Ugly (House)
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| House episode | |
| "Ugly" | |
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| Episode no. | HOU-407 |
|---|---|
| Airdate | November 13, 2007 |
| Writer(s) | Sean Whitesell |
| Director(s) | David Straiton |
| Guest star(s) | Khleo Thomas |
| All House episodes | |
"Ugly" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of House and the seventy-seventh episode overall. It aired on November 13, 2007.
[edit] Plot
A documentary film crew is chronicling a teenager (Khleo Thomas) with a major facial deformity who opts to undergo a dramatic reconstructive procedure. When the patient suffers a heart attack just prior to the surgery, House and the team are called in to determine the cause, since the surgery cannot proceed until the patient's cardiac condition is diagnosed.
As the film crew continues to document the patient, House becomes increasingly annoyed and tries to avoid them by briefing his team by the MRI machine and in surgery. However, ultimately he cannot escape the cameras and the candidates find themselves acting self consciously in front of the lens. Meanwhile, House begins to regret recruiting former CIA doctor Samira Terzi when she fails to demonstrate the intelligence he witnessed at Langley. Wilson, who believes that House is being distracted by Terzi's looks, offers up the solution to quickly fire her and then ask her out on a date. He also notes House's propensity to hire attractive women, which led him to this situation. House argues that he's "not that guy". During the episode the film crew also interviews Wilson and Cameron, asking why she resigned and making it look like she had a romantic attraction for House.
Dr. Taub, inspired by his experience as a plastic surgeon, gains the patient's and his father's trust and frequently clashes with House on the diagnosis. House believes that the patient is suffering juvenile rheumatoid arthritis while Taub believes it is merely the side effects of increased intracranial pressure. By persuading the patient's father not to follow House's treatment and by attempting to kick him off the case, House fires Taub, only to have his decision reversed by Cuddy. Incensed by his actions, House begins to dig into Taub's life, and gets him to confess that he resigned his old position as a plastic surgeon because he was discovered having a secret affair with his nurse. He signed a non-compete agreement with his former partners in exchange for their keeping quiet about the affair, effectively blackballing him out of his area of expertise. Ultimately both House and Taub are proven wrong when Thirteen realizes that the patient is suffering Lyme disease, with the telltale rash hidden by his hair.
In the end Taub is not fired, but Dr. Terzi is let go and House's request for a date is turned down. Cuddy and House watch an early cut of the documentary, which has been edited to portray House as a compassionate, sympathetic doctor. House is aghast and leaves the room. The documentary continues, revealing that the surgery was successful. House misses the patient expressing his gratitude, disproving his claim that his patients never thank him.
[edit] Cultural references
- After the documentary shows House as a compassionate doctor, he claims he is disillusioned and can no longer trust Michael Moore movies. This is the second reference to the documentary filmmaker in three episodes, as in "Mirror Mirror" he said "Michael Moore was right" following the majority of clinic patients admitting they had no health insurance.
- House references Fave 5s, a service offered by T-Mobile in television commercials where you have unlimited calling to any five people from any network, with the quote, "Hey, hey, hey! You have an all-access pass to the case, not my Fave 5s!"
- House refers to the patient as "The Elephant Boy" by saying, "Nope, Elephant Boy just vomiting up blood again." This references the case of Joseph Merrick, born 1862 in Leicester, England, who suffered from severe neurofibromatosis and Proteus syndrome (although often mistaken for elephantiasis). He became a celebrity of sorts in England and a play was made of his life in 1979, which was subsequently made into a movie in 1980.
- The medical mystery of the patient having lyme disease but with the identifying rash hidden under his hair mirrors the seventh season premiere of Scrubs, which aired a few weeks prior to this episode. This is the second tick related disease in the show; the first being tick paralysis in Safe, the sixteenth episode of the second season. Both cases involved a hard to find bite.
- When House goes to see the plastic surgeon, the surgeon asks, "So, tell me what you don't like about yourself." This is a popular tagline often asked by Dr. Troy and Dr. MacNamara from the FX drama about plastic surgeons, Nip/Tuck.
- House makes a sarcastic reference to the 1998 movie Patch Adams as "the reason I became a doctor".
[edit] External links
- "Ugly" at the House M.D. Guide
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