Merry Little Christmas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about an episode from the TV series House. There is also a song called "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
| House episode | |
| "Merry Little Christmas" | |
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| Episode no. | HOU-310 |
|---|---|
| Airdate | December 12, 2006 |
| Writer(s) | Liz Friedman |
| Director(s) | Tony To |
| Guest star(s) | Meredith Eaton as Maddy Ralphman |
| All House episodes | |
Merry Little Christmas is the tenth episode of the third season of House and the fifty-sixth episode overall.
Contents |
[edit] Plot Overview
Dr. Wilson attempts to create a deal between Detective Tritter and Dr. House, but House stubbornly refuses, in large part because the deal involves House spending up to two months in rehabilitation, supplied only with low-strength pain medication. Eventually, Dr. Cuddy sides with Wilson and refuses House any Vicodin, causing him to detox, and removes him from his team's case: a 15-year-old girl suffering from a collapsed lung and anemia.
The patient, Abigail, is considered to be suffering from cartilage-hair hypoplasia, liver cancer and diabetic ketoacidosis, among other things. She is eventually found to have a granuloma pressing against her pituitary gland, evidently causing her apparent "dwarfism" when in reality she has growth hormone complications. These symptoms are addressed and Abigail is offered treatment, but she refuses on account of not wanting to "fade in to the background." House questions Abigail's mother on whether the uniqueness of being "a freak" is worth the hardship. The mother later convinces the daughter to go through with the full treatment. Abigail is suffering from an extremely rare disease known as Langerhan's Cell Histiocytosis.
[edit] Diagnosis
Langerhan's Cell Histiocytosis
[edit] Medical Terms
- Idiopathic
- Cartilage-hair hypoplasia
- Liver cancer
- Diabetic ketoacidosis
- Lymphoma
- Lupus
- Cutting
- Still's disease
[edit] Arc Advancement
[edit] Happenings
House fights his team and his colleagues continuously in the battle for pain medications, and each responds differently. Foreman crumples, opening a desk drawer where House hopes he'll find his pills, Cameron checks on him and treats his self-inflicted wound (he tries distracting himself via cuts in his forearms) but flatly refuses any entreaties for pills, and Cuddy tempts him with drugs when she needs information for the case, but we don't see whether she would have gone through with the exchange.
Wilson continues pushing House, but Cameron questions his motives in working with Tritter, saying he regains everything Tritter took (his DEA license for prescription writing, his car, his bank accounts) through the deal, and therefore only betrayed House. We see later, however, Wilson speaking with Tritter and espousing a personal belief in some sort of karmic equation, wherein his friend, despite his gross faults, remains a positive net force in the universe through his work. Though he sought a way House could escape without jail time or losing his license, when the situation becomes a choice between imprisonment and testifying against House in trial, Wilson contends he himself belongs in jail before House, because of the many people House saves when no one else could. Tritter comes back with a solid point: everything House does with drugs, he could do without them.
[edit] Characters
In this episode, Cameron expresses her interest in House by caring for him when he is detoxing.
[edit] Trivia
[edit] The Show
- This is the first episode not to feature a patient in its cold open - instead, Tritter and Wilson confront House in his office.
[edit] Memorable Moments
House suggests to the patient that the growth hormone she will be prescribed will be taken in the form of a pill. However, growth hormone cannot be taken orally as it would be destroyed by the digestive tract and must be administered by daily injections. It is also unlikely that the patient would gain as much height as House implies; growth hormone only has an effect before the cartilage on the end of the bones fuses and, with the patient being 15 years old, the gains in height are likely to be modest.
[edit] Quotes
Tritter: "Merry Christmas."
House: "And a happy go to hell."
House: (to Wilson, who 'betrayed' House in the previous episode 'Finding Judas') "Look, it's Jesus! Better tell the Romans!"
Cameron: "What are you gonna do?"
House: "I thought I'd get your theories, mock them, then embrace my own. The usual."
House: "Can we forget my vices and get back to my virtues?"
House: "The advantage of being a 'freak' is that it makes you stronger. Now how strong do you really want her to have to be?"
Wilson: (to Foreman) "House, you've tanned."
[edit] Music
Opening Scenes: "Zat You, Santa Claus?" by Louis Armstrong
Closing Scenes: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Ella Fitzgerald
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- FOX.com-House official site
- Television Without Pity-House recaps
- House Episode Guide at epguides.com
- TVGuide's Page: Full list of House Episodes
- House M.D. Guide
- "House M.D." IMDB Profile
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| Episode list | Awards | Soundtrack | |
| Cast and crew | |
|---|---|
| David Shore | Hugh Laurie | Lisa Edelstein | Robert Sean Leonard | Omar Epps | Jennifer Morrison | Jesse Spencer | |
| Characters | |
| Gregory House | Lisa Cuddy | James Wilson | Eric Foreman | Allison Cameron | Robert Chase |
