House — Episode 20 (Season 7): “Changes”
An uninspired and uninteresting episode of House with everyone just going through the motions. It’s like the writers knew what they had wasn’t that interesting so they kept trying to up the ante, but without bothering to have it make any sense. (What could be worse than a cancer? I know! Three cancers!)
Cyrus is a middle-aged former refrigerator repairman who recently won $42 million in the lottery. While out looking for his long lost love one day, he collapses as he suddenly becomes paralyzed in his left leg. He is admitted to Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital under House’s service for evaluation of his partial paralysis. House mentions that Cyrus’s initial work-up included a negative head CT, a negative lumbar puncture, a negative spinal MRI, and a normal EMG (Electromyogram — a test that checks the conductivity of muscles and nerves. The initial differential diagnosis consists of neuro-otological pathology, toxin exposure, or atherosclerosis caused by exposure to ceramics or precious metals. Taub is sent to get a better patient history, while Chase and Foreman investigate Cyrus’s repair shop. Taub discovers that Cyrus eats little but canned food, and wonders if this has caused a heavy metal poisoning. Chase and Foreman discover cheap off-brand solvent in the repair shop and suspect inhaled toxins. Thirteen points out that both of these can be cured by chelation, but House overrules her and wants Cyrus started on alkalynization and dirueses for the heavy metal toxicity, and then dialysis for the toxins if that doesn’t work. This way, he opines, they can know what the cause of Cyrus problem is.
Thanks to hospital politics, Cyrus is unable to go through with either House’s plan or Thirteen’s plan. As this is being explained to him, he develops sudden vomiting and shaking which Thirteen diagnoses as a focal seizure. The new differential diagnosis includes Lyme disease, postural hypotension, and herpes encephalitis. House favors the latter, so orders an EEG to confirm and starts the patient on Acyclovir (an anti-Herpes drug).
Off camera, Cyrus’s EEG shows no encephalitis, but does show “metabolic stress” which is traced to a mass in the pancreas suspicious for a tumor.
Undergoing a CT-guided biopsy of the pancreatic mass, the team notices two other masses — one in the colon and one in the kidney — also suspicious for cancer. Yet the findings on the CT suggest that these are three entirely different cancers. As to be expected, a new differential diagnosis is made, this time containing Von Hippel Lindau disease (a rare genetic disease that causes tumors and cysts to grow throughout the body) syndrome and the vague “missing a tumor suppression gene.” To discover the underlying reason, House decides his best bet is for the tumors to grow bigger, and maybe for new ones to form, so he can track down the inciting cause. He start Cyrus on a tumor growth factor.
Surprisingly, an abdominal ultrasound performed later shows no increase in tumors at all, and actually a decrease in tumor size. Autoimmune is mentioned as a possible cause, and then discarded, and then amyloidosis is brought up. It makes sense to House so he wants a GI biopsy to prove it’s amyloidosis, and then he wants Cyrus started on chemotherapy. Cyrus suffers an emotional blow at this point, betrayed by his best friend, and he suffers the hat trick of cardiac arrest, liver failure, and lung failure. Luckily, thanks to a scolding by Cuddy’s mother, House has his Eureka! moment and hediagnoses Cyrus with a teratoma.Teratomas are strange encapsulated tumors that contain all three cell-layers found in developing fetuses, and because of this, can develop almost any kind of tissue within them. In Cyrus’s case, the teratoma produced brain tissue, which somehow leaked into his bloodstream and caused an autoimmune response that attacked his own brain, leading to his paralysis and seizure. His teratoma also contained pancreatic, liver, and lung cancers which also leaked out and caused tumors in those particular organs — all at the same convenient time. House tells Cyrus that his problems — the medical ones at least — will resolve after the teratoma is surgically removed.
As usual, major complaints are in red, modest complaints are in blue, and nit-picking ones in green:
EEGs are not used in the diagnosis of herpes encephalitis. But guess what — lumbar punctures are! The same LP that we were told from the very beginning was negative.
I just don’t buy the teratoma as the cause of all Cyrus’s problems. So this teratoma not only has brain tissue that induces an autoimmune response, but has three distinct cancer lines within it as well. Why didn’t these cancerous cells make a massive tumor within the teratoma?
I’m quite familiar with the causes of atherosclerosis, and I don’t remember seeing ceramics or precious metals on the list.
