User Reviews

First, let me say -- I am one of the most liberal people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I don't think there was any hidden agenda behind this episode at all. This woman was not seeking an abortion, she was vehemently against it, as she went through a more difficult process than most to even get pregnant. This baby/fetus was no accident nor surprise, it was planned and deeply wanted. (I'm also a little biased as I am a 25 year old lesbian going through a premature mid life crisis)

Never in this episode were ethics or morals or religion or any other BS that comes up when talking about abortion .. This was just simply a mother who really wanted a baby and grew an early attachment to it and wanted nothing besides saving it's life. Plus, the process of getting pregnant in a non traditional fashion takes a lot of energy and money, just saying.

I think this was great episode and I even teared up at the end. Cuddy got some good air time and we got to see a little more into her psyche. Plus, we got to see House acting like a human being yet being himself at the same time which are some of my favorite parts of the whole series..

An applause for Lisa Edelstein for this episode. she was the leader on this case. she was House. except her reasoning was totally different. and she was perfect in the role. projecting her own fears to Emma and desperately fighting to save not only the unborn child but also her own dream.

another strong scene was with the baby holding Houses finger. it was both emotionally strong and technically well made.

but to be honest the part that I liked the most was the revelation of the "relationship" between Chase and Cameron and the reaction of different people to it. everybody was concern about the well-being of Cameron but only Emma could see whose heart will be really breaking when it all goes wrong.

p.s. I would love to have the photos she made.

**CONTAINS SPOILERS** I especially loved this episode in that it actually documented a change in House's opinion on something significant: fetus vs baby. That's no small issue in today's world, and "The Question" as to whether there is really a baby in there or not.

So, as one who feels all life is sacred, and that the heart starts beating at two weeks (or less), and the Mom usually finds-out about the pregnancy at three weeks or more, I was really thankful for an episode like this one. Cuddy (for reasons of her own), fought like a Banshee for that baby's life, whereas House was concentrating exclusively on the mother - which is admirable in and of itself - unless both can be saved.

So, when it shows the little hand reaching-out from the womb and grabbing House's finger during the surgery sequence - I almost couldn't breathe. It's so amazing what one small sequence can impart - and is was worth more than a million words. If you aren't sure about the fetus vs. baby question, I would recommend watching this episode just to begin the dialogue once more. After all, stopping a beating heart comes at a cost, and this episode reflects the tension of that decision.

Here's to many more episodes and to the folks who keep us discussing the things that matter in this life.

The worst episode of House M.D

Admittedly, part of its failure is based on this series' overall success; the vast majority of episodes are fantastically written stories which interweave social issues with sharp wit and fast paced drama.

So when all the rest of a series are the Adonis of great television, it's going to make an average episode look Quasimodo.

First off, we have "the Batman problem" which is this: Batman swings from rooftops on his bat-rope, fighting crime. It's silly, but given this man is doing a job which is unique with no comparison, the audience can buy it. As soon as you add Robin, a less effective version with the same sort of role, suddenly the job is no longer unique; to create a partner you demean the original.

Same here with House. While Cuddy's role is not the equivalent to that of House, she starts playing with his unorthodox methods and the results don't just work in her favour, they actually prove House and everyone else wrong.

We all know that doctors CANNOT be like House; that their role is at the very nub of so many scientific and ideological issues, that they need to work within the confines of a system. House can only be a maverick because he has a gift; an innate skill which puts him apart from EVERYONE else. It's not his methods, but his ability to see what no one else can and then applies the methods to bring the conclusive outcome.

Here we have Cuddy using the methods and getting the results just like House - without his gift or objectivity. Sure, she fails on a couple of tests and virtually kills the patient, but House goes through that scenario on countless occasions. The pattern remains the same even though the motivations and characters are not.

Okay, as a rule, House himself spotlights this series in a similar role, but again, we go back to the issue of House being unique which is how the audience are able to justify supporting his unorthodox judgments; that House always has the right answer, and that's because he is a gem of no comparison; we accept he's a git because his gift is so precious.

Giving the irrational, emotionally involved, non-objective, years out of practice bureaucrat Dr Cuddy all of House's stage attributes weakens the supporting cast. Suddenly even House is being trumped by a doctor of little recent medical experience who is emotionally attached with the case. We accept House's power because he's unique, giving Cuddy the same power less the skill or objectivity damages the credibility of all the characters.

And then we have the issue of lecturing. Normally, House M.D is fairly non judgmental as a show; it offers more ideological questions than it solves, but this episode seemed totally geared to "pro-life", which, whether you agree with such a sentiment or not, seemed a very heavy handed approach to such a subtle series.

House objectively wants to kill the foetus (not "baby" because scientifically, it is still a foetus) because otherwise both mother and foetus die. The mother disagrees and expects the team to come up with a better answer to save her "baby". Cuddy decides to lead this mother's crusade of righteous expectation; that doctors should find a miracle to save the foetus than having to expect the dying mother to concede to terminate. Cuddy's choices aren't logical, her rusty medical experience seems to find answers none of her medically active colleagues could find and she takes risks with no objective philosophy other than to save a pregnant mother she over-identifies with. Yet despite this, the audience is meant to be rooting for her rather than the hero.

