Daddy's Boy (''House'')

"Daddy's Boy" is the fifth episode of the second season of House, which premiered on Fox on November 8, 2005. A father and his son, Carnell, a student at Princeton University, are celebrating the son's graduation and they have a father/son moment. Carnell is heading out to a party where he drinks with his friends, but begins experiencing what feels like electrical shocks and starts having convulsions.

Plot

Princeton University student Carnell has a seizure during a graduation party. His symptoms are painful shocks, headaches, nausea and drowsiness. In the hospital, he later has sphincter paralysis added to the symptoms white board. That, combined with shocks usually indicates Miller Fisher syndrome but the tests do not support their theory. The father and his son have lied on different occasions to each other. The father lied about his wife's car accident (so his son would never drive under influence), Carnell went to Jamaica with his friends knowing his father would never approve of it.

More clues are revealed when Carnell's friend Taddy is rushed to the hospital from vomiting blood. He tells House that Carnell and his father have been working in a scrap metal junkyard, to which House then confronts the father on the issue (The father earlier told House that he was a construction foreman). The metal key chain that his father has made for Carnell turns out to be radioactive. Taddy was affected because on the flight to Jamaica he carried the bag which had the key chain on his lap. Carnell's ability to make white blood cells is severely compromised because of the radiation poisoning, which causes his reaction to the infections, and he will need a bone marrow transplant because of heavy exposure. He also has a tumor inside his cervical spine, revealed by a PET scan, that is causing the symptoms. They successfully remove the tumor, but he has a hemorrhage on his bowel after the surgery and his white cell count is plunging. Chase informs the father that no matter what courses of antibiotics they give Carnell, he will not be able to fight off the infection and it will slowly compromise his systems. Knowing his son will likely die, the father lies to his son once more, telling him he will be "just fine."

Meanwhile, House tries to avoid his parents, who are coming from Newark, New Jersey. He says that he has dinner plans with Wilson. His alibi is broken when Cameron tells Wilson and later Cuddy. At the news, Wilson plans to have a party to invite his parents and Cuddy will be attending too. House says that he has issues with his father. The parents end up coming to the hospital and eating dinner with a reluctant and uncomfortable House. House attempts to make small talk by mentioning the new motorcycle he bought (with $5000 he unnecessarily borrowed from Wilson to complete an "experiment": House wanted to see how much money Wilson would let him borrow, taking increasing amounts without paying him back to see how much he "valued their friendship"). House's father mentions its being parked in a handicapped space, telling him that he "still has two legs" and that he "doesn't realize how lucky he is".

The episode ends with Cameron and Wilson in the parking lot. Wilson says House has been avoiding his parents – namely his father – because he hates feeling like a disappointment. Cameron does not understand how he could feel that way, seeing as how he is a world-famous doctor. Wilson explains that having a cripple as a son is not as bad as having a son who is miserable.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Daddy's Boy

• "Daddy's Boy" at Fox.com
• "Daddy's Boy" on IMDb
• "Daddy's Boy" at TV.com