Foreman is often portrayed as a mini-House with a far better bedside manner, and there are hints of parallels here, not just in those discussions. There's also the prospect of a chemically induced coma and medical proxy handed off to someone who may not be able to make the tough choice, echoing House's "Three Stories" back story. But Foreman is no House. The similarities aren't overdone and they are even overturned a little.
Cameron is still annoyed that Foreman "stole" her article (I have to finally say: he didn't steal the damn article; he scooped the article, so get over it already, Cameron), and that he refused to apologize. He lectured her on the distinction between friends and colleagues (equal opportunity sniping: get over yourself already, Foreman). When Foreman stabs her with a needle he used to test his blood, in order to give her a personal reason to return to the cop's apartment where Foreman likely contracted the illness, it seems desperation brings out the worst in him.
Despite the new apartment search, the illness is still a mystery, and Foreman deteriorates to the point where he needs to be put in that coma. He gives Cameron his medical proxy over his visiting father (Charles Dutton, in a powerful but quiet performance), deciding her caring and caution are good if you're the patient, and pointing out, "We expect family members to make decisions about their loved ones after a 10-minute briefing."
Initially refusing to accept his possible deathbed apology and the proxy, Cameron relents on the second front and fights for what Foreman wants when he's unconscious. House returns to the apartment himself and discovers amoebas in the water at the same time as she has the surgery done. It's not much of a victory for House since it came too late to save Foreman from the biopsy and it's made even worse by the mini-cliffhanger ending that shows Foreman may have a few wires twisted in that brain of his because of it.
The show has so much more going for it than Hugh Laurie's performance and the character of House, but those two factors are such hugely overshadowing assets that when he's not on screen, the energy of the show can often lag. "Euphoria" demonstrates that, with the right script, the supporting characters can help lead the show and even an impotent House can support it in a much quieter way than usual. This isn't to say House was relegated to a supporting role, but Omar Epps was the hero this time, taking anguish, rage, and questionable actions and adding new dimensions to Foreman.
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.