House — Episode 1 (Season 8): “Twenty Vicodin”
The first episode of what is likely to be the final season of House is off to a good start. The constraints of practicing medicine in prison focus the usually superficial medicine on the show down to its core elements.
After last season’s finale, House is now in prison for driving his car into Cuddy’s house and then fleeing the country for three months. In a meeting before the parole board, House is informed that due to prison overcrowding, he is due to be released in five days, as long as he can stay out of trouble. What follows is a week in the life of Gregory House, prisoner.
As the week start, we see him in line to receive his daily medication. He’s there not only to receive his Vicodin, but also to make sure his sociopathic roommate takes his medications. He also passes one of his painkillers as a “tax” to the head of the jail’s neo-Nazi gang.
Nick, a fellow prisoner, asks House for some medical advice, but House blows him off. Later in the day, when House is doing his rounds as a janitor, he is in the clinic when the doctors are examining Nick. Noting the joint pain and fever, Dr. Adams is prescribing ceftriaxone for a suspected case of gonorrhea. House jumps in, telling her it isn’t gonorrhea and suggests his thinning eyebrows suggest that Nick has lupus. Dr. Adams points out that he doesn’t have the classic malar rash so it can’t be lupus.
The next day, House checks out Nick himself and finds a rash (which he never describes, so it could be any kind of rash) on his left thigh, but Dr. Adams is unimpressed. Later that day, being jostled into a wall breaks Nick’s arm. Bones that break so easily don’t fit with lupus, so House realizes that cannot be the right diagnosis. During his janitor rounds, he discussed the case with Dr. Adams again. Viral syndrome and MRSA infection (antibiotic resistant Staph infection) are mentioned but quickly discarded. Knowing that Nick is a smoker, House now suspects that he has metastasic lung cancer (lung cancer which has spread to the bones, and bones with cancer break easier than normal bones), but it will take a couple days until an x-ray is available. This doesn’t sit well with House. Through an exceedingly thoroughly lung exam, including auscultation and percussion, he is able to convince Dr Adams that Nick has some sore of lung mass. She doesn’t have access to any stat labs or x-rays, so she decides to run an old fashioned bleeding time test (patients with cancer have blood that clots too easily, so she suspects his wound will clot sooner than expected), but instead of clotting, Nick bleeds profusely from his wound.
By the next day, an x-ray has been obtained but it shows a lipoma (a benign fatty lump) rather than a tumor. Dr. Adams suspects a toxin, but she is caught sharing patient information with House and no longer allowed to discuss cases with him. Later in the day, Nick comes to talk to House again. House tries to blow him off, but in the middle of it, Nick collapses in anaphylactic shock. Luckily, House has a convenient ballpoint pen to perform an emergency tracheotomy and save the patient’s life. House’s suspicions are pointing toward some sort of allergy, probably a food allergy, at this point.
On his final day, House has his Eureka! moment when he sees a prisoner drinking a hot cup of coffee. He realizes that Nick has mastocystosis, which caused an anaphylactic attack when he drank hot coffee. House wants to give some aspirin to Nick in an attempt to induce an anaphylactic attack, which would prove the mastocytosis, but Dr. Adams supervisor won’t allow it. A short while later, House intentionally enrages the neo-Nazis in order to get himself beat up so he would get sent to the clinic (whether the riot that followed was part of his plan or not). Once in the clinic, though he threatened with the loss of his parole, he gets Nick to drink the aspirin. As House is dragged away, despite drinking the aspirin, Nick remains symptom free.
When last we see House, he is locked up in the solitary wing of the prison. A meal tray arrives, along with a note that says, “You were right.”
Non-medical comments:
It was nice to see House act Holmes-ian again — identifying and explaining Adams by her shoes, scarf, locket, etc.I always knew Urkel would end up in prison.
I don’t have that much negative to say about the medicine this week. I liked the idea of having to make a diagnosis with limited resources, and I think the writers pulled it off better this time than previous attempts (like on the plane). The medicine was relatively logical this time with not many curve balls and zebras thrown in just for sake of it. As usual, major complaints are in red, modest complaints are in blue, and nit-picking ones in green:
There are better blood tests from Mastocytosis than House lets on; for instance, a bone marrow biopsy is a good test. Now that Nick has been stabilized, this is not a situation that needs emergent treatment. He can wait the few days required for definitive testing.
ASA has been known to induce mast cell degranulation – and subsequent anaphylaxis – in patients with mastocytosis, but it’s not reliable enough to use a diagnostic test. A positive test would suggest mastocysotis (or an aspirin allergy), but a negative test wouldn’t rule out the diagnosis.
You can’t differentiate a lipoma on an x-ray. You could see that there were no lung masses, but at best an x-ray would suggest a soft tissue mass. You’d need a CT scan or something similar to identify it as a lipoma.
If it were a lipoma, that would be a tissue mass, not a lung mass, so would not have affected the lung exam. The lung beneath it would still percuss as hollow, not solid.
House specifically asked his friend for his pen, but why? He didn’t use it in his firestarting routine. He seems to only have needed it so he could use it to perform a tracheostomy later.
Bleeding time test is a test primarily for platelet function. I don’t know if it’s ever been tested or is appropriate in cancer patients.
Was Nick’s broken arm/elbow ever treated?
This week’s medical mystery was a little vague and general at first, but picked up as the episode progressed. It would have been a two-minute clinic quickie in previous seasons, but it fit the prison milieu perfectly; I give it an A-. The final solution, though a stretch, fit the scenario and earns a B+. The medicine followed a logical progression for once, and the constraints of being in prison helped rather than hurt. It earns a B. Even though the players were new — except House — the soap opera was well done and earns a B+.
A list of all prior House reviews
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:32 pm
I haven’t seen the episode yet; it doesn’t air for another half hour. I just wanted to be first. I gotta get a life.
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Definately an interesting way to kick off what may be the final Season tonight but it kinda feels like the beginning of Season 6 all over again. House having his freedom ‘taken away’ only to regain it by hours end after using is superior mental acumen to overcome all obstacles standing in his way to getting what he wants (his freedom) seems eerily familliar.
