(S03E13) After last week's episode gave us a lot more great stuff with regard to the cast of House, even with some medical stuff going on, we're treated to some old-fashioned Dr. House attitude combined with a new character and a somewhat intriguing case. When checking out the previews for this week, we were treated to seeing House in a wheelchair, which opened up some curiosity in my head, as you never know if something else happened to him, if he was hit by a car, or if he was just faking. As it turns out, he just wanted his handicapped space back, now that new researcher Dr. Whitner has been given his original space, sending the good doctor 46 yards out into the parking lot.
So, the only reason he's playing wheelchair tag with the new researcher is that he bet Cuddy that he could stay in the wheelchair for a week. And lost. Well, sort of.
Aside from the fact that House does everything in his power to make light of what it's like being in a wheelchair, from trying to get Foreman to help him into his car (which I didn't even realize he had, and it's good, considering it snowed), not being able to check out a kid who is pretending to have a sore throat in the clinic, and feigning difficulty at a nurse's station with trying to reach over the countertop, he's somehow taken seriously by his team throughout, a team that barely made a peep about it. In some ways, that's so House, because it's almost as if they just nod and move on, ignoring what he does and paying attention to what he says.
This week, I've got to say, I was very much intrigued by the case at hand. Outside of the fact that a young boy keeps having various bleeding issues, breathing problems, and horrible pains throughout his system that leave the doctors completely clueless, for the most part, his parents are Romani, or gypsies, and aren't trusting the establishment of the hospital or its doctors. So, they don't want to let them treat the kid, and get made fun of in the process, with House poking fun at the fact that they're trying to cure their son by moving furniture around in the room instead of just letting doctors do their jobs. How this all ended up was great, as the clue was in front of us the whole time. Of course, we don't get to the end of it all until House has to go and make a derogatory statement to his parents, mentioning that he won't let Cuddy "gyp" him out of getting his parking space to delay them walking into the room. Should have seen that coming, I guess.
As for parking spaces, House wins his way closer to the hospital's doors in the end, after hitting Cuddy where it hurts, and knowing it. I'm wondering if this will cause some more of a stir with the new research doc, who seemed to appreciate Cuddy's breasts as much as House does. Or at least, that's what she said. Is it too cliche, even for Doctor House, if he has made googly eyes with a woman with a height issue, and then goes after a woman in a wheelchair who is a co-worker?
If there's one thing that I got out of this show, it was the one line that Stevie, the patient, says to Foreman when the doc offers him an opportunity to take an internship at the hospital, about being alone. Specifically, about how Chase, Cameron and Foreman all have no rings on their fingers. Whether or not that really struck Foreman where it hurts or not probably won't be apparent right away, but it's a good item of foreshadowing on our cast members. And showing Foreman eating dinner alone while reading didn't hurt, either.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-07-2007 @ 12:19PM
rvkey said...
I didn't know house had a car either. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was an older model car, nothing fancy. It seemed to fit House in that he only bought what he needed to get him through the winter.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE House. But I was almost pissed when Cutty gave in and gave him that parking spot. It's starting to annoy me how much he gets his way. It just seems so unrealistic. I know, I know....unrealistic on TV?
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2-07-2007 @ 12:25PM
Tim UF said...
So, I have a question. When House barged in on the kid's surgery, and felt(palpated?) the length of his intestines, how did he not feel that toothpick??
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2-07-2007 @ 1:12PM
liz said...
Tim UF- House stated immediately afterwards that he checked the small intestine but not the large intestine, and I think that's where the toothpick was.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:02PM
Jimmy said...
The whole wheelchair plot was beyond stupid. I'm still trying to figure why Cuddy is supposed to feel guilty. The whole wheelchair thing is an example of why this series is beginning to annoy me. House may be a "great doctor" -- something he didn't show in this episode -- but would anyone tolerate these kinds of shenanigans in a real hospital? I know it's make-believe, but a little realism would be nice now and again. His staff is also growing annoying. They are, all three, written as being good doctors in their own right, especiallay Foreman, but they consistently run to House to find an answer to everything. What kind of doctors will they be if they can't make a diagnosis on their own; again, unrealistic.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:10PM
deb said...
House only felt through the length of the boy's small intestine,the toothpick was lodged in the large bowel.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:12PM
Bob said...
Tim: The toothpick was in his large intestine, House felt his small intestine.
Jimmy: You are aware that this is a fictional television show correct? If you really need realism, there are many fine shows on The History Channel. Heck you could even watch the news or CSPAN...even though politicians seem to be in a fantasy world too.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:18PM
kdeegee said...
They work in a teaching hospital. Cameron, Chase and Foreman are still in the learning stages. I love House and he would not get away with a lot of stuff in a "real" hospital. But it is TV and it is very entertaining. The whole cast is great.
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2-07-2007 @ 1:21PM
Katie said...
After a good episode last week? Did we watch the same episode? The only good part was the first 15 minutes with House and Cuddy. Every week me and my roommates have people over and we watch it, in total there was 10 of us and we all HATED last weeks episode! It could not end soon enough!
This week got better, but there were too many factual errors in the show to make me like it. The only good thing was again House/Cuddy
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2-07-2007 @ 1:48PM
Ms T said...
This was the second episode of "House" that I have watched. I think the show is great. It even kept my 13yr old son entertained. Keep in mind people most of the tv series that we watch are not completely realistic.
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2-07-2007 @ 6:49PM
DeAnn said...
I loved this weeks episode, though not as much as last weeks. And the toothpick was lodged in his COLON, which is the large intestine that House didn't touch when the kid was on the operating table. I have Crohn's Disease, so I am particularly sensitive regarding the colon and what goes into it or comes out of it. Anyway, I was also slightly annoyed, though not surprised, that House won back his parking space. Cuddy should be strong enough to not allow him to guilt her into getting what he wants. She knows he's a manipulative SOB, so why does she give in? Sad. I felt a real jolt of attraction between the two of them in this ep that I haven't before. I was sorry to see that we didn't hear much from Cameron or Chase in this ep, but was heartened to see Foreman doing his best to help Stevie understand that his life is going nowhere unless he gains some skills and a better education. I felt the whole "Rom don't do things that way" thing was overdone and ridiculously stereotyped. So if you are a gypsy you can't better yourself or become a doctor? Why? You can't eat hospital food or use hospital blankets, and you can't make whoopie with a local hottie who isn't a gypsy? That's just backward and stupid. And of course Stevies parents are so ignorant they'd rather have their son die than have him get a colonoscopy! Ugh. Ridiculous. Of course, the fact that the kid swallowed a pointy toothpick and didn't think it would puncture anything makes him an even bigger idiot. It just seems sad to me that Houses comments on most people being idiots, liars and jerks seems to come true in each episode. The shows writers are only painting a picture of the extremes of society, instead of the real people that you'd encounter in a hospital or clinic. I worked in medicine, and yeah, there were stupid patients, but not that many.
Anyway, I was hoping to see if the writers would have Cameron and Chase get back together since they're engaged in real life. That would have been sweet.
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2-08-2007 @ 2:35AM
DudeBoyz said...
I'm glad to see House back on track. The last 2 episodes have been very good - like it was in the beginning.
No more of this "let's bring in an outside character to shake things up" garbage.
I hope it stays on track for the rest of the season. They almost lost me as a viewer over this whole "Vogle then Angry Cop" stuff. Cuddy and Wilson are turning out to be quite mean enough and sneaky enough, thank you very much. Don't need any more outsiders muckin' up the show. :)
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