House Season 1 GoldenGait episode reviews

[GoldenGait]

1x10: Histories

Pretty good episode, although I didn’t understand the patient connection with Foreman. And I’m not sure why every episode has to have a deep personal connection that resounds with one of the doctors. I’d be happy if they would just solve the puzzle and leave the emotional advancement to every couple episodes. Then again, I’ll really be impressed if the baby-sensitivity and the homeless-sensitivity Cameron and Foreman have exhibited is pieced together over a season or two by House, and the real answers not revealed for awhile, but eventually figure into a nice, meaty personal storyline. But for now it kind of bothers me. Especially when Foreman’s been the emotional center of the episode right up until the last three minutes when we find that it’s actually Wilson we should have been trying to figure out.

Funny line: “You’re giving two craps.” “The metric system always confuses me.”

Funnier line: “I don’t need to watch the OC, but it makes me happy.”

Think Victoria looks familiar? She’s the mom, Teri Bauer, from the first day on 24, played by Leslie Hope.

Why is House’s favorite diagnosis paraneoplastic syndrome? I’m surprised they haven’t decided it’s porphyria.

I love his interaction with the medical students. I like to think I’d stand up to his questions a little better than those two did. I might not know the answers, but I hope I would at least not look so deer-in-the-headlights.

I suppose this answers my question about whether or not House ever loses a patient despite being able to correctly diagnose them. Now, I want to see an episode where they can’t solve the puzzle and the patient dies. I want to see House’s reaction to actual failure. I think that would be a very interesting episode to watch.

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[GoldenGait]

1x11: Detox

Hey! The blonde, Pam, is Amanda Seyfried, Lily from Veronica Mars, and one of the girls in Alpha Dog. And the boyfriend is Nicholas D'Agosto, the annoying flying boyfriend West on Heroes. I like his stint on House better.

This was a very interesting episode as far as the personal storyline was concerned (interesting medically, too, though). Cameron- and House-centric storylines are always interesting, and Wilson-centric ones are pretty good, too, but Foreman and Chase kind of bore me. The week without pills was an incredibly telling glimpse into House's character, much better than having him connect with that week's patient somehow.

What's the differential diagnosis for a hospital administrator with no neck?

Not just a funny exchange, this was a hysterical exchange: "She's hot so she's a hooker? What kind of pathetic logic is that?" "The envious, jealous, I-never-got-any-in-high-school kind of logic, hello?" "She's a legitimate masseuse. God, she's beautiful." "She's beautiful, so I should do it? What kind of pathetic logic is that?" "The envious, jealous, I'm married and I can't do anything logic--hello." I love the mirroring of the two statements. Actually, the whole scene was hilarious. Favorite of the episode. House's eyes lolling back at the hand rub was perfect.

Hugh, you're being British again: "If the ah-tery expands, the clot might move on its own." You do so well 99.9% of the time, I find a sort of sick delight in catching you when you slip up.

Nice line: "He's not going to fire you; he loves you." Score one for the Cameron/House Ship.

This is definitely Hugh's best performance so far. He always does the limp well, but playing a tough-as-nails character who is losing it and going through withdrawal symptoms without losing the essence of the character is awfully difficult. And he did it phenomenally. I felt so bad for him when he smashed his hand, and I liked how easily Wilson called him on the real reason for the trauma. I wish Cameron had gone in to help House with the cat necropsy, though, when she saw him shake.

Love how he contaminated the OR in order to stop the surgery. "There's no way we can continue the surgery now." "Ya think?"

That punch was so sad... The way House just slid pathetically down the wall was about as sad as watching someone step on their own glasses.

House and Wilson's confrontation at the end of the episode was well done by both parties--we see a lot of conflict and bickering on this show, but not much of this kind of deep-seeded concern coming out as a shouting match. House's emphasis with the cane was great, and it was nice to see someone call him on the fact that he's changed over the years since he began taking the Vicodin, and it was also nice to see him admit it without sarcasm. Kudos to both players.

Best episode so far.

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[GoldenGait]

1x12: Sports Medicine

I knew going into this episode that there was little to no chance that it could beat the last episode, and I was right. Not to say it was a particularly bad episode, just that it wasn't as good as 1x11. That said, this one was pretty awesome. We had some really nice House character moments.

Great guest stars again this week: Scott Foley (from Scrubs, The Unit, Felicity), Meredith Monroe (from Dawson's Creek), Art LaFleur (T'ish Magev from Angel, among a zillion other things), and the director in the initial scene is none other than Bryan Singer himself.

