The Choice (House)

Last updated
"The Choice"
House episode
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 20
Directed by Juan J. Campanella
Written by David Hoselton
Original air dateMay 3, 2010 (2010-05-03)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Open and Shut"		Next →
"Baggage"
House season 6
List of episodes

"The Choice" is the twentieth episode of the sixth season of the American medical drama House and it is the 129th episode overall. It aired on May 3, 2010. It was written by David Hoselton and directed by Juan J. Campanella. This was the first episode of House since the first seven episodes of season one to garner fewer than 10 million viewers for its initial air date.

Contents

Plot

The team takes on the case of an ailing groom-to-be (guest star Adam Garcia) named Ted. He fainted at his wedding after having a round of aphasia (loss of voice). House unexpectedly pokes him with a needle and Ted says "ow." House claims Ted was faking to avoid getting married. However, he has a pleural effusion as he's being discharged.

Thirteen and Taub check where Ted lived before he moved into his fiancée's room, but the owner comes back and sees them. The owner, Cotter, claims to be Ted's ex-boyfriend of three years. The team tests Ted for HIV/AIDS but he's negative. Thirteen talks to him and finds out he had "treatment" to become heterosexual. He had electro convulsion therapy and was injected with many different chemicals. The chemicals could explain the pleural effusion and the ECT could explain the rest. The team thinks the ECT could have caused head trauma. During the EKG, Ted has a heart attack. Foreman decides to do an angiogram to see if it's blocks or bleeds. The team comes in to prep Ted for his angio, but every time he sits up he faints, and he stabilizes when he lies down. House thinks it could be postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), causing his blood pressure to plummet when he's upright.

While Ted is sleeping, Cotter comes to visit, but when he takes Ted's hand, Nicole asks him to leave. Nicole then confronts Ted about exactly who Cotter is. Ted admits he used to think he was gay, but got help and insists he is straight now. At that moment, Ted starts to have a severe headache. This leads House to think infection. Taub suggests cerebral infection, which would explain the headaches and cause POTS. It could also spread to the heart if it's fungal. House orders a spinal tap and says to run the CSF. But Ted tests negative for infections and his headaches get worse. House thinks the spinal tap caused Ted to spring a leak, worsening the headaches. Low pressure in the brain caused the POTS, not the other way around. However, Ted's face twists in a strange way. It's not POTS.

They get Nicole, Ted, and Cotter in the same room to redo Ted's history, hoping this time it will be more accurate. Nicole says Ted sometimes has erectile dysfunction, but Cotter claims they never had such problems. Taub suggests that arterial disease causing acute ischemia could explain the heart, neurological symptoms, and possibly even POTS. The test shows everything's normal with his penis' blood flow, but Ted starts to lactate. Taub suggests a pituitary tumor which could explain his libido and heart issues, and if the tumor's big enough, the headaches and syncope as well. The team checks his prolactin level and MRI his pituitary.

Talking to Wilson, House has an idea. Ted has an Arnold–Chiari malformation, a narrowing in the base of his skull. Ted's therapy caused his brain to swell just enough to plug the opening, cutting off his CSF. His brain pressing against his pituitary caused the other symptoms. He declares that he has chosen the life he wants to lead, that he loves his fiancée and wants to get married. She says she must make her choice and cannot marry him.

Meanwhile, House spends extracurricular time with his Princeton Plainsboro colleagues. Taub invites House to dinner, Thirteen invites him to come with her to a lesbian bar, and House performs a karaoke rendition of "Midnight Train to Georgia" with Foreman and Chase. It's revealed that Wilson has been setting House up for dates with his team members as he's concerned for House's well-being. He pays them to spend time with House so he has someone to be with while Wilson spends time with Sam. It also becomes apparent that House's pain is becoming too much to bear, as he starts turning to alcohol for relief.

The show closes with Cuddy asking House if he would go to dinner with her. She states that she wants to be friends, and House retorts, as the closing remark, that it is the last thing he wants, with the unspoken suggestion that he wants more. The last scene involves House stroking his leg in pain, glancing at ibuprofen before deciding to pull a bottle of alcohol from his desk and drinking.

Response

Ratings

The episode accumulated 9.982 million [1] US viewers and ranked 22nd [1] in the week.

Critical reception

The episode was generally positively received.

Unrealityshout.com reviewed the episode very positively and said of it that: "House delivers his punchiest episode in weeks with The Choice. Greg House is at his absolute best when he's firing out acerbic one liners like a sniper with a machine gun full of sarcasm bullets..." but also noted that the sixth season had suffered slightly and that this particular episode redeemed it. [2]

IGN gave the episode an "Impressive" score of 8.4 and noted that: "This was a strong episode filled with many overlapping themes, and unlike last week's mysterious illness which seemed to be cured from out of the blue, this week's diagnosis made for great TV as it was dripping with irony," and said in summary that "there was a lot to like about this episode, depressing as it may have been. The patient-of-the-week story arc was well plotted out and the diagnosis felt justified, albeit cruel." [3]

TVFanatic gave the episode a score of 4.2/5.0 and praised it for being a "solid episode". [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idiopathic intracranial hypertension</span> Medical condition

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), previously known as pseudotumor cerebri and benign intracranial hypertension, is a condition characterized by increased intracranial pressure without a detectable cause. The main symptoms are headache, vision problems, ringing in the ears, and shoulder pain. Complications may include vision loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydrocephalus</span> Abnormal increase in cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain

Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor balance, urinary incontinence, personality changes, or mental impairment. In babies, it may be seen as a rapid increase in head size. Other symptoms may include vomiting, sleepiness, seizures, and downward pointing of the eyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pleural empyema</span> Medical condition

