So, is Foreman really going to leave? It’s probably as likely as House himself leaving, but you never know with Fox’s ‘House.’
Things kick off tonight, literally, as we open on a young woman duking it out in karate or something close to it, rather violently, since her sparring partner complains that she nearly took his head off. Her aggression gets the better of her, as she starts spitting up blood. Oh, good, a disgusting start to the episode.
In the hospital, House comes in all cheery about his coffee, but Cameron, Chase and Foreman are focusing on the kickboxing bleeder. House tries to do the greeting bit again, and is blocked off, as House’s colleagues wonder where the blood actually came from, since there’s no starting point. Cuddy waltzes in, asking for House and Foreman. She wants to make sure Foreman wants out because he could become a new House. Cuddy hands Foreman something to sign, he signs it, and it’s official. House tries to put some red tape up, but neither Cuddy nor Foreman are having it. House and Foreman go back over to Chase and Cameron, and before House can fuel false speculation, Foreman says he’s resigned, hence the title, I bet. Chase floats a possibility about the girl’s heart, and House sends them all off on different tasks to see if he’s right. So, will Foreman realize he’s staying halfway through or at the end?
While watching the girl do some exercise biking, Chase asks why Foreman’s quitting, but Foreman’s focused on Addie (our patient-of-the-week); he does admit he’s no fan of Chase. They bicker a bit, when Addie announces she’s finished her biking. Chase goes in and checks her heart, which seems clean. Chase does find it odd that she’s got goosebumps, despite not being cold or freaked out. Foreman doubts that it amounts to anything, Chase does, and House thinks there’s an infection, despite no evidence to prove him right. Still, he orders tests; Chase questions House about Foreman’s resignation (because he’s nosey as hell), and notes after House’s lie that both men are ashamed enough to lie about the real reason.
House walks into Wilson’s office and tells him about Foreman, and why he’s quitting. As they go on, House notes that, for no good reason, Wilson’s yawning, but this is obviously just him not wanting to talk about Foreman. After they bicker a bit, House goes back to his colleagues, as they all argue about Addie’s symptoms and that they don’t really add up to anything. As Addie begins to show signs of not being able to breathe, House argues that she has an infection. Man, and I thought this would be the episode where the patient’s problem is solved in the first act. Speaking of, the act ends as the doctors attempt to revive Addie.
Chase reveals that Addie has cirrhosis of the liver, which results in some nice shots of her being shot up with a big-ass needle. House continues arguing for her having an infection, and that her lungs, on the inside, are screwed up.
In the clinic, House runs into a beautiful nutritionist and her man, who has floating bowel movements. Yum! They’re vegans, and while House flirts with the nutritionist, Piper Perabo taking a break from dancing at Coyote Ugly, he goes out to get a prescription for Floating Crap Guy. He’s visited in the clinic (House) by Cameron, Chase and Foreman, who present evidence that Addie doesn’t have an infection, but House…well, I give you three guesses about what he says, and the first two don’t count. Anyway, after they continue to argue, House goes back into the clinic room and reveals the problem: Floating Crap Guy isn’t being vegan all day long, and is eating meat. Piper isn’t happy about this, but she lets House continue flirting with her.
In an exam room, Chase does some eye exams on Addie, meaning that her eyes are pulled back, and seriously, I love this show, but sometimes it grosses me out to no end. Hey, even better, he shoots a needle into her eye. Just what I wanted.
Meanwhile, in his office, House fiddles around with two coffees, one for Wilson (the one that he stuck some pills into). Wilson’s suspicious, but takes the pill-laden cup. House wonders what he could do about hiring a nutritionist to replace Foreman. Wilson deduces that House met a hottie, and even better, he asked for her number. Well, technically, it’s on her job application. Wilson warns House that he’ll miss Foreman, but House is too busy focused on Piper Perabo. Wilson leaves unhappy as House gets the news from his colleagues: it’s not an infection, based on the tests, but a tumor. House sticks to the infection idea, and manages to piss off Chase, Cameron and Foreman in the process. What else is new?
While Addie’s having an MRI done, Foreman says he’s surprised that House isn’t even at all trying to keep him there. Cameron, who’s the only other one there, says that Foreman’s not always a jerk, and she’s not trying to be nosey about why he’s going. Their oh-so-friendly relationship continues as Foreman says she’s weak for not standing up to House. They’re interrupted by Addie, who’s shrieking about having major head pain. Seems unlikely except for the fact that her skull has cracked open, and we can see her brain. God, really? Again, disgusting.
