I’ve been spending the last week or so watching House in my spare time (at the expense of watching movies). I’m already on episode 1×08, but have been so engrossed in actually watching the show that I haven’t been pausing to recap each one. At any rate, here’s what happened on “Maternity.”

A newborn baby at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (henceforth PPTH) suddenly becomes ill. She gets a high fever, spits up, and exhibits a combination of symptoms that no one can diagnose properly. Then, another baby becomes ill with similar symptoms, and House is on the case (without being asked). He immediately warns Cuddy that there’s an infection sweeping through the maternity ward, but she dismisses him. Two sick babies are tragic, she says, but not indicative of an infection.

Nevertheless, House assembles his team to try to get to the bottom of it. More babies fall ill, and Cuddy finally realizes that House was right. She shuts down the maternity ward and tries to isolate the source of the infection. Meanwhile, House and team have narrowed the possibilities down to two bacterial infections. Trouble is, there’s only one way to quickly determine which of the infections the babies have, and that involves giving two different babies two different treatments. The one that gets better will show the team how to treat the other babies. The other one will die.

Cuddy is against this course of action right from the start, but there’s really no other way. As House puts it, they can have one dead baby on their hands or they can have six. So House goes ahead with the plan, and it plays out as expected. One baby dies while the rest are saved.

My Reaction: I’m still not used to the way medicine and doctors are portrayed in House as opposed to all the other medical shows on TV. I never realized how much guesswork doctors actually indulge in, and it’s a bit scary to tell the truth.

That being said, I am getting a better feel for each of the characters’ personalities and I do think this show has a lot of potential. Of course I already know that House has been on for three seasons and has just been renewed for a fourth, so that should say something about the quality of the program right now. TV shows get canceled left and right these days, so anything that has been on the air for more than a few years must have something going for it.

Ok, off to watch more eps!