Different chelating agents are used for different toxic exposures. There is no one general chelator. This also renders House’s argument void, since you tell what the inciting toxin was by which chelating agent worked.
Why didn’t the first CT scan used to find the pancreatic tumor also find the other two tumors?
Why would brain tissue from the teratoma lead to an autoimmune response? Why did it set off the immune system in the first place? It is “self” after all.
“Metabolic stress” is a very general term, why jump to an abdominal CT first thing?
This week’s medical mystery was, again, rather dull, at least from a House point of view. It earns a C. The final solution required to many coincidences to be believable: C-. The medicine, what little we saw, was wrong as often as right. It was awkward the way the almost-certainly-fatal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was made entirely off camera and just alluded to in conversation. Another C. The soap opera was decent, and this is the most interest I’ve had in Arlene yet. The soap opera earns a B.
The review of the previous episode of House
A list of all prior House reviews
May 2nd, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Yawn. Lets keep working those Laws, people. You guys are waaaay more interesting than the show. What a waste of Donal Logue.
May 2nd, 2011 at 10:45 pm
I actually kind of liked this one. Some of House’s scenes with Thirteen were funny, and the Foreman-Chase bet was kinda cool.
That being said, the medical mystery was meh…
The plot twist was not really twisty. The patient’s acting (not to mention his brother and girlfriend) was atrocious.
I didn’t really care about Cuddy and her mom (but I did like Wilson’s one liners.
The only things I’m really excited about are the season finale (which is always awesome) and the next episode (House + Vicodin + HEROIN!).
May 2nd, 2011 at 10:48 pm
One of the most boring episodes of TV ever. I could barely pay attention the first third and then stopped caring.
May 2nd, 2011 at 11:00 pm
Couldn’t help noticing that at least two of the discarded diagnoses were the actual causes of illness in two previous episodes: The aspiring astronaut who had Von Hippel Lindau Syndrome, and much earlier in the series, the young faith healer who had herpes encephalitis.
(For a moment, I thought amyloidosis belonged on this list, but I had it confused with melioidosis in “Last Resort.”)
Perhaps they’re finally scraping the bottom of the rare-diseases barrel.
I didn’t mind this episode. I thought the lottery winner was a lovable loser with a poignant backstory. I’m reminded of Mark Twain’s remark, “I’m opposed to millionaires, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.” I also thought Thirteen was wonderfully wise when she predicted the lottery guy would always be happy because he’ll always be hopeful, and when she said – twice – that “lotteries are stupid.”
May 2nd, 2011 at 11:29 pm
I thought the episode was ok.
Thirteen is becoming more sarcastic and fatalistic which I think fits her really nice. They are characterizing foreman some more, that was long due. The overall lighting and pacing felt somewhat special, too.
Also, “We are who we are, lotteries are stupid” was a moody closing. The sentence didn’t fit Thirteen at all but felt somewhat impressive.
May 2nd, 2011 at 11:29 pm
not sure what number we’re on, but: Diagnostic medicine is best practiced while high on vicodin and mocking anyone in sight.
May 3rd, 2011 at 12:00 am
Dr. R: Not to worry, but I’ll figure something out and make a Law out of that.
May 3rd, 2011 at 1:12 am
W.r.t. the cells in the teratoma, House said they were full of “primitive cells” that can “turn into almost anything”, including brain cells and cancer cells. I assumed “primitive cells” was a politically safe codeword for stem cells.
May 3rd, 2011 at 1:12 am
I rather liked this episode……nice to see more of Foreman and of course Wilson!! House was looking REALLY scruffy, and Cuddy rather, well, slutty (I mean, come ON she is dragging feminism backwards with the way she dresses). And as much as I miss M3, I really liked 13 in this episode.
I think her comment about “lotteries are stupid” really reflects on how what she thinks about regarding the odds of winning and the odds of getting a shitty load in life. I really see 13 and House coming together at one point, even if for a one night stand :D
LOVED her line when she said “he broke up with me because I liked his sister” SNAP! lol
I thought I recognized the old astronaut diagnosis…and as for the tertoma, I’ve heard they can contain hair and even teeth? Maybe they were thinking more along the lines of the parasitic twin (Boy vs. UFOs) would trigger an autoimmune response.
