"Control" is the fourteenth episode from the opening season of "House M. D." and this means that this one we have here aired back in 2005 and that makes it almost 20 years old or maybe even older depending on when you get here to read this review of mine. There are some aspects that are common to House episodes. The running time is once again slightly over 44 minutes and the names of Shore and Kaplow you will find with many House episodes. The director is Randy Zisk, a really prolific television director over the years, but this can maybe be called uncommon because it was the only House episode he worked on. At the same time, it is not uncommon at all because most of the time he only directed one episode and it is also not common for this show at all to employ directors only once and it definitely had nothing to do with them not succeeding. You can see from my rating that I think the opposite is the case. This was incredibly strong television, maybe closer even to a perfect rating of 5/5 than an above-average 3/5, but 4/5 seems the right way to go. I want to tell you know what I liked about this episode so much. I think it is even a contender for best episode of the first season. You have to go three episodes back to find another episode that I have a similar rating, but if I had to choose, I would probably say that this one here is the better from the two.
More than 50% of the opening season is over now, well 14 episodes you hardly find in full seasons these days, and there has been a lot going on over the previous 13 episodes. The one thing that this show has never had though was a true antagonist to Dr. House. He says himself that he does not like anybody in this episode, but there was no constant force working against him. This changes here. Chi McBride is introduced playing a man who donated 100 million dollars to the hospital and as much as he is appreciated right away for his money when he holds that (more than) slightly pretentious speech, tensions rise quickly. The lab coat is turned into a bit of a running gag there, no matter if it is itching according to House or if it got destroyed during the laundry process. But it's far from a laughing matter for McBride's Vogler. There is even some build-up. It takes quite a while for the two men to really clash. First, they are watching each other when not in the same room, then at the hearing linked to the heart transplant they are in the same room and watching each other, mostly Vogler watching House. And in the very last scene they meet then and have a little talk that may not only have an impact on House's future at the hospital, but also on Cuddy's and Wilson. So the supporting players get some solid exposure here too. You can still wonder why it was never really about anybody else than Laurie in terms of awards recognition for the show, but I will not get deep into that now, but still want to add that a guest acting nomination at the Emmys for example for McBride would not have been undeserving. His introduction resulted in me really liking the quintet of episodes started by this one here. We will talk about the others later.
As for House's team, Foreman we can pretty much ignore as he had no real material this episode, a bit ironic it happened right when another Black actor was introduced, but Chase is depicted in a really negative way for the first time. This includes an action that would have maybe cost him his job elsewhere and also what we can only assume towards the end that he is the one who gave Vogler what he found in the key patient's purse this episode. So he is betraying House. It does come surprising because he was more in awe of House than Foreman for example in previous episodes, but it also says something about his ego if the reason is that he would not take the way House treated him in this episode without fighting back and it also says something about his morals too. It will be interesting to see how this continues over the next episodes. Dr. Cameron also gets some interesting elaboration on in here. Her reading of books that have an impact on how she talks to people and maybe eve manipulates them was initially more on the funny side, but the final addition to this idea is not when she talks about how people do not really take her seriously because of who she is. Or that she thinks people do not take her seriously because of that. To me, the last question almost sounded like a love confession. Okay, this review is already longer than I thought, so I will just go on with some brainstorming for the rest of it all: Songs by The Who are always appreciated of course. The Hebrew folk music playing in the end was quite a thing too then. But the funniest moment was away from the music and I would say it was when we see Cameron manipulate her two colleagues and how they look at each other when House calls them out on it. Quality stuff. The two later on calling Cameron by her first name was not too bad either. House episodes usually have like two small cases included usually for comedic relief, but here we only had one and that was also a bit more on the serious side, almost a small key case even although it obviously does not get too much screen time. House there has to deal with a man who lost his ability to speak after surgery in the leg. Of course, House solves it in the end and it is also again more on the entertaining side there.
I have written literally nothing so far about the big case at the center of the episode, so still a few words on that. It starts with the idea that we have a woman who may have the same issue that resulted in House not being able to walk properly and having to take so many painkillers. However, it turns out quickly it is not what he was having before the show started, so they are mostly trying to find out what is wrong with her. There are not as many assumptions as there are in other episodes here, but that makes sense as they also had to get in the Vogler plot too and reserve a decent amount of screen time for that. The moments House has with his patient there were touching though and this includes his talk to her when he wants her to show him that she wants to live and also the brief conversation afterwards in which she thanks him, well indirectly, and he tells her why he risked his career for her. All about morals there. In addition to that, on one occasion, there is also a interesting quick conversation between House and Cuddy about morals as well and which direction the hospital should be heading in the future. Overall, this episode has so much to offer that is really as close to a must-see as it gets. You wouldn't wanna miss out, but if you have made it to 13, you will surely not stop there. There is one group of viewers, movie fans who should maybe want to see this episode more than others and this would be Twilight fans because the patient from the central storyline is played by Sarah Clarke, who plays Bella's mother in the vampire universe if I am not mistaken. But let's not get any deeper into this. Clarke is pretty stunning though and so is Sunny Mabrey, whose nurse character was never seen again on the show after this episode. Maybe a good thing for Chase after what happened here. Oh and by the way Gstaad is mentioned. Princeton Plainsboro knows Switzerland exists. That is all. Go watch!