On the plus side this was an episode totally about House with no ‘distractions’ by other cast members. Even in prison, Greg just can’t resist the temptation to mess with people, from deceiving his crazy celly with a replacement cricket so he didnt know his pet ‘died’ to setting the guy who wants his stereo up to get in a fight so he goes to solitary, to the Doctor who dances to his tune in the infirmary to causing a Riot to get the Aryan Brotherhood off his back, House pulls no punches and does what only House can do and do better than everyone else.
I wonder if the Producers will pull out all the stops this year to either make the show great again or give it the send-off it deserves. Only time will tell I guess here’s to hoping it’s better than last season… House deserves to end better than that IMHO..
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:43 pm
I thought he used that pen in the “fire-creating thing”….
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:44 pm
Hello Dr Scott! I think I’m happier getting the reviews back for another season than about the show, hehe
Abour your first nitpick “Now that Nick has been stabilized, this is not a situation that needs emergent treatment. He can wait the few days required for definitive testing”, I don’t thin House cares about faster treatments, classic House wants the answer NOW… and the other doctor was kind of just too mezmerized by him to try and think about another test… Within the context of the show, it made perfect sense to me.
Nice reading you again!
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:48 pm
* In the previous post, I meant “better tests” , not “faster treatments”
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:52 pm
The pen was so he could “white board” on the bunk above his.
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:58 pm
You do realize it was a shank disguised as a pen and he carved the differential in the wood base of his celly’s bunk….right?
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:59 pm
He needed the pen as a last ditch defense against the prision gang. The pen was actually a knife.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Actually, the pen was plan b. Because it was a which shiv (thus explaining why the other inmate always carries it but never writes anything.)
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:12 pm
any Johns Hopkins folks who can explain that line about a (something) scarf on Fridays revealing residency at JH?
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:26 pm
Yep, not to bludgeon the proverbial fallen equestrian, but the pen was a shiv, which was used to start the fire by sticking it into an outlet. Otherwise, it’s great to see your House reviews back in full swing, and I agree, this looks like the last season of House. Personally I’m hoping for a Wilson / Cuddy / ghost Amber spin off set in suburban New York, where a lovable ensemble of characters can take turns having comical “misunderstandings” yet always land on their feet.
It should be named “Playing Doctor” … definitely “Playing Doctor” … and they should have a parakeet called Mr. Snickers.
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:42 pm
Well, it feels like House again, but I have to wonder about the weird and wonderful ways in which the writers will ruin this season
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:45 pm
He used the gum wrapper to start the fire (whether that’s plausible, I dont know. The “pen” was actually a knife because he knew he might need it if he didn’t have enough vicodin. But he knew getting caught with it would mean end of parole chance, that’s why he flushed it, except for the casing, which he used as a trach tube.
LOVED this episode and LOVED “jailhouse” House. YUMMY! I know understand the whole “bad boy=hot” thing. *swoon*.
And love that they are using AWOLNation’s “Sail” for the previews for next week! Poor sad Wilson :(
And DAMN why didn’t I put down “anaphylaxis” on my list….I thought I did since my son has anyphylactic food allergies. At least I got lupus ;)
October 3rd, 2011 at 11:50 pm
@Lisa, I googled it, and it would seem there are a TON of John Hopkins scarves out there with a crest of the school on it.
Can I get a booyah–my 16yo daughter got an email from John Hopkins admissions to encourage her to apply :D She’s going into neuroscience. I’m driving her a little crazy with relating everything back to House (ie he got kicked out of John Hopkins lol).
October 4th, 2011 at 12:12 am
The links reads “Two vicodin” :)))
October 4th, 2011 at 12:14 am
By-the-by, Dr. Scott, your home page lists this episode title as “Two Vicodin.” Is that your new rating system?
October 4th, 2011 at 12:15 am
I thought Nick’s elbow was injured in the jostling but later in the ep it was his wrist in the wrist brace/thumb spica splint so it looks like he got some treatment for it.
I’m surprised you didn’t call out how he bled during the clot test but didn’t bleed from the tracheotomy – in fact he clotted pretty darn quickly there (and didn’t seem to bleed into his lungs around the pen). Good field surgery House!
October 4th, 2011 at 12:27 am
Headacheslayer got it right. House used the foil wrapper (questionable) to start the fire. The pen was Plan B” — a weapon, in case he needed to defend himself. It was actually clever writing that he ended up using the knife for the tracheotomy, because it meant he had to ditch the knife and lose his Plan B, raising the stakes in the drama.
October 4th, 2011 at 12:44 am
anyone know the name of the song played at the end? it was played either during the credits or the next episode sneak peak.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:06 am
House took the pen-shank as ‘insurance’ in case the other prisoners went after him for not having the vicodin.
They don’t specifically mention treatment of a broken arm, but the guy had a splint on his wrist. Not exactly in line with the fact that he was clutching his elbow, but still.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:10 am
Anaphlaxis doesn’t happen instantly after ingesting something, does it? Plus why would he use aspirin to induce it when it was set off after ingesting something hot?
October 4th, 2011 at 1:32 am
Bryce: That’s one of the problems with this episode. In my experience, anaphylaxis is an almost immediate response; it shouldn’t take several minutes, especially since aspirin is water-soluble. Perhaps someone else can answer your second question.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:40 am
Since I won’t be seeing this episode for several months (House is shown in the part of the world where I live only after the U.S. season concludes), I’ll ask now: has House’s license been revoked? I couldn’t find anywhere where it says specifically whether or not going to jail would lead to automatic revocation of a NJ license. If they did revoke his license, it seems to me unlikely that they would reinstate it a second time.
I’m still hoping that in the last episode of this season, we’ll discover that everything since the end of season 2 has been a dream that he’s been having while in a coma after being shot. Or better yet, he could wake up and find himself with Stephen Fry. . .
October 4th, 2011 at 3:02 am
Help please! About 34:30 into the episode (commercial free) House disposes of some vicodin in the commode while saying something to his cellmate. I’ve replayed it several times and cannot make out what he is saying, and I can’t figure out why he is dumping vicodin in the commode. Anyone know anything? Thank you!
October 4th, 2011 at 3:09 am
There’s a big plot hole here, but it’s not medical, it’s legal. Dr. Adams wonders why House, a first-time offender who committed what amounts to major vandalism, with no evidence of intent to harm anyone, gets any time at all. (As opposed to probation, restitution, community service, etc.) He says, “Bad lawyer”, but she checks and finds he had no lawyer – he just accepted the first deal offered to him — to punish himself, she says.