I kept thinking maybe he was being poisoned but that would have been too simple.
OMG HEROIN???? House, say it ain’t so :(
May 3rd, 2011 at 3:20 am
When the lost love shows up at the end, wasn’t it the same one the show opened with?
How did the brother find a co-conspirator who looked close enough to fool him?
Why didn’t he pay an investigator to trace the girl?
May 3rd, 2011 at 4:16 am
I was surprised they didn’t come up with a theory that he was somehow poisoned by his ‘friend’. seems like House would have been all over the ‘good friendship’ aspect of this patient. If he’s willing to have a woman fake being someone else just to get his money, why not try to kill him also to really pull the strings?
May 3rd, 2011 at 5:25 am
Loved this exchange between Foreman and House:
“I need a hooker”
“Not if you can make that work”
May 3rd, 2011 at 6:00 am
Hi. Anyone can tell me what was the last song that was played for this episode?
May 3rd, 2011 at 6:42 am
I found this episode pretty amusing. Laughed a lot because of the clever one liners exchanged by well pretty much everybody. Chase was the star of course (the way he kept on top of Foreman was awesome :) The way he swong that lovely nurce and ended up both with the sex and the win of the bet :):):) LOL and Bravo Chase. The fact that Wilson Cuddy and House all got into the old scruffle was also way funnier than the POW. And that type of interaction between Cuddy and House was the reason they started their affair in the first place – the tension is their they can still measure wits and have fun doing it. I think this episode was a lovely mix of Classy House with young guns fun. And 13… well well well. Olivia Wilde was at cinema for a year and all of a sudden she can act her pretty tushy out? Bravo! As Taub phrased it so well: It’s a good thing you are sexy and smart :):):)
The medicine was pretty bad. Because of the streches in logic and timing I actually stopped liscening to House Eureka midway through his explanation. Just plain bad luck I guess – we can’t have great soap and great medicine in the same time. My overall score for the epsiode would be A- – Medicine C mistery C Solutin C but Soap – A+. I would love to see more of the dinamic trio. They make it work (still)
May 3rd, 2011 at 6:53 am
“The cancer collapsed on itself”. Has a doctor ever really uttered those words?
It was nice to see something involving Foreman and Chase. For once it looked like Chase showed signs of desperation for losing Cammeron, and Foreman as an untapped powder keg? I’d like to see where that goes.
Bergman kept the show more interesting than it otherwise should have been even it was kind of schmaltzy. When she told Cuddy that she should stop looking for perfection it sounded just like something a woman from my mom’s generation would say. I totally believed it.
May 3rd, 2011 at 7:26 am
Interesting. I thought this was one of the better if not best shows of the season. Some good House moments, a couple of laughs, and Wilson finally really interacting with House and Cuddy. Plus 13 is back and providing a mirror for House.
May 3rd, 2011 at 7:32 am
Yes, the non-medical stuff was great, although it would be nice to see Foreman win for once. Are there actually blood-pressure monitors like that which do a continuous trace from an arm cuff? I’d think that would be the sort that takes a reading every few minutes or so. Or were there other leads besides to the cuff – I wasn’t watching too closely.
May 3rd, 2011 at 8:36 am
In the real world, what would happen to a patient if his doctor were suddenly not allowed to practice? I guess and hope that another doctor would promptly be assigned to take over the patient’s care. Of course that assumes a hospital administration with some competence, which this hospital does not have.
May 3rd, 2011 at 8:41 am
Liked the soap, even liked the medical merry-go-round and I’m sad that it was so out of tune. It’s great when they are shooting diagnoses out to know I can come here and find out what they are saying. Like very long subtitles.
Seems to me that 13 has become an actress during her hiatus. She doesn’t have a really wide range yet but there is a sense that she is doing something besides posing that gorgeous mug for the camera. When she was talking to the patient there was a sense of her emotions.
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:08 am
Not a great episode but an ok one, soap was ok and even enjoyable sometimes…
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:47 am
@D-r B: I thought that Chase was the biggest loser in the end. That scene in bed with the nurse showed him to be quite pathetic —unable to control his base emotions since losing Cameron despite his earlier speech. He certainly didn’t look happy.
