House M.D. (TV Series) Heavy (2005) User Reviews

I'll have a huge scar. I won't be able to wear a bikini!

[lastliberal · 9/10 · 6 September 2008]

The pressure increases on House to fire one of his staff. Unfortunately, it isn't going to be easy, as any choice he makes is going to be rejected by Vogler. It is a battle for control and Vogler does not intend to lose.

I the meantime House has to solve the problem of a morbidly obese 10-year-old girl who has lesions that will require a double mastectomy.

He also sees a woman in the clinic with a 30-lb tumor, who refuses to have it removed because it will leave a scar. Her excuse is blown by House and that problem is easily solved.

He still has to fire someone.

Chubby Chase-rs

[Horst_In_Translation · 8/10 · 25 March 2024]

"Heavy" is the sixteenth episode from the opening season of "House M. D.". This aired in spring 2005, so it is almost two decades old now, probably more when you get here to read this review of mine. It is the first of three episodes Fred Gerber directed for the show and the other two followed during season 2. Speaking of twos, Gerber was already a two-time Emmy nominee at that point. Runtime is the usual 44 minutes again and David Shore is as always credited as a writer and so is Thomas L. Moran who was pretty much a producer for the show in its entirety. At this point in season one, "House M. D." was elaborating on subjects relevant in society. The previous episode dealt with homosexuality to some extent and this one here focuses on obesity and the bullying that may come with it. I am not too surprised that the show took the politically correct stance on it all, even if I must say that from a medical-themed show I would have expected some more courage to point out that you can love your child or patient and still tell the person to lose weight because being this obese, especially at this age, is just so extremely unhealthy. Isn't it all about caring for the health of your loved ones and not caring about their looks at all? Sadly, the only moment where the episode comes a bit close to it is when Chase says something about Cameron's weight.

Anyway, Chase is finally exposed to the viewers and we now know for sure that he is the one who is feeding Vogler information about House. I guess it was pretty obvious before already. The characters do not have the confirmation yet, but at least House as well as Foreman seem pretty convinced. Vogler in the meantime talked to Cameron and Foreman to see if he can recruit them as his new spy, even if you could maybe even wonder if there was another component to his proposal to Cameron. However, the two are not really interested, so Vogler does not really have a choice other than decline House's choice to fire Chase. House is not willing to pick somebody else, so there is further tension for the next episodes then. It was already pretty high when Vogler rejected House's call for everybody, including himself, to receive a salary cut, so that everybody can keep their job. Cuddy is clearly also not too happy about all this, but what can she do in the face of Vogler's money. If we go back to the medical case at hand here, I thought it was interesting to see that actress Jennifer Stone was only wearing fat makeup during all her scenes before the last one. This maybe explains as well why the actress, around the age of 30 now, is not even remotely chubby, but very stunning. I must say I am glad the girl got healthy in this episode in the end. She went through a lot honestly given all the bullying at her school that we see examples of early on, but also the conversation Foreman had with an older student who was only the girl's buddy because she was forced to was depressing enough. Okay, the story about Foreman's own obesity was a bit much to be honest. Maybe too much. The biggest clinical case, pretty much the only one, also dealt with obesity now. I must say the woman there with her apparently for all her pounds was unlikable enough already, but the final revelation that half of her 6 kids are from other men was just the worst. For me she is maybe the least likable character from season 1, a potential contender for the entire show as well. Don't want to say more about her.

This is surely also an episode for Cameron fans. She has some really self-confident moments here, manages to stand up to House and step forward with her determination that her diagnosis may not be wrong. In the end, there is the possibility that she quits the team as we see her type a curriculum vitae and may be ready to find another job, especially after House said that this is what she should maybe do when the reality is he would absolutely not fire her and he even uses her salary cut suggestion and presents it to Vogler. We will see how it goes with Cameron's future in the next episodes. Well, I know it already because this was not the first time I watched this episode or season, but you should definitely be curious if you are still new to the show. I think it has aged very well and if you are interested into digging into an older hospital-themed series now, then I cannot really think of better choices than "House M. D.", even if I must say at the same time that I did maybe not love the episode as much as did when I saw it the first time. However, the case with the premise that obesity is not unrelated, is not a reason for why she is sick, but is merely a symptom was pretty great. So was the entire Vogler scenario and if all this does not do enough for you, then I think it is pretty much impossible to not feel for the sick kid and her background here, so there has to be a way for you to at least consider this a good episode. I know I did, even if it was one of those episodes that maybe had no funny parts at all, which is really rare for an episode for this show. Unless you consider the opening that involves another patient that we never get to see, only find out about what is wrong with him. So yeah, all in all it is another big thumbs-up from me here. Don't miss out!