Fine. But for all the reasons she mentioned, he wouldn’t be put in a place that looks like the old Alcatraz. It was at least a medium-security prison, and housed some violent offenders, including his “homicidal” psychopathic cellie who is on anti-psychotic meds.. He’d go to a minimum-security facility. Some of the more modern ones operate almost on the “honor system”, given that a prisoner with only a few months to serve would be stupid to walk away, guaranteeing a certain five-year sentence in a much more secure prison for the felony of escape.
New Jersey probably isn’t among the most modern in terms of detention facilities, but surely they have minimum-security facilities less spooky than what looks like a hard-core state prison. In many States, he’d be serving time only in a county jail, and not go to a State prison at all.
Am I the only one who thought that Dr. Sykes looked a lot like the head of the rehab facility, Mayfield Psychiatric? At first glance, I thought House was either flashing back to his time there, or (uh-oh) hallucinating again.
@ Hugh L.:
He cured his cellie’s cricket of pesticide (organophosphate?) poisoning with sodium bicarbonate. I don’t know it that’s an actual cure, but it apparently worked in the show.
@ ed and Jeffrey:
I just replayed it, with freeze-frame and slow motion. The pen-shiv would be obvious in the electrical socket. It’s not there, only the two halves of the foil gum wrapper used as the two electrodes. Apparently, the shiv was a backup defensive measure — OR — he could shiv himself, since the goal was to get into the clinic.
Headacheslayer and PCM2 are correct.
Also, he could not have used the shiv to do his DDx on the bottom of his cellie’s bunk. That scene occurs immediately after the tracheotomy, after which he flushed the contraband shiv down the toilet, saving only part of the tube, to use as a trach tube. As usual, House puts his own survival and safety – and everything else, including his freedom — behind the priority of saving pts. and Dx-ing them.
Prisoners are often allowed to have relatively harmless drawing and writing instruments, such as wax crayons. Note that Diaz did what appears to be a charcoal sketch of his beloved. House must have used something else to write on his “whiteboard”.
@ Dr. Scott: In the interest of accuracy and easy readability,
“Through an exceedingly thoroughly lung exam,” — “thorough”
“though he threatened with the loss of his parole”, – “though he WAS threatened…”
It’s understood that you want to get the reviews up in a hurry, and finally, I’m responding timely, having discovered this site only after the end of Season 7, and back-commenting some of them. Please take just a moment to proofread! For doctors, mistakes in writing can have serious consequences. :-D
Please take that in the spirit in which it is intended. It’s a great site, and your insights are most welcome.
October 4th, 2011 at 3:54 am
Balok , let me know if you want to watch it sooner.
October 4th, 2011 at 4:12 am
@ Balok: If House was charged with drug diversion ( it would be his second offense and a felony), then yes, his license would be revoked – permanently. Or at the very least, his DEA license would be gone. The first is regulated by the State, the second by the Federal government and therefore a more serious issue, since you can practice medicine without having prescription writing privileges. But who knows what kind of “deal” he made at sentencing? However, I think we’re going to find out how both of those issues work out next week, not that that will help you much, living where you do, but ask us again next week, and we may have an answer.
October 4th, 2011 at 4:35 am
I really liked this episode too, promising start of the season.
I thought he got the knife/pen in case he might need it later.
Nick’s wrist was in some sort of splint thingie.
October 4th, 2011 at 4:39 am
Just a note about House’s interest in physics (cosmology). General Relativity will eventually be discredited, much like the Ptolemaic Earth-centered model was. There is only “dark matter” because the theory of gravity is wrong and has been since Einstein proposed it. With each new discovery in astronomy, the mathematics must become more and more complicated to adhere to General Relativity. That’s why they must come up with explanations such as “dark matter”, “black holes”, pulsars, and quasars. Empiricism always trumps theory.
The recent discovery of CERN (even though the results question Special Relativity) may give enough scientists cover to question the standard model (which cannot reconcile General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics).
The answer is Plasma Cosmology. Google it.
October 4th, 2011 at 5:44 am
House a physicist? We’ll have a unified field theory in no time! lol. Good episode, will be interesting to see where they go from here.
October 4th, 2011 at 6:21 am
Just out of curiousity, Scott, do you want us marking the challenge ourselves, or are you going to do it?
On a related note (and I’ve wondered this for some time), you’re a doctor, right? With patients and medicine and the whole deal, right? One of those notoriously busy professions that generally is populated by folks who really don’t have time to do things like read comics or sleep?
Seriously, how the HELL do you find the time to read comics, dredging up that psychic nosebleed zen that I love so much, critique Fringe and House whilst keeping abreast of at least bits and pieces of pretty much everything nerdy ever? I mean, do you even sleep?
My theory so far is you’ve perfected some kind of Lorentzian wormhole trickery, in which case I expect you’ll murder me exactly 2.5 seconds before I post this.
October 4th, 2011 at 6:32 am
I was expecting him to get in trouble after the trach when they should have asked him how he managed to make an incision in the guy’s throat.
I liked his quiet, protective cellmate even though I saw the protection coming from the very beginning when House was overseeing his meds. Nursing the pet cricket back to health just made it more obvious.
Hope this isn’t the last season. =(
October 4th, 2011 at 6:38 am
ParaMedIV: I’ve never been in anaphylactic shock per se, but I do have allergies that cause reactions along the early stages of that spectrum. As you say, most of the time it starts very quickly (which is why my standard practice with unknown foods is to eat a small mouthful and wait a few minutes before proceeding). But it’s not impossible for it to take longer to set in – how recently you’ve eaten, how much else is in your stomach, etc. can all be factors. (I find an effective tactic if I’ve eaten something I shouldn’t is to eat a bunch of bread, particularly crusty bread – it seems to scrape away whatever might be lingering in the mouth/throat and I guess it helps dilute in the stomach whatever the thing is my body thinks is poisonous. At any rate, it seems to help – and it’s something to do that distracts you from standing there focusing on every little thing and panicking, which *really* makes things worse.)
Wikipedia puts the onset of anaphylaxis at a few minutes to hours – for what that’s worth. I would guess that longer onset times aren’t common but definitely possible.
wg
October 4th, 2011 at 6:39 am
My .03: The way House carried on, I wondered how he was able to get through his supposedly last five days, much less a year, in the Big House (you should forgive the expression). At least he and Thirteen will have something new to talk about.
