(Warning: spoilers for the episode that aired April 18.)
I love this show's episode titles- short and simple, yet prone to multiple meanings. House has so often told us "everyone lies" that I couldn't see this one without instantly thinking, yes, even sleeping dogs. Ha. But, I thought, of course they mean that some secrets should remain dormant. So maybe I should feel a little foolish that I forgot about the title when an actual dog was introduced into the mix, and didn't see its crucial part in the diagnosis coming. Instead, I'll credit the show with being just that clever.
Last week's episode left me feeling like I didn't have enough to chew on. This week's perhaps gave me too much - settle in for a longer read than last time - as it waded into the murky ethical waters I love so much. We're treated to dilemmas in both the medical story and also the character story.
In a frenetic pre-credits sequence that's directed and cut like a horror film (direction courtesy Greg Yaitanes, whose name seems to pop up on every show on the air right now), we're introduced to sleepless Hannah, our patient of the week. Her girlfriend Max calls an ambulance when she finds the desperate woman, still awake, in the bathroom after having taken a bottle of sleeping pills.
Cuddy finds House sleeping in an exam room — no subtle juxtaposition there — and lures him onto the case with that news, on top of the fact that Hannah hasn't slept in 10 days. And, in case we were going to dismiss her as a whiny insomniac, Cuddy points out that the longest anyone has survived without sleep is 11.
They subject Hannah to various tests and rob her of the seconds of sleep she has been getting in order to stress her body even further, trying to prompt a new clue. "We've got rectal bleeding," Cameron informs House as the three minions stride into his office with news of one. "What, all of you?" House counters before ordering them — while popping a Vicodin himself — to perform a colonoscopy on Hannah with no pain medication. (Our favorite oddball drug addict also tries a new delivery system in this episode, crushing his pills and putting them in his sandwich at one point.)
The colonoscopy is a very uncomfortable scene to watch, even though they — oh god, thank you, Mr. Yaitanes — didn't make us watch the actual colonoscopy in any detail. While the woman writhes in pain, before blood starts gushing from her nose, Chase and Cameron set aside their professionalism to childishly discuss one of the ethical issues in the episode: Foreman has stolen Cameron's idea to write about the "Autopsy" case for a medical journal (the Writers Guild agreed it was a good one, too), and his was published first ... because House sat on Cameron's paper as she waited for him to read and comment on it, instead of simply signing it, as Foreman requested.
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Article comments
1 - Laura Seddon
An interesting and insightful analysis. One thing you might want to add; in a way there is poetic justice to Max having to go through with a liver donation, as she is the one who gave Hannah the puppy and the plague. Also, a "bitch" is a female dog, sleeping or awake:-)
2 - Diane Kristine
I can't say I do want to add that ... unless Max knew the puppy was going to give Hannah the plague, that's not my definition of justice, poetic or not.
3 - Bliffle
I was out-of-town for a couple weeks and missed it. But I just got it DLed off BitTorrent. But how can I get the previous couple weeks? Does anyone have a crossreference between title, episode and air date? Or, better, a BitTorrent seed that'll get them?