Kumar and Louise are starting the bone marrow biopsy when they notice that the POW's legs are strangely tan. It's not leukemia. Yay! The POW needs a kidney transplant. Boo! The daughter is the logical donor, but Cuddy would have to sign for her, since she's a minor. What's that, you say? Cuddy taking on parental responsibility? Where is Cuddy, anyway? She's hanging out in the OR, watching her baby be born. Did someone say OR? It must be time to let Chase out of the supply closet for his 90 seconds of weekly screen time. House barges in on the surgery, and tells Cuddy to quit gawking and do her job. The baby comes out and they wait for a cry. That baby is way too pink for a baby with lung problems. Again: long story how I know that. Dramatic silence. Cuddy begs the baby by name to start crying--and then, as if by magic, WAAAAAAH! Everyone starts slow clapping. No, I made that up, but it would have been awesome. Cuddy, that's the last time you'll be glad to hear that sound. "Mazel tov," says House. "Now tell her the words she'll hear for the rest of her life: Mommy's gotta go to work." Zing.
Be right there after I drop her off downstairs at day care.
House pressures the daughter into saying yes to the kidney transplant. The daughter says OK, but House is suspicious and changes his mind. He thinks the daughter is sleepwalking too.
Name That Disease, Silly Metaphor Round
House says they can't use the girl's kidney because you don't take a dead battery out of a remote control and put a new dead battery in. Yes, I'm serious. The daughter is now sweating blood. She has whatever Dad has. "Call Foreman and get to work," says House. Hey yeah, what has Foreman been up to this whole episode? Something boring, no doubt.
House consults Wilson about genetic diseases. Wilson would rather talk about Cuddy. Come on, admit it. Both of you want her. Bros before hos, guys. Wilson says something about post-partum depression and dopamine, and sees House's lightbulb face. "You just got an idea and now you're going to walk out of here without saying a word, aren't you?" House says one word--"Nope"--and walks out. Ha. Either the writers magically found a self-deprecating sense of humor this week, or they hired Joel McHale to consult. I love it. The lightbulb is early this week, but we still have another plot thread to wrap up, so let's finish this one real quick-like.
House says the dad and daughter are going to be fine, but they don't crack a smile. That's his scientific test this week. Remember those straight faces from the teaser? They have a condition called anhedonia, which means they can't feel pleasure. Foreman objects that the only thing that causes that in Caucasians is schizophrenia, and they aren't schizophrenic, just boring. But wait! says House, they aren't really white... they're Middle Eastern! DUN DUN DUN. The POW confirms it--they Anglicized their names awhile back. It seems some people in this country harbor an unfair bias towards people of Middle Eastern descent. And they have something called Familial Mediterranean Fever. The treatment may or may not work--so, since we have some time to kill, let's watch paint dry on Cuddy's nursery wall. No way. Any normal mom-to-be would have had that room all set up the instant she learned the baby's sex.
OK, paint's dry, so that's long enough for a Miracle Cure, right? 13 asks the POW if he's feeling better. He sees some pretty foliage outside and smiles, so that's a roger. Then he asks about his daughter. She's better too, and ready to give him a kidney. Smiles, hugs, hearts and butterflies all around. Let's hear it for family!
The baby mama must have been watching this cuddly scene, because she's changed her mind and is going to keep the baby. She thinks the responsibility will rescue her from a life in the gutter. Wow, she and Cuddy have a lot in common. They both want a baby to fix them. Needless to say, Cuddy is stunned. Shortest. Story Arc. Ever.
The closing montage plays as Cuddy goes to the nursery to tell the baby farewell, and dad and daughter get reacquainted. Ooh, dramatic contrast!
I totally stole this from T.Vo, but... Emmy face!
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Comments (5)
Aww, really? You didn't like the House-Cuddy hook-up at the end? I thought that was the greatest thing to happen all episode, and all season as well.
The episode was very very good in my opinion; cool story with the whole lack-of-pleasure disease, and when the baby-with-premature-lungs came out I started bawling. Fun times all 'round!
You had me giggling uncontrollably with the "sleep-drives, sleep-buys, et.al" schtick, because it reminded me so much of those shows like The Jetsons, where they would take something ordinary and easily found in real life and just add "space" on to it, i.e. "space casserole, space bike". Loverly.
1 of 5 | Posted by alex_w | Posted on November 1, 2008 7:46 PM
This was a better than average episode... and a fine recap.
I liked seeing more of the soft side of Cuddy. (Now, put her back into the totally age-inappropriate clothing!)
2 of 5 | Posted by fire@will | Posted on November 2, 2008 11:18 AM
Just goes to show how far opinions can vary: I hated this episode. In fact, now that I think about it, was it directed or written by a cast member? some newbie? some nephew of a producer?
It sucked all the way around for me.
3 of 5 | Posted by Memememe | Posted on November 2, 2008 11:49 AM
OMG that was great -- my boss was the only one of us who DIDN'T watch it this week, and she forgot to TiVO it, so we all were jumping up and down about the end, and she was like "what? whaaaat?!" - we didn't tell her, made her wait for her to watch it on USA on the weekend. We're mean like that.
Anyway, I thought it was good.
4 of 5 | Posted by killbondnow | Posted on November 3, 2008 1:48 AM
Last time I saw the baby mama was in the movie The Baby-Sitters Club, where she played a kid they baby-sat.
It was weird seeing her all grown up.
5 of 5 | Posted by mermaidtricks | Posted on November 18, 2008 3:58 PM