Yes, excellent moments of tension – he gets the Vicodin he needs for the “prison tax,” then has to give it up; he gets a shiv disguised as a pen, but has to use it to perform a tracheotomy and throw most of it away; he gives up his parole to help a patient, not because he particularly cares for the guy, but because he’s too much of a doctor not to help.
Liked Dr. Adams as well – she acquitted herself very nicely, despite getting the House treatment (at least he couldn’t fire her).
October 4th, 2011 at 7:02 am
Did anyone else say several times out loud to the television, “It’s NEVER lupus!”
I didn’t like the way last season ended, but it’s good to have the show back — and to be reading Dr. Scott again. :)
October 4th, 2011 at 7:22 am
I was suspicious when he thought it was Lupus. It’s only been Lupus once!
October 4th, 2011 at 8:34 am
Just a minor nitpick, but….Lupus can occur without the malar rash, or indeed any rash at all
October 4th, 2011 at 8:44 am
Twice.
October 4th, 2011 at 9:08 am
Elle –
I didn’t yell “It’s NEVER lupus!” at the television, but I did say it to my husband. :-)
I could barely watch this episode after last season, but it seemed to be better. We’ll see where the season goes.
And, from next week’s preview, I guess the answer to the riddle of who the new Dean of Medicine is would be Foreman, eh?
October 4th, 2011 at 10:00 am
So over the summer i averaged all the grades Scott has given out for House by each season and category (mystery, solution, medicine, soap) thought you guys would like to see the progression
Season 1
Mystery: B
Solution: B-
Medicine: C
Soap: B+
Season 2
Mystery: B
Solution: B-
Medicine: C+
Soap: B
Season 3
Mystery: B
Solution: B-
Medicine: C
Soap: B+
Season 4
Mystery: B
Solution: C+
Medicine: C
Soap: B+
Season 5
Mystery: B
Solution: C+
Medicine: C
Soap: B
Season 6
Mystery: B
Solution: C
Medicine: C
Soap: B+
Season 7
Mystery: C+
Solution: C
Medicine: C-
Soap: B
As you can see, and probably suspected, the show has been in a steady decline. If we just take the letter without the +’s or -’s we get.
S1+2+3= 3 B’s 1 C
S4+5+6= 2 B’s 2 C’s
S7= 3 C’s 1 B
Pretty interesting. Who knows? Maybe season 8 will turn it around
October 4th, 2011 at 10:15 am
I was hoping to see Cameron come back to take Cuddy’s job.
October 4th, 2011 at 10:50 am
THANK YOU SCOTT !! It is Great to have you back. I must say that I’d add at least a “+” or maybe a whole letter to the entire experience of watching House, because of your reviews and this board.
TERRIFIC job sir. Much appreciated.
BTW, someone mentioned House would be permanently disbarred due to priors, etc. House has never been convicted of any crime. He has -no- priors. Tritter’s thing was dismissed. He wouldn’t have gotten “hard time” for last season’s finale…
Uncle Ron
October 4th, 2011 at 10:54 am
Hey, first time commenter. I’ve read this website for years and it’s always been my Tuesday morning highlight. Does anyone think it’s possible with all of the legal stuff going on that Tritter could popup again? I think he was the last great villian in House.
October 4th, 2011 at 11:09 am
When we watch the show House, we suspend belief in reality. House would never be allowed to practice medicine in the US. He couldn’t get a license. In the same way, “prison” on “House” is equally unreal. As someone pointed out earlier, Greg would never be ‘housed’ with these violent offenders. I’ve never seen a prison with so many inmates mingling outside their cells with almost no supervision. The hospital in “Broken” kept better tabs on their inmates. Furthermore, prisoners just walking into other inmates’ cells and stealing their stuff?? Give me a break.
Lady doc (she makes Jennifer Morrison look like Meryl Streep) not understanding why Greg is in prison at all, given that he has no previous offenses and only drove into a wall, is downright hysterical. It’s David Shore reacting to all the negative publicity of last season’s finale. Greg KNEW that Rachel wasn’t there? Greg KNEW that he couldn’t possibly have harmed anyone? Greg was in a rage when he drove his car into Cuddy’s house. He injured Wilson and was LUCKY that no one else was hurt. Lady doc doesn’t think this warrants a prison sentence?? The writing on this show gets worse and worse. Yech!
October 4th, 2011 at 11:56 am
I noticed some butt-covering by the writers that might have been prodded by commenters here. Some commenters pointed out in last season’s finale that House was unlikely to drive through Cuddy’s house-front not knowing where the child was. They had House mention that the kid was with the sister-in-law so he wasn’t worried about her.
I also assumed when he mentioned having a bad lawyer that he had defended himself as an unspoken “he who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client.”
Re. Jeffrey’s spin-off suggestion, how about We Don’t Make House Calls?
October 4th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
BTW, I could see the others not visiting House in prison but not Thirteen. I’m sure she would have been there bringing him smokes etc. and giving him advice on coming out in one piece.
And when House suggested lupus, I wondered if he had had a consult with Dr. Buffer. ;^)
October 4th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
So, did I miss something or did I hear that the “ACLU would have my job, my license… ” etc. for the performance of an admittedly out of the box medical procedure by Adams’ supervisor?
Does the ACLU regulate MDs in that regards? Is that a gaff or is there some unsuspended reality in that statement? Just curious.
October 4th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Official Comment
The prison doctor did mention that the ACLU would have his medical license for conducting medical experiments on a prisoner. The ACLU has nothing to do with medical licenses, but he’s implying that he would be sued for violating the 8th Amendment (no cruel and unusual punishments, which would include unethical experiments on prisoners). It’s a stretch, but it’s possible that the ACLU would get involved. It’s more likely the state medical board would pull his license if his behavior was really that egregious.
October 4th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
I don’t think House is going to be leaving jail anytime soon. I’ve been waiting for the ‘Moriarty’ character to turn up. Mendelssohn fits that bill admirably. I’m thinking at least a half dozen episodes before House gets out.
