Ugly (House)

House (TV series) episode
episode_name= Ugly
episode_no= HOU-407
airdate= November 13, 2007
writer= Sean Whitesell
director= David Straiton
guest_star= Khleo Thomas as Kenny
Michael Michele as Dr. Samira Terzi
Anne Dudek as Dr. Amber Volakis
Edi Gathegi as Cole
Peter Jacobson as Dr. Chris Taub
Kal Penn as Dr. Lawrence Kutner
Olivia Wilde as "Thirteen"


Taub is being filmed by the camera crew as he talks to Kenny.
season= 4
diagnosis = Lyme disease

"Ugly" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of "House" and the seventy-seventh episode overall. It aired on November 13, 2007. The episode revolves around a teenager named Kenny with a major facial deformity. He is set to get surgery in order to remove the deformity, but has a heart attack just prior to the surgery. Dr. Gregory House, who still has not hired a new diagnostic team out of six interns, tries to figure out what is wrong with Kenny. Only Kenny was filmed by a camera crew during the process of the surgery, so House has to find out what is wrong with Kenny while being filmed by the crew.

The episode was watched by 11.4 million viewers, making it the eight most-watched program of the week. The episode gained positive reviews by critics, who were surprised by the appearance of Dr. Chris Taub, one of the fellowship applicants, in the episode.

Plot

A documentary film crew is chronicling a teenager (Khleo Thomas) with a major facial deformity who opts to undergo a dramatic reconstructive procedure. When the patient suffers a heart attack just prior to the surgery, House and the team are called in to determine the cause, since the surgery cannot proceed until the patient's cardiac condition is diagnosed.

As the film crew continues to document the patient, House becomes increasingly annoyed and tries to avoid them by briefing his team by the MRI machine and in surgery. However, ultimately he cannot escape the cameras and the candidates find themselves acting self consciously in front of the lens. Meanwhile, House begins to regret recruiting former CIA doctor Samira Terzi (Michael Michele) when she fails to demonstrate the intelligence he witnessed at Langley. Wilson, who believes that House is being distracted by Terzi's looks, offers up the solution to quickly fire her and then ask her out on a date. He also notes House's propensity to hire attractive women, which led him to this situation. House argues that he's "not that guy". During the episode the film crew also interviews Cameron, asking why she resigned and making it look like she had a romantic attraction for House.

Dr. Taub, using his experience as a plastic surgeon, gains the patient's and his father's trust and frequently clashes with House on the diagnosis. House believes that the patient is suffering juvenile rheumatoid arthritis while Taub believes it is merely the side effects of increased intracranial pressure. By persuading the patient's father not to follow House's treatment and by attempting to kick him off the case, House fires Taub, only to have his decision reversed by Cuddy. Incensed by his actions, House begins to dig into Taub's life, and gets him to confess that he resigned his old position as a plastic surgeon because he was discovered having a secret affair with his nurse. He signed a non-compete agreement with his former partners in exchange for their keeping quiet about the affair, effectively blackballing him out of his area of expertise. Ultimately both House and Taub are proven wrong when Thirteen realizes that the patient is suffering Lyme disease, with the telltale rash hidden by his hair.

In the end Taub is not fired, but Dr. Terzi is let go and House's request for a date is turned down. Cuddy and House watch an early cut of the documentary, which has been edited to portray House as a compassionate, sympathetic doctor. House is aghast and leaves the room. The documentary continues, revealing that the surgery was successful. House misses the patient expressing his gratitude, disproving his claim (in the episode "Three Stories") that his patients never thank him.

Cultural references

In the episode Wilson references House being a "practicing Wiccan". This too is the second Wiccan reference in three episodes. [cite news|url=http://whatisoutthere.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/dr-gregory-house-please-pick-up-the-nearest-blue-courtesy-telephone/|title=Dr. Gregory House, please pick up the nearest blue courtesy telephone|date=2007-11-16|publisher=Wordpress|accessdate=2008-10-03] After the documentary shows House as a compassionate doctor, he claims he is disillusioned and can no longer trust Michael Moore movies. This is the second reference to the documentary filmmaker in three episodes, as in "Mirror Mirror" he said "Michael Moore was right" following the majority of clinic patients admitting they had no health insurance.cite episode| title = Mirror Mirror| episodelink = Mirror Mirror (House)|credits=Shore, David; Foster, David|series = House, M.D.| serieslink = House (TV series)| airdate = 2007-08-30| season = 4| number = 5|accessdate=2008-10-03] House references Fave 5s, a service offered by T-Mobile in television commercials where you have unlimited calling to any five people from any network, with the quote, "Hey, hey, hey! You have an all-access pass to the case, not my Fave 5s!" House makes a sarcastic reference to the 1998 movie "Patch Adams" as "the reason I became a doctor". [cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFr6ioBiuMY|title=House: Patch Adams fan|publisher=Youtube|accessdate=2008-10-03] House refers to the patient as "The Elephant Boy" by saying, "Nope, Elephant Boy just vomiting up blood again." This references the case of Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man", who suffered from severe neurofibromatosis and Proteus syndrome (although often mistaken for elephantiasis). [cite web|url=http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Elephantiasis|title=Elephantiasis|publisher=Absolute Astronomy|accessdate=2008-10-05]

