When Cameron is questioned by the documentary crew about her tenure on House’s team, she admits that she did not quit because she didn’t want to be around him. She says she loves him. When she realizes what she just said, she awkwardly tries to qualify the statement by saying she liked being around him and found working with him exciting. She is later shown practicing a further explanation of her declaration of love, in front of a mirror and Chase.
We have seen very little of the Cameron/Chase relationship in season four. Since Cameron’s interests are still hovering around House and given the fact that this season has shown Chase to have more of a backbone, I’m hoping for a scene where he eventually tells her that he’s had enough of her mooning over their former boss and breaks it off.
As the hospital administrator, Cuddy is most concerned about the hospital’s reputation. Cuddy tells House that filming Kenny’s treatment will be good publicity for the hospital. She also tells him that the film crew is to have full access to the doctors because they are paying for Kenny’s operation. While giving the appearance of full cooperation, she ends up trying to cover up all of House’s misdirection and manipulation of the crew and of his staff. She will not allow House to fire anyone while the filming is going on and constantly admonishes him to cooperate.
House correctly predicts that his team members will be more concerned about saying the wrong thing on camera. That is, everyone except himself. True to form, House does not let the presence of the camera crew stop him from displaying his usual acerbic wit. He jokingly tells the crew that he became a doctor because of the movie Patch Adams, and insults Cuddy by telling the camera crew that she needed help with her moustache. House calls Kenny ugly when they first meet and lets the sarcasm fly about being a caring doctor who only wants Kenny to have his operation and lead a normal life.
It is not the camera that gives House any insight into himself but his reaction to his new staff member, Dr. Samira Terzi. When Dr. Terzi offers her opinions on possible causes for Kenny’s condition, she is disappointingly ineffective in coming up with intelligent guesses. This causes an uncomfortable state of cognitive dissonance in House. She is beautiful and he likes her, so how can it be that she is not the sharpest tack in the box? He rationalizes to Wilson that she seemed to have good ideas before and after all, she was in the CIA – she must be smart.
Article comments
1 - anon
Nice analysis of this episode.
Just one correction: it's "bull's eye" rash, not "bullet" rash.
The medical facts on Lyme were a bit off in this episode. The bull's eye rash is a sign of recent tick bite, it is not a symptom that remains in later stages of the disease. Even if someone goes untreated and develops full-blown Lyme, the rash still disappears on its own.
Cardiac symptoms can present earlier, but generally they are a later-stage symptom, meaning months to years after infection. If the bull's eye rash were still present, the boy's cardiac symptoms would be very, very unlikely to be caused by Lyme in the real world. If the boy had undiagnosed Lyme long enough to have such serious cardiac involvement, there is almost no chance he would still have the rash.
2 - cindyc
Thanks for the correction. Lyme disease is a concern where I live and I've known people who have had it in various stages. It is more than an inconvenience. Some people don't take it seriously enough.
CindyC