October 4th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
@Wendy G: As I stated in my post: ASA (and coffee, actually) are water-soluble. That means that those chemicals quickly diffuse into the bloodstream, whether its sublingually or through the buccal mucosa, or through the vessels lining the stomach. Its not like they have to break down before the allergy-inducing element is released; they are already broken down in the water. The allergic reaction involving anaphylaxis in this individual should have been very fast. If he was just going to break out in a rash, then yes, it might have taken longer. But anaphylaxis is almost always immediate, abrupt and acute, following exposure to the allergen as the body releases copious amounts of histamine very quickly to attack the unwanted element. In spite of Wikipedia, I have never seen a slow-onset anaphylaxis and I asked a number of my colleagues today if they have, and they have not. I don’t doubt that it may be possible; however, in this particular case, it doesn’t compute. Must be a previously unknown symptom of mastocytosis. :)
October 4th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Hey everyone! Long time reader and first time commentor.
I guess to start off, I should thank Dr.Scott. I won 200 bucks on a bet that you don’t defibrillate asystole! Of course, that’s thanks to reading this blog.
I just have a comment on the method of percussion. Perhaps it is nit picking, but I’m pretty sure its difficult to get a proper note with just one hand like that. You have to use both a plexor (the finger that strikes the pleximeter ) and a pleximeter (the finger of the other hand that you place on the chest wall) to get a discernible note.
@ balok: I live in a part of the world where it doesn’t air until after the season is over on tv, but I usually watch the show the day after it comes out on sidereel.com.
October 4th, 2011 at 4:49 pm
I thought he got a harsher punishment because he fled the country (I think they said 3 months at the start of the episode) after driving his car into Cuddy’s house?
I wasn’t expecting much last night, but I thought they did a good job. The writer’s sort of painted themselves into a corner: how do you have your protagonist do something so horrible and dangerous and not punish him, but how do you keep the audience caring about House if you acknowledge he’s a bad guy who did something horrible? I think they did a good job of showing that House has been punished and suffering, as much as I was expecting to be rolling my eyes the whole time, I found myself feeling sorry for him. He looked a lot older, worn out, and you could see that he was being bullied, he wasn’t the big shot who could get away with anything anymore. I’m actually curious to see if they can keep this feeling of contrition, or if we’ll move on to forgiving House too quickly as happened in the past. I always felt the other characters were too willing to shrug off his behavior as “House being House”
Someone said he got his freedom, but I understood his sentence was extended as he was in solitary at the end?
Great reviews, btw!
October 4th, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Minor correction to 11:56 At the parole hearing House said the kid was at the grandmother’s not the sister-in-law’s.
October 4th, 2011 at 6:32 pm
@ParaMedIV: I’ve seen slow onset anaphylaxis in the ER (I think it was during my internship) But I agree that it probably wouldn’t happen in this case.
October 4th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
In case anyone besides be requires regular treatment for bad House episodes, I will be posting a selected Season 1-3 episode on each new house review. This week’s episode is Season 2’s Humpty Dumpty (Episode 3). One of the best episodes if we use Scott’s reviews to judge episodes. (Average score of A- on the old four category system.) The review may be found here: http://www.politedissent.com/archives/921
October 4th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
the above should read “besides me”, not “besides be”
October 4th, 2011 at 7:12 pm
paramedIV: I’ll have to bow to your experience.
wg
October 4th, 2011 at 7:40 pm
Watched it again – Nicks arm is in a brace of some kind after the run in with the wall, so it did get treated.
October 4th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
@John G — you’re a man after my own heart. See my analysis from last season:
http://www.politedissent.com/archives/7383#comment-1045894
October 4th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Hi Jesse. Welcome aboard!
October 5th, 2011 at 12:32 am
I never did well enough in the House challenge to pay attention before, but I’m wondering if I somewhat hamstrung myself by putting down currently terminal illnesses.
They might get partial credit for being considered, but I’m thinking that the odds are strongly against them being the ultimate diagnosis, because then you can’t cure them, and have that kind of resolution.
October 5th, 2011 at 12:59 am
@Elle: I’m actually using a variation of your rating scheme to evaluate old season 1-3 episodes for my bad episode treatment program. Quite useful actually. I’ve even been able to assign medical and solution ratings to some episodes from which they were previously missing by comparing factors cited most often in the review itself, and further comments. It helps to have a bit of medical training to do that bit though. I was even able to assign a medical rating of B/B+ (range is needed to account for margin of error) to the Pilot episode.
October 5th, 2011 at 1:20 am
@ Patrick:
“House disposes of some vicodin in the commode while saying something to his cellmate. I’ve replayed it several times and cannot make out what he is saying, and I can’t figure out why he is dumping vicodin in the commode. ”
House says, “Save us both some contraband charges”.
I. e. prison punishment for having the forbidden items in his cell, possibly additional time added to their sentences.
At one point, cellie asks if House is sick. House says, no, just a little withdrawal. So cellie understands the sacrifice House is making.
He has started to connect a little with his cellie. That’s rare for House, but the other guy *is* a psychopath, and House only connects with people who are as outside the mainstream as he is. (Autistic child, quadriplegic, “locked-in” mute bike accident victim) Also helps set up the roomie coming to his aid, which we all knew would happen eventually.
House doesn’t want to risk getting them *both* in trouble. He’s tossing what he stole from the clinic while Dr. Adams was distracted. Even though she later gives him more Vicodin, he tosses it in the air rather than give it to Aryan jerk – so he can get beat up, hence earning a return trip to the clinic from which he was barred (no pun intended ;), to help diagnose It’s-not-Lupus-boy.
@ RAK: I’m that “someone”, and yeah, the entire prison thing stunk. A good comparison is where House saves the Death Row inmate. Now, *that* was a high-security prison (even for those not on Death Row), and was a much more accurate portrayal of one. Agree completely.
October 5th, 2011 at 5:16 am
House hasn’t changed a bit and is still doing crazy things but somehow he made it through prison for a year without incident? Dr. Adams doesn’t even know who he is after 3 months, he’s been that quiet.
I find that too out of character to suspend disbelieve there, they could have come up with a better starting scenario for the show.
October 5th, 2011 at 9:41 am
@PurnoDePurno, it’s possible that House was fine with being confined and that he became agitated only when faced with the possibility of having to go back into the world. By getting into trouble, he could avert that possibility.
October 5th, 2011 at 11:46 am
I believe he said the pen would be his plan B. Either to save himself in case the neo-Nazis tried to kill him or to injure himself enough to get into the clinic. Probably the neo-Nazi defense since he could injure himself easily without the pen, which would also be contraband.
October 5th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
A few more notes from me….