May 3rd, 2011 at 11:22 am
Funny, I had the exact opposite feeling about the show than the majority here. I thought it totally lacked energy. Wilson and Cuddy were shells of their former selves. Wilson wasn’t even angrier than hell that House is getting vicodin in his name? I thought the scenes between House and Wilson were actually boring compared to others throughout the series. Cuddy seems so out of character as to be unrecognizable. She used to have a sense of humor and spunk. Now she just appears to be someone who really needs anti-depressants. Nor do I think that OW is any better an actress than she was before…but I never thought she was bad to begin with. The character she is playing is, unlike Cameron, not someone whose emotions are at the surface.
May 3rd, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Well I think the punchline about Chase was that basically he is the same as Foreman – he prefers to keep the truth bottled up even from himself. He did try :) But one could never really say when things are going to go up again – you just leave it to time after a bad relationship. Him trying (in a funny Housesque way) was him trying to make the next step to recovery. I have to agree that Cameron actually screwed him up pretty badly. He is a better, wiser person and he is miserable because of that…
May 3rd, 2011 at 3:17 pm
@Hibbleton: Only speaking for myself here, but if the writers are trying to make me feel sorry for a guy who can and does get just about every girl he wants, then it probably isn’t gonna work.
May 3rd, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I thought this episode was pretty good. It wasn’t a great episode or an enormously entertaining episode, but I think our editor missed a major theme running in this episode.
This was obviously a “retrenching” episode. Apparently, one of the more perceptive writers (and a portion of House viewers) have been really dissatisfied with the storylines and execution for the past two-three seasons. The show is obviously not as great as the first three seasons. Those shows used to be amazingly well written; real, credible drama, shockingly awesome comedic moments, and a good medical mystery.
Sadly, for whatever reason, the writing staff/producer can’t construct good medical mysteries anymore. (Perhaps the show has actually exhausted all possibilities where you can have a medical mystery which can run in 43 minutes.) When you constantly keep on running ridiculous, the show stops having an form of credibility as a medical drama. You can only have so many seemingly gripping life-&-death episodes before they all look alike. So, what’s left?
You go back to the only thing you can fix. The drama and characters. The show would also have these “subtle” underlying themes about life, philosophy, and ethics. And I think this is what the episode was all about. Go back to establishing the characters (then build conflict, which you can’t have without context), and the way the show used to work.
The theme of this episode was human nature. I guess the House-ian “observation on life” in this episode is that human nature doesn’t change, and its the perceptions it generates which determine whether one will live happy, NOT external circumstances.
So, the (important to the show) start of the episode is pointing out what we already know: Foreman makes himself miserable caring about how medicine “should” be practiced, and yet caving in to House. And Chase is a man-whore. They usually don’t interact with each other, so now the show decides to kill some time with them tweaking each other. And pose the question: can people really change their nature?
The patient is a classic case of “can money buy happiness?” And with more subtlety, what is it about human nature that “determines” happiness? 13 becomes the commentator of the week, and yet we get to see a little more about 13’s perspective (bitterness) about life (which builds her character). The payoff at the end is 13’s observation “with hope, there is happiness” (he’ll always believe he can be happy, so he will always be capable of being happy). And House suggests 13 could be happy if she didn’t believe the circumstances of her life prevent her happiness; her fatalism is a coping mechanism.
The House/Cuddy/Cuddy’s mom farce was merely time killing entertainment, with Cuddy’s mom capable of being happy, because she had hope for her daughter getting married, but the end of it really showed Cuddy and House relationship finally resolved. (House can’t care about people when it matters, and he disappears when his medical epiphany finally arrives.)
I suspect what happens in the next three episodes will have something to do with what has transpired in this episode. Either the realizations or event will be built upon in the following stories, or more probably, this episode builds a context to what will transpire.
May 3rd, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Is it just me? Am I the only one wonder what on earth Chase could have said that made the nurse slap Foreman and give him his money back? They both were aware what was Chase was trying to pick her up, and she was even game to slap Chase.
Or was this meant to be a Macguffin?
May 3rd, 2011 at 4:20 pm
I just reviewed the part when House delivers the diagnosis to the patient. They even used the old CSI visual recreation of the medical event! It MUST have been one of the “old” (good?) writers…
May 3rd, 2011 at 6:53 pm
This episode was pretty good I guess. IMO the funniest moments were these:
House: Well, I’m not paying for the gas.
