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets. The differential diagnosis now includes hypopituitarism (an underfunctioning pituitary gland), renal cell carcinoma (a type of kidney cancer), or aleukemic leukemia (a leukemia that is associated with low white blood counts instead of the normally high counts found in leukemia). House tells the team that the latter is the most likely and orders them to ablate (destroy) Hank’s bone marrow in anticipation of a bone marrow transplant. There is a lot of hemming and hawing about whether this is the right thing to do, since it could make Hank sicker or kill him, but at the last moment, Thirteen and Taub call in with the correct diagnosis: extraintestinal Crohn’s disease. According to them, Hank’s exceptionally clean childhood made him more likely to develop diseases such as Crohn’s, and the worms were actually helping him keep the disease in check. Once the worms were killed off, the Crohn’s flared up with a vengeance. With some methylprednisolone (steroids), Hank should get better — but the team wants to give him some worms again, just to make sure.
I found no massive errors in tonight’s episode. There was the usual: jumping randomly between unrelated diagnoses, bizarre test interpretation, and Chase being a specialist surgeon, but nothing horrible. Of course, that’s not to say I have no complaints (as if!). As usual, minor complaints are in blue, nit-picking ones in green:
Where exactly was the extraintestinal focus of the Crohn’s?
Why did he develop a headache and photophobia in the beginning? Was that the Crohn’s? Why did everything suddenly worsen when he got in the hospital? The steroids he was given for the vasculitis should have calmed down the Crohn’s.
The strongyloides worms may not have been the cause of his disease, but their blockage of the bile duct would still cause serious problems for the patient.
Again, no oncologist is going to start chemotherapy for cancer without a tissue diagnosis.
Special precautions are taken for patients who are neutropenic (dangerously low in white blood cells, and thus more susceptible to infection) including gowning and gloving everybody in contact with the patient. You do not roll them down the hospital’s common hallway without a mask and with the wife holding his hand.
The CRP should have been significantly elevated with the Crohn’s disease (and the cerebral vasculitis too).
While the ANA is generally strongly positive for certain types of autoimmune diseases, it is not found in every autoimmune condition (or even most autoimmune conditions), so a negative ANA does not mean there is no autoimmune disease (and positive ANAs in the absence of autoimmune pathology are also possible).
How about checking the vitamin D level — an easy thing to do — before treating the patient.
I noticed how they avoided actually saying the word “ascites” and instead chose a wordier explanation. Probably because of their problem pronouncing it last time.
Cameron shoots down Chase’s idea of bacteremia, but then suggests meningococcemia, a type of bacteremia. The same argument she used against Chase would go against her as well.
Why would you ablate the bone marrow without finding a donor first? (OK, maybe House was never planning on really following through with it, but why would the others go along?)
And now credit where credit is due:
The hygiene hypothesis is a legitimate and controversial scientific theory concerning the rise in asthma and allergy rates in industrialized nations. Some researchers link it to autoimmune diseases as well.
Helminthic therapy — treatment of disease using intentional infestation of parasitic worms — is being tested in a variety of diseases, including Crohn’s/
Shocking ventricular tachycardia, like Foreman did this episode, is the right treatment.
The mystery was okay, but seemed to get lost in the shuffle as the show progressed. I give it a B. The final solution was a stretch, especially when you look back at the original symptoms. It earns a C. Overall, the medicine was better that it has been the past few weeks and earns another B. The soap opera was decent as well. I enjoy Tab and Thirteen, so I’m fine with having them back, though I know many will disagree. The soap opera earns still another B.
Last week’s House review
A list of all prior House reviews
November 17th, 2009 at 12:48 am
I dont understand how Cameron can now be so self righteous about Chase killing someone when her hands are not the cleanest….Runing away and “starting over” with Chase “Away from Princeton-Plainsboro” while a novel ideal is not going to make the situation (or Cameron’s ability to deal with the enormity of what her husband has done) any better, it justs delays the inevitable implosion of their marriage
Yay for House finally getting his license back, and Boo to Cuddy (a.k.a Cutthroat bitch 2) for seemingly being really in to Lucas at Houses expense.
The old manipulative House is back…Gotta love it….
1.) Telling Chase that Cameron’s going easy on him b/c she’s REALLY mad at him instead to drive the wedge even deeper between them to presumably cause her to leave him or him to leaver her for good within the next 2 episodes….. “Cameron thinks you’re my personal sock puppet. If you dont stay, it’s gonna be hard to prove you’re not”..thats a WHOLE LOTTA guilt to heap on Chase.
2.) Telling Remy that since she’s ended her self destructive streak she wants to do something ’significant’ with her remaining time, and being on Houses team is her first best choice.
The scene with Lucas and Chase in the Doctors Lounge seems totally contrived by House as a way to drive the wedge even deeper.. the language and tone of Lucas’s rant seems straight out of House’s playbook.
Chase and House on the stoop shows that Chase completely drank Houses “kool-aid” and fell for his guilt trip, he’s now willing to sacrifice Cameron to be “on the team”.
Taub’s back and I couldn’t be happier but whats with the ’smitten’ look he gave 13 when she was standing at his office door? Is he seeing her as a Cuddy replacement or?
Camerons whiny & moralistic exit speech to House is totally self serving and only has context in the meaning that it sets the stage for her leaving… She blames House for making Chase less of a human being…. thats pure BS designed to mask the fact hat she can’t handle what Chase did to Dibala even though she’s just as guilty…. It’s all lip service designed to make her leavinh him easier to accept.
“3 outta 4 ain’t bad”…. indeed.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:07 am
You would think that with an oncologist as a major character that they would at least squeeze in a consult. Meh.
Cameron just cannot grow a backbone. Why kiss House at the end? Really? Meh x 2.
Cuddy is flat-lining as an administrator. Meh x 3.
Hooray for the heroic Strongyloides! They always get such a bad rap.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:11 am
One line stuck out as a bit weird to me… Cameron said that the patient had close to no white *or* red blood cells. Wouldn’t a lack of red blood cells be kind of, you know, fatal? What with red blood cells being responsible for delivering oxygen to the rest of the body?
I had a feeling that the “ultra-clean childhood” the patient mentioned close to the beginning would end up being significant for the end. That is how you use Chekov’s gun. I’m glad the writers have remembered that for once.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:13 am
“Shocking ventricular tachycardia, like Foreman did this episode, is the right treatment.”
So when they did that and I said to myself, “They must be wrong to do that like they do almost every week like the Medical Reviews of House doctor always says,” I was wrong. 8=^(
And not that it helped me diagnose it correctly, but it was pretty obvious that the patient’s complaint about living in a hyper-clean environment with the overprotective parents barely letting him outside was a clue.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Good to see Crohn’s finally as a mystery disease. My brother has it, unfortunately. He didn’t live in a “clean” environment growing up, it was likely inherited given the family history. It’s under control right now (off the steroids for the diagnosed flare-up) but they haven’t quite found the right combination to get him off anti-inflammatory meds. (When they told him to wean off a bit, he started getting sensitive.) He has some scarred areas between the upper and lower intestine, so he has to avoid heavy fiber.
Cameron is rather sad, really. She’s not willing to accept that Chase chose to do what he did, instead he was “corrupted”… A decent way to have her leave the series, and leave the door open to coming back for a guest appearance in the future.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Thanks for the review; I have trouble following an hour long episode of a show, and with all the random diagnoses, it all gets confusing. But when I read your recaps, everything clicks into place.
On a sidenote, what is the song playing at the end?
November 17th, 2009 at 2:36 am
“their blockage of the bile duct would still serious problems disease for the patient”
What does this mean?
I thought this episode was pretty meh, I’m kind of getting tired of the team changing every season.
I thought re-infecting him with worms was insane, how interesting that that’s actually a treatment.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:13 am
Let’s see. Cameron complains that House almost killed the patient to get his team together. This isn’t the first time he’s almost killed a patient while playing one of his games. She also complains that House created an environment where Chase was able to choose to kill Dibala. Yet Cameron killed a patient herself earlier in the series. Basically, it seems to me, Cameron’s arguments for why she’s leaving are a bit dishonest.
One question: Why couldn’t House and his team taken both cases? The limp baby and the porn star? Is there a reason why House’s team never takes on more than one case at a time?
November 17th, 2009 at 4:28 am
I love the mid-sagittal plane image of the brain hanging on the wall of the MRI control room AND Wilson’s office have a L anteriorly and R posteriorly (incorrect labeling).
November 17th, 2009 at 5:42 am
The hospital where I work has a “zero tolerance” for not using PPE but the docs (no offense to anyone) are the ones willing to enter any room without PPE of any type.
Where are the nurses anyway? They just seem to wonder the halls on occasion. None of them are taking care of the patient.
Come on – do the doctors really perform lab work and do the testing such as MRI and CT Scans?
November 17th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Ummm–if the guy has photophobia and headaches, shouldn’t they be looking at his eyes? I am prone to inflammations in my eye (due to that staple of House differential diagnoses, sarcoidosis!) and it took me 3 different eye doctors to find one who understood this, the diagnosis actually coming from an unrelated skin biopsy. But photophobia=viral encephalitis, brain tumor, etc?
November 17th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Maybe some of the docs here can explain. How was Cameron able to diagnose liver failure just by palpating the patient’s abdomen? It’s not like there isn’t a simple blood test for this.
Yeah, the fact that apparently nobody except House’s team does any work at Princeton Plainsboro. It’s the Chigaco Hope Syndrome. They had one nurse, who apparently worked on every floor and every shift. I guess they have time to perform all testing themselves, since they only treat one person at a time.
It kills me that House got his old team back. There’ll be no living with him how. Good riddance to Cameron, though.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:44 am
I think Crohn’s explains the photophobia. Crohn’s can cause uveitis
November 17th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Soap Opera Post. No medicine here.
—–
I had a hard time enjoying the episode. Mainly because of the soap opera.
As overly righteous as Cameron is, and their marriage was clearly on the rocks (at least, according to the writers), having House finish the job and **brag about it** changed his character from “loveable jerk bucking the system, saying what he thinks, and puts the medicine first” to “manipulative jackass who acts like a jerk **just because he can**.”
With the Tritter storyline – House was letting everyone take the fall, but he didn’t want to go to jail. There was at least some justifcation for throwing his friends and colleagues under the bus. This, though – he crossed a kind of line with me.