Production

The episode was written by Sean Whitesell, who had previously worked as co-executive producer on the series. To date, this is the only "House" episode Whitesell has written. The episode became the second "House" episode to be directed by David Straiton, who had previously directed "Family". "Ugly" featured the second appearance of Dr. Samira Terzi (Michael Michele), who made her first appearance in "Whatever it Takes".cite episode| title = Whatever it Takes| episodelink = Whatever It Takes (House)| series = House, M.D.|credits=Shore, David; Moran, Thomas L., Blake, Peter| serieslink = House (TV series)| airdate = 2007-06-22| season = 4| number = 5|accessdate=2008-10-03] Michele had previously played a doctor named Cleo Finch on the medical drama "ER".cite news|url=http://www.buddytv.com/articles/house/actress-michael-michelle-is-se-10600.aspx|title='House' to Feature Former 'ER' Actress This Fall|date=2007-09-11|author=Claustro, Lisa|publisher="BuddyTV"|accessdate=2008-10-05] Omar Epps, who stars in "House" as Dr. Eric Foreman, also starred on "ER", but two years before Michele. [cite web|author=|date=2007-10-11|url=http://television.aol.com/tv-celebrity-interviews/omar-epps|title=Omar Epps Is Back in the 'House'! |publisher=AOL-Time Warner|accessdate=2008-09-28] As usual, the filming took place on the FOX lot in Century City. [cite web|title=Behind The Scenes At "House"|url=http://www.etonline.com/tv/2006/01/35979/index.html|work=ETonline.com|publisher=CBS Studios Inc.|date=2006-01-29|accessdate=2008-05-25]

Reception

The episode was the eight most-watched program of the week along with NBC's "Sunday Night Football", with 11.4 million viewers, it received a 17 share in the ratings.cite news|url=http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0096421/|title=Who Needs Writers? ABC Wins With Unscripted Shows|date=2007-11-14|publisher=IMDb|accessdate=2007-10-03|author=Studio Briefing] Overall, the episode was well received by critics. Nina Hämmerling Smith of "TV Guide" quoted: "Perhaps the best thing about the episode was the amount of screen time given to old favorites like Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) and Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). The show's most convincing writing has always been in the scenes when those two spar with House, and I was thrilled to see more of that". [cite news|first=Nina Hämmerling|last=Smith|date=2007-11-13|url=http://community.tvguide.com/thread/House/Episode-Recap-Ugly/800027277|title=Episode Rec
TV Guide"|accessdate=2008-10-03] Most critics were surprised and interested in the appearance Chris Taub in this episode. [cite news|url=http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/11/17/1015143.php|title=TV Review: House - "Ugly"|author=CindyC|date=2007-11-17|publisher="Blog Critics Magazine"|accessdate=2008-10-03] Richard Keller of TV Squad, wrote that he was almost certain of the fact that Taub was going to be fired and he was glad that he wasn't.cite news|first=Richard|last=Keller|date=2007-11-13|url=http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/11/13/house-ugly/|title=House: Ugly|publisher="TV Squad"|accessdate=2008-10-03] He also quoted, "For some reason I like Taub. Maybe because he's not pretty like the rest of them. He's just an everyday schlub who's a pretty decent doctor". Buzz Byrne from Critics rant called Taub, "interesting".cite news|title=HOUSE -- "Ugly"|date=2007-11-14|url=http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/11/14/HOUSE----Ugly.aspx|author=Byrne, Buzz|publisher="Critics Rant"|accessdate=2008-10-05] James Chamberlin of IGN did not think that the black and white documentary really worked for him, and when it was over he didn't feel like he had just watched an episode of "House".cite news|url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/835/835272p1.html|title=House: "Ugly" Review|first=James|last=Chamberlin|date=2007-11-14|publisher=IGN|work=House digs into Taub's past|accessdate=2008-10-03] Chamberlin graded the episode with a 7.7. Michelle Romero, of "Entertainment Weekly" commented "I loved it when House told his crew that she ["Dr. Terzi"] got the gig because she had more experience than the swimsuit model".cite news|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20160028,00.html|title="House": Head Case|author=Romero, Michelle|date=2007-11-14|publisher="Entertainment Weekly"|accessdate=2008-10-04] Television without Pity graded the episode with a B- (out of 84 votes).cite news|first=Sara|last=Morrison|url=http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/house/ugly.php|title=Ugly Girls Need Not Apply|publisher="Television Without Pity"|date=2007-11-13|accessdate=2008-10-03] According to Glen L. Diaz, of BuddyTV, various fans think that the smile on Cuddy's face at the end of the episode explains everything about how she thinks of House.cite news|author=Diaz, Glen L.|url=http://www.buddytv.com/articles/house/cuddy-house-not-capable-of-lov-22161.aspx|title=Cuddy: 'House' Not Capable of Love|date=2008-08-20|publisher="BuddyTV"|accessdate=2008-10-03]

References

External links

* [http://www.housemd-guide.com/season4/407ugly.php "Ugly"] at the [http://www.housemd-guide.com/ "House M.D." Guide]
* [http://politedissent.com/archives/1806 Medical review of "Ugly"]