House Season 1 Episode 4: Maternity

This episode begins by playing off of the title from two episodes ago. Personally, I thought it was too early to do that but to each their own.

Actually, we start with a newborn baby. Oh, and Sam on True Blood as the father. Unfortunately, he won't be turning into a dog here. The baby spits up, doesn't respnd to the doctor, and has a fever.

Opening titles. House has a great pimp walk in them.

House is busy watching soap operas. The doctors come in talking about the baby, and House decides to take the case.

No one believes House that there is an epidemic starting. Of course, they are all stupid, because House is always right. So, he goes hunting for more sick babies.

The Asian baby with the lesbian mommies is sick. See? Women are evil and will get you sick.

Let's check the white board. Oh, it's just sick babies on it. Care to take a guess?

House decides to start the babies on two medications, which is going to be important in a bit.

More foreshadowing about Cameron's baby. While Cuddy swabs the whole hospital.

House vs Clinic Patient #1: Patient can't lose weight. House tells her she has a parasite. She's pregnant.

The babies are going through kidney failure. House tells them to take one baby off of one medication, and one off of the other. Of course, that means one of the babies will probably die from not getting the proper medication. House gets permission from Cuddy, and the wait begins. Wilson calls Cameron Allison, since she didn't give the lesbians terrible news.

The Clinic Patient returns, trying to get her husband a DNA test by lying about her having Mono and him needing a test.

Angry Cuddy clips a tie that was hanging.

Lesbian baby dies. Because women are evil and don't deserve babies. Especially two of them. No, terrible CGI!

Wilson tells the lesbians their baby died since Cameron could not. But the other baby is also getting sicker.

House decides to do an autopsy on the dead baby to see whether there was heart damage. Virus in the hearts of the babies.So now they have to check the babies' blood for viruses. And then we test the mothers for anti-bodies of what the kids have. Whichever the mothers don't the kids do.

The babies get an anti-viral. The babies get better, but not are not out of the woods yet. House asks Foreman about Cameron. And then he sees Clinic Patient again. Her husband is the father. She's nutty happy. She wants him to do pre-natal or baby delivery. It gives House an idea. The babies are healthy now.

House confronts Cameron about her loss. She calls him a bastard and leaves.

House looks for the cause of the virus. And there she is. The old lady bringing the teddy bears for the babies is sick and coughing. And she's getting the babies sick that way. Bad CGI follows.

Oh, so House's idea? It wasn't about the babies, it was about being able to stay in the OBGYN lounge and watch his soap opera on their TV.


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The nice thing with this episode is it had an actual patient die, adding that House can't save everyone. But at the same time, there never is the sense that tensions are ramped up as a result of this. Instead, the doctors remain calm, as though this is something they always go through. Except for Cuddy that is. She shows her frustrations with it. We do get tons with Wilson this episode, and Cameron's loss gets some more referencing, which will lead up to the reveal later on. Not a bad episode, although it does seem to be missing something. Mainly because of the fact that the patients are babies and thus there's not much that can be done with them storywise apart from what is done.

House Season 1 Episode 3: Occam's Razor

And we start with a kid calling in sick from work. Really, he's in bed with his girlfriend. But he does keep saying he has a cough. And then his girlfriend screws his brains out, which sucks the life out of him, giving us our patient of the week. Lesson, women are all succubi.

Opening credits.

And the girlfriend is staying at bedside with the boy, while Wilson tries to talk House into taking the patient. House, of course, takes it. He wants patients with difficult to solve illnesses, he's just too lazy to look for them.

Let's check the white board: Fever, cough, nausea, rash, low BP, and Abd pain. Have you solved it yet?

Chase is checking to see if the male patient is pregnant. In the chest.

Cuddy appears, and makes fun of House's limp.

House vs the Clinic. The whole clinic. "Maybe I'm too stoned to tell." Heh heh

Girlfriend is scared she banged him sick. See? It's true.

House vs Clinic Patient #1: House helps the woman out by letting her ride her insurance since she's being canned.

Antibiotics are killing the patient. What does it mean? Terrible CGI!

OK, class, add "Kidney Failure" to your white boards. Figure it out now?

Wrong guess #1: Sinus infection and Hypothyroidism

Oh no, parents! At least they can't make decisions for him.

Foreman whines about House. I bet he also never believed in Santa Claus.

Setting up for far in the future. Chase is hot for Cameron.

House vs Clinic Patients #2: House calls for a consult from Cuddy over a man with a sore throat. He has a sore throat.

"Smugness is easier to maintain." House explains why he treats the doctors under him like crap. So they want to work harder.

House vs Clinic Patients #3: Cuddy sends Wilson for the consult. Her leg hurts after running six miles. What could it be? While they wait, they play Metroid.

Cameron tortures Chase by talking about sex some more. And eventually, they will see what it feels like together, but not anytime soon.

They take him to a clean room. And Chase strips him naked. Hey kid, just a hint, if Chase drops the soap, don't bend over to pick it up.

House mentions pulling a toy car out of a nose, foreshadowing for a future episode. Wilson asks "You have a thing for her (Cuddy)?" Eventually, House will fall for Cuddy, big time. He then gets Wilson to order him Vicodin, which gives House an, oh wait, he's just staring at the white board.

Wrong guess #2: Gout. He doesn't have gout, House already knew that. But he had gout medication, as a mistake for his cough medication.

Correct guess: The medication did it!

Now, House has to prove it. The Pharmacist won't admit he made a mistake.

So, they decide to check for lymphoma. And the patient dies. Wouldn't be a House episode without a resurrection.

House vs Clinic Patient #4: Patient has an MP3 player inserted into his rear. House checks out to let Cuddy fix it.

