Saturday, October 15, 2011

Dr. House, in Prison and Under Watch

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

House is back! Can't say I was in love with the first episode of the season, but at least it was different and not the same ol' same ol' that we get often from this show. The second episode brought back some of the old crew and introduced us to a new doctor who seems to be part of House's new team. I don't know how I feel about her, or the fact that the show is moving forward without too much attention spent on the past year. Though, with only two episodes in so far, perhaps I am jumping the gun...

House "Twenty Vicodin" (S08E01): House has served 12 months in prison and is up for parole in 5 days. He's asked if he's sorry for what he did, and he says "yes." But since he isn't showing remorse, they're not happy. If he can stay out of trouble for five days they'll let him out anyway, due to overcrowding. Should he fail, he'll need to stay for four more months.The episode is set to be about each of those five days.
Monday: House checks everyone's pill doses to make sure they're correct. He's also cheeking pills to give to one guy. Some people are also asking him for medical advice. One guy steals a bunch of his stuff and knows that House won't say anything or do anything because of his parole. Another guy wants House's stereo and headphones. [he hasn't seen anyone leave jail before?] House corrects a diagnosis as he walks by the clinic. House causes some trouble and gets two guys fighting.
Tuesday: House wakes to find a cricket chirping. Turns out, his homicidal roommate keeps it as a pet. [oooook....] He also then heads to the sick guy and asks him to remove his shirt and pants so House can look for a rash to prove it's lupus. Since House is now on "short-term," Mendelssohn wants 20 Vicodin... which is more than he has coming the rest of the time he's there. He talks to a guy about hooking him up, and for $200, he can get 16 Vicodin... but he doesn't have any "peeps" on the outside to help him out. [lack of friends sucks, what else can I say?] And, LupusGuy likely has something else, given that he broke an arm very easily.
Wednesday: House wakes up to find one Vicodin left in a gum container. His roommate offers him some random pills to ease his pain. [so the guy isn't all bad...] House goes to talk to the clinic doctor again, and thinks lung cancer for LupusGuy, then a tumor, though the doctor suspects an abnormality. She tells him that he's such a good diagnostician that he has to go back to medicine. House's new hookup isn't sure he can get the Vicodin.
Thursday: House is trying to treat the cricket's ailment with some baking soda in water. House sees the doctor and makes it clear that his leg hurts... she offers ibuprofen but he says it won't help. She then lets him see LupusGuy's file, and she's caught with House holding it. Later, she finds out why House is in jail, and wonders why he didn't tell the truth and why he's doing time without any prior convictions. He says it's because he had a bad lawyer, and she tells him that he can't look at the case anymore. [untrustworthy people have no privileges... that's how it goes!] House is injured by a couple of thugs who know he won't be able to get all the Vicodin in time. They also take his cane. [this really bothered me. So okay maybe they think that he needs some "motivation," but he's already trying not to take any of his Vicodin so he can give them to the guy, so he's in plenty of pain as it is!] House causes a chemical fire so he has a chance to steal some pills. LupusGuy wants more help, but House says he's done.... until he notices some swelling. He ends up doing an emergency trach with a pen he borrowed. [these things always creep me out! perhaps because the first one I ever saw was rather crude... on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.] Later, House takes three Vicodin from his pack to soothe his own pain.
Friday: He takes two more pills... so now he doesn't have nearly enough pills to give to Mendelssohn. He then flushes the rest of them and asks for protective custody... but he changes his mind to work on the case some more. [you have GOT to be kidding me! He finally figures out a way to get out alive (although he'll probably get beat up once he's out by the thug's friends) and his freaking obsessions with diagnostics causes him to go back to the clinic anyway! whatever.] He makes a new suggestion, but the way to test for it is rather experimental, so the main doctor won't go for it. House tries to do it himself, but he's ordered out of there, and if he returns, his parole will be revoked. The young doctor asks House if he has enough Vicodin to pay his "exit taxes," and she gives him twenty. [this caught me by surprise... she isn't that into rules after all, is she?] He then goes to give them over, but throws them in the air at the last minute and people dive for them... then the one guy punches House and orders a hit on him. Just before an awl-like instrument shanks House, his crazy roommate saves him. House did, however, wind up back in the clinic, and tries hard to do the aspirin test he wanted.... but the guards bust in just before he can administer it. House is looking at a month in solitary confinement and six more months of sentencing for causing so much trouble. The young doctor gives LupusGuy the aspirin water, but he doesn't have an attack right away, indicating that House was wrong.
Saturday: House is in solitary confinement now, but gets a note passed under the door with his meal that shows he was right with the diagnosis after all.

House
"Transplant" (S08E02): It's been two months since the first episode. For what happened, he received 8 months added to his sentence. Foreman comes to visit House, as he can get House out of prison with a judge's order on the condition that House works for Foreman. There's a pair of lungs in a box with 12 hours to transplant, but there's something wrong with them. House heads to the hospital. Foreman became the Dean of Medicine (Cuddy put in her notice the day after House's incident) and now "owns" House. The Diagnostics Department has moved. He now has one assistant, who is a neurology student who punched her attending after he sexually harassed her. [this seems like a strange predicament to me. but maybe that's just me...]
Cr: Adam Taylor/FOX
Wilson is in the room with the lungs, as are a few other doctors. The lungs may go to one of Wilson's patients, which is why he's involved. House and the girl head to the patient's house in the pouring rain. He learns that she still lives with her parents. [ugh!] The previous owner of the lungs' father watches House and the girl go through his kid's room and closet. House is wearing a tracking anklet, however, so the cops show up at the house. He gets brought back to the hospital and Foreman tells him that he needs to solve this without much more drama. [figures that House would challenge all of the limits immediately. And, as usual, I'm not digging the way Foreman does things... but that's the way it goes.] Instead of doing an MRI on the body, House biopsies part of the arm. House wants to leave the hospital on another mission but Foreman doesn't want to let him. [no crap.] Wilson and the girl go out instead. House doesn't have a whiteboard to work on, so he writes on windows. [LoL.] House texted the girl's dad and said she needed dinner, so he brought it... neurology told him that she was on leave - she tells him that she's consulting on a special case, and he is impressed that she can help. Wilson later tells House that he doesn't like him anymore. [that's not going to last, guys...] House breaks into his old office to think with his old ball but gets kicked out. Turns out, the kid breathed in small amounts of smoke at poker games... but they are able to transplant the lungs after some radiation or something. [I didn't completely follow the final diagnosis and treatment, since I was really perturbed by the fact that so much happened in the 12 hours...] Foreman found House's stuff in storage, so he gets him back most of it, plus part of his old office. Wilson punches House in the face pretty freaking hard, but then they're friends again and go for steak.
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