* "Socratic Method" (A) - The Socratic method is “the best way of teaching anybody about anything,” according to House. However, Socrates was also considered schizophrenic, as is this week’s patient, Lucy. But House isn’t buying it as he gets to know Lucy and her son, making a strong connection with them both. He reads Lucy poetry, listens to and interprets her ravings, respects her and her position, all much to the dismay and confusion of his colleagues. His willingness to ignore the conventional wisdom about Lucy allows him to discover that her mental illness is but a symptom of Wilson’s disease, and quite treatable. The episode gets extra points for the gorgeous Baroque piano piece that Hugh Laurie plays late at night while pondering the case. And more extra points for the hysterically fake upper-crust British accent House uses to disguise his voice when phoning one of Lucy’s prior physicians in the middle of the night. A super, super episode.
"Fidelity" (C-) - How can you have African sleeping sickness if you’ve never been to Africa? Of course House believes that the answer to everything eventually leads back to someone’s lie. As it does here. In this case, the sleeping sickness patient has been having an affair with her husband’s best friend — who has been to Africa. This episode first establishes that House is multi-lingual, demonstrating his knowledge of Portuguese. A lovely scene near the end between House and a teary Cameron is touching, and verges on giving House away as someone who’s not as much of a jerk as he’d have us believe.
"Poison" (C+) - Oh, Georgia! One of the absolutely best clinic patients in the entire series to date. The elderly lady (with the annoying son) who has a syphilis-induced crush on House appears here and there in the episode to add a touch of sweetness to this otherwise interesting but “just okay” episode. For the first time, I found House is very unsympathetic, and more arrogant in this episode than I like him. The writers also attempt to draw a parallel (as they still insist upon) between Foreman and House (something I’ve never understood), even having them wear the same shoes.
"DNR" (A+) - Is it ever permissible to violate a “do not resuscitate” order? That is the ethical dilemma of this brilliant episode. A world-class jazz trumpeter, John Henry Giles, of whom House is a fan, comes into the hospital with diagnosed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Giles' primary physician is Foreman's old mentor, a California doc named Marty! This episode synthesizes all the elements that make House unique and wonderful: the series’ unique take on medical ethics; conflict between House and his colleagues; a glimpse at what really makes House tick.
Article comments
1 - Mary
"Jumping into a series mid-fourth year isn't always easy."
I jumped into watching "House" in mid-third year, with my first episode being "One Day, One Room." I had heard the positive reviews of the show, and don't know what had been keeping me so busy that I'd never watched it until a year ago. But the quality of the writing and the acting were so compelling that I was well and truly hooked from that episode. (The following Tuesday evening was one of those two hour episodes of that silly reality show that precedes it, and I remember standing in my living room, waiting for my "House M.D." fix, and being angry that it wasn't available.)
Thanks to DVDs and DVD rentals, it's possible to catch up fast with storytelling as excellent as this. I'm happy that I've had the opportunity to do so, and to share in the appreciation of it that I have found online in forums such as this.
2 - Barbara Barnett
thanks for commenting, Mary. I remember after watching "Cursed," which my first episode, and then going nuts tyring to find the already-legendary episodes of Detox and the pilot (and some others) to download and watch. I always appreciate your comments here.
Barbara
3 - ann neimer uk
Dear Barbara, Thanks for treating " House" as seriously as it deserves and for your perceptive comments.
House is not your cliche curmudgeonly doctor with a heart of gold; he has a heart but it is a dark one.He really is what he appears to be but what he appears to be is only the tip of the iceberg.
I agree with your definition of him as a Romantic Hero, but might he not also be a Tragic Hero ? I think he is angry, not only at what has happened to him but at what he sees around him every day.
This,and his bleak childhood ,leads him to see life as random and meaningless, but,since he is no coward he picks the greatest enemy-death- and fights it tooth and nail.(like Lucifer defying God in Paradise Lost ). This is why he really can't understand other people's obsession with professional rules,conventional ethics or drug addiction, which seem to him irrelevant and trivial.House as a fallen angel ?!
4 - Barbara Barnett
Ann--Thank you for your kind words perceptive comments. I love your take on House. I have also thought about House as a fallen angel from time to time. He does fight death as his arch enemy. But his is not unwilling to let a patient go either, if the choice that lies before them is worse. He also has fought for patients to have a better outcome beyond the ailment for which they originally sought him out. Rather than band-aid a problem, he (when he can) has sought to heal rather than to "fix". A great example is in "Half-Wit."
5 - Phillip Winn
Fantastic write-up, Barbara. I love this show passionately, and I enjoy it even more through your eyes.
6 - Barbara Barnett
Thanks, Phillip! Part two is coming in the next day or two.
Barbara
7 - bliffle
It's pretty obvious that House is Holmes and Wilson is Watson, as the names suggest. Holmes plays violin, etc.
The great thing about these men is that they are great logicians and problem solvers. They are also capable of ego sacrifice (they don't hesitate to denounce their own hypotheses, as necessary, which is a rare quality, almost nonexitent, in either police or medical practice).
Police and medical are the two arenas of our experience where outsiders inject themselves into peoples lives at times of great stress and danger. Like gods. Gods with feet of clay because they make mistakes, mostly out of excessive ego involvement. Success will require getting beyond your own Press Notices, which is why House walks the tightrope of offensiveness and even illegality: he doesn't want anyone to overlook his own mistakes out of an exaggerated respect for his status and reputation for that will lead to their dishonesty and ultimately his own.
8 - Erika
I don't mean to be a kvetch, Barbara, cause I like your columns. But the use of "whole" to refer to the absence of disability is offensive to a lot of us...(able-bodied works without implying that any of us are partial people or anything like that.)
Thanks.
Happy viewing.
9 - Barbara Barnett
Hey Erica--not a kvetch...a valid issue. I meant "whole" in a non-physical sense. The "healthy" referred to his physical being, but I believe the piling on of his existence from his childhood through the present has left him feeling less than whole (and, that, from his POV). I absolutely did not mean that disabled people are less than whole. I have a disabled mother, so I mean no offense. Sorry for the confusion over my use of the term.
Barbara (delighted that you enjoy reading my columns!)
10 - Erika
Well, people do say that sometimes...I just thought I'd point it out...it used to be a more common usage than it is now, and as such, is...not preferred.(But maybe you already knew that.)
Yes, I'd agree that Greg House has...fragmented since his injury and that it activated unhealthy tendencies he probably always had.
Thanks for clearing that up.