House, M.D., being a medical show and all, certainly has its share of gory moments. The visual effects take us up nostrils, down throats and into various other bodily caverns. But there are moments that just seem to stay with us, memorably gross—beyond the oh-so-ordinary blood and guts of the operating room and the blood-gushing orifices of so many opening teaser sequences.
So, in the sprit of Halloween—and given there is no new House episode this week—I present this trip down memory lane to revisit the best gross-out moments in House, M.D. history. Here are my top candidates, and feel free to add your own in the comments section. So, let the gore-fest begin:
“Fidelity” (1x07) African sleeping sickness patient Elyse hallucinates bugs bursting through a huge boil on her arm, which we observe through her point of view.
“Detox” (1x11) After House has figured out that Keith was suffering naphthalene poisoning from a termite invasion in his home, he sends the team to confirm. Breaking through the walls of Keith’s bedroom, we see swarms of the little critters pouring out of the walls. Still gives me the shivers. Actually, “Detox” has several fairly shiver-inducing scenes, including one where the team stick a needle in Keith’s eye, another, where House intentionally smashes his fingers with an old brass pestle.
“Distractions” (2x12) House treats a patient Adam with severe burns over most of his torso. He treats the burns the old fashioned way, just like Napoleon’s physician—with maggots. Maggots, as you may know feast on dead tissue, thereby cleaning the wounds nicely.
“Who’s Your Daddy” (2x23) House’s patient suffers reverse peristalsis and literally has bowel movements from her mouth. As House says, it gives new meaning to the word “potty mouth.”
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Orange450
Love it. Nothing like a good gross-out fest!
How about House Divided, when Seth pulls out his cochlear implant? That one still gives me the shivers.
2 - barbara barnett
Orange--of course there's that one too!
3 - rbrown205
Interestingly, in this time of 116 episodes, you have picked out two of my five least favorite House episodes - No Reason and Top Secret, and they made my list for exactly those reasons (I also didn't like the robot thing with Cameron in NR - kinda kinky). Most of my least favorite episodes turn my stomach, no matter what the subject matter.
The other three, BTW, are Airborne,
Whatever It Takes, and Lucky Thirteen.
4 - valdad
I have another
I tink it is in Not cancer: when Kutner and Foreman are making a colonoscopy to a dead guy and his intestins explode all over Foreman
5 - barbara barnett
valdad! How could I have forgotten??? very gory. very icky.
Rbrown--my least faves: airborne, Whatever it takes, spin, needle in a haystack
6 - KC
I like airborne because of the last scene. Is it just me or did cuddy seem jealous that the flight attendant was flirting with house, to me that was interesting to see.
7 - Grace
Gee...thanks, Barb! I WAS eating!!! :)
HAPPY HOLLOWEEN and THANK YOU for your recaps! I LOVE THEM!!
8 - Denise
@Grace - >>Gee...thanks, Barb! I WAS eating!!! :)
9 - Denise
LOL -Grace, I use to eat in front of the telly. Almost every House episode has it's moment(s) where I've to cover my eyes in order to being able to finish my meal. :-))
To me the most eew-moments are mostly when the POW pukes blood or other icky fluids by the gallon.
Barbara, I'm so thrilled to have found your blog. I started to watch House MD three weeks ago - from the beginning - and marched straight forward into a new obsession and that despite the fact that english isn't my first language and I don't understand everything. I made my way through all five seasons within 2 weeks and started a second sweep last weekend.
Reading your reviews and the recaps on FOX is so much helpful to understand what I've seen. I think this show must be incredible good if even people with limited english skills are fascinated by this compelling show and/or character and/or actor.
Since I started to watch I wonder why the hell do we like House (the character) so much.
So, Happy Halloween to you, Barbara, and thanks so much for your great work.
Denise
10 - Chelsea Doyle
Insensitive STILL sickens me every time he takes out that freaking worm.
AHHHHHHHHH.
The recent episode where the guy pulls out his own tooth made me shudder too!
11 - barbara barnett
Hi Denise, welcome...
12 - Jen
I can clearly see ALL of these moments in my head, and clearly remember closing my eyes! I am not a horror fan at all!
What about Paternity? When Danny is having a "night terror"! Yep, closed my eyes!
This was a great Halloween treat!Thanks Barbara!
13 - PH
Hi Barbara,
What about the lucky rabbit's foot that Kutner found in "Unfaithful" .... ummm.. I mean the unlucky priest's toe.
Showing the close-up of the petrified digit was definitely a nice touch. lol
14 - barbara barnett
Great moments! House cutting off the kid's toe! And the priest's toe. Very icky.
15 - Kate
Jen #12-What about Paternity? When Danny is having a "night terror"! Yep, closed my eyes!
OMG...I still can't watch that scene when House's face melts. Ewww!
16 - barbara barnett
Kate--that's what Jen was talking about!
17 - Kate
@Barbara B. I was trying to quote Jenn. That didn't work. But was it "Who's Your Daddy?" where House's face melts as he's testing her pain threshold in the MRI. The toe was the night terror? When House pulls it off?
18 - Melissa
Good list, but by far the worst scene in "No Reason" was the eyeball popping out. And House's self-catheterisation in Top Secret always makes me cringe.
19 - Jen
I have to chime in again for "No Reason", first the tongue (can't look), the robot (can't look), I do love it when HL is eating the taco (so sexy!) And the grand finale of NR...is the scene in the bathroom, and all of you know what I am talking about, I still don't know what is actually shown! What a dork!
20 - KC
@Jen What scene are you refering to?
21 - Kevin
You mentioned "No Reason" but didn't talk about the guy's eye poping out. That one is on my all time gross-out list. And "Airborn" had one of my favorite moments when House gathers the three passengers together to be his "Team."
22 - Jen
KC, it is the bathroom scene when they are referring to his, you know what. Oh, Kevin, the eyeball part, forgot that one as my own eyeballs were closed! I just love No Reason, I carry it around on my iPod but it sounds like now, I don't watch much of it! Just the HL parts! My favorite part of Airborn is that scene too! Only House could come up with that!
23 - Jen
Love the way he tells each of them to react to him in "Airborn" too.
24 - Kevin
Sorry Jen. Meant to put your name over here.
25 - Jen
Kevin, it took me a few times reading this to figure it out. Yeah, when the girl says, something like Foreman and he says, that'll work! The kid is priceless! "Can you make an Aussy accent", ROTFLMAO