First on the anaphylaxis–my son has anaphylactic food allergies. I have seen both immediate and delayed onset. In addition he had an “idiopathic anaphylactic episode” a few years ago–he was in bed, asleep, I woke him up to ask him a question and discovered he was in anaphylaxis. Even the ER doc couldn’t help us pinpoint what caused it since everything he ate that day were things he had eaten before–and afterwards. The time from him last eating to me waking him up was at least an hour. (And thank GOD I woke him up).
Second–after muddling over the episode–it reminds me SO much of Breakdown, esp with the guard called Alvarez. The head doc reminded me of Nolan, etc. Just as brilliant an episode and in one hour instead of two (I would have loved two though).
I really hope this isn’t the last season. As much as I love listening to “Let Them Talk” (Hugh’s amazing album) I want more House instead of music.
October 5th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
The title of this episode is how many I wish I had! :p
October 5th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Headacheslayer: I have to say that I personally only want another season if the writers can produce decent episodes. If this season turns out like Season 7 (which has been shown to be the worst by a variety of statistical and gestalt methods) I’m simply going to stop watching and never watch it again
October 5th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
@Josh, the song played during next week’s promo is by the band AWOLNation called “Sail”. If you have Spotify, it is an AWESOME song.
@Dr. R….I could watch Hugh Laurie read the phone book. But I know what you mean. Last season was painful.
I did not miss Cuddy and will not miss her. I think someone got a little too big for her actress britches and thought the show would tank without her. Oops…..
October 6th, 2011 at 12:30 am
Oh. Finally, his cellmate saved his life. How predictable…
October 6th, 2011 at 1:21 am
Watching Hugh Laurie read the phone book would bore me silly.
Unless, of course, he was naked.
October 6th, 2011 at 9:03 am
I was fast with diagnosis than House this time :D
October 6th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Good episode. Very tense. It was good seeing House who enjoys playing the bad boy doctor being humbled by real bad boys.
October 6th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
There’s something that should bother everyone: House says that he wants to doctorate in Physics. Now, I don’t know what undergraduate degree he had; but if you remember, in the episode in which he arranges his arch-nemesis from MedSchool to give a speech at Princeton-Plainborogh, he mentions that he became his arch-nemesis because he snitched to his teacher that House was cheating during a Math test required to apply for the Mayo Clinic Internship (or Residency, I don’t remember).
I can’t say how hard Medicine Math can be, but, unless Mayo Clinic wants its students to master numerical analysis just in case they become researchers, it can’t possibly be in the same league as Physics Math (Differential Equations, for one, must be a curriculae requirement for any Physics PhD program and I doubt that a person that needed to cheat in a relatively-simple Math test has taken one of such classes).
So how does House plan on to become a Physics professor if he “sucks at Maths”?
October 7th, 2011 at 1:16 am
@Headacheslayer
You are wrong about the Osler tie/scarf. It is distinct from the the Hopkins University schwag that any schlub can buy off the rack. The Osler tie/scarf marks someone who has done an internship in the Department of Medicine at Hopkins. It is a very exclusive — and very talented — group.
http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/0202web/wholly2.html#vignette
Think twice before letting your daughter go to Hopkins undergrad. Is much different than the medical campus.
October 7th, 2011 at 4:12 am
Hello House lovers and haters and here we go again for one final time (I think) ransacking the show form medical and non-medical point of view. I am a little late with my post but that is mostly due to a combo of personal issues and lateness to watch the epsiode (it was uploaded in time but I downloaded it late and watched it 2 days after that) I’ll start with my usual 2 medical pennies and than discuss the show a little in depth. Here we go major and minor medicla complaints:
1. Broken arm? Some casting anyone? What about an X-ray FOR the broken arm that would reveil something (like hmmm the supposed metastatics that weakened the bone) I am guessing that they x-rayed it did not find anything (including a fracture) and just forgot to mention anything. But anywho what caused the pain in the arm in that case? One serious black point for the whole “pain in the arm” symptom.
2. Lipoma would be easily palpated and diagnosed even whitout an X-ray. On the other hand I would not say “lipoma” or “teratoma” or any other sof tissue tumor for that matter based on X-ray (or physical exam) alone. I would also request a biopsy. Did they ever performed one?
3. D-r Scott already mentioned that but lipomas are usually outside the lungs. What was it INSIDE the lungs that House “heard” as a mass?
4. I very much doubt that 5 aspirins would provoke acute reaction if the diagnoses is “mastocytosis”. All in all “acute” reactions to drugs/foods/drinks take a couple of minutes or even hours to manifest. It is common mistake in House MD though. A reagent (I am using this broader term) needs time to get aborbed through the mucosa, get into the blood strem and affect something. This time can vary between a few minutes and a few hours (for example alchohol requires just 5-6 minutes to hit the brain but it is absorbed in the STOMACH (and most foods and medicines are absorbed into the small intestins including aspirin). To provoke a violent reaction to a drug you need to give it I.V. And of course I am not talking about acute allergies which can take effect as soon as the alergen touches the body (skin or soft tissue contact is enough to set it off) My own most famous case of an acute anaphilactic shock was when I placed a lidocain containing liquid inside the pulp chamber of a tooth with gangrene. The patient dropped to the floor about 2 minutes after I closed the tooth with a temporary filling. If House was checking for aspirin Allergie that would have worked. Since he was not it goes to the blu dots miedical blunders.
All in all I enjoyed the episode because it was classy House in a new setting but he stayed true to character. I give it A- for the mistery (started mudain and developed well without the “quick he will be dead in 2 hours” stupidity). I was actually getting bored of that stuff. A medical mistery could be intriguing whitout making “he will die unless we act” s**t. The solution was well thought and fitted the simptoms well except the “pain in the arm” fiasko. A- for the solution. The medicine was well constructed and sequential but suffered from the now usual “bring a symptom, forget about it” jibberish. What for example happened with the rash? With the fever? With the joint pain? C for the medicine. The soap opera was at the very good also usual HL best level. I give it B+. Would have been an A but I miss Wilson, Chase, Taub and Cuddy. I do not miss Foreteen at all :) (neither Fore nor teen for tha matter).
