TV Review: House — "Fetal Position"
Published April 05, 2007
Freaky Friday nearly meets House in the heartstring-pulling but never cloying "Fetal Position." It's mostly a one-way role reversal. Cuddy channels House in her zeal to cure not only the patient of the week, but the fetus of the week as well. As she retorts when House says that if she's going to be him, he might as well be her: "You don't have the cleavage for it." That sounds awfully like a House-ism, but it's not the entire truth, since House isn't entirely unaffected by the Cuddy-House personality switch.
The patient of the week is Emma (Anne Ramsay of Mad About You), a pregnant photographer who self-diagnosis herself when she collapses while at a photo shoot with Tyson Ritter of All-American Rejects (Tyson Ritter of All-American Rejects).
When a patient declares "I'm having a stroke," that would seem to leave little room for House and his team to do their magic. However, he finds a symptom her other doctor missed that thankfully helps prolong the episode beyond the teaser.
House actually visits this patient, maybe because Cuddy told him Emma was important, maybe because she's famous once removed, and maybe because there's flirting potential while he ridicules her profession.
"People are always hiding things. I just keep shooting until I can see what's really inside them," she says. That sounds familiar. No wonder she and House have a nice rapport.
She snaps photos to document her time in the hospital, which would annoy me, but the easily-annoyed House surprisingly takes it in stride. His team is comically befuddled while staring at one of her gorgeous black and whites of that craggy, conflicted face. (I'm suppressing the nitpicky voice in my head that wonders how and why she brought a printer. Shut up, voice.)
Foreman: This is definitely different.The progression in the last few episodes has been puzzling. I suspect we're building to another angst-filled season finale (pleaseohplease not a cliffhanger), but we've gone from the self-destructive House who will do anything for a high to a moderately well-behaved House who's playfully planning a vacation. Or is he? The Galapagos, Cambodia, the Andes — I suppose that's more House-like than lying on a beach in Puerto Vallarta, even taking into account the women in bikinis.Chase: It looks almost like ...
Cameron: ... he's caring.
Diane is a publications manager who's addicted to television, movies, and books and justifies her pop culture obsessions by writing about them for Blogcritics. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news and information about Canadian television series.
- TV Review: House — "Fetal Position"
- Published: April 05, 2007
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Review, Video: Drama, Video: TV Recap, Video: Television
- Part of a feature: House
- Writer: Diane Kristine
- Diane Kristine's BC Writer page
- Diane Kristine's personal site
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We were having small tornadoes ripping through North Texas and the show was cut out by an an almost hour long emergency weather report, so sadly missed the great baby moment. I knew I could count on you for a great recap. Thanks.
Here's the
real-life photo. The photo was taken in 1999.
Thanks for that - though the article accompanying it is misleading. The surgeon has pointed out that of course the fetus was anesthetized, and the hand did not actually reach out and grab him.
You know at the beginning of this season i was all ready to hear that this show is slowly but surely felling down, crushed by its expectations. I've never been so happy to be so wrong.
Loved the way he kept BSing about all the locations.I never,not for once,believed he was serious when mentioning all the possible spots.The kinda guy he is,if he were serious about actually going to some vaca spot,he would never have mentioned it in front of everybody.
And the fetus shot was too long.It seemed forced to me.Like they were trying to make a point or something.But on the whole,one of the funniest to date and definitely one of the best of the season!
I am the photographer that took the original picture of Samuel reaching from the womb.
Samuel did reach from the womb on his own! Dr. Joseph Bruner will never admit the unborn child he was performing experimental surgery on simply came out from under the anesthesia too soon. But that is exactly what happened. Samuel did not immediately grab the doctor's finger but when Dr. Bruner touched his hand he responded and grabbed the doctor's finger.
Let me remind you of the way the USA Today reporter Robert Davis started his original story. "In a crowded operating room where outsiders have gathered to watch a rare medical event, surgery on a fetus still in his mother's womb, a stool falls with a loud bang, "Hush," said Joseph Bruner, the doctor leading the operation, "you'll wake the baby."
Blessings, Michael Clancy
If anyone gets hurt, it will be Chase. Remember, we're dealing with Cameron 2.0 here, not the delicate Cameron from season one!
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I thought that the little "fetus" hand grabbing House's finger was downright adorable. House's reaction made me think of that line in the Grinch Who Stole Christmas:
In who-ville they say, that the grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!
But then he made that "Alien" joke, which was pretty funny.
Poor Chase. He is so going to get his heart stomped on.