Episode 1×11 of House was called Detox. I think this just aired as a rerun last Monday, which is a bit of a coincidence (I’m actually watching from the DVD box set). Anyway, here’s my recap and reaction:
Mysterious Symptoms of the Week: A college kid named Larry is brought into PPTB after a car accident. He shows signs of hemolytic anemia (unusual in a person his age), has had internal bleeding for weeks, is running a temperature, and coughing up blood. Later on, Larry develops a retinal clot (which results in temporary blindness), liver failure, hallucinations, and a nasty case of rectal bleeding.
Mistaken Diagnoses: Lupus, Hepatitis E, lymphoma, drug abuse, infection, and cancer.
Final Diagnosis: Naphthalene poisoning brought on by a termite infestation in the boy’s home.
Character development: A central storyline in this episode was seeing whether or not House could go one week without Vicodin. He manages it, but goes through absolute hell in the process. At the end of the week, he admits that he has a problem with pills, but declares that he won’t stop because they make his pain manageable and he can still function.
My Reaction: I was more interested in what was happening to House during this ep than what was causing all the patient’s problems. It’s about time the writers addressed his affinity for pill-popping. House’s withdrawal symptoms looked pretty intense! I have to say I was happy to see the writers opt to go the route they did as far as House not wanting to stop because it feels like any other option would have been highly out of character.
Overall, I’m still loving this show!!
I made a mental note to watch this episode when it reaired then I missed it. Every episode is basically the same story line, so I was looking forward to getting to know House better, blast.
“Every episode is basically the same story line…”
I actually like that part (from a recapping point of view). It makes my job a whole lot easier because I can use templates and just fill in the details!
And yes, it makes learning about the characters’ personal lives all the more interesting.
I even missed to watch that episode when it was re broadcasted. As you say every episode follows the same story line. Hence it’s easy to follow and identify characters even if i miss a few episodes.