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Alone (House)
Encyclopedia
"Alone" is the first episode of the fourth season of House
and the seventy-first episode overall. It first aired on September 25, 2007. It is based on the real life case of Whitney Cerak
and Laura Van Ryn.
This is the first episode of House in which none of the members of House's original team of Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison
), Robert Chase
(Jesse Spencer
) and Eric Foreman
(Omar Epps
) appear. Despite this, each of the actors who portrays the characters on his former team is credited and are still under contract to appear throughout the season. The only other previous absence of any of these characters in an entire episode was Dr. Cameron in the Season One episode "Babies & Bathwater
", as she had resigned, albeit temporarily.
has to work fast to diagnose a young woman, Megan, who survived the disaster. Due to her injuries, Megan's only form of communication is blinking with one eye.
In typical fashion, House's first instinct is to break into Megan's home to look for clues (tricking Wilson into joining him by telling him that he would take him to a restaurant for lunch). House discovers her diary
and deduces that she must be on antidepressants. When confronted with this by House, Megan's boyfriend and her mother complain to Cuddy, who agrees with the diagnosis. However, the diagnosis fails as new symptoms continue to appear.
Throughout the episode, Cuddy and Wilson try to convince House to hire a new team, while House keeps insisting that he doesn't need one. Instead, he tries bouncing ideas off of a janitor, and even gives the janitor a white coat and has him pose as a doctor to Megan's boyfriend and mother. In an attempt to prove to House that he needs a team, Cuddy sends a memo out banning anyone in the hospital from assisting him in his diagnosis. Meanwhile, Wilson "kidnaps" House's guitar and leaves a ransom note.
House walks down to the hospital clinic where he begins to ask any doctor within sight about his patient's symptoms and what might be the cause. Nobody will respond except for a young female doctor. House notes that her caring demeanor "reminds him of someone," presumably Dr. Cameron. During his conversation with her, he decides it must be two separate conditions. When Cuddy discovers a doctor working on a diagnosis House has made regarding Megan's possible alcoholism, she discovers House has sent out a second memo from her e-mail telling staff to ignore the first memo. He also convinces a cancer patient of Wilson's to move to a different room so that Wilson will think that the patient was kidnapped.
House makes several startling revelations about the patient that surprise her boyfriend and mother. Her boyfriend believed that she wanted to have children and they were trying to do so. House states that she has had an abortion and apparently lied to him about it. The patient is also a heavy drinker, something which shocks both of them. House continues to give treatment based on the woman's condition and medical records, none of which work, and her condition continually worsens.
Wilson then charges into House's office and demands to know where the moved cancer patient is. He says that if his patient gets the wrong medication due to the wrong chart, he could die. This triggers House to realize that the patient he has been treating has been getting the wrong medication because it is the wrong patient. House wakes the patient from her comatose state using amphetamines and asks her name. The woman struggles, but finally says "Liz". Liz is actually Megan's co-worker who worked in the same area of the office building that collapsed. Both have the same hair color and build, and their faces were badly injured when the building collapsed, allowing them to be incorrectly identified by their families. The real Megan died elsewhere in the hospital with Liz's boyfriend by her side.
Cuddy comes into House's office to talk about the case. She mentions that while House did solve the case, he would have solved it much earlier if his team was in place, as Cameron would not have accepted that a boyfriend would have known so little about the love of his life, and when House diagnosed multiple conditions, Foreman would have worked hard to prove House wrong, while Chase would have worked harder to prove House right; this is the first time the three deposed team members are mentioned by name in the episode despite multiple conversations about them. House apparently realizes the validity of Cuddy's point and decides to hire a new team, though he will do it his way. The episode ends with a close up of House strumming a small tune on his guitar, prepping his new recruits, who turn out to be a room of 40.
on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 and it also aired in the UK on Five on Thursday, March 20, 2008; the episode was later broadcast on Monday, August 31, 2009 as a first-run on Five USA. In Germany, it aired on Tuesday, August 26, 2008, on RTL Television
. In Poland it aired on Thursday, March 19, 2009 on TVP2. In Norway it aired at Sunday, September 20, 2009 on NRK3
.
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
and the seventy-first episode overall. It first aired on September 25, 2007. It is based on the real life case of Whitney Cerak
Whitney Cerak
Whitney Cerak is an American student who was mistakenly identified as another person, following a car accident that killed five people on Interstate 69 in Grant County, Indiana....
and Laura Van Ryn.
This is the first episode of House in which none of the members of House's original team of Allison Cameron (Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
), Robert Chase
Robert Chase
Dr. Robert Chase is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Jesse Spencer. His character was a part of the team of diagnosticians who worked under Gregory House until the end of the third season when House fires him. However, he was then re-hired in season 6...
(Jesse Spencer
Jesse Spencer
Jesse Gordon Spencer is an Australian actor and musician. He is best known for his current portrayal of Dr. Robert Chase on the medical drama House and for playing Billy Kennedy in the Australian soap-opera Neighbours....
) and Eric Foreman
Eric Foreman
Eric Foreman, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Omar Epps.-Background:A neurologist, Foreman was a member of Dr. Gregory House's handpicked team of specialists at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's Diagnostic Medicine Department...