I just loved that because he was just like a little petulant child and he was just trying to be the one to end the argument. Hilarious!
(ANGRY) Foreman: BECAUSE I TOOK A BETA BLOCKER!
:D
May 3rd, 2011 at 7:21 pm
So, let’s suppose that indeed you spot 3 different cancers in a patient’s body. Then you say “Let’s pump it up a little with VEGF to grow them bigger and hope for new cancers to come up to….”WHAT?? Treat cancer?? And actually a whole bunch of them in different organs? In this imaginary situation wich doctor would say “Lets provide him with an irreversible action to certain and agonising death” in hope of finding a (well put there) vague tumor suppression gene…And even if u find the lack of such a gene, how does that help you in clinical terms? And also following this imaginary logic, wouldn’t be the fear of metastasis of the tumors in hand be your primary concern if you deliver VEGF (actually how u would deliver that?), propably in bones or brain(that would drop the expectancu of survival to…em zero!)? Or u just hope for new primary tumors in other organs? Cancer is NOT one thing, one cause… we lack a great deal of knowledge for the different manifestations of cancer in different human organs and the biochemical paths that uses to exist. I love House but this was fundemantal WRONG and without ANY actuall base to stand.
May 3rd, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Oh, I guess I must have missed that heroin-thing… when did House mention this? Damn…
I liked the episode, some damn funny scenes and I don’t really think Donal Logue (contrary to his fake former love!) acted badly
May 3rd, 2011 at 8:31 pm
C’mon, it’s the return of unnecessary body exploratory CGI, how can you call it dull? =)
May 3rd, 2011 at 9:17 pm
Is it just me? Am I the only one wonder what on earth Chase could have said that made the nurse slap Foreman and give him his money back? They both were aware what was Chase was trying to pick her up, and she was even game to slap Chase.
Until she actually talked to Chase and realized what a hottie he was and confessed everything, whereupon Chase told her that he’d go out with her if she turned the tables and slapped Foreman instead.
::shrug:: That’s my theory, for what it’s worth.
May 3rd, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Oh, I guess I must have missed that heroin-thing… when did House mention this? Damn…
It was in the preview for the next episode. Actually, all we see is House putting a tourniquet on his arm while preparing to inject himself with … what?
You’ll recall House went through a phase where Wilson suspected he was taking heroin for his leg pain – it turned out to be methadone, which Cuddy was willing to let House take, but which House ultimately quit using.
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:11 pm
HouseIsMyVicodin: “Oh, I guess I must have missed that heroin-thing… when did House mention this? Damn…”
It was in the preview of next week’s episode–not mentioned, but they showed him shooting up.
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Actually, they showed a dime bag of a “white-ish, powdery substance,” the same “substance” being “cooked,” a syringe of roughly 3-4cc’s of a clear-to-yellow fluid, and then House pulling a tourniquet off his arm. However, I suspect the actual episode will play out differently.
Nonetheless, I DO think that House is poppin’ the boxer with ‘roids.
May 3rd, 2011 at 10:28 pm
@ Judy: Thanks a lot! Haven’t watched the preview yet, guess I gotta catch up on this ;)
May 3rd, 2011 at 11:24 pm
pretty boring but a few good lines. Arlene’s motive was completely obvious from the start. The medicine made no sense to me, which isn’t to say I know anything about the subject, but there seemed to be no logical flow here.
Strange to say, House reminds me of the Harry Potter series. It built up to a crescendo (OK, for House is was the third year, for HP the fourth book) and then started to get darker, less enjoyable and less well-wrought year by year (or book by book). By the seventh book (or season) it wasn’t fun or compelling anymore. (Sorry, I’m sure there are Harry Potter fans out there who would disagree with me.)
I’m not sure that having every single character on the show be miserable makes for a compelling or entertaining show. I had big hopes a couple of weeks ago, when Thirteen returned; that was well done on many levels.
May 3rd, 2011 at 11:27 pm
So would the brainy teratoma explain why the guy, who apparently has dedicated his life, pre- and post-lottery, pining for his long-lost, one true love, couldn’t spot the woman as a fake after spending just a little time with her, never mind days and days?
The real woman might not find that so flattering… If there is a real woman. The all-powerful teratoma might have invented the whole memory.
