"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

House 6.17: Socrates on Steroids

A good scientific mystery in House 6.17 last night, as the team investigates a knight who is felled at a local Renaissance fair by something other than love and sword.   After some good digging around, House thinks he's discovered the root of the problem in the apothecary, which has been dispensing root vegetables like candy.   A white carrot may be the culprit - it's hemlock, most famously known for the poison that Socrates was sentenced to ingest by the Athenian assemblage.

I actually know a fair amount about hemlock, acquired in my research for my 2006 novel, The Plot to Save Socrates.   The symptoms of the victim in House seem somewhat to match what hemlock can wreak, but not completely.   Sure enough, House in the end figures out that the patient is suffering not only from hemlock - given to him by a jealous king - but steroids, which the knight took on his own, as a way of, well, enhancing his performance on the fighting field.  That's what happens when you mix old and new, and the old is a poison.

Interpersonally, it was great to see Libby from Lost - Cynthia Watros - especially after she was back on Lost last week, for the first time in years.   On House, she plays Wilson's first wife.   The two may be on track to getting back together.  Unsurprisingly, House opposes this.   But surprisingly - it's still refreshing to see House becoming a mensch - House in the end tosses the dossier he asked Lucas to get on Libby (actually, Sam for Samantha on this show) in the trash.    He's slowly learning to live with relationships he dislikes.

A sign of civilization, in contrast to what Athens did to Socrates, or what he allowed Athens to do to him, since he was given a chance to escape.

But there's no escaping the enjoyment of House.

See also House Reborn in Season Six? ... 6.2: The Gang is Back and Fractured ... 6.3: The Saving Hitler Quandary ... 6.4: Diagnosis vs. Karma ... 6.5 Getting Better ... 6.6 House Around the Bases ... Four's a Crowd on House 6.7 ... House 6.8 and the Reverse of Flowers for Algernon ... House 6.9: Wilson ... House 6.10: Back in Business ... House 6.11: Making Amends, Mending Fences, and a Psychopath  ... House 6.12: The Progression to Mensch ... House 6.13: Cuddy's Perspective ... House Meets Blogger in 6.14 ... House 6.15: About Taub ... House 6.16: Revealing Couples






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The Plot to Save Socrates





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