(S04E05) "She said her hoo-hoo burned." -- Kutner
I will be reviewing House for the next two weeks because Richard Keller, my House compadre, is otherwise tied up. I was going to follow the format for the review that Rich devised last week, because I think it's a great format. However, when I began writing the review, I realized that because the plot integrated with what was happening with the characters so intensely that it made sense simply to review the show. For even more House, if you can't get enough, head on over to AOL.
I realized after I watched the episode that we never got to find out who the patient, Robert Elliot, really was. From the moment we saw him, he was mirroring the older brother mugger, and then the doctors, one by one.
But I guess it was irrelevant to know who Robert Elliot really is because the most important thing we know about him is that he is a chameleon. Frank Whaley has always been a favorite of mine, and I loved watching him slip in and out of the doctors' psyches. This medical mystery was a bit of a switch: They diagnosed what was manifesting itself fairly quickly, with Giovannini's Syndrome, more commonly known as Mirror Syndrome. For once, the patient wasn't lying. He couldn't: "These patients have no agenda." Because the patient was only responding to the people around him, trying to pick up thoughts he couldn't have on his own, he was the most accurate barometer of everyone's neuroses they could have.
Interlaced with the medical mystery, of course, was Cuddy's re-introduction of Foreman. Foreman looked so truly miserable when he told House that he was already miserable that I really believed him. I was surprised that Foreman actually admitted to House that he couldn't get a job anywhere else because he has been basically been infected by House. Do you think House actually arranged for Foreman to have a job in Boston? Or do you think he actually wanted Foreman to stay, but to figure out that he was there because he wanted to be there, rather than staying there because he had nowhere else to go?
Cuddy and House's little war over whether Foreman stays or goes was absurd. Cuddy would never have let all those people from the cafeteria into the clinic after House sent them over thinking the mayonnaise was bad. That was ridiculous. The funniest part of that, though, was watching House's doctors in the clinic, especially Kutner (see the quote that starts this review). Furthermore, even though I loved the reference to Michael Moore's Sicko, nobody would have followed his orders to give all of those patients MRIs, so that was just annoying.
Furthermore, they stooped to bathroom humor. Why do writers who can come up with such enticing medical mysteries (for the first time in a long time, by the way, beginning with last week) have to resort to Cuddy substituting Vicodin with laxatives? And then they carried the joke far longer than they needed to. Why the hell would Cuddy have birth control pills at work for House to mess with? They come in a foil packet. I repeat: Ridiculous. House got some good lines from it: "That was a courtesy flush... Cuddy's going to end up pregnant...", but it was still below caliber. Fortunately, there were a lot of other things to entertain.
Did you notice the ways in which House and Foreman stood just alike in the classroom, with House deliberately mirroring Foreman, and also the way they were both looking up in the elevator? In a lot of little ways, House and Foreman were mirror images of each other in the episode, and it was nice the way form followed content. Also, I wish I had picked up on the fact from the beginning that House had rigged the betting. That explains a lot about his trying to convince Brennan not to quit.
The episode had a really nice progression from Robert mirroring Wilson in surgery to Wilson's explanation that Giovannini patients mirror whomever they perceive to be the alpha in the room. This led to House's inability to get an accurate read on Thirteen, but we, through the use of the mirroring, got to see that Thirteen's big secret is that she is terrified.
Brennan is a big wuss: he should have just broken up with his girlfriend and gone back to his Third World patients if he is really so desperate to good for mankind. However, that really isn't the gist of what Robert was mirroring. What Robert mirrored for both Brennan and Kutner was basically that they share House's excitement for the the diagnoses. Brennan is bored until he finds sludge that reminds him of fungus he found in the Tsunami. Of course, it wasn't actually sludge, but Brennan was finally interested.
Kutner gets excited by the medicine: He loves the fact that they can find out the patient's medical history from a spinal tap. The main difference between Kutner and Brennan, however, is that Kutner wants to stand out, be unique, make a mark. I think they are both genuinely interested in the science behind what they do, but Kutner's adrenaline addiction paired with his curiosity will probably get him the job. If he doesn't kill himself first, as he nearly did by putting paddles on Robert, who was still wet from the hot tub.
It wasn't a big revelation that Amber thinks everybody hates her, so she has to be right all the time. I was a little surprised to find out that the plastic surgeon is hot for her, though. It was hilarious when Robert said, "Aggressive is never a bad thing." Taub and Amber were made for each other. Taub should be fired just for making the patient clean up after himself after the ultrasound.
Did you notice that the only doctor that we didn't get a mirror from was Cole? He was given a lot to do last week, but this week he was barely there. I wonder if he will go next, though, prior to this episode, I would have thought it would be Brennan.