I think we will have an interesting and different season. I do not know how long House will stay in Prison but I do hope we will some some good old PP action as well. When? I do not know and do not care anymore. FOR me House is now like a good bottle of wine that I am almost seeing the bottom of – I am a little drunk I am aware that I will be a little hung over. But I do not want to drink it all up because I know I will miss it whn it’s gone. Wow that was one ugly metaphore. TTFM!
As a side note on the whole “why did he ask for a pen” issue: House requested the pen as a means of self defence and to scratch the simptoms on his bed. It was a blade pen obviously.
October 7th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
@CalendarDog : very true, I have an Osler tie from the year I did at Hopkins (apparently they were quite liberal with them back then, you need to do your entire residency there now, I only finished mine at Hopkins.
October 7th, 2011 at 9:49 pm
Pretty good episode. I hope they will write a perfect blend of medicine and soap this time. Season 6 and 7 were just meh… but I gotta admit it had the funniest episodes, but still i need some of those cool medical mysteries.
October 7th, 2011 at 11:43 pm
Yes, I yelled “It’s never lupus!”.
I guess Adams is the new 13… intelligent, can stand up to House, just fired and blacklisted.
Doctors mingling freely with the inmates in a prison? Vicodin just left on a desk in a prison? House able to avoid (for months) mouthing off enough for other prisoners or guards to kill him? All equally unlikely.
Off topic: Last month I learned the hard way what a comminuted non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal was. I was searching for info on it and came across a site with pictures… which credited Polite Dissent. It’s a small web. (and no, I didn’t punch a wall)
October 8th, 2011 at 2:17 am
The prison itself… both believable and unbelievable. Makes you wander – is it a light security prison? One for small offenders (like House)? But then why is his roommate a sociopath-psychotic murderer….Is it maximum security? What is House doing there and why is security so shitty then. On the other hand I have no knowledge of the America penal system. And prisons in Bulgaria are pretty much the same. There were political camps but those are gone now… And security in our prisons is severe for the small people and complete s**t for the rich and powerful.
October 8th, 2011 at 6:59 am
Cricothyrotomy would have been a much better choice for establishing airway. Tracheotomy is dangerous and not to be done in non-hospital enviroment.
Percusson tests are not enough to even assume tumour. It’s completely childish deduction.
All in all, great episode!!
October 8th, 2011 at 11:21 am
@D-r Bulgaria: That’s rather similar to the security in our prisons.
October 8th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Except that prison is not so sh*tty for the rich and powerful in America. Its more like tennis camp.
October 8th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Ok, woa… In my country there was no 23 episode in the last season. WTF?
What happened in that episode in the soap opera?
Why did he drive his car trough the house of Cudy? Can someone fill me in, please?
October 8th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
@Eneye: Google: House Moving On Recap
You’ll get dozens of choices, any one of which will give you details on that episode and answer your questions.
October 9th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Was he really right on the diagnosis? Anonymous note after patient failed to respond instantly to experimental treatment – dubious? Is she lying to give him some comfort whilst in solitary that the parole jeapordization was worth it?
October 9th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
General Relativity won’t be discredited, in the same way that Newton’s laws still prove useful in localised cases. As an example of it’s real world application – GPS. (Incidentally GPS was used in the experiment on neutrinos, lol.)
I’ll have a look at the Plasma Cosmology. Dark matter and dark energy have always struck me as a bit mystic to be honest and so I have stayed away from it. Cosmology generally seems to have at it’s heart A LOT of assumptions due to the limitations of the type of observations we can make. e.g. deducing distances assuming a ’standard candle’ with regards to luminosity.
I don’t find it a great leap of imagination to think that House could master differential equations given his aptitude to problem solving.
October 9th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
(Although I don’t notice any differential equations scribbled on his wall actually, seems to be mostly elementary electronics.)
Maybe the University of Fiji would bite his hand off just to have a distinguished figure working there. It does seem to have a few vacancies at senior positions since establishing itself in 2005:-
http://www.unifiji.ac.fj/
:)
October 9th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
Good to read you again! :)
I liked the season’s premiere, it had some real intense moments in it and House was back at his best bad-doctor behavior. Given the preview of the next episode, it seems that he is out again – how? Because he saved Nick? With breaking all the rules set up against his procedures? I doubt that… but we’ll see. Personally, I’d like some more jail scenes, I thought it kinda fitting and exciting :)
@ Eneya: House destroyed Cuddy’s home out of pure revenge and anger for their relation not working out and her having a new boyfriend – in the end sequence of the final episode of Season 7 you can see House hanging out at a beach somewhere, enyoing a drink at the bar – that is his fleeing the country they mentioned in the premiere episode of Season 8 :)
October 10th, 2011 at 2:04 am
@HouseIsMyVicodin : Dude you are oversimplifiing. House destroyed her house because he wanted closure to a relationship he took time to realize was not really worth it. It was a momentary desision but the process that led to that was nothing but “pure” or “simple”. The new boyfriend thing was more like an incentive to move on: he was a lot more hoping that there is more to “Huddy” and there is some hope yet, than “cry me a river” Cuddy.
October 10th, 2011 at 8:54 am
Talked to my cousin yesterday who is the head officer at a county prison in NJ. He’s a House fan but missed the episode. I tried to explain the show as best as I could and asked what he thought about the depiction of the prison.
Biggest flight from reality was the Vicodin. They’re just not going to dispense them to a prisoner in the general population. He said flat out that if a guy comes in and they’re on percocet, or vicodin for pain management they’re going to have to make do with ibuprofin. The only way you’re getting vicodin is if you’re in a bed in the infirmary, no exceptions.
He has max, high max, and medium security prisoners in his prison but the dangerous guys are segregated from the medium security guys. The only time they’re mixed is on court days.
Prisoners’ money is ramen noodle soup. The guy with the most soup is the richest guy in the jail.
Taxes and release taxes do exist.
Protective custody is a mark of cowardice. You have to sign yourself in and you’re in a cell by yourself for 22 out of the 24 hours in the day.
He has one white supremacist in medium security at the moment. Like all identified gang members, he is not segregated from the general population unless he engages in gang activity. He’s also not allowed to leave the prison for work details (something the prisoners look forward to) but has to work inside the grounds.
I didn’t remember what House’s sentence actually was but my cousin said that a first time offender receiving a one year-ish sentence would go straight to a minimum security prison. He wouldn’t be anywhere near these guys.
