House pulls no punches

Last night's episode of House was brilliantly engaging, or were there two consecutive episodes? I'm not sure.

A pregnant woman, late third trimester, is admitted to the hospital when, as is the way of House, she starts having problems. Serious problems. By the end of the show with the wife in a coma, Dr. House speaks to the husband and tells him that he needs his ok to operate on the wife. In particular, Dr. House needs the husband to ok a C-section to remove the baby.

The problem: if they perform the C-section, the wife will die.

The real rub: if they don't perform the C-section, the wife will still die, and so will the baby.

The husband reluctantly gives his approval, the C-section goes ahead, the baby is removed and, as predicted, the wife dies during the procedure. The final scene has the husband standing over his wife's body with an MD behind him telling him that his son is going to be ok. The husband looks at the MD blankly and doesn't really respond, he then turns back to his wife and leans down to hug her.

I'm not sure if there were two consecutive episodes last night or not, but another dilemma faced by House & Co. last night involved a 12-year old girl who had collapsed during a high-dive competition for her school. Like the pregnant mother, the girl also had various, unexplained things going on. In one eerie scene the girl freaks out because blood is coming out of her eyes. It's not so much coming out of her eyes as leaking from around them. With the lights in the room dimmed, Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps' character) shines a flashlight over her eyes while reassuring the girl that the antibiotic they gave her can turn her tears red, so it's not blood.

In a tight, very close up shot of the girl's face (very dramatic and spooky with the dim lights) the girl slowly opens her mouth and we see her teeth are pink. Dr. Foreman shines the flashlight into her mouth which is all red, "but that," he says, "that is blood."

House & Co. are stumped, until Dr. House asks who has come to visit the girl. He's told only her family. None of the school friends have come by. No one from the diving team (except the Coach). Not even a boyfriend. Suddenly it all clicks in Dr. House's mind and in the next scene he's running an ultrasound wand over the 12-year old's abdomen. The monitor shows she is pregnant, very clearly pregnant. Note - In all of the ultrasounds Liz had, I don't remember any of the images on our monitor being anywhere near as clear as the image we saw on House.

The girl tells Dr. House not to tell her parents that she is pregnant. He tells her they have to find out somehow and in classic House style holds up his fist and says "Play you for it. Rock, Paper, Scissors". The girl shakes her head and tearfully tells Dr. House that they never have to find out. It's obvious (at least to me) what she means, and she asks Dr. House to promise not to tell her parents.

Dr. House leaves her room and meets her parents, and while he doesn't tell them what's going on, he kind of does too. He says their daughter will be ok, she just has TTP.

They ask what that is.

He says it's Thrombotic Thromboctopenic Purpura. (Yeah, I looked it up :P)

They ask what that is.

He says it means she has a growth in her abdomen that they're going to remove, but then she'll be fine and she'll be able to go home in a few days.

They ask him what kind of growth. Can he be more specific. (They don't give up, this is their daughter, after all.)

Respecting the girl's wishes Dr. House shakes his head and says he cannot be more specific.

The final scene has the girl recovering from her "operation" in her hospital room, and the mother entering. We look in from the outside over Dr. House's shoulder, and although we can't hear the words, we know what the tearful daughter is telling her mother. She does not reel back in shock. There is no judgmental look; no criticism. All we see is the unconditional love a mother has for her child.

Wow.