House ~ Last Resort
House, Last Resort, Fox TV series, Epsiode Recap & Blog
The clinic is seen in slow motion, maybe to highlight the monotonous surroundings, maybe to bring focus to the average but creepy man who’s sitting in solemn observation. As time returns to normal, Foreman talks to Thirteen about a new clinical trial for those afflicted with Huntington’s. She declines the offer and tells him she’s not interested in doing anything to impede the disease’s progression. I assumed all that casual sex with strangers and rampant drug use was about experiencing as much pleasure as possible before she dies. But her absolute refusal to do anything proactive makes it seem like the girl is eager to accelerate the whole death thing.
Creepy glum guy from the waiting room wanders into Cuddy’s office, where House is snooping, and asks to see her. House turns him away but he comes back with a little incentive. A gun. Jason (played by expert scene stealer Zeljko Ivanek), has some mystery illness that a mound of doctors couldn’t diagnose properly. Naturally, he decides to rustle up a pistol and a few hostages to force a doctor to figure out what ails him. An armed man makes House no more delicate than usual but, rather, incites sardonic one-liners for a repeated proverbial poking of the bear. There were also several oddball symptoms this time around, which I tend to look forward to. Among the oddball-iest: superhuman hearing, lopsided smile, partial deafness (which was only weird because it followed superhuman hearing), half-face sweating, and an inability to spit.
It is decided that Cuddy will be the liaison, bringing in meds and taking out hostages as needed. Jason requests someone test the injection before him and House chooses the plump fellow who was eager to volunteer Thirteen for the job. The armed nut’s suspicions are confirmed when tubby falls to the ground. To show everyone he’s crazy, like, for real, he shoots a yuppie hostage in the leg. His hand shook as he pulled the trigger, though, indicating he was rattled and unsure. Which begs the question: Is it better to have a calm and rational captor or a shaky and apprehensive one? Thirteen volunteers to be the guinea pig for the subsequent rounds of medicine despite the risk of nerve damage, muscle damage, and kidney failure. It’s unclear whether she’s sacrificing herself to protect others or because she just doesn’t care how soon she meets her maker.
SWAT guy asks Cuddy if she has a loved one involved with the case. She says, “Uh, no.” The pained expression on her face every time she sees House in that room suggests otherwise.
House, his old team, and the newbies all get on speakerphone to run a differential diagnosis. Chase leaves, refusing to participate because it means giving in to intimidation (I guess he’s changed since the days of kowtowing to House, huh?). Foreman eventually comes to the same conclusion and bails. Does this demonstrate their advanced morality or their cowardice?
House continually tries to figure out what has made the patient reach this level of desperation. Love gone wrong? Humilation by doctors? Job troubles? Loony guy says he just wants to know the answer. Huh. Going to unreasonable lengths to solve a puzzle? Now, who does that sound like… 
During a particularly memorable scene, Jason swaddles himself in hostages in order to head to radiology for a CT scan. The metal in his gun causes a Starburst Artifact, which makes the scan look all explode-y. House gets the gun; the smart hostages get the hell out of there, leaving behind Jason, the docs, and a guy who’s smoked one bowl too many. In a game of Who’s Crazier, House gives the lunatic back the gun so he can finish solving the case after the scan reveals the diagnosis was wrong. Understandably, this infuriates Thirteen, looking pallid and sickly, since she’d probably like a break from being a walking medicinal cocktail.
The final diagnosis comes when Jason admits to vacationing in Florida, which he didn’t know was a tropical location, unlocking the key to his condition. The SWAT negotiator refuses to give him meds unless he releases a hostage: House. This last round would be the nail in Thirteen’s coffin, which is cool with the kook since he thinks she’s got a death wish anyway. During the moment when she’s faced with the needle that could kill her, Thirteen decides she wants to live after all. Jason snatched the needle away, injects himself, and the SWAT team enters via exploding wall.
House pops a Vicodin then motions to Jason, as he’s being carted away in handcuffs, to take a deep breath. The patient flashes a relieved, poignant smile as he realizes his illness has been cured and he can breathe freely. Which is about the only thing he’ll be doing freely from now on. A little dialysis fixes Thirteen right up and she tells Foreman to count her in for the clinical trial.
Huddy fans everywhere are a little sadder after the relationship between House and Cuddy continues to stall. She claims her feelings for him clouded her judgment during the crisis, thereby signifying the reason why they shouldn’t pursue a romance. Seriously? They can’t be together because she may not be rational during the next hostage situation? I know, she’s likely saying that their romance will cause her to enable his every whim in daily goings-on. But, wait, doesn’t she pretty much do that anyway? She attempts to open her desk drawer, only to have it collapse, which shows what House had been doing snooping around her office. A sophomoric prank. Seems like he’s reverting back to the pre-kiss era. Alas, it would appear that “Huddy” is not to be.
“I need to slap you for diagnostic purposes.” -House
