House S01E02 - Paternity

Overall this was more like a filler episode with more character development and nothing major going on in the story. Still, the episode was good thanks to Hugh Laurie and the rest of the cast. I'll highlight some of my favorite parts of the episode.

House's dark bedside manner is shown early in this episode. It was quite funny, as he explained to an idiot mother that her child shouldn't be kept from vaccinations just because she thinks it's a conspiracy by the pharmeceutical industry. He points out there's also a little baby coffin industry (fire truck red!), and that mother's milk only protects the baby for six months.

It annoyed House to be called in at a late hour, when he could do nothing for the patient. It turns out he was vital because Dan almost went off the roof thinking he was on the lacrosse field.

I am again struck by House's incredible intuition. He deduces that a patient who drove 70 miles to visit the walk-in clinic probably sued several doctors near his home, and the rest refuse to see him. It was quite funny when he came up with the idea of 'the boy who sued wolf', then said he'd see if they had a doctor named Wolf. "How perfect would that be?"

I thought it was great for House to let Cuddy in on the bet over whether the teen's dad is in fact his paternal father. If she wins, he has to go to a symposium and wear a tie. If he wins, he has no clinic hours for a week. As usual, House works to wiggle out of clinic hours.

After getting ripped by his patient's parents for not being there, at his side, House shows off a bit. When dealing with the patient's parents, House demonstrates that although he's not always looking in on his patients, or being at their side when they're at their worst, he knows the relevant information to do his job. It was really slick how he spit out all the patient's stats in rapid succession, calmed the parents, then took their cups to run the paternity test.

The doctors who bet against House should be humiliated. Dan reveals he knew he was adopted since the fifth grade. When asked how, he says he looked it up on the internet. The doctors didn't notice the cleft chin which would have clued the people who raised him that they weren't his biological parents. This knowledge could have saved Wilson a whopping $600.

House S01E01 - Pilot

I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy writing about the show. It's forcing me to pay more attention to detail, although I'm sure I'll still get some things wrong. Today, I watched the first episode. When I first saw it on USA I figured it had to be, from the title as well as the way I felt I was being 'introduced' to people in the show. I was happy to catch this one fairly early, because it really does help to introduce the House character, along with the others.

This episode's patient is a kindergarden teacher who suddenly starts talking gibberish in front of her class, then goes into convulsions. Through the course of the episode we learn a lot of interesting points about House and his fellowship.

Firstly, I'm not surprised to see House and Cuddy clash over his clinic hours and stubbornness about doing paperwork to bill insurance companies. This is a recurring problem for Cuddy, who's always trying to keep House in line. He expresses to her that he knows she won't fire him, even though he's a jerk. I thought it was pretty hilarious when Cuddy jots up the stairs, leaving the crippled House behind.

I got to learn why House picked each member of his team. Chase's was most simple, his dad made a phone call. Foreman was selected because of his checkered past. He led a criminal life as a teen, but went on to get the best grades of the four doctors while attending a prestigious medical school. This was naturally offensive, but led to questions of why Cameron would be chosen. House said flatly she was "pretty". He also tells her that she must be damaged.

It was also revealed how House got his limp. He said he had an infarction (blood flow obstruction). "When it's in the heart, it's a heart attack. When it's in the lungs, it's a pulmonary embolism. When it's in the brain, it's a stroke. I had it in my thigh muscles." House's upper leg muscles died, and he was left crippled and in pain.

This led me to think of Wilson's conversation with the teacher. He tells her that House doesn't care about people, but he does have another motivation for treating them. He said house has found "something else". I suppose although callous, House cares about diagnosing his patients because if anyone knew what was wrong with him at the time, they could have saved him from a lifetime of pain?

Of further interest, I recognized the version of You Can't Always Get What You Want played at the end of the episode almost immediately. I believe I also heard it in the first episode of Californication.

Starting to Watch House on DVD

I'm only 27, but I have sat and watched a lot of tripped out, funny shows in my time. Programs like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, South Park, Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld have long topped my list. I decided to join the rest of the herd and try an adult drama from one of the major networks. My mom had been introduced to a show about a doctor named Gregory House. I jumped on board, saw a few episodes and was immediately hooked.

I had one big problem with House though. It's on over ten times a week in the U.S., but they're all on USA Network and Fox. Unfortunately, Fox runs episodes from the current season while USA runs syndicated episodes in random order. I really can't tell what USA's aim is with airing their episodes of House in such a disjointed manner, but I'm sure it has something to do with their syndication agreement. These random episodes lend me only teasers into the House universe and its greater storylines.

I'm no fool. Over the past couple of months I've picked up on some of the stories although I didn't see them in order. I know that Dr. House fires Chase, and that the other two resign, but I"m not entirely sure why. I know there was a sinister man named Vogler who threatened to take away his money from the hospital. Again, I just don't know why. I know of several other major story points, but am also in the dark about them.

What I decided to do was actually go out and buy all the episodes so that I could enjoy this series from start to finish, whenever that may be. I know the upcoming season five finale is going to be huge, after all, House kissed Cuddy. I actually intend to let that episode sit on my DVR until I've caught up.

My mother watches, but she's not much for conversation when it comes to this type of thing, so I'm writing about my experiences with House, and catching up, hoping to reach other viewers who love this show like I do. If I enjoy it all broken up, and finding difficulty picking up where I am in the story from random episodes, I'm sure to enjoy it more watching it from the beginning.

So here I begin, watching the first episode, 'Pilot'.