Episode Report Card Monty Ashley: A- | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Road Trip!
By Monty Ashley | Season 8 | Episode 21 | Aired on 05.07.2012
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.The patient of the week is Dr. Treiber, a jerk who works in the morgue of PPTH. He's devoted his life to cataloging the mistakes of the doctors who work upstairs, so when he comes down with a mysterious illness, he won't let anyone work on him but House. This proves to be problematic when House is whisked away by Wilson to go on a road trip without their phones. It's not really clear how Treiber manages to distinguish Chase's performance from House's, given that they've worked on the same cases for the last eight seasons, but Chase takes offense at this whole thing. He spends most of the episode lying to Treiber, claiming that all of his ideas are House's. And at the end, he's the one who correctly fingers Treiber's antibacterial soap as the problem.
House and Wilson have a good time on their road trip. Wilson eats an eight-ounce steak and has a three-way in which only one of the two women is a prostitute. Then he reverts to his old ways and gives up on seeing Julie Christie so that he can sit with an old lady with Alzheimer's.
And at the end, Chase decides he's been House's lackey long enough, so he quits the team. I'm willing to believe that this is a dramatic game-changing decision that could stick. Unlike Wilson's cancer, which I still don't think its going to kill him, even though the episode ended with a dramatic test result we didn't get to see.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!"CLEAR!" Someone's already in the hospital. And they're dead. The doctor, who I think is Peter Weller, calls it at 8:32. There's sad music as family comes by and stands with the body. Then the body is moved onto a gurney and rolled into the elevator and taken to the morgue while sad music plays. Are we watching this episode backwards? Is this Memento? The autopsy doctor calls her Diana and takes out a bunch of internal organs and reports that Dr. Penza failed to correctly diagnose heart disease. He gloats about how often he's had to correct Dr. Penza. As he starts to investigate the brain, he stops and puts the scalpel to his own forehead. Someone comes in, calls him "Dr. Treiber," and stops as he sees what we see: Dr. Treiber has cut his own forehead open with the scalpel. As the blood drips down his face, he announces that he is cold.
A motorcycle rolls into the PPTH parking lot, ridden by House. Then a fancy sports car works its way into a handicapped spot. It's driven by Wilson! House stares at him, and Wilson admits that he can't drive stick. Wilson claims that he's going to be selfish, indifferent and shallow. As he makes a dramatic gesture, he accidentally sets off the alarm. House is unimpressed. Wilson claims that he's going to drive his car to Cleveland to meet Julie Christie, who's opening an animal clinic. He repeats that he's being extraordinarily selfish. House thinks Wilson's made sure his patients are covered. To prove how selfish and indifferent he is, Wilson lets the elevator door shut as somebody runs up to it.
Foreman presents Dr. Treiber to House, who declares it Walking Corpse Syndrome, which would be awesome. He thinks Treiber thinks he's dead. Foreman rejects it. And also, Treiber won't let anyone but House near him, since he doesn't trust any other doctor.
The team worries about Wilson. House says there's nothing to be done. They move on to the case. Chase thinks Treiber hates him, but Taub says that Treiber hates all doctors. Park defends him. Chase suggests checking the last corpse Treiber worked on. There could be toxic fumes! Park suggests blood clots. Adams and Chase are sent to ultrasound Treiber to look for clots, while Park and Taub go to investigate the morgue for chance of toxic exposure.
Treiber complains about being worked on by people other than House. Adams notes that he doesn't seem psychotic at the moment, but he promises he just snapped out of it for a minute. Chase promises that they're carrying out House's orders. Adams questions Treiber's ability to quantify House's accuracy. There are no sign of clots.