October 10th, 2011 at 10:17 am
@HouseIsMyVicodin and @D-r Bulgaria: Quit making excuses for House’s antisocial behavior. Revenge? Closure? My arse! He drove through Cuddy’s house because he’s a bitter drug addict who does what he wants when he wants, consequences be damned.
A great episode. Here’s hoping they can keep it on track.
October 10th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
You can’t get Vicodin in prison. Not in Texas, at least. Maybe if someone smuggled the vicodin into the prison. Maybe. Plus, prisons are staffed mostly with PA’s. Rarely does a prisoner see a real M.D., except when they go to the hospital. Also, the likelihood of House EVER returning to medicine after being in prison is HIGHLY unlikely. Ah, fiction…
October 10th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
@HouseIsMyVicodin and D-r. Bulgaria: You’re both wrong. House drove into Cuddy’s home because he was angry that she LIED to him. And he’s an arrogant ass. Stop over-thinking.
October 10th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
@D-r Bulgaria: Okay, I admit you’ve got a point there… it was a bit of a more intricate process that led House to this final outburst :)
@ Joel Kazoo: I don’t really think it has to do with his drug addiction. Bitter he may be and misanthropic as well, and in the end not capable of having a ‘normal’ (how fuzzy the term is) relationship but the drug addiction doesn’t really add too much in my opinion… the emphasis on House taking drugs ended with Season 5 (and the beginning of S06)…
But these are just my two cents
October 10th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
Not that i want to be the smartass here but (obviously an accidental typo) it’s mastocytosis and not mastocystosis :P. Big fan of your reviews keep them coming.
October 10th, 2011 at 11:20 pm
Hibbleton: Thanks for the reality check on NJ prisons. That’s really my favorite part about this site, it gives you a reality check on all the BS the House writers try to put out there! (Medical and non-medical)
October 11th, 2011 at 12:18 am
@Joel Kazoo: I am not making excuses I am explaining his behavior and trying to figure out his motives. I do remember one good episode in season 4 when they were dealing with the drug addict and 13 said something clever (that clever bitch :): “Drugs are always a mask for something else!” House awarded her some points for that remember? My point being as a son of an alcoholic I know that addicts have motives for their actions like very other person. Their motives could be more complicated or simpler than those of regular people but they crash cars in peoples houses for a reason – not because they are high :)
October 11th, 2011 at 2:49 am
D-r. Bulgaria: Do the math:
He’s a man + He’s an arrogant ass = Vehicular domicide
October 11th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
I thought the point about House accepting prison without a lawyer was the biggest hole in the episode. The suggestion is that, Brothers Karamazov-like, House needed to expurgate his guilt. Greg House does not feel guilt for breaking other people’s rules. It was out of character.
October 11th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
why does the administration of aspirin cause an anaphylactic rxn to occur (proving mastocytosis)?
October 11th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
i didnt think aspirin would cause mast cell degranulation? confused…
October 12th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Did some people here actually call this “good writing”? ROTFLMAO! Oh, that is the BEST laugh I have had about anything “House” in a long time!! The ACLU revokes medical licenses (for black prison doctors only, I guess)!!! The writers threw in a scene where the viewer can now excuse House because he knew Cuddy’s daughter would not be there, and he KNEW no one else would be in the room – or if they were they would move – duh – he was driving the car, so he could have stopped it at any time, if, for example, that particular Friday, Cuddy’s daughter had six friends over that were playing on the floor in the dining room, surely they all would have moved, or he would have simply stopped the inertia of both the car and the rage that made him drive it into the house. Did someone ask if House will be “forgiven” too quickly and easily, as usual? Well, hopefully if this episode didn’t answer that one for you, the second episode of the season did.
I am starting to be fascinated with just how bad the writing is this season. I honestly didn’t think it could get worse than the end of season seven – when Cuddy had all of her pathetically written dreams. I pity every actor that still has a contract that doesn’t run out until the nd of this season. They must be paying the ones that will come back for one or two episodes only a fortune – the money that they were not willing to give characters essential to the show. Anything that seems like a brilliant, but subtle plot twist or that seems to have “deeper meaning” during this final pathetically written season is either A. A total accident or more likely B. the deep thinking viewer’s wishful thinking based on much earlier exoerience with completely different writers that were both competent, and excelled.
The current writers seem to think they are writing for a shallow – cartoonish Sherlock Holmes that happens to be a doctor that hates himself and everyone hates.
Did anyone else have a problem suspending disbelief over a “vicodin addict” that was taking four vicodin a day for a year going through a little “withdrawal” when he cut that down to one vic a day? Seriously, that was why he was sweating? These writers don’t know anything about which they write, including medicine, the history of the characters or the show and I find that infuriating! I hope the rest of you can enjoy these terrible re-runs that have been put through a shredder, mixed up, and given the same name as a television show that used to be tightly written, produced, and thought out. I am finding this season of House much more horrible than a bitter pill to swallow it is a lot more like being force fed manure.
October 14th, 2011 at 7:17 am
@simon D
Regarding what you said about House going through withdrawal, I think that maybe the writers made him have such a bad time because he was in unbelievable amounts of pain. Plus the fact that his cane was taken away from him. That would cause anyone to sweat.
October 14th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
To those complaining about me calling House a “Drug Addict”:
I don’t think the drugs had anything to do with House’s behavior that night, either, but I do know he can, and often does, use “I’m an addict!” as an excuse for his behavior, whether that was the reason for the behavior at the time or not. House is very good at emotional manipulation, like many addicts are in real life.
October 17th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
I’ve also watched this episode. I was really amazed with House and how he does medical assumptions with his limited resources. I hope doctors will also have that knowledge like him. I really enjoyed watching the show and it’s becoming more amazing.
December 20th, 2011 at 5:20 am
the modified pen was provided for possible self defense
January 9th, 2012 at 12:06 am
For some completely unexplained reason, the local cable service in the corner of the world in which I live broadcast the first episode of season 8 the week after broadcasting the last episode of season 7 instead of waiting until August as they usually do. So maybe someone will actually see this question. I seem to have missed the part where they explain how a cane can be “prisoner-proof,” i.e. sufficiently strong that it can support his weight but made in such a way that it cannot be used as, or turned into, a weapon. Can anyone explain that to me?
January 10th, 2012 at 6:02 am
@lewfalo Sorry — “plasma cosmology” stirred some interest in the early ’70s, but by now it’s clearly crackpot stuff.
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