Even though I thought the mirroring of Brennan and Kutner was the most interesting, it was important, I think, for the plot of the show, to get Foreman's mirroring: He was inducing a fever in the patient to make his body hot enough for his blood to circulate. "Doctors don't give patients fevers." But all that matters is that this was what was necessary to save the patient. That is what Foreman did at Mercy and he got fired for recklessness. Worse, he couldn't be hired anywhere else because of it. House may be irresponsible and a complete bastard, but he is allowed to do what needs to be done for the medicine. And that is, at the end of the day, all that matters. And like it or not. Foreman is only going to be able to practice that kind of medicine at Princeton.
The height of ridiculousness was, of course, one of the most fun parts of the episode. Robert Elliot was infected by pig dung selling farm equipment and diagnosed by House dressing up like Robert Elliot to get the patient to mirror... Robert Elliot. However, they aren't going to cure him right away, even though he has a fever of 107 to keep his blood from turning to sludge. Oh no. They can wait fifteen minutes (what? Are you guys INSANE? What happened to saving the patient?) to put Cuddy and House both in his room to see who he mirrors. Because we have already established that he mirrors the most powerful person in the room.
And that would be... House. Of course. After all, the show isn't called Cuddy.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-31-2007 @ 1:29AM
TomB said...
I'm pissed. My on-screen description of the episode said it was a repeat so I didn't watch. Dammit!!
:-)
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10-31-2007 @ 9:50AM
Mary said...
We are coming up on November, which is a ratings "sweeps" month, so, writer's strike or not, we will be getting new eps. for the next four Tuesdays, hooray.
And I read somewhere that Lisa Edelstein mentioned in a press interview that Cuddy had a "big make-out scene," although she declined to say with whom. Given the setup here that House has been messing with Cuddy's birth control pills (do I want to ask why a woman who has been futilely trying to get pregnant is on birth control pills? Naah, I don't.), might we expect Cuddy's "big make-out scene" to take place when it matters the most to the network?
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10-31-2007 @ 11:27AM
Christina said...
I know you probably don't mean it, but it's a tad sexist to call all the interns but Amber by their last names. And I know we've heard hers.
I think I am sensitive to this issue because I'm an English grad student, and it took a long time for the world of literary criticism to refer to female authors by their last names just like the males.
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10-31-2007 @ 10:02AM
Tim said...
A little bathroom humor never hurt any show...just as long as it's used sparingly.
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10-31-2007 @ 11:26AM
Little Willy said...
I have to suspend my disbelief to watch this episode. Even if there is such a thing as Mirror Syndrome, wouldn't the patient have to know the doctor personally to mimic their personality? Does having mirror syndrome also give you the ability to read minds and to act like thus?
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10-31-2007 @ 1:06PM
Cody said...
Yeah Jen, what were you thinking? Calling a character by her first name is so sexist!
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10-31-2007 @ 3:40PM
Paul McCall said...
I'm wondering if Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison are getting enough screen time to warrant their staying with the show?
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10-31-2007 @ 3:52PM
readdeal said...
I loved the House/Wilson scenes and the scene between Wilson and Cuddy. So if Wilson is the alpha in the House/Wison relationship and House is the alpha in the House/Cuddy relationship does that mean Wilson is the alpha-alpha in the House/Wilson/Cuddy relationship?
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10-31-2007 @ 3:56PM
Debbie said...
I loved the House/Wilson scenes and the scene between Wilson and Cuddy. So if Wilson is the alpha in the House/Wilson relationship and House is the alpha in the House/Cuddy relationship does that mean Wilson is the alpha-alpha in the House/Wilson/Cuddy relationship?
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10-31-2007 @ 4:41PM
tcc3 said...
Christina it could be worse: He could refer to her as CB (cutthroat bitch)
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10-31-2007 @ 5:21PM
Mitch said...
How is it possible that no one has mentioned the slight but hilarious reference to Field of Dreams (best movie ever) in this episode?
Robert Elliott was the actor who played the young Archie "Moonlight" Graham in Field of Dreams. About halfway through the episode, House walked in to try to get more information out of Elliott's character by acting like him.
When House actually stepped in from the hallway to the room, the shot showed House's feet stepping in the room, then a slow pan up to his face. The shot was the same as the movie when Archie walks off the field to save Ray's (Kevin Costner's) daughter.
For me, that subtle moment makes my top-5 list of House moments, ever.
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10-31-2007 @ 7:42PM
debscalper407 said...
Didn't the patient eat a Big Kahuna burger in Pulp Fiction?
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10-31-2007 @ 9:53PM
Cody said...
Yeah! I knew I recognized him. "Say what again!"
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11-01-2007 @ 1:08AM
Gin said...
^ I don't think we know Amber's last name. It's not listed on IMDB.
