I got the email, but I'm not going to make it to the end of the episode (I'm taping of course) so I'll post this quick.

I liked the part where Cameron, Chase, and Foreman were admiring House's pic.

And wow. Cuddy has taken center stage and is doing well so far.

Goodnight!

loved this episode!

It was great to see Cuddy take charge of this case, albeit she wasn't very objective but she did the right thing and saved both baby and son. WTG Cuddy!!

I liked that Cuddy got a feel for what House goes through in his cases and how he helped her out.

I liked Emma's pictures of each of the Ducklings and of House and Cuddy.

I do wish that Wilson had some more lines, although it was good to see him too.

I liked that even though the Ducklings, Wilson and House all thought that the baby should die, Cuddy went with her instincts.

I liked how Cuddy gave House the plan ticket to Canada and the chat the ensued between them. I do wonder though why did House rip up the ticket??

Fantastic episode!! Very emotionally powerful!!

Next week looks great! Very suspenseful!! :)

God and peace
Vanessa :)

I really liked the picture examining as well - and the way that it carried through the whole ep. It is really interesting what a camera can capture, and I guess that would carry through to the baby monitor too.

It always makes me nervous when Cuddy takes over like that. She did pretty awesome though, although I was wondering for a while if either paitent was going to pull through. I think it's interesting that she valued Emma's and the baby's lives more than House's at that actual point in time. Tha hand moment was amazing, but is something like that really possible? I'd be more impressed if it was and not just a CGI impossible hand grip.

Vacation? I knew that couldn't be true. Although it is a little sad that he's sitting on the couch watching Travel Channel even with the ticket. :( Although maybe he attempts to make that vacation next week!

I appreciate the fact that Wilson is Cuddy's Cuddy. Why does he always seem to be the reasonable/rockish type of the bunch?

All in all - a pretty nifty ep! Thank heavens we're actually on a regular schedule for a while now!

Okay, I'm on the crappy dialup at home, and I know it's rude to invite people and then not show up so here I am but I don't know how long I can tolerate this connection so I'll hang as long as I can.

Wheee welcome to run-on sentence hell! :lol:

Goodnight cakemixo! glad you stopped by. We'll just have to keep at it until we build our 3am tolerance back up! I don't remember if you were here for those days (You might have just caught the tail end of them!)

Housefan43ver-- I agree with so much you've said. I too loved the ducklings scrutinization of House's picture. I like Cuddy finally taking center stage. Although I don't think she was going with her instincts, she was just going with her emotions, wanting there to be something wrong that they could fix so the woman could live and keep her baby.

And I really think that was House's biggest problem with what she was doing. If she would have had sound medical reasoning (like she always asks of him) I think he'd have been on board with her sooner.

So, was this a little payback on House's part? Not that I think he'd let a patient die to rub some other point in someone's face but I think he's still carrying a little grudge from "Meaning".

So what did you all think of the little hand grasping House's finger? What do you think he was thinking? Did it change his mind about a few things?

I'm going to leave it here and give you all some things to write about.

Okay, well thank you to the folks that have showed up. I know the west coasters are probably still watching and will be in a little later. I'm getting dropped every other post (may have something to do woth the severe weather rolling in?!)so I'm gonna call it night and check back in in the morning.

I guess well have to slowly build to those all-nighters again! ;) :lol:

Thank again guys!

Alright, so my opinion on the episode: I don't know but I practically quoted the whole episode to my friend online as it aired. And we both agreed that Chase has a sexy neck and was wearing a sweater vest (her observation) then I pointed out what everyone else was wearing.

House does stick to his ideas about abortion that he had in "Meaning"

Like everyone else I loved the picture of House and the Duckling's observing it.

Where was Wilson? Although I should have picked up that when Foreman said "Well someone needs to be Cuddy's, Cuddy" that it was going to be Wilson, but e? I'm distracted these days. I hope we get more Wilson next episode though.

The POTW-Emma (I remember her name yay!) Emma, the actress who plays her looks so familar like some singer my mom likes from the 70s. I'll look that up in a second.

When House mentioned that Emma was Cuddy, I was beginning to understand a little better the minor flirting in the beginnning that House did. I really liked Emma, as a person I mean. I don't like many people, as a person, I like them sometimes because they give me stuff, or challenge me in my thoughts or are actually genuinely nice people, but most people just annoy me.

Hmmm I'm going back to lurking until later and when more of my thoughts on the episode have congealed.

I can see how Cuddy could be running on motherly instinct but I think it's possible too she was doing all she could for Emma and her baby. I don't think Cuddy would give up and let Emma and her baby die. JMHO.

