"Ugly (House, M. D.)", 11-13-2007

In this week's episode of "House M. D.", we are introduced to a young man who looks a bit like the Elephant Man, at least from the neck up -- he has a massive lump over his left eye and a deformed nose. The young man and his father are their way to Princeton-Gitmo to have cosmetic surgery to have the mass removed. A further complication is that the operation is being paid for by a documentary film crew, who will follow the progress of the young man -- and the doctors in diagnosing his condition.

However, this being the world of "House, M. D." a complication arises -- the young man has a heart attack on the operating table. Whatever has caused this young man's heart trouble must be diagnosed, or surgery will be an unsafe option. Both the young man and his father want the surgery done, which leaves House and his diagnostic team to have to decipher the problem.

House's group of candidates still remain and they are joined by Dr. Samira Terzi, the doctor House met at the CIA in the episode before, "Whatever it Takes". However, Dr. Terzi might be intelligent, but she doesn't possess the sheer amount of brilliance it takes to be a member of House's team -- that is made clear from the beginning. House quickly comes to rue his decision, and Wilson suggests that House might have been more impressed by her cup size than her intelligence. However, Terzi has left her career at the CIA and picked up to move to Princeton. So what is House to do?

A further complication arises when Dr. Taub, one of the candidates, is convinced that the young man is suffering from liver disease and not rheumatoid arthritis (as House believes). Taub has the trust of the family, and with the cameras rolling, Taub makes a bold power-play move. Determined not to be made a fool of by House in the documentary, Taub undercuts House -- he goes to the father and tells him that House's diagnosis is wrong and that he can get House thrown off the case.

Taub attempts to have House fired. House attempts to have Taub fired. Both firings are reversed, and the two will have to work together.

(* * *)

The Taub subplot is probably the most interesting part of "Ugly". Most of the time, House is never matched against someone who might be his equal, if not in intelligence than in confidence. Taub is a very confident man and doesn't seem to have much fear of going behind House's back. This battle of semi-equals was very interesting to watch, and I really wondered how House was going to get out of it and what House was going to do.

Of course, House's solution was to try to figure out why Dr. Taub left his successful plastic surgery practice and use the information to embarrass Taub. House finds out -- perhaps too easily -- but supposedly, "House cares about results" according to Foreman, so Taub surprisingly remains int the running to be in House's team.

However, this was a flawed episode. "Ugly" is the first episode written by Sean Whitesell, and indeed "Ugly" it was.

We get to see House's sexism on full display during this episode. House's comments towards Cuddy are particularly belittling -- will there ever be a day when Cuddy isn't wearing a low-cut blouse or a tight skirt and when House won't comment on her tits or her ass or her nipples? It seems that some ludicrous remark is the first thing out of House's mouth every time he sees Cuddy.

Undoubtedly, the premise is that House is an "anti-hero" -- he says these things to Cuddy to get a rise out of her, and Cuddy patiently ignores them. However, this "women are sort of inferior to men" meme is repeated many times. Dr. Terzi's intelligence level somehow plummets, and the only thing House and Wilson can talk about is whether or not her blouse is see-through. Cameron, who we would think would be well disabused of House as a romantic partner, turns into a stuttering schoolgirl from anime, letting it slip that she "loves" House. (If she's right, then House's behavior is justified; if she's wrong, then Cameron has no sense.)

Furthermore, Wilson comments on the mysterious candidate Number 13, a candidate so in the mold of Cameron that I often have trouble telling the actresses apart when they're on screen. (Remember: Cameron is now sort of blonde; Number 13 is firmly brunette.) Number 13 remains silent for most of the episode, leading once again to speculation that House has kept her on the committee because she is cute. (Dr. Volakis, the "cutthroat bitch" is clearly not for play.) She suddenly pulls the correct diagnosis out of her fundament at the end of the episode -- however, it doesn't redeem any of the suspicions about why Number 13 is on the team, and House's rampant sexism in this episode is little diminished.

Here's a question: what's the difference between making sexist comments and actually being a sexist? The premise is that House will say just about anything to get a rise out of people, but really -- what's the difference in the effect it has on the individual? We never get an "I was just kidding" from House, not even as a lame excuse.

Racism is seen to be a more serious crime than sexism in America, and House treads his comments with both Dr. Foreman and Dr. Cole very carefully. (It was religion that Cole thought over the line, earning House a punch.) But House's implication that Cuddy is a fine piece of ass is clearly meant to evoke chuckles. I wonder what the reaction would have been if he thought Foreman belonged back in the cotton patch.

There are two kinds of cutting comments one can make about someone. One set of comments are about what a person does -- House seems to limit his crude comments about Wilson to his touchy-feely approach to cancer and his bad luck with women. (Then again, Wilson is a white male who is handsome and rich, so what else can he make fun of?) The other set of nasty remarks one can make about a person regard the things that a person can't change -- about race, sex, religion. Those of the kind of remarks that take you out of the realm of being the next Dorothy Parker and put in you in a group with David Duke and all the other Klansmen.

Once again: what's the difference between making a racist comment to get a rise out of someone and making one because you're actually a racist? (Maybe you should ask Michael Richards about that one.)

I don't think House was any uglier in this episode that he's been in past episodes. Yet this continual theme of putting down Cuddy for her attractiveness has probably worn on my nerves. It's a good thing that House is a crippled genius, because if he weren't the second, he'd be out of Princeton-Gitmo in two seconds -- and if he weren't the first, someone might take his remarks in the wrong spirit and make him so.