May 4th, 2011 at 3:48 am
You can’t get continuous blood pressure readings from a cuff.
May 4th, 2011 at 4:04 am
Does anyone remember that great line in “Scrubs” spoken by J.D. who, upon seeing an old high school classmate (female and hot), remarks, “…you turned me down for homecoming AND the prom, even though I didn’t ask you to either one.”
I don’t know why that came to mind; I guess Donal Logue’s character kind of reminds me of poor, pathetic J.D. who never scored the “hot chick” until AFTER he scored the “M.D.”
May 4th, 2011 at 4:19 am
I thought 13 didn’t just like her teen bf’s sister, i thought they said she slept with her, cheating on the bf and probably causing havoc in that family? I like 13 but she’s a narcissicist and toxic in a lot of ways.
I also would have liked to have seen the lotto winner cancel the check and notify the police; a fraud on that scale should not be forgiven.
And definitely time to change the will!
Was it just me or was the medicine irrelevant? Except i can see Foreman heading towards physical and mental breakdown.
May 4th, 2011 at 5:46 am
@MrBuddwing
“Couldn’t help noticing that at least two of the discarded diagnoses were the actual causes of illness in two previous episodes…”
They mention stuff like Huntington’s and Münchhausen’s practically every month. This is not really unusual, good sir.
May 4th, 2011 at 6:27 am
Chase mystery:
What did Chase said to the nurse to get her to give Foreman his 100 bucks back and slap him THAN go and still have sex with Chase: Here’s my guess:
1. Do the nice stuff go over the icebreakers and the clever jokes that prepare the prey for the kill (pretty much what Foreman expected and observed). The girl was playing along because she was being paid to do it (by Foreman). While doing that she kept on thinking: “I actually would not mind doing that guy! Free of charge! The 100 bucks would be a sweet bonus for such a choir!”
2. She tries to sway Chase into action (from hunted to hunter – classy aggressive female move)
3. Chase responds that he recently got out of a tough divorce and plays the “I am hurt and broken” role. He doesn’t even have to play – he feels miserable and doesn’t want to just go to bed. A combination of his normal intentions with his casual sweet guy act brings tears to the girls eyes. Her panties have already hit the floor and are now digging towards the Earth core
4. Chase goes for the kill – but a different kill that involves making the girl practically beg him for sex with a line of the type: ” You seems like such a nice smart and funny woman! It would be unfair from me to give you false expectations considering that right now I am wrecked and useless. I cannot take advantage of you!” By that time he probably managed to make the connection between the unexpected and unprovoked attention and the fact that Taub and Foreman are watching the movie from the front raw.
5. The girls is enraged and furious at Foreman for trying to play such a dirty trick to such a nice man – she goes to him gives him his money back and slaps him so hard his brain backflips :)
6. In the end of the working day the nurse ambushes Chase at the exit and convinces him that he would not be taking advantage and that she wants to make him feel good confident and a man again. Heart-brokenly he agrees to the proposition.
If there is something that I am still amazed by it is the fact that women still manage to fall for the vulnerable and broken man routine. They even do not feel anger if he ditches them afterword – such a guy would get all the pleasure with none of the guilt aftereffect. Ah I wish I could pull a stint like this. But I probably have to look like Jesse Spencer to do it right? :)
May 4th, 2011 at 10:04 am
I’d like to see House and Thirteen get together. Or House and Wilson. OOH!
May 4th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
@ Ledasmom Foreman won big time once. He got a raise which was taken out of the pay of the other 3!
May 4th, 2011 at 5:02 pm
@Brett: She’s a narcissist? You may want to not throw around terms like that, especially at random, lest you become a writer on this show.
A narcissist wouldn’t feel empathy and would not care for the suffering of his/her patient. Being self-centered especially while depressed is not selfish. And how is it toxic? She never laughed or took pleasure in breaking up that family, she just fell to his sister. That’s all that has been said and yet you assume many things more.
Sometimes I believe a lot of the commentary here is quite a bit more inane than what is being commented on.
@Dr. Bulgaria: A question: if everything is C (6/10) except the drama (A+; 10/10), how is your final verdict a 9 (A-)? Or aren’t those things supposed to average?
May 4th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
I actually liked this one, it seemed to be about a medical drama (rather than being something in the background in the past few episodes, or an illness as an excuse to have House ape a load of classic films in Cuddys dreams!).