After the commercials, House and his colleagues are picking Addie’s brain, literally. As House films this (great!), he asks them what made her head explode. House shoots down their theories, as Foreman points out how completely improbable House’s theory is. House pushes Foreman about having killed that woman a few weeks ago, and whether it was a good thing to go with his gut, as he gets Addie’s parents in so they can watch what will amount to another icky operation. Essentially, they induce a heart attack, as Cuddy asks House (watching outside) if he’s talked to Foreman about leaving. Before he can answer, he waits for Cameron to shock her awake with the paddles, but it doesn’t happen. Thankfully.
Foreman walks into Wilson’s office, as Wilson’s having some trouble with labeling his files. Actually, he’s having problems in general, since he’s basically not able to talk normally. He leaves and tries to do a breast exam on a young woman, but ends up hitting on her, talking very fast, and I really can’t do justice to how funny Robert Sean Leonard is making the scene. It turns out that his heart is racing, thanks to those pills House slipped him.
They were amphetamines, which Wilson realizes when he gets angry at House, at his apartment. House realizes that, even when on uppers, Wilson’s yawning, which would seem fairly impossible, unless he’s on anti-depressants. They yell at each other, as Wilson points out that House needs to take them, even though House says he’s not depressed. What a friendship these two have.
That night, in his apartment, House gets a call, but wakes up to a knock on his door. He goes back to sleep, but whoever it is comes inside. The mystery person comes up to House’s bed, and wakes him up. It’s Cameron, who wants to know why House didn’t call. She says that Chase was wrong about Addie, since now her kidneys have shut down. Man, all these patients have such bad luck.
Cameron talks about some syndrome that shut down Addie’s kidneys, which makes House even more sure that his infection theory is correct. Chase says that since House predicted Addie would have instant cardiac arrest without the paddles, it doesn’t make him right. Of course, he disagrees, saying that the infection must be what she has. Unfortunately, she’s still going to die. No one’s going to tell her, though, until the waiting game House wants to play is through, to see if she gets a stroke or heart attack next.
After a montage, Foreman tells House, in his office, that Addie’s heart went out, but they were able to bring her back, barely, so House has his confirmation. Foreman accuses House of not caring (what else is new?), since he doesn’t even know his patient’s name. Didn’t this come up in the first season, frequently? Anyway, House says that Foreman doesn’t want to quit. After some arguing, Foreman says that House wants to tell the girl she’s dying, but make it about his correct diagnosis, and that he hopes he’s nothing like House.
House goes into Addie’s room, and balefully tells her that she’s dying. She’s got, at most, two days, but doesn’t really care what is making her die, and won’t let House tell her what it is. He’s not exactly thrilled by this, not getting his jollies off. He leaves her room, as Addie’s parents hug her. House stops and comes back in, surprised that she’s not interested in what’s killing her. They argue about it for a bit, then House sees his distorted reflection in a mirror, and walks over to Wilson’s office, which is darkened, since Wilson’s trying to sleep. House wants to know why Addie wasn’t too pissed off by him, and it turns out that those dosed coffees went two different ways: House was dosed with anti-depressants. Even more, House realizes that Addie…well, she’s not exactly dying.
He goes back to Addie’s room, orders the parents out and tells them Addie’s not dying. Once alone with her, House says that what Addie has is depression, and tried to kill herself by making a gelcap of kitchen cleanser and downing it, which ended up prolonging the suicide, and has screwed her whole body up. He can perform the surgery, but reminds her that therapy will take a while. She tells him that she’s not really sure why she did it: she’s never been happy, but she begs him not to tell her parents. House says that if she promises not to do it again, or at least say it, he won’t say a word. She does so, and despite his obvious doubt, he keeps his mouth shut.
Or not. After the surgery, House tells Addie’s parents about what she said, and despite the fact that he was supposed to keep quiet, he’s spilled it. They agree to give her therapy, and want to know if they can talk to House if they need to, but he flatly tells them not to. Above the surgery, Cuddy meets up with Foreman, obviously wanting him to stay with the team. Despite her pleas, he says it’s not worth it, and walks out. Finally, in a bar, House enters and sees Piper Perabo, under the terms of an interview. She sees through him pretty quickly, and realizes it’s not a job interview. House admits his main flaws, such as depression, using Vicodin, being a bad boyfriend, and so on. She cheerfully ignores these flaws, saying that he can’t be miserable if he saves lives, sleeps around and does drugs. Good selling point! He then says that he hates tea, right after he ordered it to impress her. Ah, the beginning of love. Anyway, that’s the end of the episode (fairly abrupt), and once again, despite being horrendously disgusting, it was pretty good.
