TV Review: House 5.3 – Adverse Events

Posted by Joe Ngo (joe@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 2, 2008

House, MD, FOX, Airs Tuesday 8/7c

Episode: “Adverse Events” (Season 5, Episode 3)

Synopsis: An artist finds that the paintings he makes don’t come out quite as good as he thinks they do… in fact, they are completely distorted. After being assaulted by a client who is not happy with his work, he is brought to the hospital so that he can be examined. House, meanwhile, has hired a private investigator to pry into the lives of those who work for him and around him. Using this information, he creates some tension in the hopes of motivating his staff. His P.I. has other motives as well, to get a date with Dr. Cuddy, who is trying to use him to get information on House. With secrets being revealed by all the characters, the team gathers more and more information about the artist’s life in order to treat him.

Review: Glad to report that after missing last week’s episode, I wasn’t too lost here. This episode was a little less House like than normal, but I think it was a good thing. House comes off as even more of an a-hole (pardon my French), trying to use information that he’s gathered through a PI against his staff, and his boss.

The medical case was pretty tame in this episode, though it turned out to be pretty cool in the end. Then again, I’m into that stuff so if you’re not, it probably didn’t matter. The emphasis was wasn’t on the condition this week, rather it was on the interactions between House and his co-workers. He seemed to be trying to teach them a lesson, especially Dr. Taub, who we find out has some issues at home that he wasn’t sharing with his wife. We also find out that Dr. Kutner once set a world record for crawling, and that Thirteen pays too much for her car.

Despite the episode not feeling like a normal House episode, I was still drawn in and captivated by the story. The show is taking the core of what makes House so good, and giving it a fresh twist. Of course, that’s only my opinion.

Up Next Week: Nothing.. cuz house won’t be airing again until Oct 14. After that though, House finds out that his father has passed away. While away from his team, House must help them with their differential diagnosis of a Chinese woman who collapses while searching for her birth parents.

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Did you watch House this week? If so, feel free to discuss below.

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