It looks (to me) like the writers now needed to make House an **even bigger jerk** than before he went into the psych hospital, perhaps because they can’t write about his drug addiction anymore.
This isn’t even the show of a few years ago.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Hi
Sorry. Could someone explain the 4 out of 5 and 3 out of 4 thing to me? I don’t get it but it seems like its something important to the plot. Heh.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Funniest line: “….he’s got a certain talent there…” says House as he watches his patient’s porn video on his laptop.
When Cameron dyed her hair a fake blond months ago, I was eager to see her leave. However, her about turn seems bizarre. House is able to manipulate his staff as though they were puppets.
I don’t know the name of the sappy song at the end of the episode: I mute it as I find it contrived and over sentimental. Other shows do it too often as well (e.g. Gray’s Anatomy).
November 17th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Quick question…
Isn’t it a bad idea to give the patient strongyloides in this scenario since they are treating his Crohn’s with steroids? In a parasite lecture I remember hearing that strongyloides aren’t really a significant problem unless you give the patient steroids. Evidently they react to the steroids by reproducing at a rapid rate and cause a hypersensitive reaction for the patient.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:30 am
I have one minor medical complaint about this episode and I will voice it right away because it’s my field actually :), well not my per se but still oral-facial surgery is in my area. Sinus infection????? Let’s see now I’ll list symptoms and than cross them if they are not present:
1. Stuffed nose (with secretions) puss discharge from the nose – crossed
2. Headache and pain in the “face” area – crossed
3. Feeling of density or weight in the sinuses, along with feeling the fluid move or rattle when you change the position of your head – crossed
4. At least mild fever (it is an infection after all!) – crossed
5. What exactly caused the sinuses to fill with puss to begin with? Could be a tooth (only one sinus will be affected in that case however!) or URI (upper respiratory infection). Both of those along with the bunch of other complaints will be discovered while taking the patient’s history.
6. Do you have any idea how funny the voice of a person with stuffed sinuses sounds? Hilarious and House would have never missed it!
7. Sinus puncture to drain the sinus is usually done on local anesthesia only and the fluid is being aspirated (instead of just left for the nurse to wipe it out). I have to note however that this is how it’s done in Bulgaria. May be the protocol is different in the US?
Now that I got this out of my head i may pay some attention to the really interesting stuff in this episode – the soap opera! I do not know why people keep on insisting that Cameron killed a person too – euthanasia and cold heart murder are not the same thing (and the writers made this painfully clear in the last episode remember?). So Cameron has every right to be angry with Chase – she can judge access and do pretty much everything that a wife has a right to do when the husband made a mistake of that magnitude( by that I mean a mistake involving them both and putting their marriage in question). The way she handled it is obviously wrong, but it was right for her – for all her evolution from a tear-eyed puppy to a self confident and assertive person, she is still the moral column in this show. She couldn’t of just kept on going. Moving away is her way of dealing with problems – she did it when her last husband died. When things get heated she runs – that is Cameron all over. It was actually up to Chase to bend (again!) and try to find a solution (again!) that will allow her to still be morally right, vulnerable, broken, fragile, wrong but not to change (again!). If one should look back on their relationship a person could see how many times Chase did it just to please her: You want casual sex because you feel down and scared? OK! Sex but not a relationship? OK! Relationship but not commitment? OK! Feeling doubts about marrying me for the right/wrong reasons? No problemo! Want a special proposal on your convenience and your terms? Well why not – I’ve done it all for you so far! Every time her self righteous persona got in the way Chase bended – one can only twist himself into nods so much! He was right to want to do what she wanted, to leave and agree and do as she wants even now, because he really did loved her “for better or for worst” – apparently her love was for the better parts only. The first major problem and she is down and out – well that is Cameron. I really loved her character – chivalrous people like her are hard to find and Jen Morrison played it to perfection to the very end, but I understand why she must leave and I am sorry for one thing only – that she was not a bigger enough person to evolve into somebody who can stay and really work along Chase to overcome this problem. Chase is not damaged – she is for being unable to change. Good bye Cameron all the real fans of the show will miss you. Glad to see Taub annoyed to see 13 but at least she will eventually die – so let her live for now on. And the show is finally on track – tying up loose ends straitening the wrongs and may be moving toward some sort of House-esque happy ending!
November 17th, 2009 at 8:37 am
The photophobia could have been caused by the sinusitis. A large proportion of supposed sinus headaches are actually migraines. Something something trigeminal nerves in the sinus and meninges thingy and stuff.
Anecdotally, I once got a migraine, complete with photophobia, after getting water up my nose. It triggered it probably in the same way that chemical sensitivity would.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:33 am
@Dr-Bulgaria: I agree with you about the medicine and Cameron, except that I won’t really miss her. The sinusitis thing seemed to come out of nowhere-as a chronic sufferer, I would not have guessed it by the POTW’s symptoms.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:40 am
If they knew Cameron was leaving the show AND I had to choose between this way of leaving and Kutner’s. . . I think they should have just had Cameron follow Kutner. Very contrived and melodramatic story line to get her to leave. Boring.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:54 am
@Jay – 3 out of 4 Meh’s isn’t bad… :)
COuldn’t resist.
I have to say that my favorite part of House is reading Scott’s reviews afterward. last season, when I couldn’t watch most of the eps during the season, Polite Dissent was how I kept up. Thanks, Scott.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:32 am
Good evening all and Dr Bulgaria whose contributions are always a pleasure to read. @Brandon: You read my mind. Precisely what I recall regarding Strongyloides stercoralis in particular, it’s lifecycle and the immune system of the host but no mention here other than yours? As for Cameron I don’t quite understand those happy to see her gone. I value every member of the original cast that brought us the best season of House (1). I wish her success. A part of me is glad they’re ruining the show.
WAS addictive!
November 17th, 2009 at 11:35 am
On the Cuddy and Lucas. Lucas is really House without the bitterness. He has the same manipulative nature but it’s more funny. His shenanigans are cheeky and fun while House’s tend to be cruel and tragic. Cuddy could be happy with Lucas.
What bothered me about Cameron’s speech was her hands weren’t clean and she killed a patient in a far more direct manner. What Chase did was debatable in terms of killing the patient. The final diagnosis was always up in the air. He might have pushed the correct treatment (Wow, wouldn’t that be ironic) Interesting that as she went away House followed, as opposed to the typical both almost turn back. Cameron’s gone until at least season 8 when she will come running to House with a PotW.
@Fluffy Great comment about Chekov’s Gun. I figured they were going back Trichinosis from season 1 instead of Strongylodys from season 4.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:50 am
It’s been so long, I can hardly remember, but didn’t Cameron kill someone who was actually suffering and wanted to die? I’m not sure you can compare that to what Chase did. That’s the episode where House said he was ‘proud’ of her at the end right?
The circumstances of her leaving aren’t believable to me though. A guy would never leave a goddess like Cameron just to work with House. But whatever. It probably isn’t easy to figure out how to write someone off of a show.
I want to mention that my House Challenge submissions were NINE STDs and one non-STD, Sepsis. This episode was supposed to be my jackpot, but I think I somehow only scored on Sepsis :(
November 17th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
cameron killed the episode for me. no, that’s not right, jennifer morrison killed the episode for me too. frankly i do not belive, after what i saw last night, that she could handle the situation her character was in as an actress. the last two or three scense with her, where the emotional tension was supposed to be highest, fell so flat due mostly to her delivery. the final sequence with house in his office being the worst.
then there the character herself. chase hasn’t changed. if anything he’s the one character that hasn’t changed at all since day one. he’s had the most experience working with house and if house changed him into who he is in today’s episode he did it long before season 1 episode 1 which was roughly when cameron started. she knew who he was so all this ‘you made him this way’ BS is just that, completely BS. she can’t handle the situation so she’s running away like a coward. which makes no sense at all continuity wise given that she’s killed before too.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Really didn’t enjoy this episode at all.
First of all, the medicine is just all over the place. They simply bounce around from one diagnosis to another without picking up any new information to go by.
Then the patient randomly blurts out about how his parents were so protective and never let him leave the house. This came out of NOWHERE and had nothing to do with anything they were talking about! I immediately knew it would have something to do with the final diagnosis.
Finally, the storyline is a mess. House is some kind of all-seeing god who knows everything and can predict and control everyone’s actions.
No one reacts to what is actually happening.. instead it’s a convoluted mess of “I knew you were going to think that I thought this, so I did that instead, KNOWING that it would make this other person take this action which would make you change your mind!”
Character motivations are impossible to follow, too. Cameron said she hoped Dibala would die, and nearly allowed him to die by intentional inaction. So then Chase steps up to the plate and gets her what she really wants – Dibala can’t kill people and Cameron gets to be guilt-free.
How does Cameron react? She accepts it and is fine with it… until Chase says “are you sure?”, at which point she gives up on her marriage and leaves town. And for no apparent reason Chase now strongly feels a need to work with House again.
It makes so little sense that it forces me to think that it’s a production of a TV show, and that the REAL motivation is that Jennifer Morrison is leaving the show and that Chase needed to be made a featured character again, so the writers just made up some random crap to make those situations happen.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
@ johnC: this was “Informed Consent” (3.3)
http://www.politedissent.com/archives/1383
November 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
There is one thing no-one has mentioned yet that I reacted to: Doctors shouldn’t ask personal questions (irrelevant to the diagnosis) and make moral judgements on their patients. They can think whatever they want about porn stars, but they have no right to voice that opinion in front of their patiens. They are also way out of line to ask questions like: “Don’t you become jealous?” concerning the patient’s wife also being a porn star. I thought that was way out of line.
Apart from that, I also feel the string-pulling from House was a little over the top in this one, with Chase and Cameron playing into his game within ten minutes. I agree with others that said that Cameron has killed someone herself, so she shouldn’t be to self-righteous. In addition, Chase is a grown-up that is responsible for his own actions and choices – you can’t blame House for what Chase do. They aren’t children, although I feel they sometimes act like they are.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
That was rather awful. I can enjoy House being a jerk, but only when tempered by the people around him. Now they’re all feeble? I do feel badly for Ms Morrison, whatever her skills as an actor, you can’t make bricks without straw.
