mandolin | House, MD: "Heavy"

So I lied about the commentary. What follows is not my usual rambling, but some more potentially coherent thoughts:

First off: What the hell are the writers doing with Chase? To be honest, I could understand if his behavior was limited to the sudden competitive behavior and his attempts to one-up Foreman and Cameron. He's really freaked about losing his job, and I think a lot of that has to do with his own insecurity over whether or not he really "earned" it to begin with. (And the angiogram screw-up from a while back, but still.) Let's face it, House has come out at least once and admitted that Chase got the job partly because of his father's influence. I say at least partly because I refuse to believe House would have hired him just because of his father. He doesn't tolerate incompetent people, and would have made damn sure that Chase was qualified. But Chase, still smarting from House's rage over the angiogram screw-up and then the seeming betrayal when he found the bottle of ipecac - and rightly realizing that House knew about the patient's psychological conditions - isn't focusing on that. He's decided that House thinks he's expendable, and is pretty much only making things worse for himself with the competitive attitude. I get that. And I get why he sought help from Vogler.

Having said that, the rest of the childish behavior was way over the top. The way he bitched about Jessica's weight was beyond an ordinary concern. It got to the point where even I figured that the weight couldn't explain it all, and that the weight may not have been her fault. When he tore into Foreman for trying to reassure Jessica about her weight to make her feel better since she was already scared, I started wondering when the Pod People had invaded. The competitiveness I could understand. The rat-bastard attitude he developed this time around did NOT gel with the character, and I could not explain it away.

I do wonder if he adopted the attitude per Vogler's instructions, since he was already Vogler's snitch. I say this only because after he met with Vogler and was told that he'd only be protected as long as Vogler needed him, some of his brain cells returned - then, and only then, did he consider her weight to be a symptom, not a cause. Now you'd think that Chase would be too smart for that, that he knows acting like an ass would make it easier for House to can him, but I think he only did it because he thought Vogler would cover his ass. When he realized he was expendable, he dropped the attitude - a little late, but he did.

Still, I think this shift in character is too abrupt and is being laid on way too thick. I can just see someone on the writing staff going, "Okay, Foreman's becoming a lot more sympathetic, so we need to have someone else on staff get on House's nerves." Bah.

Enough complaining about Chase. On to the rest of the episode.

On the lady with the 30-pound tumor: Okay, I find it hard to believe that a 30-pound tumor wouldn't cause any complications other than heartburn. Sure, it's benign, but come on - thirty pounds! I am by no means a medical expert, but the sheer size of that sucker would undoubtedly lead to a wealth of medical difficulties for that woman beyond heartburn. I was amused, however, by House's method of convincing her to get it removed. I do feel bad for her obviously devoted husband, but he has got to stop putting her on that pedestal. Geez.

Tall mother + tall father does not necessarily equal tall child. Anyone who paid attention in high school genetics would know that. Having said that, I could forgive the HUGE leap House made there to come to the conclusion of Cushing's because a) they were almost out of time and b) they DID manage to find the tumor that could be causing the whole mess. Hell of a leap, but since they found more evidence, I could deal with it.

However, the wrap-up? Sucked. I didn't get the impression that Jessica had been there more than a week when they saw her again, and to drop that much weight in a week - even weight caused by the tumor - just did not work for me. It also kind of bugs me that after the constant commentary about how Americans really don't watch their weight, they just seemingly waved the magical medical wand and poof! ...her weight problem was all fixed. Most of the commentary came from Chase's bitching, true, but the ending would have worked better if it hadn't been so rushed and if the weight loss was more realistic in that short amount of time. Or if they'd made it a lot clearer that Jessica had been exercising and eating right to begin with. At least they did manage to get her mother's comment in.

(Edit: Okay, someone on the

house_md community posted that her cousin had Cushing's and did undergo the same kind of rapid weight loss.)

Last but not least, the Vogler issue. Any respect I might have had for him is now gone. This has nothing to do with the money, nor is it conducive to running a business. I seriously think this man gets off on playing mind games with people. And pulling this shit while House and the Ducklings are trying to save a ten-year-old girl is even lower. He knew they were struggling to properly diagnose it, he had to, and pitting them against one another like that could have cost them her life. They only figured out what was wrong at the last possible second - not that this is new, but it was more of a long shot than usual.

Earlier, Vogler complained that they saved, on average, one patient a week, which means there's got to be a lull between cases. Which also means that he could have made his ultimatum during a lull, or at the very least laid off on the mind games until AFTER they'd properly diagnosed and treated the kid. I refuse to believe that Vogler wouldn't realize that pitting House's team against each other would make it a lot harder to get a damn thing done. He's a businessman. He knows these kind of political games are meant to splinter a team, to discourage proper cooperation and communication. And the fact that he shot down first House's (well, Cameron's) compromise and then dismissed it when House actually picked someone shows that he was not pressed for time. He's just playing power games, and was indirectly toying with Jessica's life in the process.

I know they won't do this, and realistically, I'll be disappointed if they do it - but part of me would like Vogler to wind up as the horribly suffering patient that House has to diagnose.

I am waiting for Cuddy to get fed up and shove him out a window, though. You can just tell Vogler's little games are driving her crazy too. From what I've heard, Chi McBride will not be around the for the rest of the season, so they're going to get rid of him somehow... but nah, that would be too easy.

Next week: "Fidelity" rerun. Boring! Can't they at least show reruns I missed? "Paternity" or "Damned if You Do" would be nice.