I love Cameron's immediate inclination to offer House the money he asked for. They're cute. And House asked her to go to the monster truck thing! He seemed so vulnerable for about 45 seconds there. I can't decide whether it was adorable, or unnerving, or both.

Ouch. What a choice. You can kill your husband by not giving him a kidney, or you can kill your child in order to donate the organ.

House's jealous confrontation of Wilson in the hallway over Wilson's fib about his Friday night plans was wonderful! "Or are we breaking up?" Wilson should know House is much too smart to not catch him in the lie. And wow, that must really burn, your serial-groom of a best friend blowing you off to have dinner with your ex-wife. Ouch.

Aw. House looked so awkward as she hugged him in the hallway. I'm almost surprised he let her, although I suppose pushing her away would have confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that he--in fact--has no soul.

Oh, that scared me for a moment--I thought Cameron and Chase were having dinner together alone... I'm much happier with the idea of Cameron and House than Cameron and Chase. Don't know why; just am. I also love the fact that House starts eating the drug rep's food without so much as a pause.

And my last little moment of big-F'ing-grin shippiness comes in the final 45 seconds of the episode: "That was amazing!" "I'm telling you: the Grave Digger never disappoints." "You ever been married?" "Well now, let's not ruin a lovely night out by getting personal." pause "I lived with someone for awhile." pause "You going to finish that?" Sharing cotton candy, non-sarcastic answers to personal questions after putting up only the most superficial of fights... Okay, so I do know why Chase and Cameron bother me... I guess I have to concede that I'm a fan of a different pairing...

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[GoldenGait]

1x13: Cursed

Gabe is Daryl Sabara from Spy Kids! He looks so much bigger in this episode (2005), and he looks all grown up now! I think he did a really decent job in this episode. Never easy for kids and teens to manage all the physical acting that goes with faking symptoms.

Continuing with the cool guest stars this week we have Nestor Carbonell as Jeffrey, the dad. We've seen him as Richard on Lost, as well as Luis on Suddenly Susan. He's also in the upcoming The Dark Knight as the mayor. He's lovely. Another Lost alum this week is the mom, Sarah, played by Tracy Middendorf, who also played Bonnie, keeper of the Looking Glass station. She's also been on Angel.

I love how House drags Wilson away from a patient to gossip about Chase. And speaking of Chase, I'm never really thrilled with an episode based around him. This one isn't an exception. I liked the medical storyline, and I liked House's reaction to the personal Chase storyline, but the Chase-and-daddy storyline itself bothered me. I just wasn't interested, and neither turned in note-worthy performances. Dr. Chase Sr. is Patrick Bauchau, also seen on Alias, 24, Carnivale, The Dead Zone, and a bunch of movies.

The only part of the Chase-Daddy!Chase stuff I liked was House's interference with them. He's so horribly nosey, picking at scabs and prodding them together just to see what happens. I love it. And it's not even as if he's trying to do good by the two of them, get them on speaking terms again, he's just experimenting with how far he can push both of them, and what the mental effects might be. He looks down-right giddy every time he messes with one or the other.

So, will House tell Chase he knew about his dad's condition after he dies and Chase finds out he had terminal lung cancer when he came to visit?

Funny exchange: "Oh, this is where I give you advice and pretend you're going to listen to it. I like this part. Did Rowan ask you not to tell?" "I promised I wouldn't. My fingers were crossed, though, so I'm wide open." "I was wrong! This is the musing-out-loud part, do I actually need to be here?"

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[GoldenGait]

1x14: Control


I liked the opening get-to-know-you. Sarah Clarke is fun to watch; I've loved her since Nina Myers on 24. (One of my favorite scenes from that show was her interrogation scene in the second season with Jack.)

Cameron's negotiation tactics were cute.

Oh, Vogler's obnoxious. Not a good guy. I do love Chi McBride, though. The character's nasty, but Chi plays him very well. I love his voice, I could listen to him talk all day.

Funny exchange: "I need you to wear your lab coat." "I need two days of outrageous sex with someone obscenely younger than you. Like, half your age."

I love that the example House comes up with for why Vogler wants respect is an attempt to sleep with Cameron. Jealous much?

So embarrassing when you look at the wrong limb. But so easy to do! I've done that, on my radiology rotation. Oops, x-ray'd the wrong foot. Get back in here, we've got to do it again! (I only did it once, though, and I think--I hope--I've learned my lesson.)

Just figured it out! I remember Cuddy being a man because Lisa Edelstein played a transsexual on Ally McBeal. I knew I remembered something like that...

