You guys, GROSS. Hands down grossest episode of House yet. Actually, maybe in the history of television. We open up on a nasty, swollen tongue. Way swollen, unbelievably nasty. And House is being a dick and asking questions, like what his favorite color is, just to be mean and laugh at him. And then Elias Koteas comes in and shoots House. Well! That was bracing!
That changes the direction of the episode, I'd say! When we return, House is lying in a hospital bed and coming to, feeling his face to see how bearded he is now - he figures two days - and Cameron is, of course, at his bedside. They discuss his own case a little, but House doesn't even want to know who shot him, and deems gunshot wounds too boring for his attention. He just wants to hear all about the swollen tongue some more, but before Cameron can get too far into it, they wheel Elias Koteas into the same room. Ummm...yeah, right? How is that happening?
House gets up over Cameron's objections to go complain to Cuddy. Wow, House is ethically correct for once! There's a slight bit of sexual tension with Cameron before he heads out, but then he barges into Cuddy's office and before he can even get a word in, she's telling him that Elias Koteas also needs to be in the ICU so there's nothing she can do about it. He's handcuffed to his bed and sedated, so I guess that's safe enough. House is over it by this point, though, and fiddling with his morphine drip. But! He's not turning it up, he's turning it down. Turns out that even though his neck and stomach hurt like the dickens, his leg is doing a-ok. Cuddy sort of mocks him for being upset about how his leg doesn't hurt. That doesn't seem very supportive but I guess she's probably pretty much over his shit by now.
House returns to the room he shares with his would-be killer and wakes him up. Elias Koteas claims he let House live on purpose, because he wanted House to suffer. House is all, "suffer this, bitch!" and sets his machines all haywire and Elias Koteas starts moaning in pain.
I felt bad for a little bit, then the show switched back to the guy with the swollen tongue and it is disgusting. There's a problem, and the Outhouses go check in with House to see what to do next. The important thing here is how Chase comes up with a solution before House does. Losing his edge a bit?
Later, Elias Koteas is feeling a little chatty. He tells House why he shot him: his wife was sick, and House cured her. But before he did that, he told Elias Koteas that everything was relevant, and got him to admit to having an affair. House told the wife, wife went home and killed herself. Which seems a little shortsighted of her. It's a very slow scene. I guess House is bored too, so he heads out to look at the guy with the swollen tongue. There's a woman standing there too, and it's important to note that she is rather slammin'. House doesn't believe she's swollen-tongue guy's wife, because she's too hot. She's hot, but sitcoms and commercials teach us that the schlubbier the guy, the hotter his wife. House needs to watch more TV. She's also really smart, and totally has House's number, telling him that she's not going to fall for his mind games and she didn't give her husband an STD. I guess House has had so many cases end up being the result of STDs that that's just where his mind goes now.
Oh yeah also, he starts bleeding from his stomach and passes out. When he comes to, he's back in bed and trying to enjoy his delicious hospital pancakes, but his shackles are getting in the way. I guess Cuddy made good on her promise to handcuff him if he got up again. So he and Elias Koteas have another chat, and it's weird, these two men are fantastic actors, and I know the writing is good, but these scenes are a bit slow to me.
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Comments (13)
House is not interested in Cameron. He is saving himself for me. I'll be waiting in the shower.
1 of 13 | Posted by carewski
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Posted on June 5, 2006 11:36 AM
So, anyone else see this when it came out in the theater as "Jacob's Ladder"?
Well, okay, so it wasn't that close. Same sort of premise though.
2 of 13 | Posted by jeff
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Posted on June 5, 2006 1:06 PM
I've got to admit I was pretty disapointed that this was going to be another hospital drama that has a finale where someone gets shot. I feel like it's been overdone this year with ER and grey's anatomy and all. But they did a good job of making it a little different than those other shows. I also have to agree that it was a pretty gross episode. When that guys balls exploded on Chase I almost turned it off completely!
3 of 13 | Posted by g-child
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Posted on June 5, 2006 1:23 PM
Seriously, I almost threw up like three times this episode.
4 of 13 | Posted by B-Side
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Posted on June 5, 2006 1:59 PM
Seriously...no comments on the EYE BALL POPPING OUT?!
5 of 13 | Posted by MissC
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Posted on June 5, 2006 2:02 PM
Seriously, I cannot believe I missed this episode Body parts exploding, Chase beating House to a diagnosis, House in handcuffs-yum!
Looks like this was a difficult episode to recap, thanks for finally getting it up here.
6 of 13 | Posted by msCCRN
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Posted on June 5, 2006 3:29 PM
I loved this episode. I didn't think it was slow at all, and I was totally shocked by the ending. Excellent television.
7 of 13 | Posted by ikkepagrasset
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Posted on June 5, 2006 5:38 PM
Jeff, I totally thought of "Jacob's Ladder" after watching this episode. This episode was such a mind fuck, which is what the writers intended. I started suspecting something was off when House was up walking around after being shot in the stomach and when he was put in the same room with his assailant. But the clincher that some kind of trick was going on came when House was walking with the Outhouses up the staircase and he all of a sudden asked them "How did I get here?" That's when I started thinking the episode might turn out to be a cheesy dream, but it being a hallucination is much more awesome. The whole episode winds up being about the tricks that House's mind is playing on him from the loss of blood. I think this was a great episode and I can't wait to see what happens next season with House's leg and the repercussions from the ketamine.
8 of 13 | Posted by Aries
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Posted on June 5, 2006 6:21 PM
watching this episode high was the worst idea ever...
9 of 13 | Posted by kiami
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Posted on June 6, 2006 5:37 AM
thanks, missc, i read that recap twice and was about to go back for a third looking for the part about the eye before i saw your comment. kat, seriously, that was the craziest part of the episode, i watched it several times, how could you skip over it?!!
i thought that there was poison on the bullets most of the episode ("soaked them in goofball juice" hehe) because the guy said he didn't want to kill house, he wanted to make him suffer. can't wait for next season!
10 of 13 | Posted by ldini79
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Posted on June 6, 2006 6:49 AM
Grossest episode ever! Worse than a CSI episode.
The eyeball, the, uh, ball and then House ripping the guys insides out was horrible. But, I still like the ending (and was surprised by it).
I agree with g-child (#3) that we don't need another gunshot finale mystery.
Can't wait for next season. Thanks Kat!
11 of 13 | Posted by TaxGirl
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Posted on June 6, 2006 2:03 PM
It wasn't too long into the ep when I wondered if it was a take on "Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge." So, with that, the ending was pretty predictable for me. However, that's always a fun (read: easy) way to tell an outlandish story just for the hell of it and get away with it.
House needs pain. If that element miraculously goes away, I will be very dismayed.
12 of 13 | Posted by HicksPub
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Posted on June 7, 2006 7:32 AM
Hugh Laurie has done such a good job with this character. But I'm getting a little tired of the formulaic nature of the episodes, how House is almost always right but somehow his colleagues don't trust his analysis. Yawn.
13 of 13 | Posted by Loo
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Posted on July 26, 2006 10:21 AM