House – Recap – Episode 2-3
September 27, 2005
“Humpty Dumpty”
After Cuddy’s handiman falls from her roof, she joins the team in trying to figure out what’s wrong with him. -Fox Blurb
The show opens with Cuddy jogging down the block hear her home. She pulls into her yard, and her handiman Alfredo stops to chat with her, complaining of his asthma. Cuddy lets him know that she know’s he’s fibbing, hoping to get out of working to catch a soccer match. She convinces him finish the patch-job on her roof. She goes inside her home, grabs a bottle of water. She hears a thud, and sees Alfredo on the ground outside, struggling to breathe.
An ambulance comes, Cuddy rides along. As she checks him over, she notices that his two pinkie fingers are purple. When she asks him how long they have been like that, he replies that he’s never noticed it before.
Opening credits roll.
“Judging by how it looks, he could lose his hand”, says Cuddy, to House and Wilson. House takes the case, and brings it to the team. When Cuddy lets him know that she’ll go run some tests, House reminds her that she hasn’t been a “real doctor in 10 years”. Houses’s ex tries to keep her from saying too much.
Dr. Chase tries to reassure the patient that he’ll be out as soon as they know what’s wrong. He’s worried about making it to his second job, because his mother does not make enough money to support the family. When he becomes frustrated, Chase notices that Alfredo’s ring and middle fingers are now purple. When Cuddy orders House to give Alfredo a drug for severe sepsis, he scoffs, but goes along with it.
Dr. Foreman is in the clinic with an older gentleman. He’s having heart problems, and Foreman suggests a new drug that is targeted for African-Americans. The two get into a political discussion about racism and medication. Eric tells the man that the best way to get back at “whitey” is to be one of the few African-American men to live long enough to collect Social Security.
Alfredo is in bed, and starts screaming for the nurse. The side-effects of the sepsis protein has caused his arm to go numb. He’s taken to emergency surgery to repair the damage. Cuddy stands in the operating theater, looking on nervously.
Alfredo comes out of surgery, and is able to move his arm. Alison listens to his lungs, and hears problems. Back with the team plus Cuddy, they add lung infiltration to the list of symptoms. They rule out pneumonia, but Cuddy tries to convince him that it is. She lets them know that she thought he was just having problems with his asthma, and House reprimands her for keeping things from the team. Cuddy storms off, to perform x-rays on Alfredo. House orders Dr. Foreman to go to Cuddy’s house, and check out what’s going on, that might have been causing his problems. They play scared, and House lets him know that he’s going with him, as well as Dr. Chase.
Wilson sees the crew leaving, and lets it slip to his ex what’s going on.
“What do you think? Red things? I think red things!”, says House, as he breaks into Cuddy’s house. He finds the spare key under the flower pot, and scours the house. Cuddy and Alison have done their own little break-in, at Alfredo’s house. Alison asks Cuddy why she hasn’t fired him yet. Cuddy defends him, saying that he’s the best they got.
Back in Cuddy’s home, House checks out the cleaning supplies. Moving to the bedroom, House looks over the bed, saying “This is where it all happens.”
Dr. Cameron asks Cuddy about her past with House, and discovers a rat in a trap, under the bedside table.
House goes though the underwear drawer in Cuddy’s bedroom. Pink thongs. Dr. Chase tells him that he’s “too nasty to her to not have done the nasty with her.” House dodges the topic, and notices mold on her sink pipes.
Back at the hospital, Cuddy lets House know that Alfredo has rats, and that’s what could be causing the problems. They start a treatment. Alfredo’s brother comes to Cuddy, asking for a job. He criticizes her for not going to see him once since he’s been at the hospital.
House is in the clinic now, seeing the same patient that Foreman saw the previous day. The patient refused to fill the “racist” medication. When House prescribes the same medicine, the patient demands to see another doctor. House gives him a different medication.
Cameron is checking on Alfredo, and his brother fills her in that Alfredo hasn’t urinated in more than a day. Cameron immediately stops the treatment, and runs to tell House that the treatment might be ruining his kidneys. When she shares with House that she thinks he might be dying, the mother overhears, and reacts.
Tests come back, and the team is able to rule out that neither the rats, not the mold was causing the problems. House returns to Alfredo, and walks in on the middle of a fight between Alfredo and his brother. House notices that Alfredo’s hand smells funny, and is starting to rot. House wants to amputate. Cuddy thinks he’s overreacting. House argues back that Cuddy has lost perspective, but she eventually gives in. She lets the family know what is going to go on. Alfredo fears that his brother will have to quit school in order to support the family, but agrees to surgery.
Dr. Foreman confronts House on altering his clinic patient’s prescription. When House lets him know that he actually gave him the original drug, Foreman grows angry, saying that House was just as bad as others who lie to African-Americans, thinking that Whites know better.
Cuddy looks on during Alfredo’s amputation surgery. Cuddy second guesses all her actions, saying that House was right, and that she was too anxious to get ahead. Dr. Chase lets Cuddy know that the other hand, the remaining hand, is starting to show signs of rot.
Alfredo is out of surgery, and Cuddy is there to check him out. His oxygen stats are down, his organs are failing. House brings the idea that maybe Alfredo’s heart is infected, throwing off infection to his various organs. It explains the fever. The only possible treatment could possibly cause him to lose the rest of his limbs. When House asks Alfredo’s Mom where he works on the weekend, she has no idea. Dr. Foreman and Dr. Cuddy investigate further, and stumble upon a cock-fighting ring, where Alfredo’s brother is working. When she calls to let House know, he tells her he’s already started him on the appropriate meds.
Cuddy lets Alfredo know that he will be alright now, Alfredo thanks him. Cuddy shares her guilt with House’s ex, just as House comes to let them know that Alfredo is suing the hospital. House plays nice, lets her know that her guilt is what makes her a good boss. He leaves the room, right after he asks her, “By the way, why does everyone think you and I had sex?”
It begins to rain, and back at her house, Cuddy places pots and pans under the leak in her living room, looking very depressed.
Note to readers: the next episode of House will not be until November 1st, due to baseball.