God and peace
Vanessa :)

Oh man. House. Picture. Black-and-white. Pretty pretty eyes. I want it for my avatar, but I'm sure five hundred other people have gotten there already.

I thought Picture Lady was a little creepy at first, but she grew on me. Plus, pretty pictures. I agree, elfkey, it was neat how the picture theme extended even to the ultrasound and stuff. I almost wish they'd gone farther with the symbolism there.

Chase...oh, Chase. You're the Duckling of the Week just because you interest me. I couldn't see well enough to be sure--was the picture of him Cameron had at the end the one Picture Lady took of him looking at Cameron's picture, or was it another one she took when he gave her the good news?

I think I'm going against everyone else here, but the Cuddy subplot didn't do as much for me as I wanted it to. I felt like it was forced or out-of-place somehow, and it shouldn't have been because it was a very legitimate direction for the writers to go. I don't know. I liked the idea, and I'm glad the writers are thinking that way, but it seemed to me like someone was trying too hard this time--I don't know whether I think it was the actress or the writers.

I haven't started really caring about the Cameron/Chase thing yet, but the scene at the end was actually pretty sweet. :) Yeah, sex on the job is probably not the best idea, but I'm still surprised House tattled to Cuddy. That seems like something Cameron or Wilson would do. Cuddy's Talk with Cameron was a little like Wilson's Talk with her before her date with House. Only this time Cuddy's worried that Cameron will be the one hurt...I don't know about that. <_< And considering the way she's been acting, I'm not going to have much sympathy for her if she ends up getting her heart broken.

So was House actually thinking about going on vacation? Maybe he's taking Wilson's advice from Half-Wit and trying to be happy in normal ways? But I don't want House to be happy. Especially not in normal ways. <_< I'm glad someone's rich enough to tear up a first-class plane ticket. I can barely scrape together enough for coach.

Next week looks like all kinds of fun. House in a Hawaiian shirt? I can't wait. B) B)

Welcome back everybody! As is abundantly evident, I am overly fond of the sound of my own voice-- even when I'm not literally speaking-- but I was getting lonesome. :D

So, I just finished watching the ep., went into the bathroom to examine what feels like a zit on my forehead--TMI, no zit BTW--, got myself a drink and surfed on in. Now trying to compose my thoughts.

While I'm doing that I can answer the question on whether the "touched by a fetus" moment was possible or not--not that I'm that smart or knowledgeable but I was curious, and had read spoilers that discussed it. The answer is yes and no. It is possible to do surgery, at least of some kinds, on a fetus, and its hand could definitely come into contact with a doctors, but it would not actually be able to grip that finger. From what I understand, they are definitely moving around at that age--and a lot sooner, but you can't really feel it as the mom or from the outside until things begin to get crowded inside-- but since the mother was under general anesthesia the fetus would be too. Basically, mothers and fetuses share a circulatory system via the placenta; anything introduced into the mother's body will eventually reach the fetus in some way, which is why pregnant women shouldn't do drugs or smoke and have to be careful about what medications they take.

Apparently the situation is moderately taken from real life though. There was a photo circulating a while ago of a doctor during fetal surgery and the fetus's hand appears to be gripping the doctor's finger. The picture was taken by a photographer who was observing the surgery and saw the shot of a lifetime. The photographer got excited, took the picture, and billed it as the fetus reaching out and grabbing the surgeon's finger. What happened according to the doctor was that as he was operating the fetus's hand poked out through the incision and the moment the pictures captures is him lifting it back inside. All this is covered on the urban legend site Snopes.com (fun site BTW). I don't have an exact link to the article discussing this, but I don't believe it should be too difficult to find.

To me it's equally touching even though it wasn't a voluntary action on the part of the fetus just because how amazing is it to touch someone hwo hasn't even been born yet (in this case couldn't have lived it he had been born)? And it's a reminder of how much they are reallly people, often quite a bit sooner than some of are comfortable thinking about. As I don't really want to start a debate on abortion, the beginning of life, and all that good stuff--this is neither the place and somehow those discussions never turn out well-- I won't go anymore indepth on that front.

Knowing what I knew about the plausibility of that scene, I was sort of hoping they wouldn't show actual grasping so it could be interpreted as the fetus's hand just touching House's. As I said, that's equally poignant.

Odd note here, I'm having a hard time choosing one word to refer to the fetus/baby/potential person here. On one hand it sounds more scientific to refer to it as a fetus, on the other, I'm pretty much not a believer in abortion--as I've discussed before there are very few, if any, circumstances under which I would have one-- so were I to get pregnant, it would be a baby to me even when it was clearly in the parasitic/a couple cells clumped together stage. And in this case we see that it clearly goes on to be an actual, apparently healthy, baby.

