Cameron is less than sanguine about House being completely sanguine after discovering her relationship with Chase, and she can't stop fretting about it to her poor friend with benefits. "Maybe he just doesn't give a crap," Chase suggests unhelpfully after ridiculing the suggestion that House's vacation plans have anything to do with her.
When House rats them out to Cuddy, Cuddy and Foreman both assume Cameron is going to be the one to get hurt. Emma and House see the truth, which is that Chase is the one in danger. Emma captures a "glowing" Chase, staring at a photo of his friend with benefits.
When Emma's kidneys start to shut down and all diagnostic possibilities have been exhausted, House comes up with the solution: maternal mirror syndrome. Something's wrong with the fetus, and that's affecting the mother's health.
Cuddy and House stake out their ideological differences with Cuddy insisting on referring to Emma's child as a baby, and House referring to him as a fetus.
"If there's anyone I would trust to save my baby, it would be Dr. House," Cuddy comforts Emma at one point, much to House's surprise. "Fetus," he exaggeratedly mouths, before the shot cuts from an ultrasound of said fetus/baby to a CGI of the fetus/baby to an actual baby in the maternity ward, where Cuddy is staring wistfully at the little tykes.
House may have exposed his caring to the camera in an unguarded moment, but Cuddy's the one who cares to the point of unabashedly identifying with the patient. That makes her very House-like in her tenacity and willingness to take risks, but not in her lack of objectivity.
Emma is a single 42-year-old-woman who endured miscarriages and in vitro and sees this pregnancy as her last chance for a child. Cuddy is a single I-have-no-idea-how-old woman who endured a miscarriage and in vitro trying for what she sees as her last chance for a child. She also sees the fetus as a patient, while House clearly does not. He quickly comes to the conclusion that abortion is the only way to save his patient's life.
It's not the first time the show has dipped into the contentious abortion issue, and it's not the first time it's refused to turn into a morality lesson, which is refreshing.
Cuddy is not even remotely capable of being House, and her desperation and self-doubt is a clear sign of that. But she does use House's methods and recklessness to get to a House-like diagnosis and cure of both patients, to avoid trying to use her empathy to persuade Emma to consider the abortion. Cuddy even starts fidgeting with random objects before zeroing in on That Damn Ball and making peculiar metaphors to explain her position.
Article comments
1 - Kaonashi
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.
2 - Jewels
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.
3 - blogreader
Here's the
real-life photo. The photo was taken in 1999.
4 - Diane Kristine
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.
5 - Amrita
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.
6 - Maddoc
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!
7 - Michael Clancy
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
8 - Ana
If anyone gets hurt, it will be Chase. Remember, we're dealing with Cameron 2.0 here, not the delicate Cameron from season one!