Adverse Events

House (TV series) episode
episode_name= Adverse Events
episode_no= HOU-503
airdate= September 30, 2008
writer=
director=
guest_star= Breckin Meyer


season= 5
diagnosis = Massive drug intake due to a Food Bolus Bezoar

"Adverse Events" is the third episode of the fifth season of "House" and the eighty-ninth episode overall [cite web |url=http://spoilertv-house.blogspot.com/2008/09/episode-503-adverse-events.html |title=House - Spoilers: Episode 5.03 - Adverse Events |date=2008-09-06 |accessdate=2008-09-07] . It first aired on September 30, 2008. Breckin Meyer guest starred as an artist who has an unexplained visual problem.

Plot

The episode begins with Brandon, a painter, doing a portrait of a nude woman. Upon seeing the finished product however, the woman's husband becomes angry and punches him, and it is revealed that the painting is horribly distorted, but the artist is seeing it as perfectly normal.

Back at the hospital, Cuddy confronts House about trying to hire Lucas (the private investigator from the previous episode) on retainer using hospital money. Later, as the team looks at the artist's work trying to determine his diagnosis, House reveals he has had Lucas look into their backgrounds (also that Thirteen is paying 12% on her car loan, Kutner crawled 20 miles to get into the Guinness World Records book, and that House has nothing on Taub, but something on his wife).

Foreman and Thirteen begin a test on Brandon and he shows them some quick sketches he has drawn that look normal, protesting that he is getting better. However, with some convincing from his girlfriend, Heather, he agrees to the test. Meanwhile, Taub and Kutner search his studio and discuss what House could have on Taub's wife. Taub rejects the idea that she could be cheating.

Later the team meet up. The house was clean, so were the tests, leaving only toxins or drugs. Thirteen points out how nervous Brandon was about an injection and so is unlikely to submit to any other dangerous tests. House questions whether the man's girlfriend is good looking, somehow explaining why his paintings 'suck' and determining what is wrong with him (a 'massive brain tumor') When Thirteen points out he doesn't, House sarcastically agrees and tells her it's drugs.

House enters Brandon's room and tells him his theory, and to save him House will have to cut open his head. The patient immediately rejects this idea. House points out that the only reason he is not terrified is he is either delusional or he knows he's fine, and deduces he is a human guinea pig. Now that he is off the meds, he should get better.

Taub later confronts House on the information he has found out about Taub's wife. House confesses that she has set up a secret bank account, but Taub tells him it is for furniture. Suddenly, Brandon starts seizing.

The team begin discussing how the three drugs could be affecting Brandon. Foreman points out there could be millions of interactions between the three so House orders dialysis to clear out his blood. As Thirteen preps him, Taub points out the patient is not scared about kidney failure, but explaining to his girlfriend. He is just telling her what she wants to hear to keep her happy. In the hallway, Thirteen confronts him about his wife's bank account, and Taub confesses he didn't know about it, but is not going to bring it up because their relationship 'works', simply because it isn't a story tale version and they make each other happy.

The next morning Taub warns House to stay out of his personal life. House predicts Taub will forgive his wife, confess all his past transgressions and beg for forgiveness in return. In the elevator, Lucas and House communicate using a secret radio, and argue over House's interference. Meanwhile Brandon has another seizure, this time with severe facial swelling and Foreman is forced to cut an airhole in his neck. Because the dialysis was completed, this means it was not the 'drug cocktail'. House suggests withdrawal and orders him to be put back on the drugs, then slowly weaned off. Taub tells him he has not confronted his wife.

Cuddy stumbles across Lucas in her office, sorting through her desk for 'research'. Lucas asks her if they could go out sometime, justifying his actions by saying he wanted to know more about her than just what she looks like. Cuddy points out this is not romantic, but creepy. Lucas points out what he has discovered is all trivial, and gives her a bouquet of roses. As he is leaving, he offers to give her embarrassing information on House. Because she will technically be hiring him, there is nothing wrong with the two socializing. Meanwhile Taub confronts his wife about the bank account and she tells him that she has bought him a car.

Thirteen is checking on Brandon, but as she listens to his heart he kisses her neck then drags her onto the bed, apparently due to abnormal hormonal levels in his body. Thirteen punches him, causing a nosebleed. Later, Kutner points out this makes the drug theory almost impossible, and Taub confronts House over meddling in his life. House orders a cranial angiogram on the Brandon and tells Taub to call his wife, say goodnight, then hang up.

When House arrives home that night, he finds Lucas going through his closet, and it is revealed that Cuddy is being set up by House. Lucas confesses he likes Cuddy, but House has hired him to find information so he can blackmail her. The next day Taub's theory is that Brandon suffered a heart arrhythmia, which, combined with the effects of the drug cocktail, caused all the symptoms. House asks Taub if he has been home, to which Taub replies no, before ordering an EP study to find the arrhythmia.

While wheeling Brandon in for surgery, he questions whether he should tell Heather about the clinical trials. Taub points out she will either forgive him or leave him, and advises him not to tell her. During the test Taub questions why House suddenly cares about his marriage before Brandon's heart rate starts to race, and House notices the roots of his hair are growing in red.

The team discuss what could cause the symptoms as well as change hair color. Meanwhile, Lucas is having lunch with Cuddy and finds out Cuddy knows that she is being set up. However as he is leaving, Lucas wonders out loud why she even bothered going out with him if she knew she wouldn't get anything worthwhile. A charming smile from Cuddy prompts Lucas to sit back down.

Brandon is told he needs surgery by Taub and Thirteen, but the view from his perspective shows two completely different doctors, speaking with Taub and Thirteen's voices. He asks where his regular doctors are, and the two figure out he is not seeing things as they really are again. Taub suggests that Brandon had been poisoned some months earlier and the toxin had been stored in his fat cells, released as he lost weight in the hospital.

As Brandon is in surgery, Taub travels to a storage room where the paintings are kept, and discovers that during the months he was taking part in the trials, the paintings are distorted. Taub quickly calls House and tells him it is not toxins, but the drugs. House quickly calls Chase in surgery and tells them to instead do an abdominal surgery to remove a bezoar, which is basically a lump of undigested food which was caused by an experimental antacid Brandon was taking in the "cocktail." The bezoar absorbs the pills whole, and has, since he has been in hospital, been releasing them into his system, causing the symptoms.

Taub asks Heather whether she is glad to know the truth, or whether she was happier before. However at that moment Taub’s wife shows up and gives him his new car. Overcome with emotion, Taub tells her they need to talk, though that conversation is not included in the episode.

The following week, October 7, 2008, a repeat episode of House, "Ugly", was shown. It is suggested from the episode placement, the conversation consisted of the extramarital affair Taub had at his previous practice.

House arrives home to find Lucas playing his piano. Lucas confesses that Cuddy didn’t fall for their trap and he didn’t find out anything House could use against her. The two argue that using a photo-shopped picture of a younger House on the cheerleader team wasn’t the best idea, before Lucas confesses he had called House’s former college. The picture is real; House had joined the team for a girl. Lucas states that it is too bad Cuddy didn’t see him in a different light, even worse that she didn’t even believe it is possible. House replies ‘people hate people who have theories about people’, and the episode ends with House picking up his guitar and the two playing a blues song together.

Production details

Hugh Laurie was credited as an executive producer in this episode, and Robert Sean Leonard and Jennifer Morrison were credited in this episode, despite not appearing in their respective roles as Wilson and Cameron. This is the first episode in which Leonard has not starred.

References

External links

* [http://politedissent.com/archives/2088 Medical review of "Adverse Events"]