Pleural empyema is a collection of pus in the pleural cavity caused by microorganisms, usually bacteria. Often it happens in the context of a pneumonia, injury, or chest surgery. It is one of the various kinds of pleural effusion. There are three stages: exudative, when there is an increase in pleural fluid with or without the presence of pus; fibrinopurulent, when fibrous septa form localized pus pockets; and the final organizing stage, when there is scarring of the pleura membranes with possible inability of the lung to expand. Simple pleural effusions occur in up to 40% of bacterial pneumonias. They are usually small and resolve with appropriate antibiotic therapy. If however an empyema develops additional intervention is required.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow nail syndrome</span> Medical condition

Yellow nail syndrome, also known as "primary lymphedema associated with yellow nails and pleural effusion", is a very rare medical syndrome that includes pleural effusions, lymphedema and yellow dystrophic nails. Approximately 40% will also have bronchiectasis. It is also associated with chronic sinusitis and persistent coughing. It usually affects adults.

"Ugly" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of House and the seventy-seventh episode overall. It aired on November 13, 2007. The episode revolves around a teenager named Kenny Arnold with a major facial deformity. He is set to get surgery in order to remove the deformity, but has a heart attack just prior to the surgery. Dr. Gregory House, who still has not hired a new diagnostic team out of six interns, tries to figure out what is wrong with Kenny. Kenny was being filmed by a documentary crew during the process of the surgery. House has to find out what is wrong with Kenny while being filmed by the crew.

Malignant pleural effusion is a condition in which cancer causes an abnormal amount of fluid to collect between the thin layers of tissue (pleura) lining the outside of the lung and the wall of the chest cavity. Lung cancer and breast cancer account for about 50-65% of malignant pleural effusions. Other common causes include pleural mesothelioma and lymphoma.

The fifth season of the American version of The Mole began airing on ABC on June 2, 2008, after being pushed back a week by ABC. Casting information was announced online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirsten Gannon</span> Soap opera character

Kirsten Gannon is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Nikola Dubois. She made her first appearance during the episode broadcast on 19 June 2007. Kirsten was introduced into the series as the mother of Mickey Gannon and former partner of Ned Parker. As one of Neighbours' recurring characters, Kirsten appeared constantly for more than one year. She is characterised as manipulative and a "trouble maker". Kirsten's stories have included a custody battle over Mickey and her subsequent feud with Janae Timmins. The latter resulted in a blackmail scheme and her various attempts to ruin Janae's relationship with Ned. Writers also created an affair story with Paul Robinson. Dubois has stated that her relationship with Paul showed her character to be a "lonely woman" rather than a "home wrecker". Kirsten's final storylines saw her suffering from severe burns after being caught in a bush fire. The character departed the show on 31 July 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mollaret's meningitis</span> Medical condition

Mollaret's meningitis is a recurrent or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. Since Mollaret's meningitis is a recurrent, benign (non-cancerous), aseptic meningitis, it is also referred to as benign recurrent lymphocytic meningitis. It was named for Pierre Mollaret, the French neurologist who first described it in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Taub</span> Fictional character from House

Christopher Michael Taub, M.D. is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Peter Jacobson. He becomes a member of House's new diagnostic team in Season 4 Episode 9 which is titled as "Games".

"Not Cancer" is the second episode of the fifth season of House and the eighty-eighth episode overall. It aired on September 23, 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerebrospinal fluid leak</span> Medical condition

A cerebrospinal fluid leak is a medical condition where the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that surrounds the brain and spinal cord leaks out of one or more holes or tears in the dura mater. A CSF leak is classed as either nonspontaneous (primary), having a known cause, or spontaneous (secondary) where the cause is not readily evident. Causes of a primary CSF leak are those of trauma including from an accident or intentional injury, or arising from a medical intervention known as iatrogenic. A basilar skull fracture as a cause can give the sign of CSF leakage from the ear nose or mouth. A lumbar puncture can give the symptom of a post-dural-puncture headache.

"Locked In" is the nineteenth episode of the fifth season of House. It aired on March 30, 2009. Large portions of the episode are shown from the perspective of the patient, who retains consciousness but lacks the ability to move. After discovering the patient in an emergency room while being treated for injuries related to a motorbike crash, House's team move the patient to Princeton Plainsboro and attempts to diagnose him. During the course of treatment, the team discovers several medically relevant secrets about the patient. Other plot points focus on Wilson's attempts to discover why House was in Middletown, New York when he crashed, Wilson's new relationship, and the resolution of Taub's resignation from the previous episode.

"Simple Explanation" is the 20th episode of the fifth season of House. It first aired on April 6, 2009.

"Ignorance Is Bliss" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of the Fox television show House. It aired on November 23, 2009.

"The Down Low" is the eleventh episode of the sixth season of House. It aired on January 11, 2010.

"Dead & Buried" is the seventh episode of the eighth season of the American television medical drama series House and the 162nd overall episode of the series. It aired on Fox Network in the United States on November 21, 2011.

"Perils of Paranoia" is the eighth episode of the eighth season of the American television medical drama series House and the 163rd overall episode of the series. It aired on Fox on November 28, 2011.

"Runaways" is the tenth episode from season eight of House and the one-hundred sixty-fifth overall. It originally aired on January 30, 2012.

"We Need the Eggs" is the seventeenth episode of the eighth season of House and the 172nd overall. It aired on April 16, 2012 on FOX.

References

  1. 1 2 Seidman, Robert (2010-05-11). "TV Ratings Top 25: DWTS Again Tops With Viewers; Idol, Glee Still Tops With 18-49". TV By The Numbers. Archived from the original on 2010-05-15. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  2. ↑ "Unreality Shout Review". 28 September 2010.
  3. ↑ "IGN review". September 28, 2010.
  4. ↑ "TV Fanatic Review". 28 September 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.