“Mirror Mirror” is a stellar example of the brilliant writing that makes House my favorite show. In this episode, we are given a deeper understanding of the traits and characteristics of each of the remaining team candidates, without going through lengthy exposition of their motivations or through soapy interactions with each other. We get to see each of the doctors as reflected in the eyes of a patient who suffers from Giovannini's Mirror Syndrome. The patient seems to have no personality of his own, but mimics the attributes of the dominant personality he is with. Not only do we learn about the new doctors, but we gain clues to the real hierarchy of the regular staff through various power plays by House, Cuddy, Foreman, and Wilson.
As expected, House is not happy with Cuddy appointing Foreman her “eyes and ears” in the Diagnostics Department. From the moment Cuddy introduces Foreman to the fellows, the maneuvering begins. Cuddy tells the team that no procedures are to be done without Foreman’s approval; House tells the team that if they don’t want to be fired, they are to ignore Cuddy. This puts the team in an awkward bind – trying to diagnose their patient while concurrently playing a game of “Who’s the Boss?” For the most part, the team tries to ignore Foreman. Only Taub apologizes, telling Foreman that they just want to keep their jobs.
Foreman tells House that he had no choice in taking the job Cuddy offered and that he doesn’t want to be there any more than House wants him there. Since he can’t make Foreman any more miserable than he already is, House decides to make Cuddy miserable until she fires Foreman. House touches off a food poisoning scare in the hospital cafeteria and offers expensive tests and private rooms to clinic patients without health insurance.
The patient presents with respiratory distress, after having been mugged. He has no ID and no memory. In order to determine the cause of his respiratory problems, House orders the team to do a stress test. While on the treadmill, the patient develops additional symptoms of tingly feet and stomach pain. While the team is discussing what diseases would cover all of the symptoms, the patient crashes in the hallway. Foreman notices that the name the patient gave actually belonged to someone else, and all of the symptoms he complained of were written on the board for other patients. Foreman thinks the patient is faking the symptoms. But House deduces mirror syndrome.
Article comments
1 - bliffle
Piffle.
House is no hero. He's a drug-addled mono-maniac who ruthlessly disregards every rule and every person who gets in his way. What you think is noble rebellion is just petulant self-indulgence that you wouldn't put up with for 3 minutes if your 4 year old child did it. What you think is 'morals' or 'ethics' is nothing more than monomania expressed as a deadly consistency. He betrays every trust.
Sure, women go all gooey over him because they desire a hero who will slay their enemies and ensconce them in a luxurious lifestyle. And, of course, submit to their every wish; better, anticipate their every wish. So they fantasize House falling hopelessly in love with them, and even going so far as to remember their anniversary. Not very noble.
Men do the same thing, they just don't gush over it. But the homo-erotic subtext of conventional superhero stories has been written about extensively before.
Such fantasies always end up in disaster. It's a well-worn path.
2 - cindyc
bliffle --
It seems that you don't like the character -- why watch the show if you dislike him so much?
3 - triffle
house is a great show, a lot of people are working hard just to pleased us who are watching it so if u dont like it then don't watch it simple as that...
4 - Claudia
By God biffle, you seem to assume an awfull lot about what women think and fantasize about House.
I hardly think anyone in their right mind would think of House as a hero who will slay their enemies and obey their every wish.
There is nothing in the writing that even slightly suggests that.
I don't know who you think is fantasizing about House falling madly in love with them.
House, is after all just an imaginary TV character.
Maybe some are fantasizing about the actor Hugh Laurie falling madly in love with them, but Hugh is practically the total opposite of Gregory House, so that takes the logic right out of your post, now doesn't it. ;-)