More than 50% of the opening season is over now, well 14 episodes you hardly find in full seasons these days, and there has been a lot going on over the previous 13 episodes. The one thing that this show has never had though was a true antagonist to Dr. House. He says himself that he does not like anybody in this episode, but there was no constant force working against him. This changes here. Chi McBride is introduced playing a man who donated 100 million dollars to the hospital and as much as he is appreciated right away for his money when he holds that (more than) slightly pretentious speech, tensions rise quickly. The lab coat is turned into a bit of a running gag there, no matter if it is itching according to House or if it got destroyed during the laundry process. But it's far from a laughing matter for McBride's Vogler. There is even some build-up. It takes quite a while for the two men to really clash. First, they are watching each other when not in the same room, then at the hearing linked to the heart transplant they are in the same room and watching each other, mostly Vogler watching House. And in the very last scene they meet then and have a little talk that may not only have an impact on House's future at the hospital, but also on Cuddy's and Wilson. So the supporting players get some solid exposure here too. You can still wonder why it was never really about anybody else than Laurie in terms of awards recognition for the show, but I will not get deep into that now, but still want to add that a guest acting nomination at the Emmys for example for McBride would not have been undeserving. His introduction resulted in me really liking the quintet of episodes started by this one here. We will talk about the others later.
As for House's team, Foreman we can pretty much ignore as he had no real material this episode, a bit ironic it happened right when another Black actor was introduced, but Chase is depicted in a really negative way for the first time. This includes an action that would have maybe cost him his job elsewhere and also what we can only assume towards the end that he is the one who gave Vogler what he found in the key patient's purse this episode. So he is betraying House. It does come surprising because he was more in awe of House than Foreman for example in previous episodes, but it also says something about his ego if the reason is that he would not take the way House treated him in this episode without fighting back and it also says something about his morals too. It will be interesting to see how this continues over the next episodes. Dr. Cameron also gets some interesting elaboration on in here. Her reading of books that have an impact on how she talks to people and maybe eve manipulates them was initially more on the funny side, but the final addition to this idea is not when she talks about how people do not really take her seriously because of who she is. Or that she thinks people do not take her seriously because of that. To me, the last question almost sounded like a love confession. Okay, this review is already longer than I thought, so I will just go on with some brainstorming for the rest of it all: Songs by The Who are always appreciated of course. The Hebrew folk music playing in the end was quite a thing too then. But the funniest moment was away from the music and I would say it was when we see Cameron manipulate her two colleagues and how they look at each other when House calls them out on it. Quality stuff. The two later on calling Cameron by her first name was not too bad either. House episodes usually have like two small cases included usually for comedic relief, but here we only had one and that was also a bit more on the serious side, almost a small key case even although it obviously does not get too much screen time. House there has to deal with a man who lost his ability to speak after surgery in the leg. Of course, House solves it in the end and it is also again more on the entertaining side there.
I have written literally nothing so far about the big case at the center of the episode, so still a few words on that. It starts with the idea that we have a woman who may have the same issue that resulted in House not being able to walk properly and having to take so many painkillers. However, it turns out quickly it is not what he was having before the show started, so they are mostly trying to find out what is wrong with her. There are not as many assumptions as there are in other episodes here, but that makes sense as they also had to get in the Vogler plot too and reserve a decent amount of screen time for that. The moments House has with his patient there were touching though and this includes his talk to her when he wants her to show him that she wants to live and also the brief conversation afterwards in which she thanks him, well indirectly, and he tells her why he risked his career for her. All about morals there. In addition to that, on one occasion, there is also a interesting quick conversation between House and Cuddy about morals as well and which direction the hospital should be heading in the future. Overall, this episode has so much to offer that is really as close to a must-see as it gets. You wouldn't wanna miss out, but if you have made it to 13, you will surely not stop there. There is one group of viewers, movie fans who should maybe want to see this episode more than others and this would be Twilight fans because the patient from the central storyline is played by Sarah Clarke, who plays Bella's mother in the vampire universe if I am not mistaken. But let's not get any deeper into this. Clarke is pretty stunning though and so is Sunny Mabrey, whose nurse character was never seen again on the show after this episode. Maybe a good thing for Chase after what happened here. Oh and by the way Gstaad is mentioned. Princeton Plainsboro knows Switzerland exists. That is all. Go watch!