House figures it's from the kid taking Xstacy. Back to the medication doing it. The patient admits to doing the X, and he gets better immediately.

And as House looks for the reason the kid got sick, the kid admits the pills he now has for the cough have a letter on them when the old pills did not. Meanwhile, House finds the pills that poisoned the kid, and can rest easy.

Credits. "That's some bad hat, Harry."

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A stronger episode than the last, as each episode so far has gotten better than the last. The actors have all become comfortable with their character, Cuddy actually gets a few scenes, we get to to see House and Wilson actually just hanging out in House's office, and the patient doesn't threaten to leave right before House finds the cure. Also, another thing I liked in this episode is that they did not end up throwing diagnoses at the wall over and over until House finally came up with the solution. Instead, he threw one possible solution out there to start treatment on, while he continued to think of what it might also be.

You can still feel the early series jutters a bit, but the show has grounded itself much more by this episode, keeping away from more of the gimmicks that it started with Another fine episode.

House Season 1 Episode 2: Paternity

And we start this episode with a fake sport. And a bad CGI shot. Oh, the kid goes down. And hey, isn't that the kid from Eurotrip? Oh no, our first child patient. Grr.

There's the opening we all know and love. With that great music.

House is hiding from Cuddy and the patients. And Wilson has come to talk to House. And we have the patient for the episode.

Wow, House is actually talking to the patient and family.

Night terror! And this is the first dream sequence of the show.

Chase references Huntington's to Foreman, which plays an important part many seasons later in the series.

House vs the Clinic patients continues. Baby coffins.

Wrong guess: MS

And the patient goes missing. Why are all of the lights out at night in the hospital? Usually they leave lights on, in case there is an emergency. Hey, there's Cuddy. And House knows where the kid is. And Chase tackles Dan.

It's not MS. So, they throw more treatments at him.

Wrong guess: syphilis

House vs Clinic patients #2. These always end up being great.

I see Cameron's cleavage. Another symptom. It's not syphilis.

House gets his DNA tests. And he continues his love of General Hospital.

And we have the winner! Dan's mother wasn't vaccinated.

Cleft chin, which the patient knew made him adopted. Oh hey, think House was smart enough to see that?

House is at the Lacrosse game? That's just weird. Even him being there with no one there is weird.

And credits. "That's some bad hat, Harry."

_________

By the second episode, most of the cast feel much more comfortable on the show. They are more of their characters, and the chemistry between them is starting to show. Hugh Laurie, while good in the pilot, really starts to shine as House, and Wilson works much better, where he doesn't feel shoehorned in as a way to get House a patient. Cuddy is still more of an idea of an administrative foil for House than an actual character, and we really don't get more of her than that for some time. Still, a strong episode that shows why House built in popularity and became the monster of a show it did become.

House Season 1 Episode 1: Pilot

Hey, it's Robin Tunney riding the bus. And now she's running. If I didn't know this show already, I would be wondering who this school teacher was. Oh no, she can't speak, and now she has a siezure.


...What the hell was that? That's not the opening.

And now we meet two doctors. The music is too storybook. And we don't even know who these doctors are (Wilson and House). Oh, and House pops a Vicodin (unsaid what it is).

Oh no, the first of these long CGI trips through a body.

First "Everybody lies". And who are these doctors? We're just thrown right in, no names, but there are relationships.

Who is this female doctor? (Cuddy) She must be his boss.

Oh, his name is Doctor House!

"As the Philosopher Jagger once said, you can't always get what you want."

MAD HOUSE!

Making fun of House not being able to run.

Oh, we know her name is Cuddy because of the name on her door. And we got told Cameron's name by a nurse, and Chase said his. I think we're still missing Foreman and Wilson.

No, not another CG trip! At least this one was quick.

And the first patient death, with Chase making the save with the tracheotomy.

House pops a Vicodin (Which we don't know it actually is.)

Bryan Singer went for too storybook in the lighting.

This is the best part of the episode. House is direct and makes fun of the patients. But he is absolutely right.

That is interesting that the real patient can only see glimpses of House.

Enough with the music.

Cameron's hair is almost pitch black in this episode. It's brown only when it hits the light just the right way.

The first time House tells someone to break into a patient's house.

Oh no, complications arise. And the patient dies again. So, they have to look for something else causing this. And Foreman agrees to do the break in, now.

House gets Vicodin. And some candy. Gives the Vicodin to himself and the candy to the patient.

Oh hey, Wilson? Now we definitely know his name. (And we find out Wilson may have been lying to get House on the case.)

And now House has figured out the winner! A tapeworm!

And now House has to visit his patient to tell her off.

And we learn about House's infarction and why he has a bum leg. I like that they threw this in there now, rather than making it a mystery throughout the season.

And the case is solved, the patient is healed.

House hired Foreman because of his juvenile delinquency, Chase because of his father, and Cameron because she's pretty. Good reasons all around.

And now we know Wilson lied to House to get the case. And House says "I never lie".

And then my favorite part of every episode: "That's some Bad Hat Harry".

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And so we end the first episode of House. This is the case of a show where the premise is interesting, and has a great movie director directing the first episode, strong writers and actors working on the show, and yet it starts off rocky. The music doesn't fit, nor does the lighting. You never feel like the place is an actual hospital. None of the characters are fully formed yet. House is the closest, but even then you don't get the full sense of him that you get as time goes on. Cuddy is just the boss who tells him what to do and he ignores. She has no personality whatsoever. Wilson too is more of an idea of House's only friend than an actual person. The team is a bit more fleshed out, with us learning a bit about Foreman, and learning about Cameron more through what she says than in learning about her actual past.

Overall, a strong start to the series, if a bit rocky in places. The episode just doesn't hit like the later episodes do.