The tense and somber "Euphoria" was not designed to induce giddiness, other than through the elation of having two episodes of House in a single week. This was good news both for fans and for sweeps-conscious FOX, who lately have seen the show reach ratings high after ratings high.
There were comedic moments, of course, especially the injection of a clinic scene in the second hour of this two-part episode that filled in any gaps Roget's Thesaurus might have left under "masturbation." And for a final bit of William S. Paley Festival trivia, "Euphoria" contained the line that a few cast members said was their favourite, after a hushed consult with creator David Shore, to make sure they weren't inappropriately spoiling anything: "Get out of my temporal lobe, House."
When the patient of the week is the doctor of every other week, we see a radically different dynamic among our Department of Diagnostic Medicine team. In what could be seen as a sign that breaking and entering is perhaps unwise, even when performed by a physician, Foreman contracts a mysterious disease after searching the disgustingly filthy apartment of a cop who suffered from symptoms of euphoria, blindness, pain, and finally the ultimate, incurable symptom — death. All the while, a newly ill Foreman watches in horror from the same isolation room.
We're given obvious signposts to indicate the effect Foreman's illness is having on House. When Cameron tries to comfort him by saying it's not his fault Foreman got sick, Chase points out that risking one of their lives to see what Foreman missed in that apartment would, in fact, be House's fault. Wilson pops by to admonish House for playing it safe, pointing out that House doesn't visit patients because if he gives a crap, he gets cautious.
But mostly, we know that caring is House's kryptonite and he has been stripped of his superpowers simply by the torment on Hugh Laurie's face. House's deeply buried compassion and empathy come to the surface on that face, especially when he and Foreman discuss pain, the fear of pain, and disability. "Sure, I make it look oh so sexy, but it's actually not as glamorous as you might think," says House, desperate to stop Foreman from risking a white-matter brain biopsy. House even demonstrates that he values Foreman's life over that of his pet rat, Steve McQueen, when he tries to expose him to the same toxins in order to get another brain to biopsy. In happy news, both Steve McQueen and Foreman survive.
Article comments
1 - Morgenstern
Brilliant! I shall be quoting you, if you don't mind. "Cute, petite Cameron, who looks like she's constantly in danger of being knocked flat by the hot air emanating from House, shows a strength of character not always apparent in her "do you like me" or bad-news-avoiding phases." ;o) Love the show, love your analyses, keep up the good work!
2 - Becca
Nice comment that the House/Foreman parallels were not over the top.
Foreman did in fact steal Cameron's article, he quoted from it directly so he must have read it and read it before he submitted his. There is no such thing as "scooped" in academic research, unless you are working on a completely different team.
3 - Diane Kristine
I missed that he quoted from it - Wilson said it was a different focus from Cameron's, and Cameron said Foreman gave her notes for hers, not the other way around, so I didn't pick up on him actually having plagiarized it. In that case, she could have stopped whining and reported him to the journal, so I still say get over it or do something about it.
Morgenstern - thanks, quote away. I won't report you for plagiarism.
4 - Wynn
STEVE LIVED!!!!
5 - Patricia Knox
We may eventually tire of House, but Hugh Laurie? NEVER!
6 - Joan Hunt
Congrats! This article has been placed on Advance.net
7 - Ella
Becca is referring to the scene where Foreman gives his proxy to Cameron and explains his rationale with a quote from her article.
We knew Foreman read Cam's article, but he did not copy it, he did not steal it, he did not plagiarize it. Cameron said he gave her his notes on what she wrote (btw a nice thing to do). So he knew roughly what she was writing. He worked on the case so he knew the case. Furthermore, Wilson has read both articles, he says they are different. If Wilson believed that Foreman had plagiarized Cameron's article are we really to take it that hospital board member Wilson would not have said or done something about it?
Oddly enough, Foreman has expressed the same sentiment which was supposed to distinguish Cameron's article way back in season one when Foreman needed a distraught husband to consent to his wife's surgery. Foreman stopped himself from an extensive medical jargon laden explantation saying that a layperson would not be able to understand the medical reasons sufficiently to give truly informed consent. So even the ideas that Cameron expressed in her article were not unique or previously unknown to Foreman.
The only thing I can see Foreman stealing is the idea for the topic for the article. Upshot, they should all get over it.
8 - Nadav
One issue not mentioned seems to me to stand out in this episode, the building up of Foreman as a House Doppelganger of sorts. In season 1, this was harped upon a little (that episode where they have the same shoes, and so on), and Foreman's non-friendship talk with Cameron was a step in that direction. And not to mention the House-Foreman 4-round battle when the later was supposedly in charge earlier this season.
Now if we've failed to notice hints, now this theme is presented with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer - Foreman's ordeal is quite similar to House's, being left paralytic. House's leg is shot, Foreman has trouble directing his body; both are a result of medical decisions not made by them; both might have been avoided; and so on.
The question is of course - so what? And that remains to be seen. I think it's a consensus that House is less about medicine, as strange as the cases presented may be, and more about people - it's rather a comedy-drama (I hope I'm not the only person cracking up every episode) about people in a medical situation and how that effects them. And lately, I felt that has been in a lull, with the series unable to really find a direction to progress to. And I expect this development comes to fill this void - it will either lead to the characters further developing, or I feel House will be up against the worst enemy of all.
Routine.
9 - Diane Kristine
Not mentioned, Nadav? Other than throughout my review and in Becca's comment you mean? Except I think this is the episode where we see that previous build-up of Foreman as the mini-House start to crumble. And you're wrong, Foreman DID make the medical decision that left his wires crossed. He begged Cameron to do it, and thanked her for doing it.
The ratings that keep reaching a series high week after week would suggest many viewers disagree that it's hitting a lull, and like the direction the show is taking - I'm definitely one of them.
Thanks Ella, that's what I thought. Glad to hear I didn't miss a crucial piece of information that would make me retract my "get over it" feeling.