And as mentioned above,
@Anne , I was also very unhappy with the needling distain from the entire staff. In my day (as it happens) I’ve taken a few porn stars (and substance abusers, and physically abused) to seek medical attention, and in almost every case the medical staff was scrupulusly matter-of-fact, non-judgement, and even handed. Bad enough House nearly killing a patient for his own selfish reasons (horrible enough), they all could have taken responsibility if the wife had just wheeled her husband out of the hospital once it became obvious that the doctors were only giving half their attention and that half was busy sneering and tut-tutting.
Everyone came off as so stunted and ugly I couldn’t attend to the medicine, which normally acts to justify the bad behavior.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Onto the more pressing matter: Following Jen Morrison’s departure, will the show finally get a new intro video?
November 17th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I don’t get Cuddy and Lucas. At all. I mean, where did that idea even come from? I wish they would have brought his character back… just in a different context.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I don’t get why some of you can’t see Lucas and Cuddy together. In the show where they met and discussed House at the lunch counter there were definite sparks there. I agree with whoever said that Lucas was actually House-lite. Also, can’t see how one can compare euthanasia (Cameron) with what Chase did, which was murder, and also in character, given his religious and moral upbringing. In Chase’s mind, what he did was moral, although he realizes that to the world at large, it would not be accepted in that way. Bye to Jen and her obnoxious, self-important moralizing about everyone but herself. What the episode did not really answer was why Chase would give her up to be on House’s team, when it always appeared that he loved Cameron far more than she loved him.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Cameron killed Joel Grey in Informed Consent from season 3. Grey played a medical researcher who did some experiments on mentally disabled children, I believe, back in the Sixties. At the end of the episode, House finds Cameron in the Chapel and tells her he’s proud of her.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Did anyone else think that the writers did a particularly poor job of explaining the medicine to the layperson?
The patient’s blood is not clotting, we have to give him heparin! How did they get from failure to clot to DIC?
The patient is bleeding out and it is making his blood pressure go up! So maybe the bleeding was caused by the rising blood pressure?
Here’s the answer: he has extra intestinal crones! If they had said Crohn’s _disease_ I would have understood immediately instead of wondering what they were talking about.
Personally, I would downgrade the medicine to a C based on poor presentation.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
what I want to know is why you didnt get on the fact that they said that a supposed blood borne infection was walled off where it couldnt get to the blood, something you got picky on in the 2nd to last episode of last season. just my 2 cents
November 17th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Twitchy – the song is “Where Did You Go” by Jets Overhead.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Scott! You said severe muscle spam! In your opening paragraph. Sounds like something we would like to see on house.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
I’m also very shocked as to why people seem to be ganging on Cameron. Per earlier links, it was a decision about a creative direction, not a decision by Jennifer Morrison. Verification of this can be found here: http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/jennifer-morrison/news/156638
I fully agree with Dr. Bulgaria. Cameron has put up with hell and back, marrying a dead guy, passing up a guy she loved as she watched her husband approaching certain death. She has constantly taken the high road; I don’t think that makes her a goody two shoes or anything other than a very decent person. The only thing I don’t understand is the change in perspective about sex. In the episode where a wife is poisoning her husband with gold, she says maybe a 3some would help couples. Not to mention constant sex with Chase, even in inappropriate places! What’s wrong with porn Cameron?
1) How is Cameron wrong for giving House a “little” blame? He doesn’t deserve it all, but think about it. In one episode, a woman with Munchhausen had an infection that made her undergarments smell fruity. House gave her a drug to make it look like she had a condition she didn’t actually have. There is also the instance where he made Lucas give the patient with “cancer stem cells” somehow “crash” with an injection. House has encouraged treatment without testing, skipping steps, and has constantly shown rules do not matter in his past. Even Foreman tried to get away for that reason. While I will concede Cameron’s reason for leaving the show and blaming House is slightly on the “written” side (or you can feel a writer’s hand at work), it is in no way illogical or inconsistent with prior behavior. I think its actually kind of brilliant. Think about it – who has House not impacted in some way? Even Cameron, “mans up” to House when she tells him to cut his crap about talking to Thirteen and Taub. At the end of the day, we are all responsible for our own actions, but she is right when she says House was an influence on Chase, and everyone.
2) Cameron performing euthanasia is debatable. Killing the African leader, was not. Chase is the only one who seems to think he didn’t do anything in wrong. Even if it’s Satan himself on the table, you must save him. Her hands are perfectly clean. Also, I don’t know how she almost killed the African leader by inaction, as mentioned. She temporarily paused to give an injection and didn’t want to do a blood transfusion because it was likely coerced. Nothing wrong with either.
3) Yes, Cameron did initially want the guy dead, but a) she wasn’t going to make it happen because it would be wrong and b) it was a moment of weakness. She quickly came around and remembered her oath. We’re all allowed temporary moments of weakness and debating our morals.
4) Someone asked why Dr. Chase wanted back in. I think House trapped him. House said Cameron blames him instead of Chase because Chase was merely his “puppet.” He says something like “Its going to be hard proving you aren’t if you leave.” That almost seemed like a dare. That and perhaps, Chase wanted to admit all along, he isn’t really sorry for killing the African leader. Once Cameron heard that, it confirmed her suspicion that it was House’s teaching (in her mind).
November 17th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
@ Daryl: “Sorry. Could someone explain the 4 out of 5 and 3 out of 4 thing to me? I don’t get it but it seems like its something important to the plot. Heh.”
Well obviously the 3 out of 4 comment involves House getting back Taub, 13, and Chase (but not Cameron). I took the 4 out of 5 comment as an afterthought to include Foreman, too. After all, he did leave the hospital for a while at the end of season 3/beginning of season 4, but eventually came back to House’s team…
November 17th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Has no one noticed that when 13 finally decided to read the fax House had sent her, the first book to show on her bookshelf was “Disease-free at 60s”.
Might this be a clue to a future plot about her huntington’s?
November 17th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
The song at the end of this episode is: Where Did You Go by Jets Overhead
November 17th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
This episode just “bugged” me because for me, Cameron reactions about just about everything that she goes about, on the episode, don’t make sense to me. She threats her pacients badly, seems (her or the actress herself maybe) to be very nervous during all the episode, stuff that make her look sad. I actually think that, after what I’ve seen today, there’s no place for Cameron on the series right now, maybe a late comeback can make things right again.
In a certain way, House kinda needed to look like a total jackass, so much that even the us would feel it. This happened before, so many times, that I’m, at least, used to it. In cases where there was a culmination of feelings between House and all the “crew”, it’s a way for him to get over this stuff.
Because, let’s see: Lucas and Cuddy (which by the way will end quickly, and I still have my doubts if it really “exists”), The urge to have a stable team, Wilson not willing to help him directly, prefers to ignore him. For me it’s easy to notice that House isn’t that strong, and the fact of him being a total jerk just explains that… All of this along makes the medicine itself “bouncy” and for us, well, it can cook our brains.
But once again, it happened before, and normally after one of these episodes of total mess, once stuff get stable are when the best episodes come.
Sorry about my English, heh.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
A few of you are disturbed by the fact that some of us are happy to see Cameron go. I can only speak for myself, but I found her character to be the most annoying of all. She’s extremely judgmental, as evidenced by her treatment of the porn star. What he does for a living should be no concern of hers, and as it turned out, it was not responsible for his medical problems. She sees everyone’s flaws but her own. How can you love someone who you find to be morally reprehensible?
November 18th, 2009 at 12:28 am
@Ruthinor: It’s not fair to blame Cameron for what the writers have done to the character. I absolutely wanted Chase slaughtered for killing Dibala but I was annoyed with the writers, not Chase. You’re all forgetting that the initial team and enthusiasm of the writers brought us one of the best tv series of the century. Cameron has always been simplistic and naive in her thought process, like some young med students, but I admired her willingness to be corrected by House.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:43 am
I dunno, I’ve always liked the competent cast of characters, but Cameron’s just been really bugging me a lot lately. What’s up with her dramatic speech? “House! You ruined Chase and it’s all your fault; I’m blaming you; I loved you; I loved Chase; blah blah, blah blah.” Of course it’s written for the sake of drama, but I think they could’ve done a better job of getting Cameron off the show.
I still can’t wait to see what happens next.
OH– @Dave, I thought they said ‘crones’ and not “Crohn’s”. Clearly, they could have done a better job, as you suggested.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Anyways it always boils down to money. Hugh Laurie was going to leave. They gave him a substantial pay rise and desperately made him an exec. producer of the show. What gratitude, reward and incentives did they give the rest? Rip: Cameron. You are the metaphoric Vastus lateralis muscle cut from House’s thigh. The keen observer will notice the show limp on in agony without you. x x
November 18th, 2009 at 2:40 am
@ DrEvil:
“Cameron has always been simplistic and naive in her thought process, like some young med students, but I admired her willingness to be corrected by House”
While this MAY be true it ignores the fact that Cameron tolerated House’s ridicule and berating her over the years only because she was in love with him… Love makes people put up with a lot more crap from others then they otherwise would.
My support for this theory:
She’d suspected that House had been involved with the ‘change’ in Chase for some time so it’s entirely plausible that her partially made up resentment for House about “ruining” her man past any point of ‘fixing’ him had been simmering under the surface for weeks until it spilled over in to the differential.. (I think she REALLY resented him for not loving her back)
After Chase told Cameron “I’m not running away from what I did because you want to pretend I never did it”, just after the “Lymphoma” differential when House tells Chase to fax Taub & 13 the latest on the case she tells House to shut up and stop playing games…. In the past when she was “in love” with House she would have stayed silent to not be confrontational with House but when Chase basically told her he wasn’t all that bothered about what he’d done to Dibala, she justified at THAT moment that in her mind, she’d *lost* Chase forever because of House which kicked her feelings and emotions in to ‘autopilot’.
Rationalizing that she cant fix either of them (House or Chase) she decides to run away from things like she wanted to do w/ Chase in the beginning regardless of if the issues were/are dealt with or not… When the going gets tough, Cameron gets going so I’m not sorry to see her go as her current attitudes would have made her far more of a liability on the team long term then what Chase did would potentially make him..
A wise Admiral once said that “sometimes you have to roll the hard 6″ which means that Chase is willing to sometimes take risks and is willing to sacrifice everything just like House, and in this case Cameron had no stomach for it.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:15 am
I am really starting to miss Kutner when i see taub and 13 are coming back.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Hi everyone…
I think the most important part of this episode was in fact Cameron’s speech at the end. She is right on everything. When she approaches House’s office, House says “Four for four”, assumming that Cameron, in order to save her marriage, was gonna tell him that she wanted to stay on the team.
