"All In" begins with the coolest class field trip inside a model of a giant heart, with effects to rival, say, a prime-time medical show. My class once went on a field trip to make candles. But I can take consolation in the fact that the heart lost its cool factor as soon as the pregnant teacher — our pre-credits decoy- - shrieks in pain, and the adorable little boy with the big blue eyes asking her where the bathroom is ends up with seeping bloody diarrhea.
But when we first see our main cast, all thoughts of disgusting bodily fluids are banished, to be replaced with thoughts of shiny, pretty clothes. They are attending the hospital's charity poker tournament, a wonderful excuse for the costume designers to spread their wings, and for us to revel in the photogenic cast rocking some formal wear. House, in an unrumpled tux, complete with fancy cane, is a sight I thought would only be seen in a dream sequence, but I have to say, Cameron and Cuddy looked equally fabulous.
Would it be bad if House pretended it were a soap opera, and the characters walked around in formal wear for no apparent reason? Or if House-and-therefore-Hugh-Laurie could play the piano every episode for no apparent reason? The show is a prestigious Peabody Award winner now, though, so I suppose that might be unseemly. Oh well, I enjoyed it while I could.
I sadly enjoyed the shallow visual and aural spectacle more than the rest of the episode, which was light on both the laughs and the character development this week. I know it seems unfair to say about a medical show, but it relied too much on the medical mystery, interesting though it was. And, I'd like to assume, credible, since this episode was written by the show's actual doctor writer, David Foster.
The kid, Ian — who House will refer to as "The Kid" throughout the episode, of course, causing me to wrack my brain to remember the character's name — is Cuddy's patient, but Cuddy listens to his symptoms while at the poker table with Wilson and House and decides it's gastroenteritis, a simple stomach bug. Something piques House's interest, though, so he sneaks off to check on The Kid, who he finds is having trouble coordinating his muscles, too.
Article comments
1 - Joanie
Congrats! Your article has been placed on Advance.net
2 - Brent
The metaphor of Wilson's play of his pocket Aces is tortured at best but as a borderline adequate player myself I can give you my interpretation.
Poker is a game of incomlete information and one of the ways a player gathers information is the way his opponent bets. In the way that Wilson apparently played his hand - known as slowplaying - the amount of information revealed to the opponent is limited. As a result if the opponent has an inferior hand which the cards on the board improve - for example a player with KJ gets a K on the flop - and makes a big bet or even moves all his chips in the opportunity for the slowplayer to win a lot of chips is significantly improved. The disease restricted the amount of information that House was able to gain at any given time.
There's just one thing wrong; Wilson's play is extremely dangerous - to him. Wilson may believe that the guy from billing has a pair of Kings but his supporting evidence is limited. The other guy could just as easily have had a low pocket pair - very playable in a heads-up situation - and picked up his three of a kind on the board, or had two high cards and paired them both. Someone once said that it's never qrong to go All-in before the flop with pocket As or pocket Ks, or after the flop with three of anything. Wilson's play was wrong.
3 - Bliffle
"...one of the ways a player gathers information is the way his opponent bets...."
True. But one must play that against the recurring theme in "House" that everyone lies. Even when their life is at stake they will lie about an affair or a dalliance or a drug consumption. People risk their very lives for ego and pride, surely one of mans stupidest characteristics.
4 - ghost
alright cpr scene