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11-01-2007 @ 7:20AM
hamilton girl said...
3 cheers for the Hamilton,ohio reference we are flattered...and yes we really exist!!!!
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11-01-2007 @ 9:43AM
iris smith said...
HOUSE SHOULD OF FRIED THAT WHOLE NEW CAST AND GET HIS OLD CAST BACK THAT CAST STINKS AND HIS RATING ARE GOING TO DROP I WAS SADLY DISAPPONT IN THIS NEW SEASON
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11-01-2007 @ 12:10PM
Kluz said...
Reminded me of "zelig" (woody allen).
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11-01-2007 @ 10:57PM
Shannon said...
I'm starting to get annoyed with the whole "trying to find another team" storyline. It's obvious that HOUSE is going to wind up with the same original team that he started with...which is why they're still listed as the stars of the show when the introduction runs. Enough already. It was okay for a few episodes, but now it's starting to drag out. And I thought Foreman's return was a bit anti-climatic. They could have made it a bit more dramatic.
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11-02-2007 @ 12:47AM
Pup said...
Prediction: Cuddy is pregnant.
Why?
a) Access to birth control pills. How would House get that close to them, as I doubt she'd bring them to work. Like most women, she probably leaves them in the medicine cabinet at home. That by inference places House at Cuddy's residence.
b) "Bathroom humor"/comraderie banter: Cuddy and House (in the past) have engaged in friendly verbal jousts. But the latest episode ended with them sharing a comical moment with the patient, in terms of who is the alpha. That is a break from Cuddy's usual demeanor, as she jokes but is never "one of the boys". The banter is now more "couple oriented".
c) Wilson I believe asked where Cuddy was 2 hours earlier during the episode, a refering to a Cuddy remark about controlling or interacting with House. Wilson notice Cuddy and House were missing. Wilson knows something is up, and called her on it.
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11-02-2007 @ 4:56AM
Sarah said...
I was very disappointed with this episode on many levels. Although often extreme, every other story in this show has been based in some part on real disorders, even if the situations surrounding them were somewhat exaggerated to add to the drama and mystery. In this case, the writers seem to have left all reason-medical or otherwise-at the door. The only mirror syndrome I am aware of in medical literature occurs in pregnant women (which I suspect is highly unlikely in Robert Elliot's case - he was good at mimicking others, but not THAT good), and a medical lit search combining mirror syndrome, giovannini, giovannini's syndrome, giovannini mirror syndrome, etc. reveals nothing even close to the made-up nonsense portrayed in this week's show.
But even if we are expected to suspend our disbelief long enough to accept that one might have a condition that would allow them to mirror the behaviors and mannerisms of those around them, it goes far beyond a stretch to believe that this character could read minds and search deep into the psyches of the doctors closest to him. Within seconds of being introduced to an individual who has exhibited little to no distinguishing characteristics, he was able to reveal incredibly detailed and personal emotions and neuroses about each of the candidates with astonishing accuracy. I attribute this to laziness on the part of the writers: they wanted to delve deeper into the backgrounds and motivations of the new cast members without having to actually take the time to develop the characters through traditional storyline and exposition.
The nonsense does not end here. The audience is expected to believe that House, a brilliant and highly observant diagnostician, could have mistaken a laxative for his vicodin - medication he takes several times a day. Even a lay person who has taken either could tell the difference, but somehow House was fooled by this little prank?
More difficult to swallow (pardon the pun) is the claim that House could have been able to swap out Cuddy's birth control pills. Assuming he has access to them, he would have to find or create placebos with the same color, size, and consistency of the exact brand she uses, extract the real pills from the foil package, replace the fakes, and reseal the foil packaging without evidence of tampering. Some brands of birth control contain multiple colors within a single pack, and for most prescriptions, only the correct foil package fits in the handy little plastic dispenser. Most importantly, any woman who has ever taken birth control knows that Cuddy would most DEFINITELY have known that she was no longer taking birth control within a couple of days - as soon as the hormone administration is discontinued, the patient most likely experiences breakthrough bleeding or begins her period within a day or two. Being a medical doctor herself, I'm guessing that Cuddy might suspect something was up at that point.
In summary, this episode felt as though it was thrown together without any research to back it up and very little thought put into it. The writers need to learn to trust their audience. After the numerous intelligent and unique storylines and twists this show has brought us, this installment was just a let-down. Even the reference to Hamilton, Ohio (while refreshing - it is a rare joy for small towns in the Midwest to gain recognition) was mildly insulting: the revelation that the disorder was a result of exposure to “pig dung” serves only to further propagate the false reputation that states such as Ohio have for being nothing more than farm land.
The only saving grace in this episode was the marvelously diverse, poignant, and often humorous acting performance of Frank Whaley.
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