But she didn’t, and tells him what really happened on this episode. “You almost killed that patient. You knew the diagnosis a long time ago. You risked another patient’s life to bait your old team.” And that’s exactly what he did. He’s got at the end 3 out of 4 manipulations work for him.
Next in line.. Foreman.
Lucas and Cuddy.. Euuuu… That i hope it won’t last long.
Great Episode, another favorite for me.
Heishiro.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:14 am
I think it’s safe to say Kutner’s not coming back.
I’m really happy that Chase is back. Admittedly, I’m annoyed that the marriage ended so immediately (6 months), but it’s TV land. If ailments end overnight, then so do marriages, I guess. And I liked his character far more than Cameron’s.
That said, I thought her speech was pretty pathetic. Blaming House for corrupting Chase means treating Chase like a 5-year-old who cannot make his own decisions or be held responsible for them.
And it’s a weak rehash of the same speech Foreman gave when he “left” at the end of season 3. House already rebutted those tired arguments beautifully, and they feel weird coming out of Cameron’s mouth anyway.
Breaking up a marriage is low for House. I thought he was a nice guy now? Manipulative is one thing – manipulative is getting Taub and Thirteen back – but this is just vicious.
It’s just as surprising as Cuddy’s moments of intimacy with Lucas.
What the hell, writers?
Lucas? Really?
Please don’t develop him into a character. Just end it. It doesn’t make sense, it’s awkward, and we don’t care about the guy.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:01 am
I absolutely hated this episode and am done watching house! I liked the new milder, more human house. This episode turned him into twice the devil that he was before. The main message of the episode being “no marriage can survive or is worth fighting for” Frankly the writters obvious bitterness towards marriage and relationships is way over the top and repulsive. Relationships can last, we can forgive, people can change and be healed. House has turned into a horrible messed up Soap Opera and not a good medical drama. All the characters sold their souls, their lives, everything to House in this episode. It’s sick and in my opinion kills the show.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:22 am
The final montage suggested to me that House, by manipulating Chase and Cameron’s marriage and also Taub’s–and possibly the Foreteen relationship–is just getting into practice for ripping into Cuddy’s cozy setup with Lucas.
And that could be interesting–House going after Cuddy because he really wants her, instead of shuffling around about it.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Can Strongyloides really be an STD like the show said? I googled a bit and it doesn’t seem like it.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Dr. Evil: “It’s not fair to blame Cameron for what the writers have done to the character”? I really don’t understand this. These are, after all, fictional characters that one can either like or dislike as the spirit moves him/her. The writers are in charge of everyone’s character. I’ve never liked Cameron, even at the beginning. This is only my personal opinion. What some might find admirable in her character, others may find obnoxious. I have always found her to be judgmental, and her feelings for House to be an embarrassment. I always thought that Chase’s feelings toward her were far more pure than hers were for him. Unlike you, I did NOT find Chase’s killing of Dibala to be a high crime. I thought it was very brave and moral act on his part. Chase’s feeling are always out there. Who the hell knows what Cameron feels at any given moment?
November 18th, 2009 at 11:40 am
@ruthinor I don’t want to put words in Dr. Evil’s post, but possibly s/he means that it isn’t fair to blame Jennifer Morrison? Just sayin’…
IANAD, and barely made it out of AP Biology alive, but it seemsto me that to give the guy worms again, they’d have to be sterile worms. I understand that there are some creatures (for lack of a better word) that the medical professions uses and breeds under clean conditions (maggots, leeches, whatever), but are/is Strongyloides one of them?
November 18th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Surprised that none of the medical people that post here were put off by Lucas’ reading of confidential medical files. My wife had a fit.
In any case, I wonder if that scene between Lucas and Chase is setting up Lucas to be House’s next big bad guy, like Tritter or Vogler? I mean Lucas really came off as a manipulative bastard in that scene. If that’s the case, good. It means we’ll be rid of lucas in about 4 or 5 painful episodes.
@Tom: spot on analysis
November 18th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Apparently they defib patients so often on the show that they don’t even have to ask for a crash cart anymore – there are nurses hanging around just waiting!
November 18th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
@MO: From what I recall Strongyloides is transmitted via fecal-contaminated soil coming into contact with the skin. @Princess: Indeed. @Ruthinor: You’re right. The quote doesn’t make sense interpreted in that manner. But you go on to say, “I’ve never liked cameron… always found her to be *judgemental*.etc. Unlike you, I did NOT find Chase’s killing of Dibala to be a high crime..”. Do you not see your error here? Finally a doctor *secretly* killing a sick, old foreigner “a very brave and moral act..”?
November 18th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
@Dave: DIC is a condition where the blood clots throughout the small blood vessels of the body. All this clotting causes the overall platelet count to drop, putting the patient at risk for bleeds. Depending on how low the platelet count is, a doctor MAY order heparin to break up the clotting and also donor platelets to bring the count back up. Any thoughts from the MD’s?
November 18th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I’m with ruthinor. I’m able to buy basically everything that happened in that episode except Chase leaving Cameron to work with House. No effin’ way!
I mean, House actually fired Chase at one point and I can’t remember House saying he was going to hire him back anyways. Isn’t Chase still on the surgical team?
All in all, I felt Chase and Cameron’s decisions were overly emotional and childish. Real-life doctors would be far more mature and intelligent than that.
We all know that this all wouldn’t have happened if the writers weren’t forced to get rid of Cameron in such a hurry.
I think I’ll just try to move on and forget this whole thing happened.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Dr. Evil: “A sick old foreigner”??? Would that someone like Chase had got hold of Hitler or Pol Pot before they could murder millions. In my book, it was the bravest act Chase had ever carried out. I agree with you Dr. Evil that we see these characters through the eyes of the writers, and we all judge them based upon characteristics we either like or dislike. I have no problem with any of the actors, I just dislike the character of Cameron, and have from the very beginning. The scenes where she’s asking House for a date or in other ways professing her love for him make me cringe. She’s not in his league (and I’m not saying he’s admirable, if he was, he wouldn’t be as interesting). Unlike many of you, I like 13 and Taub, and I really liked Kutner. Glad to see 2 out of 3 back. I even like Lucas. Loved the scenes with House in earlier episodes. I can see why Cuddy likes him and vice versa.
November 18th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I would have thought Chase would be the one to go, if anyone had to go, since as JohnC says House fired him before. He does seem to have gotten back on the team without that little detail being addressed by House, which is odd, while Cameron’s departure just smacks of a manufactured exit.
Too bad. It will be frankly weird to see Chase working with Taub and 13.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Sepsis without shock? Couldn’t it just be sepsis (>=2 SIRS criteria + source of infection)? Or how about Severe Sepsis (Sepsis + organ dysfunction)?
I assumed that when Cameron said meningococcemia, she really meant Neisseria meningitidis causing meningitis: petechial rash, headache, photophobia.
Isn’t the typical treatment Ceftriaxone? Why would they go with specific names for something a little less ordinary like Mebendazole but putz around with something as common as a 3rd gen. cephalosporin.
Strongyloides… doesn’t commonly go into the bile ducts… it stays in the small/large bowel and then may undergo autoinfection. Also, wouldn’t the patient have had eosinophilia?
How was the photophobia/headache related to the extraintestinal Crohn’s?
November 18th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
First, thanks to Scott. I am a regular House fan, and a regular Polite Dissent reader, after watching every episode. This blog is great.
Second, it is unfortunate that Cameron must leave: she has long been an effective counterbalance to House/Foreman attitudes. However, I believe that:
1) Chase is thoroughly right. Doctors cannot escape the consequences of their deeds, just as anyone else, and they cannot hide behind their oaths. I mean, they can, but they shouldn’t. They can say “I don’t care who this person is, I am a doctor and I save patients”, but in this way they replace ethics with deonthology. If the only way I have to keep someone from murdering innocents is killing him, I _ought to_ kill him; why wouldn’t this be true for a doctor? I must admit that I back Chase’s choice with no uncertainty.
2) Cameron corners herself in a stiff “legalist” psychology, failing to see the shades in the challenges to the common moral brought about by her two “loved ones”. Chase is not like House: House manipulates people for his own purposes, which, often, imply saving patients lives, but not for philantropic reasons. Chase has decided to risk his career and safety to save thousands of lives. Debatable as it may be, this is not a selfish choice, nor a cowardly one. This is, perhaps _less_ selfish than the old Chase (who often liked to play safe) used to be.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
OT, but just wanted to say that, perhaps due to reading this blog, my dreams the other night had a cadre of unseen observers pointing out all the holes in the narrative.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:32 am
I think Foreman is another character that kneeled before House and also he tried to use his new position (ex-boss) to be again with “Thirteen”.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:41 am
Re: Cuddy and Lucas. Anyone else think manipulation is even more devious when done with a happy face? Watch out Cuddy.
And House playing his team, it’s scary what House can do when he doesn’t use his powers for good.
I liked the episode, although the Cameron and Chase storyline felt rushed.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
@ Judy: Foreteen? Please tell me that you made that up, and that this is not the way Foreman/Thirteen are usually referenced. That being said, it’s kind of brilliant.
I feel that a lot of dialogue in this episode, and some of the motivations, were kind of weak to me. For the former, see: Cuddy asking House if he was gonna kill the patient because of issues he might have with her and Lucas as a couple. For the latter, see Cameron rather abruptly deciding to leave PPTH in the first place; I know this is the same chick who got a new job and moved when her first husband died, but I thought that marrying Chase meant that she was willing to live with risk (see the whole “I don’t wanna be homeless” scene at the finale of season five).
That being said, a novel interpretation of Cameron’s decision to leave Chase just occurred to me. Bear with it, and let me know what y’all think:
As a character, one of Cameron’s defining issues is that she had a compulsion to fix broken things. House ran this down to her during that date of theirs, citing her marrying a dying man, her affinity towards certain patients, and her interest in him.
Deciding first to be in a committed relationship with, and then to marry Chase was supposed to be a break from this pattern of gravitating toward supremely injured creatures. Now that she sees him as broken, she’s making a decision to NOT make a doomed attempt to “fix” him.
Thoughts?
