I don’t have any spoilers aside from the blurb on tv.com:
While the staff tries to diagnose a woman suffering from uncontrollable muscle flailing and crashes her car, House and Stacy try to resolve their relationship issues once and for all. Cameron refuses to get the results of her HIV test.
After weeks without a new episode we finally pick up with new episodes. I might be classified as excited.
I was about to page Dr. House, MD, because he’s been gone for so long. Glad he’s back.
Lovin’ the House-man. Wishin’ the House-man was lovin’ me. (Hubba-hubba)
I got hooked on House just a couple weeks ago. I’ve seen all of season one on DVD, and none of season two - so I’m definitely jonesin’. So happy to see a new episode! So happy that it’s one where
Stacy leaves!
Susan
I’m glad to see the show returning right in with drama. We’re advancing a few plots and seeing how it will affect the show. I’m eager eager eager.
So, no discussion? I mean, we’ve been without the Doctor for how many weeks now and no one has discussed the show yet??? Is this the beginning of the end of House?
Fantastic episode.
What incredible pathos in the scene with Mark and House on the stairs.
Christ, House was putting so much effort into being a hardcase, but Mark was so damned vulnerable. Heartbreaking.
The POTW plot dove-tailed nicely with the broader story, as well. It all went together to make for a ridiculously button-pushing hour. Relationships, sacrifice, relativism w/r/t honesty and the real value of knowing the truth of the situation.
The way things resolve is kind of bummer. It’s logical that it would play out that way, but it seems like ultimately it’s the worst outcome. I don’t believe for a second that anyone involved is going to get what they need. The greater good seemed to lay in the other direction.
They totally “out-emotioned” Grey’s Anatomy this week. Usually, House is, for me, more of a medical mystery/black coimedy. This time, I had a lump in my throat for nearly the whole hour.
He said NO to Stacy! No! Oh, man. Wilson pointed out the idiocy to him, but I can’t see him changing his mind.
Every time I see Wilson’s face, I can’t help but think of Jim Carrey.
What a mess for the patient and her family; I never suspected what was up.
Second
marriage, supermom complex, Ritalin, and a liver tumor.
House was an ass, once again, for opening up the mail regarding the HIV test results.
Did you folks recognize Elle Fanning as the little girl? I didn’t see the opening credits, but I’m sure it was her. She was great in The Door in the Floor.
Good lines: “Stick a needle up her hoo-hoo and find that tumor.”
“[Ritalin:]Cocaine with a PG rating.”
Are we dispensing with the spoiler boxes now that it’s been broadcast everywhere? I really felt constrained by that whole deal.
It’s comforting, though, isn’t it? 
Damn straight! She was great. Not a patch on her sister, but still way ahead of your average child actor. That family isn’t connected to the Barrymores, is it? They’ve got trouper genes, anyway. 
Holy crap what an episode.
[spoiler]My favorite part was the stair scene. Mark starts climbing up the stairs, and the look on House’s face said it all - “This guy is willing to do whatever it takes. He deserves Stacy, not me.” And then he just about said the same thing to Stacy later on.
For the record, I also called House sleeping with Stacy earlier in the episode. Because he was in bed at the same time a patient was being released. “Huh,” I thought to myself, “they don’t release patients that late, so why would House be in bed that earl— … oh … hubba hubba!” [/spoiler]
Refresh my memory, what put Mark in the wheelchair?
I loved it when House told Cameron “I love you,” so she would open her mouth and he could get a swab for her HIV test. Although I doubt that the quick swipe he did would get enough material for a good test.
By reading other House-oriented forums, I seem to be one of few that like Stacey and House together. I think House is scared to change, not that he just can’t. He seems to think being lonely and depressed is what makes him a good doc. But he didn’t want to screw over Mark like he was once screwed over I suppose. And he’s afraid of the hurt.
Someone on another board pointed something out: Anyone else notice House takes less Vicodin when Stacey is around? And that he very deliberatley popped some when Wilson came up to the roof? His addiction didn’t start just because of his physical pain (Stacey left him during his rehab).
And Mark, Stacey’s husband, suffers from Acute Intermittent Porphyria I think. It’s what I understood from reading an episode guide (last ep of seaon one).
I’m still not crystal clear on the “birth control pills lead to flailing limbs” diagnosis. Is that only in conjunction with fertility treatments AND ritalin? Because in my (limited) experience, the only time that birth control pills lead to flailing limbs is at that very moment that birth control is needed.
Otherwise, you have a case where a woman suffers a really rare side-effect of birth control pills, followed by a rare side effect of ritalin, followed by, oh yeah, you also have a tumor. That would be an … unlikely trifecta.
I don’t mind if Stacy sticks around, but I hope that the love triangle thing has gotten resolved. That plot alternately irritated, bored me, and made me feel squeamish. (Even for an amoral entity like House, badgering a wife into cheating is pretty low.)
Yeah, that was my favorite part. And then when he gave her a totally different letter to open.
Also when he gave the patient a menu and said those were the tox results!
Also, does Wilson get to lecture House about kissing a married woman because he’s admittedly cheated on at least one of his wives, or in spite of it? Or is it just because it’s Stacy?
The flailing was from Ritalin use, and isn’t a rare side effect, but a symptom of an overdose. [
](http://www.drugs.com/Ritalin/) And the tumor and blood clot were due to the birth control pills. Blood clots from bcps are common enough that there are major warnings all over all the inserts and literature (though I’ve personally never known a woman who’s suffered from one). [
](http://www.emedicinehealth.com/articles/40786-1.asp)
I only saw a couple of episodes here and there of the first season, and given the strange schedule this season I’m not sure if I’ve caught every episode, so I don’t know any of the backstory with Stacy, but I didn’t like the whole romance side of the story at all. House just doesn’t strike me as a relationship kind of guy, so seeing him all lovey-dovey just felt all kinds of wrong. I like him cranky and ornery and hostile, and those traits don’t translate well into a romantic lead. And since none of the episodes I have seen have had any romance in them at all, focusing primarily on the strange medical diagnoses, it was very disconcerting to see this show delve into soap opera territory. I didn’t like it at all and I hope they dispense with it entirely.