Sad exchange: "They like you. Everyone likes you." "Do you? I have to know." "No." I'm just going to dismiss that and decide that this was House's Day O' Lies.

House's Air Piano at the end was hysterical. But that final scene means Chase turned House in... And Vogler's thinly veiled threat to fire Cuddy or Wilson was creepy. But I like it--makes House responsible to someone other than himself. Let's see what he does with this?

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[GoldenGait]

1x15: Mob Rules

The mob? I wasn't so sure about this one. The mob doesn't seem to fit into House's world.

The threat in the elevator was pretty creepy. Bust see, still, I don't think the mob fits nicely into House's world. The mob is a little too Godfather, a little too made-for-TV-movie-starring-someone-from-The-Sopranos.

Cameron admitting to Chase she likes House? Cute, but oddly placed in my opinion. I liked the follow up "Cameron's my girl..." "I'd release him." Ouch, House, don't play with her. And good for you, Cameron, standing up to him and giving your straight medical opinion with such unabashed force.

Another interesting exchange: "Why is her test better than mine?" "Because she's cuter." House! What did I say about teasing Cameron?

Very funny: House kicking Foreman off the team to instill fear in the rest of the hospital staff. I also loved House and Wilson justifying keeping the car.

Whoa, Chase got slapped! He took it really well. I mean, Jesse took it well. But Bill Arnello really bothered me after the first couple minutes. I loved the effect he had on the team members, but really disliked the character himself.

Telling exchange: "Does it hurt when you're with House? Little pain in the tummy, but it sort of feels good, too?" "I don't have the right to show interest in someone?" "You absolutely do. And I absolutely have the right to make fun of you for it."

I'd like to say again how great Hugh is at that limp. I wonder how long he worked on it to develop it before beginning the character? It never wavers. Very nice, Hugh.

So the homosexual mobster was a twist I actually didn't see coming. Very nice. Then again, I'm extraordinarily gullible.

Fire who?

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[GoldenGait]

1x16: Heavy

I would like to repeat my closing sentiment from last House episode review: Fire who? I would have thought Foreman would be the one recommending they take a cutthroat stance.

I like House's suggested solution of sexually harassing each member of his team in order to keep them on staff to avoid lawsuits: grab Cameron's ***, "call Foreman a spade, and Chase... well, I'll grab his ***, too."

The fat suit around Jennifer's face was pretty good, all things considered. Still wasn't perfect.

The ovarian tumor woman cracked me up. The only problem: benign tumors can degenerate into a malignancy. Wilson should never have told her that the tumor couldn't kill her. It could.

"Why would you support someone who screws up?" "[...] because I'm not an angry misanthropic son-of-a-bitch." I was proud of Cameron for not making that conversation about her feelings for House, but then she went right back to him and acted like a first year intern with a crush on her mentor.

I like that House wears athletic shoes with his business casual work clothes. But in the Cameron's-clothes column, no doctor wears white pants to work. No way those stay clean through the day.

Chase needs to get fired. That's my opinion. And I hope Cuddy has major regret over this. She's totally bitten off more than she can chew with this guy.

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[GoldenGait]

1x17: Role Model

Joe Morton! Law & Order, Smallville, The X-Files, The Astronaut's Wife, Speed, Of Mice and Men, Executive Decision, T2: Judgement Day, and Forever Young among many, many others. The House MD version of Barack Obama.

And as the storyline progresses, I hate Vogler more and more!

Missy Crider: like her? Check these out: 24, CSI, Mulholland Dr., and bunches of other things. I wasn't too impressed by her storyline. Kind of bored me.

Funny: "Are you comparing me to God?" And the follow-up sweet moment: "I'm not going to crush you."

Funny exchange: "Why do you have to make everything so dramatic?" "Because I'm a very high strung little lap dog." Never thought I'd hear House bark like a shih-tsu.

Best moment of the episode: "Everybody lies, except politicians? House, I believe you're a romantic. You didn't just believe him, you believed in him. Wanna come over tonight and watch old movies and cry? Dr. Cameron's getting to you. I guess you can't be around that much niceness and not get any on you." "Is that why you haven't put the moves on her?" "What makes you think I haven't put the moves on her?" pause "Oh! Oh boy! We're in trouble!" I love the look on House's face during that pause. And good on ya, Wilson, going after House mercilessly for once, seeing a weakness and exploiting it. Nice. You should do this more often. Teasing looks good on you.