November 19th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Revising this episode (with translation this time :) I couldn’t help but thinking that somehow the writers twisted the whole Dibala murder story too much, thus making it less credible. What would have been more “in character”? Well IF Cameron killed Dibala than felt guilty and left leaving a dear John letter to Chase. That would actually made more sense. Right now it still makes sense but than somebody here shrewdly pointed out that Chase loved his wife too much to simply let her go – now that I think is the weak part. We’ve seen Chase jump through hoops too many times for her – he really thinks she is the love of his life, while she just think he is a good guy, the right guy so to speak – and so easy to love. So after she decided to leave anyway, Chase would have followed (well obviously if he was a real guy and not an actor bending to serve the script). What bugs me in particular is not Cameron’s departure per se – she was pretty much used up as a char anyway, but the fact that after 5 years of fighting Chase still ends without her. Poor chap he really deserved some happiness after all. From all the supportive chars on House, I like him the best – he is not as obnoxious as House is, he is not as self centered and arrogant as Foreman is, he is not so annoyingly moral as his wife Cameron, nor is he bitter like Taub, damaged emotionally like 13 or “sad” like Kutner was – all in all he is a pleasant guy, with good sense of humor, unorthodox thinking and great ideas – he is a great doctor and stand up chap. If we have to compare him to House – well I personally think that he is House, without the bitter, angry and thorny part of his soul. He is House lite, or more precisely goody-smiley House. Of course that turn of events has one good side – he will now be much more important in the show overall, so good news for all Chase fans! With some luck, 13 will die before the end of the season and that will make ME happy :)
November 19th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
<>
I came here to read your comments about the episode as I do most weeks but that stopped me in my tracks. The offensiveness of that remark is at a level I don’t understand. Do you look down on your readers as much as David Shore appears to look down on viewers? Or are you not aware of the importance of having a variety of characters when writing fiction?
Quite truthfully, the poor writing on this show for the characters is killing it dramatically.
I have worked in a number of teaching hospitals, at the moment at the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health. Because I know several doctors who are really at the level House is supposed to be at, I am finding it harder and harder to accept the premise of the show, that House is brilliant and keeps refusing to take cases unless he feels they are worhty of him, preferring to spend his time watching soap operas and playing video games. Truly intelligent, creative people would rather do anything than watch soap operas and play video games as House does. They are also almost all encouraging of juniors and usually generious with their teaching time.
House rings true to me as a character but as someone who is second rank, mediocre, rather than someone who is truly as brilliant as the show says he is. He also never publishes, never does research and apparently never spends any time on professional activities. He seems to be what a writer who is not brilliant thinks how a briliant person should be like. The psychiatirist I am currently doing research with would wipe the floor with him.
Not ‘Everybody lies’. I can give you several examples of errors doctors have made by not believing patients, more than by believing them. The best doctors form an alliance wtih their patients, not lord it over them. As a trope, it’s long run it’s course.
By this point, Cuddy is pathetic. I say that as a professional woman of Cuddy’s age. She’s become something my friends mock and embarassing to watch because she’s all emotion and no professional competence at all. She appears to be more interested in dressing like a call girl and drooling over House than getting her work done and one can only assume that the fumes from the incense she burns at his shrine have affected her brain..
I like Wilson but the show has wasted him and these days he’s only used as a House/Cuddy Pandarus. I never cared about Foreman, Thirteen or Taub, who are watered-down versions of House. The team of House, Foreman, Thirteen and Taub made for incredibly boring medical stories last season.
You comment on the medical inaccuracies of the show. As a psychologist, I am more aware of the psychological inaccuracies in the characterization and the writing which got worse and worse as the seasons went on.
For the last three years, I watched only because the character of Cameron interested me and because she provided a contrast to the self-centred characters that form most of the rest of the show. She was the only one on the show who ever cared about ethics, the only one who was interested in the patient as a person rather than as a puzzle. With Cameron gone, the show will become much more monotone in nature and much more ridiculous in the soap opera storylines of House/Cuddy and Foreman and Thirteen.
The characterization in this episode was a mess because the point was to move Cameron off the show by any means possible and so she was re-written for the sake of the storyline, always bad writing. The show has a habit of having characters tell what it wants the audience to believe while showing the opposite. Wilson said three episodes ago that Thirteen was the only one who didn’t fall into House’s madness. As this episode showed, Thirteen does and she did. The only one who got out was Cameron. That’s probably why she’s the only character left on the show other than Wilson that I liked and was interested in.
So that’s it for me too. I’ll take care not to let the door hit me on the way out.
November 19th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
* Good bye Cameron. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.*
The tags appear to have eaten it but that was your comment I as referring to above.
In terms of a concrete example, compare House to Rob Buckman and tell me that House doesn’t get left in the dust.
November 19th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
I think the oldnew team will be just fine:
Chase as the solid, capable fellow, who has not to much imagination, 13 as the volatile but often brilliant doctor who is the only one who really can stand up to House when he pushes her to far, and Taub as a believable comic relief. Foreman is the old sceemer, but he probably learned his lesson. His character flaws are ingrained but not as handicapping as Camerons was. As for Cuddy and Lucas. Maybe House will just deliberatly stay out of their way, sure in his way that they will implode at some stage…
November 19th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I was disappointed in everything in this episode but the closing shot which I thought was clever. First the medicine was way too rushed. I don’t think they need to just throw out a bunch of diseases but should focus more in depth on a few. That was something interesting about the show. Actually learning a little medicine. Now it’s just basically a game of jargon.
As far as the soap opera I was very disappointed. The show is becoming more and more contrived as the characters become caricatures rather than interesting well rounded people. I can just see the writers through the actors and the end goal they are going for. For example in the episode broken when House insults each person in succession on the basketball court. That seemed rehearsed and unbelievable. Today’s show was in the same vein where everything worked a little too conveniently for House and the plot at large. It would have been more interesting if 13 didn’t come back and went to the other hospital. And the manipulations House played on Chase were a stretch to me too. I just don’t think he would have taken the bait or that Chase had such a deep seated needed to prove himself that he would ruin his marriage and basically just parrot House’s seeds of doubt back to Cameron.
I do have to say though that Cameron was a weak character and this was the writer’s fault. They should have let her do something mean spirited and intentionally bad a few times. Finally I don’t like the mega jerk House. I liked the more considerate recovered House much better. Also they should have kept his shrink on as a regular. He is a very strong character. The show remains intriguing but it seems at the expense of increasingly cheap cliff hangers and dubious conflicts.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
For the life of me, I still can’t understand all the dislike towards Cameron. It is perfectly legitimate to observe House has a negative influence on all of them. And yes, she is flawed. She has never pretended to be otherwise. Such as times when House ridicules her for liking broken men, she never once denied as she knew he was right. I do agree with some of the sentiment mentioned though; why have the writers suddenly made her so judgmental? Perhaps it is another House influence….
ALERT
However, many people asked what happened to the nicer House. I did too at first…and then it hit me. Remember the season 3 finale? House absolutely despises change. Just like he did with the blood stained carpet that Cuddy eventually let him keep. When things change (even something as simple as Amber stealing Wilson), HE CANNOT STAND CHANGE AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE.
As a result, I think it was only logical we see House with his old tricks. My only hope is the softer House will look back and feel badly about it.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:01 am
@ Tabitha….I think you are on to something. I think she finally said she can’t fix all the problems in the world. Perhaps that is why she is so judgmental or cranky this episode and even told House to shut up. She realizes she wants to fix other people so they can be happy. But I think for a change, she decided she should be happy.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:12 am
@Kerrie: You spoke my mind. House is NOT a genius. Only the simplest of minds generalise. “Everybody lies” so I won’t talk to patients because I’m not smart enough to know the difference between the truth and a lie despite being a medical genius etc.. is beyond ludicrous. Secondly, where are his publications reading, “Molecular advances in the study of post infarct chronic PAIN reveal a reversible cytokine-induced post-translational conformational adaptation in the spinal opioid receptor subtype…”?
November 20th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Perhaps House publishes under Dr. Perlmutter?
Also, the Music Video Portion of the program annoys me.
Whilst I agree that an agile mind needs to be stimulated, I could see House turning his alleged agile mind to doing as little as possible. And, let us not forget, there is wandering the halls, waiting for the “House moment”, eating of the coma guy’s lunch and occasional forays into prankery involving Wilson.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
@Kerrie: It’s strange to hear you criticize soap opera characters for being unrealistic; it’s a bit like criticizing dogs for not being cats.
These characters are reimagined and rewritten with every new writer, every new producer, every new studio executive, every new logistical problem the show encounters, and every new market trend that arises in this particular medium’s business arena (and it is first and foremost a business). Add to all this that the show has been going on for about half a decade.
I’ll be blunt.
Expecting the characters to be real human beings is stupid. And it completely misses the point.
Each episode, and by corollary the series as a whole and all its component arcs, must convey a monumental amount of information in an absurdly short time to a largely completely ignorant or misinformed audience with an unbelievable variety of backgrounds and personal experiences. Reality is nowhere near as important as effective plot devices – dramatically OR practically.
This is why the main cast runs all the tests, why the miraculous PPTH always has all the supplies needed to do every exotic and rare test, why the prognosis of diseases is accelerated dramatically, why the characters rarely change much, and so forth. This is also why most of the story isn’t told as a realistic and detailed narrative, but a series of metaphors.
You show that you don’t get this in two big ways.
One, you talk about writing off characters in service of the storyline. What you imply is the healthy relationship – characters are permitted to flourish regardless of storyline – simply does not exist. Characters definitionally exist ONLY in service of the storyline. This is not a narrative-less biopic without emotional arcs. It’s a drama. The word itself tells you what the bottom line is.
Dr. Allison Cameron is ONLY a product of all the written scenes she has had, and nothing more. Your idea that the storyline has somehow betrayed her shows that you recognize an idealized version of the character and what she stands for which you have yourself created, and not the reality that she is a fictional character in a story you have no control over.
Yes, we all feel sad when writing diverts from what we would have liked to see happen to our favorite personalities. And yes, we can all make convincing arguments citing legitimate evidence from other characterizations within the canon for why a character is “really” about this or that. But at the end of the day the very best that we can argue, with ANY intellectual honesty or accuracy, is that a portrayal of a character may be somewhat inconsistent. (Since this is a serial produced by several writers, that should be obvious, and is hardly a unique complaint or concern.)