Okay, so what else. I liked that House addressed the "negative patient outcome" thing. As a "word person" that made me smile as do most ways that we try to cushion a harsh blow. I could really have a field day with that and our hang ups about putting certain things into words (consider that we don't die, as Gertrude Stein said, we just go away, or pass on, or we loose someone, or for that matter that cancer is "the 'C' word" in many cases, as if somehow mentioning its name will invoke its presence like some sort of primeval boogey man), but you'd all be sick of it long before I would. Anyway, as a potential medical writer, I've always found that term amusing in a sick way (the same way I laughed to the accompaniment of horrified looks when House said "Don't worry, I'll put it back when I'm finished").

House is both right and wrong. There are times when it's useful to cushion the blow--and interestingly passive voice comes in really handy there-- such as when a car part is dangerously defective and there's a recall. It's better to tell customers that a part is dangerous and needs to be replaced and skirt around what exactly might happen instead of coming out and saying until you get this part replaced you and yours are at serious risk of dying a sudden, painful, fiery death. Statements like that tend to cause panic for some reason ;) Similarly, when you're actually talking to the patient, especially if it's going to be an emotionally sensitive situation, I imagine it's better to put it terms of bad outcomes rather than flat out you're going to die or sorry, you'll be one leg short for the rest of your life, but in a private setting, come on, admit it, chances are the kid's toast (such a way with words that Catlady :P )

<sigh>Poor Wilson, now he's apparently the conscience for the whole hospital. Promotions are a good thing, but really . . .

My theory on House's vacation is that he wasn't really planning on going anywhere. The whole time he was just going to hole up in his apartment, take the phone off, and enjoy the solitude. I had that feeling even before we saw him rip up the tickets.

Now, what I'm dying to know is what was House reading? We see he's got several magazines open on his table, but are they regular magazines or medical journals or what? If they are medical journals what subject? Was he looking for alternate solutions for the POTW, or are they on pain relief, in keeping with House's apparently search for new therapies for his leg, were they just his load of required reading to stay on top of everything professionally, or are they pleasure reading (because you know House would probably read about strange diseases just for entertainment, or in order to mock his colleagues, if only in his own mind though I wouldn't put it past him to send an anonymous marked up copy back to the writer--then again, I've just spent time on Wikipedia reading about Dr. William Halstead, the first chief of surgery at House's one-time alma mater, Johns Hopkins, for my own edification and reguarly look up strange diseases myself just because).

This episode also confirms my hypothesis that House does like kids, at least, and perhaps especially, before they get teeth. It still doesn't entirely answer my questions about his position on abortion. This was another case where it's easy to argue justification. Chances are mother and baby both die without intervention, and theoretically the mother could have another baby--granted her argument about age is pretty valid although I my grandmother had a baby in her forties back in the late forties, (and incidentally had a horrible time convincing her doctor to test her for pregnancy despite arguing I've felt like this twice before and have two kids, do the math), or she could always adopt, but that's a whole other argument and I can't say I don't understand the desire to have the experience of having one child at least that is biologically yours.

I'm thirding or fourthing, or whatever-we're-up-to-nowing the appreciation for the great picture of House and the ducklings intensely studying it.

Also, looks like they've been listening to the medical sticklers on the shockable vs. non-shockable heart rhythm question. Basically, it your heart is still in motion but not in a way that effectively pumps blood shocking has the possibility of resetting it to beat in a normal way, if it's completely stopped, shocking does nothing. Ah, the things I've learned from TV, and from going to discussion boards of TV shows.

At first I hated the fetus-touches-House's-finger scene. Can we say SAPPY? House got that "meaningful moment" look in his eyes, and the scene went on way too long. Ugh.

And then not five minutes later, House tried to kill it. Beautiful! Uh, I don't mean that the prospect of killing babies is beautiful, but the philosophical consistency is. House has long maintained that whether the fetus is a "person" is irrelevant (eg., in "One Day, One Room) to the abortion issue. So, now that he sees it as a person, that may affect his attitude toward it and the language he uses to describe it, but it does not affect his conclusion about what he should do.

Maternal!Cuddy is a force to be reckoned with. And poor Wilson -- Cuddy heeds his advice about as well as House does!

So, at the end House rips up the tickets. But in the scenes for next week [spoiler] he's on a plane with Cuddy. Something professional? Or did Cuddy decide he needed to be dragged along on a vacation if he won't go himself? [/spoiler]

Just a very quick question aboout next tuesday's promo

[spoiler]

how is it that House has suddenly turned into Jessica Fletcher?

