Wednesday, June 4, 2014

House M.D. Review: Season 1 Episode 2 "Paternity"



Episode By: Lawrence Kaplow

*Spoilers!*

Paternity (or The Case of the Lacrosse Kid with Bad Dreams)

Quote: “You know the problem? ‘Midnight’ is actually spelled with a G and an H. If we could just figure out what those letters stand for.” – House

Overall Thoughts/Observances:

            House, sitting in the clinic, eating a lollipop. Why, you may ask? To avoid, as he tells Wilson, five minutes of clinic duty. House is absolutely hilarious.

            The character development in this episode was pretty evenly spread out – something I enjoyed a lot. As I said in my last review, even though House is obviously our hero, it’s nice to have other characters you can root for… or hate.  Depending on the day. However, I think the character who got the most development (other than House) was Cameron.

            Yes, let’s talk about Cameron. She fakes House’s signature to get House to take the case. I don’t know whether I should admire her or be annoyed at her. Can I do both?

           I admire her because she was willing to stand against House. She obviously cared enough about this boy’s case that she was able to overcome the fear of retribution and just force House to look at the kid. Which did end up saving the patient’s life.

            But she also seems a little bit stuck-up and superior. That’s why House guessed that she was an only child. Because he feels she makes everything about herself. Of course, same could be said for House himself, but… I’ll have to see about Cameron. Fear I’m not going to like her very much sometimes.

            Speaking of Cameron, anyone else notice how much Chase was joking around with her? Hmm… well, if there’s a ship going to happen in the Team, I suppose that’s the one I’d be rooting for. Foreman’s nice, but… well, you can’t beat Chase. The hair. I mean, look at it. It’s magical. It’s like Loki’s, but blonde. Maybe he’s really Loki’s brother.

 (Do you see it? Or am I just insane? I mean, I am insane, but…)

            Sorry, sorry. Back to the point…

            I really liked the little side-competition we had going on in this episode. House gradually draws everyone into the beat that the father is not the father (I love it when episode titles are perfect) and, of course, he ends up taking all of their money. 600 bucks from Wilson. I’d be annoyed, too. But obviously the test of the mother and father’s DNA is what provides House with the answer to the case (that and the clinic case, which I’ll talk about later).


            True, doctors doing DNA tests without consent and betting on patient’s family relations isn’t really a professional thing to do. But c’mon.  As Chase said in the last episode, the Team likes to ignore the rules. I mean, House hired Foreman because he broke into someone’s house (haha, yes! Unintended pun! Oh, that’s bad, isn’t it? Ah…). And it is obvious ignoring restrictions is one of House’s hobbies. So there’s really no reason to assume that they wouldn’t go through with the bet. Plus, it’s a TV show. Like this can be expected to be realistic.

            This was a fun episode. The case was serious, but hey, kid turned out fine. And House got to be right again along the way. What’s there to complain about?


The Case and the Patient:

            While watching House, I always judge the patients and the families (if there are any) on how interesting they are. Maybe it’s a bad habit, but since the case is all about the patient in the first place, I like to try and give them some attention of their own.

            This patient had a nice opening sequence, with the lacrosse game. You know it’s going to be him that has the “unsolvable” illness (though House become infamous for misdirection later on), and after knowing the title is “Paternity” you take a keen interest in the father during the beginning.

            Also, the scenes where he’s having night terrors really are AWESOME. You’re 99% sure that House isn’t really cutting off a kid’s toe, but hey… he’s House ;)

            Innocent kid, savable condition, smart, and gets a nice connection with the team. I’m all for it!


The Clinic:

            Oh, the clinic. House’s source of utter boredom, our source of endless entertainment. I didn’t know you could fit so much sarcasm in so few lines.

            And I love the fact that the whole “baby with the cold” meeting ends up helping House solve the big case overall. I just LOVE IT when stuff like that happens. It just seems so… I dunno, so Sherlock. So neat and tidy and pretty and wrapped up in a bow.

            About that. Watching House guilt that mother about not having her child vaccinated was very, very satisfying. Yes, he’s being harsh. But even so, he’s being harsh while also insuring that the baby won’t contract any diseases that can be stopped with vaccinations. He has his own way of doing it but, really, he was just helping the kid out. While also beating the mother around for being stupid.

            Also, how House dealt with the suing con guy was brilliant too. No one’s going to get the upper hand for being a jerk on House. No one.
              
                                           
Last Words:

            When House goes and watches his lacrosse game at the end. Aww. House. You’re making me tear up here. You’re really just a big fluffy teddy bear, aren’t you?


            But that little scene at the end, where he’s holding his cane like the lacrosse stick. It does draw you in. As I was exiting the Netflix screen and bringing up episode 3, I wondered when we’d figure out more about House’s past. We had a little in the first episode, but that’s not enough for me. No, I want the whole history. I want to know what makes House, House.

            Of course, you can’t always get what you want.

Rating: 7.4/10 (Yes, I like being specific.)



            Thanks for reading! Hope you liked :)

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