Two, you hold House’s “everybody lies” as a bizarre absolute truism which even the character never professed, and completely fail to see the meaning of the phrase. I don’t know how you interpreted that phrase to mean “everybody is always lying forever.”
Even in seasons one and two, when “Everybody lies” was practically the show’s tagline, House had defended patients as being honest. The point of the phrase is that we cannot assume honesty in the absence of evidence, and as fact-finders/detectives/doctors they cannot accept faith (such as we would extend trust to a good friend). This is made obvious over, and over, and over, and over, and over again – when simple and common and understandable lies are revealed to hold the key to the diagnosis. Of course you can share stories of cases where failing to trust a patient yielded terrible results. I believe you. That does not contradict House’s motto one single bit. You may be right that House is not a good doctor, because that discourse is at the center of the show (and, for crying out loud, this very episode) – whether one can be a good doctor without the healthy relationships with patients and other staff.
And if you’re going to insult the writers, it would help you to not be hypocritical in your arguments.
You complain that House generalizes, and then explain how there is only one type of brilliant person, how they all act or behave within a single narrow spectra you have observed, and then proceed to “prove” your arguments with imaginary contests of wits between people you may know and fictitious characters.
I could point out some nuanced but technically relevant fact (like “We don’t actually know that House doesn’t publish – just that the show doesn’t bother telling us much about it”), but instead I’ll point out the much more fundamental mistake you’re making:
House IS driven, productive, and creative.
For a psychologist, the fact that soap operas and video games can be very satisfying to very intelligent individuals should be an obvious fact, unless you’d like to ignore the scores of extremely smart or brilliant people with, say, ADHD or an Autism Spectrum disorder who behave exactly like that. This is a pretty clumsy oversight.
But even deeper than that – House is addicted to the diagnosis.
He is only playing video games or watching soaps when he can’t be actively working with new information on the diagnosis. The second he has that, he’s up all night working over the facts without pause or distraction. When is he playing video games or watching soaps: When he’s waiting for test results, when he’s avoiding someone, when he’s forced to be elsewhere (like the clinic).
He doesn’t have his comfortable position to avoid work. He has it to constantly and only do the work he loves doing. House avoids cases that he thinks are boring, but actively pushes ones he thinks are not, even when no-one asked him to. Hell, House even tried to stop doing that for all of one or two episodes in the beginning of season 6 before he caved in and realized he just had to be practicing, diagnosing, figuring it out. The show has literally told us that he cannot avoid doing it. How can you possibly argue that he’d rather watch soaps than solve puzzles?
Are there psychological inaccuracies in the portrayal of certain personality types? Absolutely. Are there inconsistencies in the portrayals of the characters? Definitely. Are they disappointing? Personally, I think they are sometimes – very much so.
Does House act completely unlike any conceivable intelligent person? No way (and even if he did, wouldn’t that be a GREAT reason to watch the show?). Do the characters exist outside of what the writers do with them? No.
It’s a TV show.
That doesn’t excuse its every imperfection, but it is the context for how we analyze any part of it.
Relax.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I, too, fail to understand the animosity displayed here towards Cameron’s character. I always found her likable and interesting. She was a good foil for House because she was so much his opposite – kind and compassionate to a fault, and possessed in general of a strong moral center. The writing has changed enormously since the early seasons of the show, so I don’t think it’s surprising if her character was written differently in the last few episodes than it was then: it’s probably not the same team. I’m sorry she’s going. And I’m way sorrier that the utterly tedious 13 is back.
wg
November 20th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
@MO: the contamination route for Strongyloides is, as someone else already pointed out, oral-fecal. Since the POTW was a porn actor, who knows what he might have been submitted to during acting…
November 21st, 2009 at 12:46 am
@ Dr Bulgaria — 5. What exactly caused the sinuses to fill with puss to begin with?
I would think that a cat would have something to do with this (so cat allergies?). . .
November 21st, 2009 at 1:25 am
Keeping in mind that I cannot see this episode until next week and therefore may be incorrect, I have a couple of comments from both my veterinary background and my microbiology background:
I am doing research on the intestinal microbiome, and am collaborating with someone on Crohns disease, so I’ve looked up the strongyloides treatment. I believe that Crohn’s disease is commonly treated with a strongyloides that is a species that specifically infects pigs. As humans are a dead end host, this means that the nematode is not able to reproduce and dies off after a while. Otherwise one would be treating a Crohn’s patient with dewormers, many of which would possibly add to their problems — not a good thing. However, maybe they do things differently on House. Also, giving steroids would have no effect on the worm’s reproduction, because the worms cannot reproduce (0 reproduction times any type of increase still is zero).
So if the Strongyloides in this episode is a species that infects humans, the doctors should have figured out immediately that they were not part of a Crohn’s treatment. Of course, it’s always possible that the patient treated themself. As I said, I have not seen this episode. Now I am really looking forward to it!!
The worms do not need to be sterile. Remember, the food that you eat is not sterile (unless you autoclave everything you eat). Also the gut microbiome has more bacterial cells than you have in your body (believe it or not), most of which are beneficial. In fact, most anatomists would tell you that you are essentially formed in the shape of a tube and that the interior of the intestine is, in actuality considered to be “outside” your body (not very comforting though, when one gets food poisoning or stomach flu.
November 21st, 2009 at 2:18 am
I am just glad that from now on the show will be back to its old formula. The team is now stable and hopefully that will not change for some time.
November 21st, 2009 at 3:17 am
The differentials make no more sense to me now. Yes, jumping to conclusions has always been a part of the show, but I think it has become the standard way to diagnose. And I´m bored of the team earthquake. Just keep watching cause I´m addicted! Or have I lost my hobbies cause of depression??;-)
November 21st, 2009 at 11:19 am
I also was annoyed at the judgmental “holier-than-thou” attitude exhibited mostly by Cameron, but maybe that was the writers’ way to highlight her hypocrisy? From my own experience, any health care worker who makes comments like that would be disciplined.
November 21st, 2009 at 11:45 am
@Mani: Dr David Foster (Medical Consultant and writer for House) states, “Each of the actors attempts to portray doctors in a way that is believable both to lay people watching the show and medical professionals”. House may be a credible genius to a “lay person” but two medical professionals here disagree. Additional testimony worsens your argument. “Everybody wants to MAKE SURE they’re doing things that will be *recognised as correct and accurate*.” Yet you attempt to justify them doing ALL the tests?
November 21st, 2009 at 1:23 pm
It is my opinion that this level of ambition portrayed by Dr Foster (for Season one) was not sustainable. The time constraints you mention were perhaps exacerbated by the show taking a different direction. House remains a great comedian, peculiar doctor but not a medical genius. Do you sincerely not find it remotely odd that the chronic pain this medical genius has been suffering has not motivated a discovery? That he would rather play video games and watch soaps than solve his own medical conundrum?
November 21st, 2009 at 4:22 pm
@DrEvil: Firstly, why would being a medical genius mean he could solve every medical problem? His leg pain isn’t a mystery – it’s very clearly understood. Not every diagnosis has a cure.
Oh, and he spends plenty of time working out how to deal with it. There was the ketamine arc in season 3, the various withdrawal/rehab arcs in seasons 3-5, the CIPA episode in season 3, the “House has brain cancer” episode in season 3, the “How do I cope with my leg pain” arc in the beginning of season 6 which resolved that tackling medical mysteries seems to be the only sustainable treatment for his pain…
You’re confusing “believable” and “accurate.” Incidentally, while I won’t speculate on any medical training Kerrie may have had, a psychologist is not a medical professional – a psychiatrist is. And two is hardly an overwhelming population sample.
The doctors doing all the tests is easily justified in many ways.
It separates the characters and gives them something to do. Anyone who studies theater or acting or improvisation learns pretty early on that a dialog-heavy scene is instantly improved greatly simply by having the actors do something physically, even if it’s irrelevant menial tedium like folding laundry.
If the doctors only had to wait for results, what are they going to do the whole time? Sit in the same room and shoot the shit about the latest football match? The show is about extraordinary doctors being detectives – we expect to see them doing detective work. If they don’t run the tests, then we either need to introduce a large amount of new cast whose only function is to run the tests, or watch the doctors do things irrelevant to the medical mystery. Neither is good for a consistent short narrative.
It creates an opportunity for dramatic developments. They can accuse each other of screwing up the test (which is far more dramatically powerful than arguing about whether or not Side Character C screwed up a test, since we neither spend much time with nor care about Side Character C). They can play out interpersonal conflicts through who does which tests. Things can go wrong during the tests.
It gives the cast time together in smaller units to work out conflicts and/or scheme and/or whatever.
It makes arguments during the differential slightly more compelling; the cast tends to defend diagnoses that they did the tests for and vice-versa. It makes the conflict seem more personalized during those parts of the show where they are just in a room talking.
It focuses the audience’s attention more on the main characters.
It makes it easier for the layperson to follow what’s going on, and the accuracy they sacrifice doing that doesn’t impact the heart of the show’s factual basis. In other words, the fact that the doctors do all the tests doesn’t compromise the validity of the medical mystery or eventual diagnosis, it’s just a shortcut that doesn’t alter the punchline.
Ultimately, criticizing this fact is nitpicking, not a blow to the credibility of the show. One might as well argue that Harvey Dent’s injuries in The Dark Knight are not believably portrayed in the slightest, and that the facial anatomy they show for him is purely fantasy – so what? It’s missing the point and it’s a distraction from the story.
Could one write a successful and compelling story without these minor inaccuracies? Probably, sure. Do they need to avoid these inaccuracies to write a successful and compelling story?
Not at all.
November 21st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Maybe we need a House Doomsday Clock?
November 21st, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Uch. This episode derailed all of Cameron’s character development throughout the show in one episode. Her “reasoning” was nonsense, though typical Season 1 Cameron. House didn’t corrupt Chase. House wouldn’t have killed Dibala because House didn’t care about the millions Dibala killed any more than he cared about Dibala himself. And has Cameron forgotten that she tried to set Dibala up to be killed? And why in heck did she kiss him?
On another note, while they were bouncing across the spectrum of diseases, why not porphyria? It’s associated with photosensitivity and pain, it’s rare, and it has a cool name?