(Omar Epps
Omar Epps
Omar Hashim Epps is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His film roles include Major League II, Juice, Higher Learning, Scream 2, The Wood, In Too Deep, and Love and Basketball. Epps' television work includes the role of Dr. Dennis Gant on the US medical drama series ER,...
) appear. Despite this, each of the actors who portrays the characters on his former team is credited and are still under contract to appear throughout the season. The only other previous absence of any of these characters in an entire episode was Dr. Cameron in the Season One episode "Babies & Bathwater
Babies & Bathwater
"Babies & Bathwater" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of House, which premiered on the Fox network on April 19, 2005.-Plot:...
", as she had resigned, albeit temporarily.
Plot
When an office building collapses, HouseGregory House
Gregory House, M.D., or simply referred to as House, is a fictional antihero and title character of the American television series House, played by Hugh Laurie. He is the Chief of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where he leads a team of diagnosticians...
has to work fast to diagnose a young woman, Megan, who survived the disaster. Due to her injuries, Megan's only form of communication is blinking with one eye.
In typical fashion, House's first instinct is to break into Megan's home to look for clues (tricking Wilson into joining him by telling him that he would take him to a restaurant for lunch). House discovers her diary
Diary
A diary is a record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. A personal diary may include a person's experiences, and/or thoughts or feelings, including comment on current events outside the writer's direct experience. Someone...
and deduces that she must be on antidepressants. When confronted with this by House, Megan's boyfriend and her mother complain to Cuddy, who agrees with the diagnosis. However, the diagnosis fails as new symptoms continue to appear.
Throughout the episode, Cuddy and Wilson try to convince House to hire a new team, while House keeps insisting that he doesn't need one. Instead, he tries bouncing ideas off of a janitor, and even gives the janitor a white coat and has him pose as a doctor to Megan's boyfriend and mother. In an attempt to prove to House that he needs a team, Cuddy sends a memo out banning anyone in the hospital from assisting him in his diagnosis. Meanwhile, Wilson "kidnaps" House's guitar and leaves a ransom note.
House walks down to the hospital clinic where he begins to ask any doctor within sight about his patient's symptoms and what might be the cause. Nobody will respond except for a young female doctor. House notes that her caring demeanor "reminds him of someone," presumably Dr. Cameron. During his conversation with her, he decides it must be two separate conditions. When Cuddy discovers a doctor working on a diagnosis House has made regarding Megan's possible alcoholism, she discovers House has sent out a second memo from her e-mail telling staff to ignore the first memo. He also convinces a cancer patient of Wilson's to move to a different room so that Wilson will think that the patient was kidnapped.
House makes several startling revelations about the patient that surprise her boyfriend and mother. Her boyfriend believed that she wanted to have children and they were trying to do so. House states that she has had an abortion and apparently lied to him about it. The patient is also a heavy drinker, something which shocks both of them. House continues to give treatment based on the woman's condition and medical records, none of which work, and her condition continually worsens.
Wilson then charges into House's office and demands to know where the moved cancer patient is. He says that if his patient gets the wrong medication due to the wrong chart, he could die. This triggers House to realize that the patient he has been treating has been getting the wrong medication because it is the wrong patient. House wakes the patient from her comatose state using amphetamines and asks her name. The woman struggles, but finally says "Liz". Liz is actually Megan's co-worker who worked in the same area of the office building that collapsed. Both have the same hair color and build, and their faces were badly injured when the building collapsed, allowing them to be incorrectly identified by their families. The real Megan died elsewhere in the hospital with Liz's boyfriend by her side.
Cuddy comes into House's office to talk about the case. She mentions that while House did solve the case, he would have solved it much earlier if his team was in place, as Cameron would not have accepted that a boyfriend would have known so little about the love of his life, and when House diagnosed multiple conditions, Foreman would have worked hard to prove House wrong, while Chase would have worked harder to prove House right; this is the first time the three deposed team members are mentioned by name in the episode despite multiple conversations about them. House apparently realizes the validity of Cuddy's point and decides to hire a new team, though he will do it his way. The episode ends with a close up of House strumming a small tune on his guitar, prepping his new recruits, who turn out to be a room of 40.
International broadcast
This episode aired in Australia on Network TenNetwork Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 and it also aired in the UK on Five on Thursday, March 20, 2008; the episode was later broadcast on Monday, August 31, 2009 as a first-run on Five USA. In Germany, it aired on Tuesday, August 26, 2008, on RTL Television
RTL Television
Rtl.de' redirects here. For other uses, see RTL.RTL Television , or simply RTL, is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T , in larger population centres...
. In Poland it aired on Thursday, March 19, 2009 on TVP2. In Norway it aired at Sunday, September 20, 2009 on NRK3
NRK3
NRK3 is a digital TV channel aimed at youth and young adults and produced by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.Launched on 3 September 2007, and on air from 19.30 each evening, the channel features such British and American shows as Sugar Rush, Heroes, Third Watch, The Daily Show, True Blood,...
.
Trivia
- In the previous episode, Human Error, Kathryn Adams plays one of the "first-year med students" who suggests Botox to House, after which he tells her to send him her resume. In this episode, Adams now plays the ER nurse who cooperates with House - after which House again tells her to send him her resume. In the next episode, The Right Stuff, Adams appears as one of the fellowship candidates, #23 (and is ironically the first one to get fired).
External links
- "Alone" at Fox.com