House: No More Mr. Nice Guy
May 6th 2008 04:42
As the nurses strike outside Princeton Plainsboro Hospital, a delivery man approaches Nurse Deb Tallridge and her husband Jeff. The delivery man tries to get around, they tell him to wait just a few more seconds, and he rams Deb with his cart. Jeff steps up, hugs the guy, and passes out.
He spots Jeff sitting patiently on a bed waiting for treatment, and is immediately intrigued by the constant smile on the guy’s face. He also has two lunch trays next to him, because, well, he’s been there for two meals. And he’s still not complaining.
House immediately sees Jeff’s niceness as a problem. He wanders over, stomps on the guy’s foot with his cane, and Jeff just smiles and tells his wife he’s sure it was an accident. House asks Cameron about Jeff’s symptoms, and she tells him he’s been fainting has a recent history of dysgeusia, and says that everything tastes like lemon meringue.
Looks like House has a new case!
House gets his team together, where they argue about “niceness” being a real symptom, and rule out metabolic disorder, toxic exposure, carcinoma of the tongue metastasized to the brain and epilepsy. He sends Foreman and Kutner to go check out Jeff’s home for toxins, and Taub and Thirteen to do an MRI for tumors and an EEG for nerve damage.
Since Wilson has been so busy with Amber, House is forced to go bowling with Chase instead. Chase is very good at bowling, House is very bad. House wishes Wilson and Amber the best “for them and their tragically deformed children.” Chase gives House the idea of making a deal with Amber about joint custody of Wilson.
House shows up at Wilson’s and offers up the joint custody idea. Wilson can’t make a decision on his own. He’s actually siding with House on it being a good idea. When Amber realizes that she’s not going to get rid of House until she starts bargaining, she offers up Wednesdays when she has yoga. But he has to have Wilson home by 11. They can swap weekends. House counters with Mondays and Wednesdays, home by midnight. Not good for Amber.
They turn to Wilson. He won’t make a decision.
Amber: Take my deal or get out of my apartment.
House: Take my deal, or I move in.
Meanwhile, Foreman and Kutner argue about people generally wanting to be good, and find Hydrofluoric acid at Jeff’s home. that might account for his fainting and the taste issue. But, as Kutner adds, “not the niceness.”
House, Wilson, and Amber show up in Cuddy’s office. They need a ruling on the joint custody of Wilson, and he won’t make a decision, so she’s going to have to. Cuddy just stares at them. Wilson continues to eat a bag of chips by the door. He’s decided they both scare him, so…he waves at Cuddy.
She gets up, grabs a folder, then sits back down at her desk and starts to read House his performance review. Amber starts to leave, but Wilson wants to hear it. Cuddy’s review of House is as expected. She asks him to sign it. He’ll only do it if she’ll give them a ruling on Wilson. She’ll only give him a ruling if he’ll sign. He does.
Cuddy turns to Amber. “What’d you offer him?”
“Wednesdays till 11 and alternate weekends.”
Cuddy turns to House. “Wednesdays till 11 and alternate weekends.”
House is happy. Wednesday night is ladies night.
House assembles the team and tells Jeff, “Your wife is very ugly.” Deb stands up and tells House to get out, and Jeff stops her, insisting House is just trying to prove a point.
House: I think I just did.
House diagnoses Jeff with Williams Syndrome (missing the genes that make him suspicious), and when they start talking about singing, House decides Jeff’s modesty is another symptom. Deb cuts in, “no he really does suck.” House makes Jeff sing, and in the process of crooning to Bread, Jeff has a stroke.
House adds “stroke” to the list. Jeff tested negative for Williams. House thinks it’s neuro-syphilis now instead. Jeff says that it can’t be because he tested negative for it ten years ago in the Peace Corps.
House starts to give Kutner Wilson’s review, and Foreman argues that performance reviews are supposed to help the employees. When it’s obvious House isn’t going to do the paperwork, Foreman steps in, “I’ll do it.” House heads for the door. “I know.”
Amber shows up 15 minutes late in dropping Wilson off for his mini-golf date with House and House isn’t happy. Amber leaves smirking, “You’ve got mommy’s numbers right?”
Thirteen tells Foreman she thinks Jeff has a heart defect, and as she heads off to start doing a bubble test, Foreman tries to read her her performance review. She just laughs, and leaves. Kutner enters to tell Foreman that Jeff does have neuro-syphilis. The tests were positive even though they all thought House was wrong again.
Outside Jeff’s room, Kutner asks Deb if she had an affair. When she tells him no, he wants to know why she’s not angry with Jeff. She tells him that Jeff’s niceness has made her a better person. Tearful she asks, “You really think I’ve been in love all these years with a symptom?” Kutner explains that if syphilis created lesions in Jeff’s brain his personality (his niceness) might start to change once he starts taking his medicine. She should be prepared. Deb insists she knows her husband. He’s not going to change…
Later in the cafeteria, Taub and Kutner argue about how niceness can be a “biological crime” when there’s House and his rudeness isn’t? Foreman cuts in trying to do Taub’s review and Taub just tells him that House " knows it'll annoy us; and we'll stand up to you which will force you to confront the fact that even though you think you're our superior, you're no different than us," Foreman stops. He’s right.
Kutner suddenly interrupts, “It’s true.” And he’s not talking about what Taub just said. “If there’s something wrong with this guy, it means there’s something wrong with House.” He hurries off without an explanation.