What's worse is that House in particular starts falling rapidly out of character to justify the ethos of this pro-life agenda. When examining the foetus, he becomes absorbed at the sight of it's cute little hands; of how beautiful life is, and that this "foetus" (that he's been so cruelly labeling with such a scientific term throughout the episode), is actually a living being, not just a parasitic mass. So much so, he accidentally calls it a "baby" in the epilogue - an issue the other characters in this episode have been correcting him throughout. And when in the middle of surgery House decides it is vital to terminate, Hero-Cuddy risks the paddles in pure desperation. She even threatens to electrocute House with the paddles if he tries to cut the umbilical cord - to which makes him back off. Now, House has never been a stranger to pain (he's let himself get kicked in to get his way) and certainly not a man to back down, but in this Mary Sue moment, he backs off to allow Cuddy, through lack of judgment and desperation to save the day.

So hurrah, the day is indeed saved by Cuddy, who became an unstoppable, irrational House substitute. It seems if any of the characters want something, and the story deems it righteous enough, being pig-headed with no objectivity or evidence will win you the day. The story ends with the mother very happy, with Cuddy incredibly self righteous and House conceding to the foetus actually being a baby. It all just feels very pro-life. Hell, even House's few relevant contributions is by objectifying the foetus as an adult; treating it like they would any human being. All in all, very heavy handed writing techniques.

And the Cameron/Chase subplot gets more cheesy, with the pregnant mother's photographic skills "capturing" the essence of both their inner beauty for the other to see and fall in love with. A cliché best left for the more run-of-the-mill soap.

I recommend all but hardcore pro-lifers to avoid this chapter of the fantastic House M.D like the plague.

First, the good news: The threads of the ongoing plot lines remain somewhat intact throughout this episode of House. If you ignore the case being handled, and pay attention only to the peripheral events, the show maintains its mid-season stride.

Now, the bad news: The writer secretly substituted his own characters for House, Cuddy, Wilson, Cameron, Chase, and Foreman. The actors were still the same. The basic behavioral tendencies were still (sort of) there. It's just that they all acted completely wrong when it came to the case at hand, and it appears it was only that way to wedge in the heavy-handed pro-life message of the writer. This was not subtle in any way. This was the kind of disaster that happens when a writer makes a story *too* personal and preachy.

First, there's Cuddy. This wasn't the Cuddy who defers to House in the end because he's ALWAYS RIGHT. This was the Cuddy who, by the sole virtue of being a woman (and therefore having "deeper feelings" about motherhood), was able to do House's job better than House, turning her into a pro-life advocate when it was established early in the series that Dr. Cuddy is every bit the science-minded, logical, doctor she needs to be. This is a character who was willing to let Foreman die rather than risk more lives.

Next, there's House, who would normally just DO THE PROCEDURE despite being told not to. In this episode, he shrinks into the background and lets Cuddy go wild. He backs off when she tells him to. He doesn't FIGHT for his patient's life like he does in every other episode of the show. House was taking a vacation in this episode, and that seemed to be the case even when when he was physically present.

What's worse is that the same House who doesn't give a damn about people is suddenly and irrationally caught up in an emotional moment when the fetus grasps his finger. Here we see House reduced to near-tears as he does something he would simply NEVER do. This is a doctor who has been practicing for a few decades, and who we know has been present for hundreds of births, abortions, premature cesareans, and the deaths of fetuses and mothers. He's seen babies in wombs and held newborns before. He has very likely delivered babies in his long career, and he has made it clear that he considers an unborn fetus to be a parasite. But having one grasp his finger makes him change his mind? It asks us to forget everything we know about House so that the writer can have this "tender" (forced) moment. House is made out to be the generic big, mean pro-abortion person, and it's clear the writer is saying "If only you saw the baby, you'd change your mind like him"

Well, House WOULDN'T. He hasn't in the past, and he wouldn't let a sappy moment affect him; he's not wired that way.

Cameron, Chase and Foreman are out of character when it comes to the case, but stick to their story arc faithfully. There's none of that Cameron self-righteousness, or Chase opportunism. They all fade into the background. They don't go running to House. They don't block the door and lecture Cuddy. They don't chase after Cuddy. They just let her go on her crusade to risk a patient's life.

Finally, Wilson is particularly weak here. Normally, he'd be the voice of reason. This is the guy who stands up to HOUSE with varying degrees of success. If he can reason with, outwit, and stand up to House, then he should certainly be able to handle Cuddy, who regularly gets outwitted, reasoned with, and stood up to by House. The balance of power is all wrong here. Wilson is castrated as much as House is, and all to make the writer's point.

In the end, this disaster closes with a weak qualifier. Cuddy had a 0.1% chance of success, and got lucky, and we're supposed to accept this because of the not-so-veiled reference the writer is making to the idea that God took care of everything. How droll. How completely NOT "House M.D.".

We're vindicated only slightly in the end. House returns to being himself; Spitefully refuses to accept Cuddy's gift, takes the phone off the hook, pops a vicodin and ignores the world for a week.

House is best when he's cynical and analytical. He doesn't believe in God, and he doesn't believe in risking an adult patient's life in an attempt to rescue a fetus. This is established lore, and the writer of this episode deserves a kick in the crotch for ignoring all that just to slap us all alongside the head with an anti-abortion message so heavy-handed, so forced, so blatantly preachy and falsely sentimental, that all we can do is shake our heads and hope never to see this sort of thing happen again on House M.D.

We who like House as a representative of a rational world view might find this episode a trite and transparent push for prolife values. The story arc with the fetus/baby stuff is case in point. That house finds emotional connection with the fetus and because of this calls it a baby directly mirrors an argument for the pro-life position. The rational is that people who are pro-choice just need to see a fetus to stop being pro choice. Its why pro-lifers bring full color photos and even actual fetuses in jars to show women who are going to get abortions. It is not meant to actually change house but to influence the audiences opinions. This, because it is such an iconic show, is despicable at worst and childish at best.