Tonight's Episode

[nightdog_barks]

First things first.

SO MUCH LOVE FOR MISTER FRIENDLY-MOOSE, OH YES INDEED.

But y'know, wouldn't Cuddy have noticed Wilson's Volvo parked out front of her house? I mean, really?

Otherwise ... I liked it. The babysitting was silly but very enjoyable, and the patient's story was fairly interesting. Fake baby was fake in a few camera shots, though, and how did they know it was melanoma just from one look at the liver biopsy?

Taub's side plot was ... a little scary. It's an interesting method of character development, but I really liked him better when he was a nebbishy little guy.

Hm, that didn't really come out right.

Anyway, no more tonight because we're trying to make dinner.



Also, support your local communities! The Dreamwidth post for this episode is here.

Comments

[pwcorgigirl]

RSL's experience being a dad was showing. He was so funny with Mr. Moose and the talking hand.

Is it some kind of bizarre coincidence that Jennifer and Joel Grey both guest-starred on this show and both their characters were killed by a lung problem?

[nightdog_barks]

And his daughter is just about the same age as the fictional Rachel!

I'd forgotten about Joel Grey! That is odd.

[pwcorgigirl]

His little girl is nearly two now, isn't she? The little girls who play Rachel are clearly a good bit older than two.

[deelaundry]

RSL's daughter is 19 months, and Rachel is supposedly two and a half (despite having been born 20 months ago).

"Tickle Monster" was my favorite :D In a meme that went around ages ago, an LJ-friend of mine said one of her fanon tidbits for Wilson is that he doesn't quite know what to do with kids who aren't sick, never having spent much time with them, but he'd like to one day.

[nightdog_barks]

I think that is lovely fanon.

Wilson did mention in one episode that a patient's grandchildren painted his tie, so maybe part of his not quite knowing how to deal with well children is to over-indulge them.

[blackmare]

I adored Wilson's awkwardness with Rachel, and I also kind of had that thought, that he didn't really know how to deal with kids who aren't his patients.

[nightdog_barks]

His very awkward "Hello!" had me just about falling off the couch laughing, and his entire interaction with Rachel was so endearing. He seemed to be most comfortable when he was doing the ultrasound on her. And he was right all along! Hee.

I'm wondering, though, if his brother-who's-not-Danny has kids, or if he does and Wilson doesn't interact very much with them either.

[nightdog_barks]

Yes, you're right. *g*

I keep forgetting how old Rachel is supposed to be.

[blackmare]

It was a fun episode, yes, and I never even thought about the Volvo. Heh.

Watching Lie to Me now and I need to make some soup or something. I came back to the Kitty Condo because I knew nobody'd be home yet and I could have the TV all to myself for House.

[nightdog_barks]

Yep, I'm going to have to disappear for a bit because of dinner.

The Volvo was a big oops, I thought.

[taiga13]

I got home too late from work to watch the Newfoundland feed, I'll have to watch it later like everyone else in the west. I really like Taub so now I'm nervous to hear he's becoming scary.

[blackmare]

I didn't think he was becoming scary at all, just rather neurotic, which, to be fair? He works for House.

[pwcorgigirl]

It's more like he over-thought something to the point of failure, instead of being personally scary. House has a firm foothold in Taub's head. Well, in Foreman's head too. Only Chase seems to be able to tell him to take a flying leap without fear of consequences.

[namaste]

And Chase's only advice to the others on how to handle House's mind games is an aggravating shrug. Hee.

[blackmare]

Nobody takes Chase's advice anyway, so I understand why he doesn't bother offering it.

[blackmare]

I think Chase just doesn't feel he has as much to lose.

[nightdog_barks]

Yes, what Mare and Corgigirl said. I'm sorry, I was hurrying to help make dinner. :-)

Taub wasn't scary scary, but he was definitely overthinking how to approach something, and it turned around on him and bit him.

[taiga13]

I just finished watching it and yes, I see what you mean. House really does a number on his fellows' minds. I can picture whatshername thinking "I don't want to be like that". Maybe this is the start of a character arc for Taub, like Chase had in S3.
Like you, I was baffled by the melanoma diagnosis.

[nightdog_barks]

Like you, I was baffled by the melanoma diagnosis.

Dr. Scott has just posted his review over at Polite Dissent, and he has this to say about the melanoma diagnosis:

The team gets a sample from the liver, but looking at the nearly black color of the sample tells them that it’s no infection, but a melanoma (a very nasty cancer).

So ... there? It still wasn't very clear to me, but whatever. *g*

[topaz_eyes]

Melanoma is one of the few maternal cancers that can cross the placenta and settle in the fetus. There's not much else that would produce such a dark-colored sample. Metastatic melanomas can produce a lot of melanin. I used to culture melanoma cells back in grad school. When it was time to split them (every 3 days) the culture fluid was dark brown.

Plus, the liver is the first logical place for melanoma cells to settle in cases of melanoma-in-utero. The umbilical vein travels straight to the fetal liver. (They should have scanned the baby for further mets, though.)

I was impressed by the theoretical basis of the case this week. (Even though in real life the baby would likely die within 3 months, and/or eventually require chemo--which isn't that effective for late-stage melanoma anyway--down the road. OTOH that justifies the heroic measures.)

[nightdog_barks]

Ah, thanks for the clarification! On the show it seemed very much a handus-wavius moment -- OH, LOOK, THE SAMPLE'S DARK, IT'S MELANOMA, and I was all BUT HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY KNOW FOR SURE? Magic!

MEDICINE, HOW DOES IT FRICKIN' WORK?

*g*

[spicyride]

I was glad Dr. Chang gave Taub that smack down. He deserved it, sheesh.
My favorite part was when they were sneaking Rachel in and Cuddy came out of her office, I think Wilson said: "Medusa at 6 o'clock". RSL delivered that so perfectly I started laughing again.
Patient didn't really do anything for me. I thought she was going to die a very dramatic death and then her daughter would raise the baby, so I was half right.

That was fun. I enjoyed it (again). I think we have two weeks off now? Boo.

[nightdog_barks]

I liked Dr. Chang. She seemed smart and capable, and it was a wry twist that she didn't care for kids.

Thank you for clarifying the Medusa line -- I couldn't quite catch it. *g*

The patient didn't do a whole lot for me either. It's nice that it was Jennifer Grey, but the whole thing felt pretty meh to me.

[spicyride]

Honestly, I don't think she sold it very well.

[blackmare]

Yeah, she seemed emotionally kind of tepid, considering what she was going through. Not at first, but as the case progressed.

[spicyride]

I guess that's what the daughter's complaint regarding her mother was, so maybe that's what she was trying to portray? Whatever her choices were to act that way didn't work for me. I was kind of waiting for some moment from her and it never happened. The older daughter wasn't that great either. Maybe I'm just used to HL and RSL ;).
Overall, minor complaint for what was an entertaining episode for me.

[nightdog_barks]

Yes, this. I kept waiting for some larger moment from her but it never came. Maybe she was just ... underwritten? I don't know.