Filming order and airing order can differ this may have been the 12th episode filmed but it *was* the 11th episode aired so it is 1.11 due to airdate. Some series even mix up episodes worse than this.
3 Reviews
Response to jakesmutt
ibsnafu20 February 2019
The key is the cat
Horst_In_Translation13 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
"Detox" is the eleventh episode from the first season of "House M. D.", so half the season is over now and I would say it is one of the better episodes from the season, but maybe not among the very best. The overall level is pretty high though here, so this means it still gets a really high rating. The episode runs the usual 44 minutes approximately and there are three writers credited. Quite a lot given the runtime and one of them is the show's creator David Shore. Kaplow and Moran have also been prolific with this series. This is not true for director Nelson McCormick as for him it was the only House episode he was in charge of. It is a bit of an exception that this time we do not have clinical cases that usually bring some comic relief, but the side story is House trying to cope with his medication. And if you see him suffer and get worse physically, especially around the eyes as he starts looking like a junkie trying to cope without his drug indeed, then there is no comic relief to that. You can even make a point for this not being a side story as there is always the option that his deterioration has an impact on his work as a diagnostician and this is a key plot here. It also includes his team of three and how much they believe he is alright. Chase is on his side mostly, while Foreman is not and Cameron is somewhere in-between. However, Chase also in the end says that the boy should get a new liver indeed, so he stopped believing in House then, but later than the rest.
Despite all this, there are comedic moments to it all: I will mention three. In the end, there is really a bizarreness to the boys digging out the cat and Foreman's words about his hard work in the past and where it led him was as entertaining as Chase's witty response. The other two moments from early on and much shorter. One is the guy raising his hand when House asks who carries drugs with them and the second is Wilson's comment about House unleashing his inner Amon Göth on top of the hospital tower. That was kinda funny, but also some dark humor. I mean he did not say exactly that, but if you watched the episode (and Schindler's List), you know what I mean. The one thing most people will probably remember from this episode is the inclusion of now Oscar-nominated actress Amanda Seyfried when she was about half as old as she is now, so still under the age of 20. It was not her earliest performance and "Mean Girls" had already happened by then, but she was kinda gaining experience then on the small screen and this episode is surely among her most seen turns on TV. She plays the sick boy's girlfriend who is having a hard time getting appreciated by the boy's father, but in the end, there is also a happy ending to that. If you look at Foreman and Chase digging out the cat corpse first and then opening the wall in the boy's room, you can say that the duo had to get to the bottom of two nasty animal presences here. There is also some irony perhaps that they were suspecting it to be lupus for a long time, the Latin words for wolf, but turns out the solution is found on the feline side this time. Jules carries the answer.
This is pretty much it then. This episode is a must-see for Seyfried fans and a really good watch for everybody else. The revelation towards the end that it was Wilson who had the idea to get House away from his medicine for a while was an interesting twist too then at the end. Other than that, you have to give props to Chase this time when he is able to find a way to save the ailing boy's eye even. As for Foreman, you can discuss if his decision to get House the pills secretly was a likable choice or unlikable. But he was all about saving the boy's life and he did not force them on House, so I personally don't see how this would make Foreman an antagonist here. We also do not find out if House takes them or wins by the rules. His comment in the end that he could easily have gone for two more weeks was on the cocky side though. But yeah, he managed to save the boy's life in the end, even if he takes a punch to the face on the way to it. The OP scene there with the angry surgeon was pretty entertaining too. I mean this could have ended House's career if he had been wrong, so we knew he was right and that it had to be something with the cat the moment the father revealed who Jules was. You also don't see animal autopsies too often in this show. That is really it then. Nothing more to say except that there is really some major irony that the boy just needed some chicken soup and better food than they offer at the hospital to get healthy again and that it was him being there and lying around all day that really made him sick and let what was in him thrive. I am still surprised they did not find it, but oh well. Go see this one. Bug errr.. big thumbs-up.
Despite all this, there are comedic moments to it all: I will mention three. In the end, there is really a bizarreness to the boys digging out the cat and Foreman's words about his hard work in the past and where it led him was as entertaining as Chase's witty response. The other two moments from early on and much shorter. One is the guy raising his hand when House asks who carries drugs with them and the second is Wilson's comment about House unleashing his inner Amon Göth on top of the hospital tower. That was kinda funny, but also some dark humor. I mean he did not say exactly that, but if you watched the episode (and Schindler's List), you know what I mean. The one thing most people will probably remember from this episode is the inclusion of now Oscar-nominated actress Amanda Seyfried when she was about half as old as she is now, so still under the age of 20. It was not her earliest performance and "Mean Girls" had already happened by then, but she was kinda gaining experience then on the small screen and this episode is surely among her most seen turns on TV. She plays the sick boy's girlfriend who is having a hard time getting appreciated by the boy's father, but in the end, there is also a happy ending to that. If you look at Foreman and Chase digging out the cat corpse first and then opening the wall in the boy's room, you can say that the duo had to get to the bottom of two nasty animal presences here. There is also some irony perhaps that they were suspecting it to be lupus for a long time, the Latin words for wolf, but turns out the solution is found on the feline side this time. Jules carries the answer.
This is pretty much it then. This episode is a must-see for Seyfried fans and a really good watch for everybody else. The revelation towards the end that it was Wilson who had the idea to get House away from his medicine for a while was an interesting twist too then at the end. Other than that, you have to give props to Chase this time when he is able to find a way to save the ailing boy's eye even. As for Foreman, you can discuss if his decision to get House the pills secretly was a likable choice or unlikable. But he was all about saving the boy's life and he did not force them on House, so I personally don't see how this would make Foreman an antagonist here. We also do not find out if House takes them or wins by the rules. His comment in the end that he could easily have gone for two more weeks was on the cocky side though. But yeah, he managed to save the boy's life in the end, even if he takes a punch to the face on the way to it. The OP scene there with the angry surgeon was pretty entertaining too. I mean this could have ended House's career if he had been wrong, so we knew he was right and that it had to be something with the cat the moment the father revealed who Jules was. You also don't see animal autopsies too often in this show. That is really it then. Nothing more to say except that there is really some major irony that the boy just needed some chicken soup and better food than they offer at the hospital to get healthy again and that it was him being there and lying around all day that really made him sick and let what was in him thrive. I am still surprised they did not find it, but oh well. Go see this one. Bug errr.. big thumbs-up.
Difficult to watch, and truly excellent
xredgarnetx26 March 2006
When I look back, I believe this is the first episode I saw of HOUSE. A college student is admitted with conflicting symptoms, not the least of which is uncontrolled bleeding. This episode goes right for the gut and we watch House and his colleagues poke and prod this kid to the point of death. I had trouble watching all of it, as it took me back to my days working first as an emergency room orderly and later as a floating nurse's aide in a large city hospital when I was a mere teen. You haven't lived until you've seen a doctor straddle a suffocating patient and plunge a large stainless steel cylinder into his chest to alleviate fluid on the lungs. This episode of HOUSE is so realistic, it reminds me of those good old days -- may they never return. This also is the episode where House is sort-of blackmailed into giving up his painkillers. You'll have to watch for yourself to see if he does.
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