I was wondering how long it would take House to confront Chase, and I'm somewhat impressed with Chase's

Yet another cute exchange: "You like me. Why?" "That's kind of a sad question." "Just trying to figure you out. I'm not warm and fuzzy, and you're basically a stuffed animal made by grandma."

I liked that House mumbled through the first sentence of the speech and attempted to make a break for it. But I dislike how much of an *** Vogler is. He's trying to get someone fired just to prove a point to House, just to be the Alpha Male, and while I do think some of this behavior goes on in the real world, no-one is ever this malicious, right? I would hope not. There's no way the Chairman of the Board of a big hospital is this messed up... Right? I loved House's assessment of Vogler after returning to the podium, though, and am horrified to think what the repercussions for this will be... House is just one of those kids who gets told not to jump off of there, it's scary, and you'll hurt yourself, you're not allowed to jump from there because you won't be able to take it... And he goes and jumps, just because you told him not too, even if he understands he'll get hurt in the process. Mature, House.

I love that House is playing High Hopes on the piano in the final scene. The House-iest part of the song:

Once there was a silly old ram
Thought he'd punch a hole in a dam
No one could make that ram, scram
He kept buttin' that dam

House couldn't even look her in the eye as she left! They needed to put the brakes on this UST really fast, though, because it was

All in all, this episode's medical storylines kind of bored me.

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[GoldenGait]

1x18: Babies and Bathwater


Funny line: "Sorry, I was up late. Internet porn."

I love that House's dream was a fantasy where he gets to tell Vogler he has cancer and order him an extra-hefty coffin, all while making him sit on a tiny chair.

Foreman and Chase's continuous bickering through this episode was awesome, and hysterical. Chase's spy game is bugging me like crazy, and these spats between Foreman and him lightened my cloudy outlook on him somewhat. Funny Foreman line: "Here, ***** ***** *****!" And followed by a funny Chase line: "Dogs can learn things, House can't." And the bantering fun continues with: "Don't see any signs of vasculitis, which is odd, because you're always right about everything." "Could be a different auto-immunity. Or you could bite me."

Poor Wilson looked so angry when he tried to warn House about the committee meeting. And speaking of the committee meeting, there has got to be a way for a Board to kick out a Hitler-ish leader. Kudos to Robert during his upbraiding of House while packing--Wilson is such a good friend, and House just wipes his shoes on him. Robert did wonderfully, really selling how desperate Wilson's life seems at that particular moment. At least House had the decency to look guilty and abashed.

Cuddy's right, "first Cameron, then Wilson," how many more careers and friends is House going to screw over before he's done being a petulant child?

It's a good thing Hugh is so tall, because it just wouldn't work to have Vogler and House in a shouting match with Chi being a giant and House being tiny. I mean, yes, there's a size difference, but at least they're within a few inches in height. Makes House seem a little less like the underdog and makes the fight seem a little more fair.

Medical continuity: House wouldn't be allowed to waltz into the OR without a cap or mask on like he did, and he wouldn't be able to go in there in street clothes under his gown--he wasn't in scrubs.

So sad... Baby starts breathing as mom dies...

Knew Vogler had to go pretty quickly. But they said they saved the whole team... What about Cameron? Can she come back now? And this means only bad things for Chase--now that he's not being protected anymore, House is going to make him jump through a lot of hoops. Or just fire him. One of the two.

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[GoldenGait]

1x19: Kids

Nice fake out in the teaser, making us all think there was something wrong with the girl diving, then faking us out again and swinging us back over again to the girl after the guy with meningitis turns out to be a distraction.

House and Cameron's awkward make-up discussion was sweet. "Weird works for me." Ouch. Shutting the door in his face and audibly locking it. Personally, I wouldn't turn down an offer to have my great job back, I don't care how lovely I think my boss is, or how much he doesn't like me back.

Love that House set Chase to work on books and took him off active duty. I hope the punishment doesn't stop there, though. He deserves worse. I love that House has full intension to torture him for awhile.

House's interviewees cracked me up. The "dude" with the tattoo and female hairdo was funny, but the half-jewish girl was awesome. Her banter with House was hysterical, as was Wilson's reaction to all of it. "They were Prada." "They weren't Prada. You wouldn't know Prada if one stepped on your scrotum." I wish we could keep her around for an episode or two.

Hmm. This date between House and Cameron is going to have to go horribly. And might I add it's terribly inappropriate of her to demand this as a condition of her returning to work. It's forced. I like it when the UST is unfurled a little more gradually than this. This is stepping into near fanfic territory. Could be done well, but could end up being very bizarre. Wish they'd not had Cameron completely confess her feelings. It doesn't work as well when characters do this.

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