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:47 am
@Mani: Now you’re oversimplifying my argument to facilitate your own. Expecting House to “solve every medical problem” is absurd. Expecting a medical genius to make a “discovery” regarding his own is not unreasonable. The word “discovery” is not synonymous with “cure” as the begining of your essay/post suggests. As for the tests, actors have previously been employed to assist the team to great effect in line with Dr Foster’s admirable ambition to make the show more credible. : )
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:12 am
House sending a second memo reversing Cuddy’s first memo (originally instructing hospital staff not to assist House) was hilarious. House using blackmail to coerce a surgeon into operating on his patient was brilliant. Yet you’re here writing essays on how such extras would be of no benefit to the show? Madness.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:30 am
Since somebody shrewdly pointed out that sinuses can be clogged by allergies – yes they can, but it will not form puss. Puss=infection. Re-seeing the episode – apparently the idea was that he had menigococcemia and that same thing caused the infected sinuses. A long shot for me but not impossible. Of course sinusitis has other symptoms that I have mentioned so it is still a stupid idea. The argument about House’s realism as a Char baffled me however. If he is so unrealistic and non believable how on earth is House M.D. such a popular TV drama? A genius is defined by the fact that he IS different from ordinary people. Van Gog anyone? Einstein? Geniuses have such an unusual brain patterns that one cannot truly analyze them and put a label on them. So the argument is stupid to begin with IMO. My boss for example is sort of a genius. He runs a dental practice with 5 other doctors there, he is a surgeon and operates at least once a day, he runs a medical supplies company, he speaks fluently 4 languages and can manage four more, he is studying Japanese and Romanian at the moment and he still finds time to amuse himself with an occasional online game or a beer with friends. He is also married has 3 children and likes hiking and climbing. Is he childish for liking video games? May be it is impossible (in who’s opinion?) to like stupid entertainments and be brilliant? I will not even start or re-start a discussion here….
November 22nd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
The medical stuff in this episode confused me. I still don’t understand why the porn star suddenly collapsed at the beginning. At that point in the episode he still had the worms. So what actually triggered the fit? (excuse my unlearned way of putting things). I’d be really grateful if someone could explain this.
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Cameron is pathetic. If she’s willing to dump Chase that quickly (they were married for less than 6 months right?) for those reasons he’s better off Hopefully the short marriage will mean it won’t take him long to get over her and he will realize it. If it wasn’t this she would have eventually made him miserable over something else. (minor) She’s a whiney, manipulative witch and two-faced to boot. She couldn’t manipulate House and she doesn’t realize it’s because he can’t stand her either. She’d make a perfect match for Taub the poor bastard.
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:16 pm
@Mani,
This critique of House from a medical perspective was really interesting to me (as someone completely ignorant in that area). House is a medical drama and I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to critique House from a medical perspective.
You can call it nitpicking, but if you look at it that way, all sorts of widely accepted types of literary criticism can be called “nitpicking.” You might as well discredit feminist readings and Marxist readings of literature as nitpicking. (No self-respecting student of literature major would, by the way). For example, one can criticize the presence of racism in a movie. One also has the option of ignoring the issue of racism altogether, arguing that racism is irrelevant, that it’s about the movie and not the morals. Either way, both options just represents two different schools of thought in criticism. Two different lenses with which to look at the story. (Personally, I think that more lenses = more fun. If you want to stick with one type, that’s your prerogative. As long as you’re aware.)
Even while reading this blog I can still enjoy House as much as the next person. It’s fun to learn facts about medicine (even in a random trivia sense) and some people, like me, don’t think that this takes away with the story or distracts from it in any sense.
I just thought you might want to know how utterly narrow-minded and short-sighted you were being. :-)
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
The hygiene hypothesis is reasonably well supported but just because a clean environment causes an autoimmune disease that surely doesn’t mean that a dirty environment will then suppress one. Can anyone confirm whether that is possible?
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
@Nybbler: Couldn’t have been porphyria, they already had a patient with that diagnosis in season 1.
(They haven’t repeated a diagnosis yet, right?)
And porphyria isn’t on the list of diseases they they’re allowed/required to name each episode. To date, I think that list looks something like:
Sarcoidosis
Paraneoplastic syndrome
Lupus (less and less these days)
A clot in a weird place
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:27 pm
disappointing episode in a beloved show that has felt for awhile like it’s circling a drain. There have been moments of recovery…but then it falls back again. And this episode was a good example.
As one of the many commenters above said, the episode’s concept and writing were contrived to the point where it was difficult to settle into the story. Everyone plays into House’s hands so easily! So quickly! So neatly!
Chase, who a week before was tortured by his murder of a patient, now has no regrets at all. And considering that the guy is newly married and supposedly loves his wife, he seems extremely cold to her and has all season. Only in the land of cheap soaps could a marriage of such supposed love fall apart so quickly and easily. Meanwhile, taub is being courted for rehire by a guy who used to make him shake in his boots on a weekly basis, for fear that he was about to be fired, and he doesn’t even play House for a raise now that he’s got him where he wants him?
It would have been more interesting to have Thirteen work elsewhere, but still continue to play some sort of role vis a vis House’s team.
Cuddy has lost her role as the competent, smart director of a teaching hospital.
House was simply being a dislikable jerk of the first order, not a jerk who had any depth of character.
I liked Cameron, with one of the more strongly written roles and, as it turns out, one of the more resilient characters. But–ok, call me shallow–couldn’t abide the blonder and blonder hair and given how contrived her role has been in the past few episodes, was finally relieved to see her go.
Not foreseeing great things. I hope the writers prove me wrong.
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:14 am
Good morning everyone. Long time reader. First time poster. This is a great site. I must admit I have really enjoyed the debate about House being a genius. As a lay person I guess I really hadn’t given it a second thought. I like his sense of humor the most. I always laugh at least once every show. The medicine goes way way over my head.
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:58 am
“A genius is defined by the fact that he IS different from ordinary people. Geniuses have such unusual brain patterns..” Hmmm. Perhaps I should tell the parents of the next child brought with Epilepsy, “Not to worry. You gave birth to a genius. Try not to be concerned with the implied mortality rate and SUDEP. This will inspire him to invent time travel and we’ll be able to turn back the clock”
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
@DrEvil: Since there’s concern that I’m misrepresenting arguments, I’ll cite them directly – hopefully I can be clearer:
“Expecting House to “solve every medical problem” is absurd. Expecting a medical genius to make a “discovery” regarding his own is not unreasonable.” Depending on what his own problem is, sure it is. Especially when his own problem is clearly and thoroughly understood; there’s no mystery at all to what caused the problems in his leg.
Any discoveries made by House would have to have been discovered by the writers – i.e. they’d have to be total fiction. Inaccurate/unorthodox treatments is one thing – made-up ones is stretching suspension of disbelief to a whole new level. That said…
“The word “discovery” is not synonymous with “cure” as the begining of your essay/post suggests.”
I assumed you meant something closer to “cure,” since House HAS made discoveries about his own condition, repeatedly throughout the series. He discovered his vicodin addiction. He discovered the ketamine faux-cure. He discovered the methadone treatment. He discovered that solving medical mysteries soothes it in a way that other problem-solving doesn’t. He had a (pure science-fiction) plan for how to research another treatment and/or cure using the spinal nerve of his CIPA patient.
“Yet you’re here writing essays on how such extras would be of no benefit to the show?”
If their only purpose were to run tests, absolutely. The blackmailed surgeon served specific dramatic functions, by contrast: expanding on House’s ability to manipulate, hinting at the inner goings-on of the hospital, showing House’s relationship to colleagues that aren’t his friends.
If there were to be radiologists introduced, they’d need to be relevant dramatically, otherwise they’re wasting our time. It could be done, certainly, but it’s not necessary. We already have emotional foci in the main cast. And you’ll notice that your examples do not constitute frequent or recurring characters – there’s a reason for that.
@Meghan: I certainly do think a lot of literary criticism is worthless nitpicking (and in some specific writings, cough cough Laura Mulvey cough cough, a lot of what’s called “feminist” literary criticism is a disgrace to actual feminism at best; and I think it’s precisely the role of the intelligent, aware, and self-respecting student of literary criticism to call bullshit on bullshit – not all ideas are equally valid, if they were the field could not exist).
We can certainly talk about that if you like; I just didn’t think this was the forum for it. Similarly, I don’t get what you’re responding to in what I said.
I’m not denying or rejecting intertextual readings of the show in any larger context. (For instance, you’ll note I didn’t dismiss anyone who’d pointed out that real-life hospital administrators would not wear professional attire anywhere near as revealing as Lisa Cuddy’s.)
I’m disregarding minutia as minutia. The color of the extra’s socks don’t matter unless something makes them matter.
If you find a larger meaning to the fact that the main cast performs functions that, realistically, should probably be performed by others (after all, isn’t it as plausible that the cast can be multitalented as it is that House can be a super-genius?) – and can support it with a coherent assembly of relevant evidence from the text – then I’d be genuinely curious to hear it.
I’m not disregarding Scott’s medical analyses at all (in fact I love them – what do you think brings me here?), nor am I arguing that all components in a storytelling medium can be judged on a purely utilitarian scale of relevance to the story.
In fact, I never said anything about the accuracy of the medicine on the show (but I’m sure that straw man you’re punching there really is utterly narrow-minded and short-sighted).
I am critiquing some of the arguments made here, though, as being irrelevant, inaccurate, or simply wrong. It happens.
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:36 am
And for those of you who found the posts too long:
I never had a problem with medical reviews of the show. I love them, and learn from them, and am extremely interested by them.
I don’t think pragmatic concerns about people’s jobs in a hospital (considering that the job of the eponymous character is purely fictional, and very outlandish at that) is on the same level, though.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 am
@Tabitha: google ‘House Foreteen” and you will get some hits. I think it’s clever which is why I remembered it. Nice idea about Cameron’s motives–I wish the writers had thought of it. It would also give some wistfulness to the idea that House fixed himself with no help from her.
