“Last Resort” opens at Princeton-Plainsboro, emphasizing the frustrations of being a patient and/or a doctor in the clinic. After she coldly turns away an eager patient, Thirteen refuses to participate in the clinical trials Foreman is now conducting, despite the enticement of a treatment for Huntington’s Chorea. She subtley expresses a lack of interest in her life. Suddenly, a patient stops in the middle of the waiting room and pulls out a gun. He gathers a handful of patients and Thirteen into Cuddy’s office, where House happens to be meddling. House mocks his decision to “take a bunch of sick people hostage,” and Jason demands that House help him.
Jason presents his multi-volume medical record, telling House that no one’s ever been able to properly diagnose and treat him. His symptoms include rashes, heart palpitations, insomnia, fatigue, and difficulty breathing.
House prematurely diagnoses Jason with pulmonary scleroderma, and calls Cuddy in to deliver the drugs needed to treat it. Jason unexpectedly has House first dose to one of the hostages, and the already ill patient collapses. Jason shoots one hostage in the thigh after House admits that he asked Cuddy for a sedative.
As SWAT arrives at the hospital, House calls his team together (old and new) and conducts a differential by phone. Chase leaves, refusing to be responsible for anyone’s death. They compile four possible diagnoses, with nerve palsy being the first tested. A syringe is filled with a medication meant to kill nerves and tissues, and Thirteen volunteers for the first dose. She doubles over in pain and Jason does the same when House injects him, effectively killing the diagnosis and narrowing the possibilities a bit.
House and Thirteen find Jason’s heart rate well above 160 BPM, and Jason gives her only thirty seconds to get the adenosine needed to slow his heart. She collapses after testing the syringe first. Jason’s heart rate drops, but House notices only one side of his face is sweating. He diagnoses him with tumor that’s pressing on only one side of his nervous system.
After consulting with Wilson, House finds a tumor on the side of Jason’s neck. He releases two hostages to buy a trip to radiology to confirm the diagnosis. In the CT scanner, Jason confesses that he would rather rot in jail than never know what’s wrong with him. He is driven by pure curiosity.
“You want your answer, you’ve gotta give me the gun.”
The metal from the gun is ruins the image and House tells Jason to give him the gun to get his answer, or he can shoot him. Two hostages bolt from the room after Jason gives up his gun, and House is forced to admit that there is no tumor and he’s clueless. Jason concedes sadly defeat, and House gives him back the gun.
House begins a second differential during which Foreman leaves much as Chase did earlier. Arriving at a diagnosis of Cushing’s Syndrome, Jason forces more drugs onto Thirteen, and she collapses once more as her kidneys begin to shut down.
Due to a faulty history, the team finds that Jason’s been in a dense tropical climate before–Florida. A previously discounted–perfectly fitting–diagnosis of melioidosis is brought forth, and House is forced to leave the room in exchange for the medication. Thirteen stays and agrees to try one more round of meds despite the lethality of the combination. As she is about to push down on the plunger, she decides she wants to live, and Jason grabs the syringe and injects himself rather than shooting her. SWAT blows a hole in the wall shortly after.
Jason shows House that he’s able to take a deep, deep breath as he’s being lead away in handcuffs. Foreman visits Thirteen while she’s on dialysis, and she agrees to take part in the Huntington’s drug trial. House confronts Cuddy in her office/crime scene where they bicker briefly over their reasons for cooperating so well with the hostage-taker. As House leaves, she opens her drawer to find that he’s disassembled it–the reason he was in her office to begin with.
There’s no quality time spent with the supporting cast here. Wilson, Cameron, etc. all have brief, though important, roles. This episode is very much Thirteen’s, and Olivia Wilde + sympathetic hostage-taker = fantastic. There are some interesting cinematic choices made to alleviate the boredom that often accompanies movies or TV shows that take place in only two rooms for over an hour. It still doesn’t feel like there’s a tight lid on the House-Cuddy (non)relationship, but the ambiguity is more than welcome so long as they take more fascinating deviations from the standard, though solid, House formula.
Mike Trevino is a rabid fan of House and The Office and blogs out of San Antonio, TX.