Meanwhile, a very sober House gets Wilson drunk at a bar to get back at Amber. Wilson admits to his friend that if he gets any drunker “it might work.” Yeah, House already knew that. He gets a call from his team that the “patient is vomiting blood”. Kutner things the Hematemesis is from liver damage caused by the ethanol in the cleansers or the penicillin. Viral hepatitis?
As the team works on the liver function tests, Thirteen rules out alcohol (the GGT is normal) and Kutner tells them that the tests on the syphilis came back positive. No, he’s not talking about Jeff, he’s talking about House. House has syphilis.
The team nervously approaches House as he watches his soap. They hesitate, and finally Foreman tells House he has syphilis. Kutner explains that he found a vial of House’s blood and ran it…they ask him if he’s okay. House just sits there. Thirteen places the pills on his desk and they all exit quickly.
The team tell Chase and Cameron and Cameron decides that’s why he is the way he is…but will making him less of a jerk make him less of a doctor too? Chase suddenly asks, “did you sleep with him?” Cameron refuses to answer on the grounds that it’s none of their business. Chase is quite bothered by this.
House enters Wilson’s office to tell him something, but low and behold, Amber’s there. Amber amends the agreement. Penalty clauses. House decides that’s fine. Whoever breaks it loses a finger. Wilson asks House what he was going to tell him, and he just says, “nothing.” Sulking, House leaves.
Foreman shows up in House’s office confronting him about exploiting him, and House argues that “those three idiots should respect you.” He explains, "If the team fears you, they don't question you; if they don't question you, they don't find answers; if they don't find answers, they're useless.” Taub shows up to tell them the patient tested negative for sarcoidosis. House thinks up more tests to have him run.
Jeff is yelling at Deb very uncharacteristically (he’s mad she moved his book), and suddenly Jeff starts having a heart attack. Deb calls for help…but the nurses are on strike, remember? Taub spots her trying to resuscitate him and rushes in to help.
At the white board, House *gasp!* gives up the marker to let Kutner have a go at it. Kutner adds rage and heart attack to the list. They argue about “roid rage” vs. penicillin. Thirteen was about to test for a heart issue before the syphilis, which could explain the heart attack, but thee reduced blood flow to the brain might have triggered the rage. House is uncharacteristically passive about the whole thing.
The team discusses how House is suddenly becoming nicer and how it’s affecting his genius doctor skills. Taub and Foreman think it’s a good thing, Cameron and Thirteen don’t. House now cares about nothing. Chase points out they don’t have a choice, they have to treat him.
House finds Wilson and can’t stand not telling him “that thing” anymore. He makes Wilson swear not to tell Amber. He does. House leans in…”My team thinks I have syphilis.”
“Do you?”
“Not yet.”
House tells him he knew they were going to test his blood for something one of these days. Wilson doesn’t get it. House explains that his team thinks he’s on penicillin. As he gets “better” he gets nicer…Wilson just laughs. “That’s brilliant.” House thinks it’s hilarious that Foreman thinks he actually values his opinion. They decide to go bowling.
Kutner and Taub perform the bubble test on Jeff. Amber rushes in to tell them that House doesn’t have syphilis. House switched the test tubes. She’s telling them because she wants to ruin House’s day. So much for Wilson’s promise. Bubbles suddenly appear on the right side of Jeff’s heart. Kutner rushes off to find House.
Kutner finds House to tell him the patient tested positive for syphilis, but why? Either one, he has syphilis. Two, the test was wrong twice, or three…he gave us someone else’s blood. House turns around. “Who?” Kutner grins, “Amber.”
Kutner figures out that the patient might have something that tests positive for syphilis. Chagas perhaps? He worked in Costa Rica before he was married. Kutner holds up an MRI. “It’s not much.”
House is bummed that he didn’t have the epiphany first.
Kutner and House tell Jeff that he has a parasite called Chagas Disease. House explains that Jeff’s brains was swollen just enough to alter his personality. After he takes the drugs he might change a lot. Deb’s not worried. Neither is Kutner. Or House for that matter as he “doesn’t care.”
House enters Cuddy’s’ office and drops his performance review files on her desk. She starts looking through them in surprise…” Well phrased…thoughtful…” and all the same. House argues that it’s because inside we’re all just the same…and because Foreman wouldn’t type up his.
House nods to the file. There’s an extra one in there. It’s for Cuddy. She starts to read, “Your treatment of patients is nonexistent because you’re not a doctor, you’re an administrator…Your management of employees is—well, let’s face it they’re outside carrying signs.”
Cuddy closes the file and tells House that the nurses’ strike is over. House grabs the files and finishes reading her review. He asks her to please sign, and instead Cuddy tells him that she got a call from Amber telling her that House broke the contract. They’re both losing fingers.
Deb brings Jeff some ketchup and he suddenly realizes that he doesn’t like it anymore. “I wonder what else I don’t like…” Deb looks at her husband…hmmm…
House and Amber are doing their “losing fingers” punishment by clumsily changing an elderly patients sullied sheets. Neither of them is happy about it. Cuddy gets her revenge.
Quote of the week:
Taub: Maybe we just put Hitler on Ritalin.
Cameron: Are you comparing House to Hitler? *At Chase’s grumbling* Just because I don’t think he’s Hitler doesn’t mean I slept with him. I don’t sleep with everyone who’s better than Hitler!
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Comment by Danielle2
Comment by Meggie
TV Chit Chat
Hugh Laurie does do an amazing job with the American accent. You gotta love House and his wit!
Thanks for stopping by!