@Meghan: Mani’s approach is a basic structuralism of the sort which allows one to begin to consider any theoretical approach to a work. So long as one believes that Cameron is “real” in some sense and that something she does on the show is “not true to life,” one may feel compassion and admiration for her but one will not be able to see her as a construction (in which one has oneself participated). As a true-to-life human being, Cameron is a feminist; as a construct, she might be a collection of cliches about women as nurturing, pure, and illogical. You can’t do feminist critique on a character you are fantasizing about. Of course we all enjoy thinking of the characters as people–witness my reply above to Tabitha
Mani points out that Princeton-Plainsboro is also a construct. The medicine on the show Is supposed to be both mystifying and correct, which is why we are all reading Scott’s wonderful wonderful blog. That is a premise of the show. But there are also generic conceits, such as the fact that Chase performs all surgeries and members of the team run all tests, which allow us to “be there” through them, see/feel their reactions, and hear their opinions, which we value (just as, in Law and Order, autopsy reports are usually delivered by a medical examiner who is a recurring character, orally, to the policemen, in the presence of the corpse). Such conceits can in themselves be analyzed, as Mani does in explaining their purpose in the narrative. Mani’s point is that the conceits about how the hospital works have to be critiqued in a different way from the actual medical procedures and solutions.
The fact that a crash-cart always rolls up instantly and one of the principal actors always grabs the thingies and shouts “clear” is a narrative conceit, which may be criticized because it is so far from likely that it distracts those in the know from enjoying the show; it has to be accepted to enjoy the show. The fact that the thingies (oh, I looked it up, defibrillators) are applied in cases where they would kill the patient instead of revive him/her, and that a different and less dramatic procedure would be correct, is a betrayal of the premise of the show, which is that medical procedures are correctly portrayed. Even if I don’t know myself whether the procedure was correct, I want Scott to explain it to me and I hope the writers will correct themselves.
On another show, which did not involve medical puzzles, improper use of defibrillation might be a generic conceit. On this show, I think the consensus is that it should not.
I am willing to accept “it was a dark and foggy night” as the beginning of a horror or mystery story–not particularly real or realistic. But I would be horrified to hear that Sherlock Holmes’s London was never foggy, because the Holmes stories purport to give a realistic picture of London life.
I hope that makes sense.
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:53 am
@drevil
All geniuses think differently from ordinary folk does not mean that all people who think differently are geniuses. House is defined as a medical genius on the show. You either believe the fiction or you don’t. There is no real House person to whom you can point and say “Oh, he’s not a genius”
I know many Ph.D’s. I have lunch with about 4 or 5 everyday. Most are into video games and talk about them with enthusiasm. I don’t get it but maybe it’s because they’re mostly from a younger generation than me. While none of these guys are into soaps they will sit and spend a mind numbing amount of hours watching sports on TV, which isn’t that much different, imo.
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
@Hibbleton: I also know many pHDs. I wouldn’t describe them as geniuses. So whether they play GTA4 all day or Chess with Kasparov is irrelevant. Your post also presumes I defined a genius. I merely mocked someone elses definition. @Mani: The more you write doesn’t mean the more you ARE right. I’ll have soon read a novel! All the discoveries you mention were made by others and USED by House. Even Cuddy had to explain to House the research that he should have already been aware of.
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Finally. It was Kerrie’s opinion that House is not a genius. I share that opinion. That one should conduct a population survey prior to expressing this opinion (as Mani suggests) is absurd. The term “genius” is relative and it is my opinion that Dr David Foster fails in his desire to accurately portray a medical genius for the numerous, but not exhaustive, reasons already mentioned. Didn’t this genius get caught cheating in his exams or did you miss that episode? Total disgrace!
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
House is not a genius in the way that one might describe Einstein or some other individual who, through his/her thought processes, moved an entire field of study into a new era. He seems to be more like an intelligent idiot savant when it comes to diagnostics. And why are folks arguing over this? House is a figment of someone’s imagination. He’s interesting because he’s special (i.e. not likely to be found in real life!).
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
“House” jumped the shark for me and my family last night. I thought the writing had been poor for the last few episodes. I usually watch it like an addict, but I read through most of last night and my husband was bored, and he doesn’t get bored! Thank goodness the moralizing, moaning self-righteous and judgemental Cameron has finally departed. She irritated me beyond belief for six and a half series, but the programme needs to pick up fast, or it’s done for, IMHO.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
One of my qualms with the show is the fact that they do run these tests by themselves in an unrealistic time frame. I REALIZE THEY CAN’T SHOOT TWO DAYS’ WORTH OF WAITING TIME FOR ‘X’ TEST, but they could at least send most of the tests to a lab or to a specialist. (other than Wilson for the cancer tests)
November 24th, 2009 at 8:35 am
The series strikes me as tired.
“House” has done incredible things with its series, combining fascinating characters with life-and-death situations. But it may have reached the point where the producers are just milking it for the money.
This happens in many series, both in literature and in films. Sometimes, in order to keep a franchise going, you have to start with new characters, who have the chance to grow.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:57 am
Is it actually unrealsitic that House’s staff would run tests? There are 3 to 4 of them at any given time, and they don’t seem to do much else besides differentials and treating patients first-hand once in a while (as well as defibrillation and plunging needles into chest cavities ;-) ).
November 24th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
“Only the simplest of minds generalise.”
DrEvil, you did do that on purpose, didn’t you? Although, come to the think of it, it’s even funnier if you didn’t …
November 24th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Strongyloides are not “whipworms”. Whipworms = Trichuris Trichuria
November 25th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Lol. Very good Housefly. Very good. Now where’s my insecticide?
November 25th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
@DrEvil: Bite-sized-
“The more you write doesn’t mean the more you ARE right.”
Drat, you’ve seen right through my charade blah blah blah. And then you accuse ME of putting words in your mouth? Cute.
“All the discoveries you mention were made by others and USED by House.”
The ketamine idea came to House in a dream he had when he got shot. The methadone treatment was all his idea. The fact that solving medical mysteries soothes his pain was a fact he raised to his psychiatrist, not the other way around. The CIPA-spinal-nerve stuff was all House’s idea – Wilson just figured out what House was up to.
“That one should conduct a population survey prior to expressing this opinion (as Mani suggests) is absurd.”
No, it’s basic intellectual responsibility. You and Kerrie made claims about reality – is it “absurd” to consider if they’re ACTUALLY true? Then why are you complaining about inaccuracies in a TV show? Or are we only accountable for claims we make if we make them in TV dramas?
Incidentally, I never asked anyone to conduct any survey – you don’t HAVE to make any claim about what brilliant people are like. Especially if you don’t actually know.
“The term “genius” is relative and it is my opinion that Dr David Foster fails in his desire to accurately portray a medical genius for the numerous, but not exhaustive, reasons already mentioned.”
Fair enough. All I was rejecting is the idea that House acts unlike any brilliant person – because that claim is simply incorrect. You can be as convinced or not as you like.
“Didn’t this genius get caught cheating in his exams or did you miss that episode?”
Right, I forgot – “never cheats” and “is always consummately prepared for every exam on any subject at any given time, ever” are both in the definition of “genius.”
November 27th, 2009 at 2:10 am
@ Jon — Actually, the original hygiene hypothesis didn’t have much to do with what this episode is about. The study I recall starting the entire debate, was a Swiss study in which the experimental group was a group of children that were exposed to farm animals (specifically cows). These children were less likely to become asthmatic or have environmental allergies (by this I mean hayfever) when compared to controls (Swiss children raised in “clean” households). This study has now somehow been generalized from not just respiratory disease but also to include various autoimmune diseases. This is possibly because many autoimmune diseases are associated with asthma or environmental allergies.
The whipworm treatment for Crohn’s disease comes from the bright idea that someone had that people in parts of the world where Crohn’s is not common, had parasites. So they tried giving parasites to mice first (and it seemed to alleviate the clinical signs of IBD in mice) and then, when that worked, to humans. The worm used is a whipworm (I just looked it up again) Trichuris suis (sorry should be italicized) which is a whipworm whose normal host is a pig and therefore doesn’t multiply in humans. VS was absolutely right: Whipworms are not strongyles.
In actuality, it is rather strange that this works, as IBD is associated more with western diet than with cleanliness or lack thereof. As western diet spreads to different parts of the world, IBD seems to spread with it.
@ others — on another note. My interpretation (on finally getting to watch the show) was that Chase was a bit POd at Cameron because she kept stating that House was to blame for him killing Dibala and that he was okay because he felt guilt. Finally he stated that he was responsible for killing Dibala and that House was not. In addition, as I recall, he stated that he would probably make the same decision again even though he has to deal with the consequences. At no point did he say that he did not feel guilty (so Cameron misinterpreted what he said). I thought that he was taking responsibility for what he had done and was stating this in a very forthright manner. It is interesting how we all have such different interpretations. In fact, it is rather cool.
November 27th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
@fluffy – You do need red blood cells to live, but it is possible to have low counts of all three – red, white, and platelets. When my father was dying of cancer and the chemo was basically doing more harm than good, he had very little of any of those cells. He was anemic, bleeding randomly, and pretty much without an immune system. He had lots of transfusions and shots of, um, oh, hell, that stuff they give people to make them make more white blood cells. Neupogen, that’s it! Anyway, no, you can’t live very long in that condition, but a very sick patient could indeed have blood counts like that.
@Hibbleton – I too had a coronary over Lucas reading private medical files.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:42 am
My nitpick: House ruled out hypopituitary because the thyroid tests were negative (I think I’ve got that right). Errr…no. Hypothyroidism is common with hypopituitary but not required. Any of the pit hormones can be low in isolation, though generally it would be growth hormone (measured indirectly by IGF-1, though you can have false negatives).
November 29th, 2009 at 5:10 am
@D-r Bulgaria
I think perhaps you missed the point of EL’s short post:
“Dr Bulgaria — 5. What exactly caused the sinuses to fill with puss to begin with?
I would think that a cat would have something to do with this (so cat allergies?)”
EL was attempting to point out a spelling error in a humorous way (which perhaps might take the sting out of telling you that you’ve made a mistake in your spelling). What EL was saying is that “puss” is an endearment used for cats. The unpleasant, thick, whitish or yellowish substance that is formed by various kinds of infection is pus — only one S. The words are pronounced differently too, though admittedly you wouldn’t be able to work out what the pronunciation is supposed to be just from seeing the spelling of the words “puss” and “pus”.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
As to the suggestion that House can’t be a genius because he plays video games, watches soap operas, and simply does not devote himself to the case whole-heartedly – that’s why he’s a genius. Because he can figure everything out while distracting himself at every turn. He doesn’t devote himself because he’s so good at his job that he doesn’t need to – so good that he gets bored and decides to screw with people just because he can. If you’re so intelligent or observant (or whatever else he may be that makes him what he is) that you’ve never needed to apply yourself . . . you honestly don’t know how to do so. Even when you want to.