Got to say, seems like they are trying to get a HOuse-13 coupling happen, he actually seems to care about what she thinks, and lets her have the last word alot. Please I honestly hope it doesnt go there, but desperate writers and all that………………..Foreman and Chase were kinda fun, but take a look to when they were first on the show to see how plastic and boring they have made those characters…….that it resorts to silly games and bets rather than anything about them as characters – same stuff they pulled with Wilson and the chicken……..
May 5th, 2011 at 6:35 am
Litttle Anne of Green Gables (Meagan Follows) playing a con artist! What is the world coming to!
May 5th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
This episode (just shown in the UK) was so boring I read a book through it and occasionally looked at the screen. I remember when it had me riveted – oh dear…
May 5th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
It seems I always love the episodes everyone else hates, and vice-versa. This one was a perfect example. And we’ll just leave it at that.
May 6th, 2011 at 9:52 am
A decent episode, if mainly for the soap opera. The medical mystery did not strike me as very original, but it was certainly par for the course on House MD.
May 7th, 2011 at 5:14 am
Dear Scott,
Is it possible that the brain tissues in the teratoma is actually immune privileged structure like the blood-brain barrier?
Just like in the testis and eye, which is why exposing these structures to the immune system will trigger an autoimmune response from the body.
Cheers,
Zhao Ming Lee.
May 7th, 2011 at 10:58 pm
I did laugh at the guy House put on the floor, I must admit. Still very poor all around. At this rate it may be due for a mercy killing at the end of Season 8.
May 8th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
@Zhao Ming : It’s pretty unlikely, though fetal tissue has immune privilege as well (except for HDN and EBF). So if there were fetal tissue (like a parasitic twin) it may not experience a reaction. I’m not an Immunologist (cardiothoracic surgery and infectious disease), but it I do of course have some background knowledge.
May 9th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
In Bulgaria we rate highest with 6 (=A) and lowest 2 (=F). But I guess you are right it sums up to a C. I just liked the char interactions so much.
May 14th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
After watching the show all these years, I’ve come to the conclusion that House is simply a giant asshole. It’s got nothing to do with being a genius, and isn’t excused by being in pain. Other people manage both those things without being misery-spreading destructive sociopaths. I’m just watching the show now out of stubbornness.
May 15th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
“Why would brain tissue from the teratoma lead to an autoimmune response? Why did it set off the immune system in the first place? It is “self” after all.”
- Scott
Well, maybe it’s Lupus :P
Also I’ve got to say “thank you”, your reviews are pretty awesome.
English is not my primary language – as medicine is not my profession – so it’s pretty nice when you can read the solution after watching an episode. Especially if you don’t get the ending ;)
May 19th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
love this show…
May 24th, 2011 at 3:56 am
Hibbleton:
‘“The cancer collapsed on itself”. Has a doctor ever really uttered those words?’
Yes, if he was a medical advisor providing a metaphor for the stages House’s writing has gone through over the last few years.
September 19th, 2011 at 6:49 am
“Couldn’t help noticing that at least two of the discarded diagnoses were the actual causes of illness in two previous episodes: The aspiring astronaut who had Von Hippel Lindau Syndrome, and much earlier in the series, the young faith healer who had herpes encephalitis.
(For a moment, I thought amyloidosis belonged on this list, but I had it confused with melioidosis in “Last Resort.”)”
It’s pretty common that past diagnoses show up in new episodes, or diseases commonly mentioned in previous episodes become the answer (how many times was Chagas Disease mentioned before “No Mr. Nice Guy” in season 4? Lots).
And we HAVE had amyloidosis be the final answer, too – the rat researcher in “Informed Consent” in season 3.
September 19th, 2011 at 6:51 am
To whit, we’ve at least once had a disease be ‘the answer’ twice – blastomycosis. First with Meat Loaf in “Simple Explanation,” then with James Earl Jones in “The Tyrant.”
September 21st, 2011 at 3:53 pm
At least once, twice….ugh. But at least everyone knew what I meant.
September 23rd, 2011 at 2:47 am
“JANET HEMORRHOID”
Classic House line
December 20th, 2011 at 12:15 am
Teratoma with brain tissue, you say? Why has House not given it a body made of doll parts and turned it into a loveable sidekick?
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