[/spoiler]

[Spoiler]








IRT the scenes on the plane, my understanding is that they're on their way back from a medical conference.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler]

somehow I don't think spoiler tags work on this site

[/spoiler]

Yeah, prplchknz, I think you are right :P Did they work in the past, or am I remembering a different site?

Are scenes for next week considered spoilers? I always thought of them as kind of borderline. They are broadcast with the show itself, so its not like they are secret information or anything. But some people might intentionally refrain from watching them, so as to arrive at the new episodes completely fresh.

So, given that we don't have spoiler tags to work with, what do you guys think about mentioning scenes for upcoming episodes here? OK? Not OK?

Pretty much everything's been said (I'm late to the party, as usual, I was on the road for a total of 8 hours yesterday so I could have a job interview that lasted less than an hour, woo hoo), but I do think I know why House tore up the plane ticket: I think he just doesn't believe he could enjoy a vacation. He can't walk very far without being in pain, I don't think he really cares about fishing, or thinks that his leg would hurt and he couldn't enjoy it. He might also be worried about getting his supply of vicodin, he clearly uses more than he's supposed to and might run out or have them confiscated at the airport if he took too many of them with him.

The fact that he was sulking on the couch in front of the Travel Channel makes it fairly obvious to me that he wishes he could travel but feels unable. I could be wrong of course.

I have to disagree, because you can edit scenes of shows to make it look different then how it's going to be.

Shining trailer redone as a romantic comedy

I don't care either way, I'll probably forget about them in five minutes. Although others may have issues with them.

Hehe, nice link.

Lovely photo of Hugh toward the beginning of this ep. Maybe I need to start carrying around a camera at all times in case I run into him :D

Am distraught (well, disturbed, anyway) at the idea of Chase being in love with Cameron.

Me: "You know she's using you to get back at House, and you 'glow' when you look at her? Moron! Especially when I am sitting perfectly single and available . . ." Of course, the whole fictional-character issue would be insurmountable in the end, but still, if Cameron gets to fool around with him, why not the rest of us gals? ;)

Anyway, don't agree with Cuddy's assessment that Cameron would be hurt from a failed relationship - it'd be Chase.

So what is up with the previews for next week? Gah, don't show me that kind of thing when I've got to get on a plane in a month . . . .

I think discussing the preview for next week is fine but maybe take it down to the Spoilers section just in case.

As far as I know the spoiler tags never worked here but then I don't play in the spoilers all that much and so wouldn't really know for sure.

As far as House tearing up the ticket and going on vacation, I think I'm going to have to watch it again with that in mind. My first guess though would be that he just wanted time off/time away from the hospital but if they all knew he wasn't going anywhere they'd bother him. I don't think he every really planned on going anywhere.

I also lean towards Sam's assesment that he's not really a traveling kind of guy anymore. I think he wants to, and he misses that, like he misses so many other things he can no longer do. But this also seems to point out the level at which House views his disability. To a degree, it still seems like he wants to be miserable. That he doesn't even want to try to crawl out of that hole he's in.

And I know positive thinking doesn't make the pain go away but it seems like he's shot the vacation idea down before giving it a try or finding ways to compensate.

The only other thing I can think is that he was a pretty active guy before hand and his vacations would have been pretty active and intense (rock climbing, mountain biking, maybe back country hiking, etc,)and since he can no longer do those things, vacation just doesn't hold the appeal it once did. And in fact just makes him miss those things all the more keenly. But, he still needs or wants time away from work.

The whole watching the travel channel suggests to me that his mind really wants to get back out there and see and feel and experience the world but his body isn't able to do it like he once did. Again, that all or nothing mentality House seems to have.

Another thought is that he did plan on going on vacation but got distracted with the case and after the fetal surgery he is now distracted with that touch. He was obviously thinking about it as he sat on the couch. Could be he just felt he had too much on his mind now to enjoy a vacation or that he wanted to think about that and resolve it before he got too distracted on vacation.

Enough circular babbling, time for a rewatch.

It's too bad he won't go after the 600lb catfish; that would have made an interesting ep :D

What I find interesting is that his choices of vacation spots gradually circled closer to home.

This is late, but I finally got to watch it, and this episode did not let me down! I absolutely loved the pictures of Chase and House, and the scene when Cameron said Chase was glowing was cute. I love House/Cuddy; they're perfect for each other, and it was confirmed in this episode. And, of course, the patient and diagnosis was brilliant as usual.

Wonderful episode!