PROVOCATIVE FOR NOT-SO-OBVIOUS REASONS

[kj_tenneson · 7/10 · 29 June 2021]

This one gave a strong showing for sure - the mystery case of the week was compelling, with a patient we were invested in; while the office politics of the new Chairman and House's entire Department also did not disappoint!

More to unpack with the team responding to Vogler's manipulations, than with the actual medical portion of the show...LOL Good stuff, man.

Heavy indeed

[xredgarnetx · 27 March 2006]

A fat 10-year-old girl collapses and her symptoms do not seem all connected to her obesity, especially when she develops horrendous lesions on her chest. She eventually confesses to secretly taking diet pills, but even then the mystery is not solved. The solution ends up being fairly conventional, and helps to point out how easy it can be to overlook the simplest of answers. The actress playing the chubby gal is pretty convincing, although it becomes clear early on she is simply wearing "fat" makeup and a fat suit. Vogler is still on his mission to cut costs and the personnel in House's department, and the increasingly distracted Cameron starts to come apart at the seams. As always, House is the glue that holds everything together. The show by now has developed its own internal rhythm, and you find yourself going with the flow, even when things sometimes get downright silly.

Fat Shaming-Tastic

[cleo-45376 · 6/10 · 12 July 2023]

This is the episode that stayed with me because of how truly awful Chase is towards a 10 year old and her obesity, and also highlighting the prejudice held within the medical community towards imperfectly weighted patients to this day. It's infuriating to watch as the character of Chase is otherwise medically focused without spouting such venomous bile at other patients or colleagues during the entire rest of the show, so this was purely to provide a voice for the biased writers of this episode. And no, I'm not fat, just irritated by this out-of-character episode.

The irritating dictator of the Vogel character was clearly inserted to provide high stakes and make the series more compelling during season 1, but having watched the entire show twice, it's obvious he's more of an antagonist for House to bounce off of and seem less of a foe to his colleagues.

Infuriating episode and one I usually skip as it provides nothing useful to the series.

Hard to follow and self defeating

[Lojcs · 3/10 · 15 March 2023]

The beginning of the episode seemingly takes place a couple minutes before the ending of the previous one just so that they could end the previous episode on a cliffhanger while starting the fire-a-doctor plot in this one. Felt weird to me.

The patient of the episode has obesity caused by a tumor in her brain. At the end of the episode, right after they remove the tumor there's a scene where all 3 doctors are present to see the patient who is a lot thinner than she used to be. Since she couldn't have lost so much weight in under a week, that scene must be from the future which means none of the doctors are fired. I don't particularly enjoy the office politics plotline, so knowing it ultimately has no effect on the cast, it's just a detriment to the show for me.

A ground-breaking role for Jennifer Stone

[Ddey65 · 2 May 2009]

I hate to admit it, but I'm one of the many who sought out this episode after Jennifer Stone became famous from "Wizards of Waverly Place." As for the show itself, I always saw the rapid-fire insults of Dr. Gregory House as something that looked funnier in the promos than the actual series is. I still do, but that doesn't mean I hate it. After checking out a few or several episodes and missing this one, I finally got to see it.

This episode is hardly kiddie-fare. It's not supposed to be, and none of them are anyway. Stone plays Jessica Simms, an obese 10-year-old girl who suffers a non-fatal heart attack during gym. Any reasonable person would conclude that this girl simply ate too much junk food, and is paying the price for it, but this isn't the case. Her mother wants House and his staff to consider another cause besides her weight. They do, and it doesn't work the first two times. During one procedure, she become impatient when she gets too thirsty and freaks out. In another she develops huge bleeding scars on her body out of nowhere. Because she is 10 years old, she's worried about her prospects involving friends, boys, etc., and eventually reveals that she had been stealing diet pills. Finally the staff concludes that the only treatment available for this poor girl might be a double mastectomy before she's even old enough to have breasts... or is it? Another one of House's patients who appears to have put on some extra weight is a middle-aged woman with a massive tumor in her torso who fears that if she has surgery she'll have a huge scar, and her husband will leave her for another woman. The doc handles the crisis in his usual crass manner that we all love. All this happens while the hospital board tries to force House to fire some members of his staff.

This wasn't the only non-kid-friendly role Stone was in. In an episode of "Without a Trace," she had a brief role as a girl who was brought to a sex-abuse party by some dirty old men who had an encounter with a missing girl. Unlike that role, she was the main subject here, and is certainly a surprise for anybody who knows her as the happy-go-lucky, fashion-eccentric sidekick she plays today.