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Mirror Mirror (House)
Encyclopedia
"Mirror Mirror" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of House
and the seventy-fifth episode overall. It aired on October 30, 2007.
's team gets a patient (Frank Whaley
) with breathing problems with no apparent cause. He was just robbed and does not have I.D. on him, and they do not have his past medical records. Foreman
suggests it might be a result of a vocal cord spasm, and they give him methacholine which would worsen it and thus provide a diagnosis. The patient complains of additional symptoms, and Foreman determines that he is faking them. His alleged symptoms are the same as those of other patients, and the name he gave them was the same as the paramedic. Foreman thinks he might have Munchausens
, but House thinks it might be a rare form of Anterograde amnesia
that causes a patient to mimic those around him. House suggests that they try to convince the patient that he is a doctor, since a Mirror Syndrome patient would be convinced, but a Munchausens patient would not. They go to one of Wilson
's surgeries, and the patient acts like a doctor. Specifically, he acts like Wilson. Wilson later notes that Mirror patients always mirror the most dominant person in the room, which means that Wilson was more dominant than House. House explains that as a consequence of the fact that Wilson was in charge of the surgery.
House notices that the patient's blood thickens dangerously when his body temperature drops (cryoglobulinemia
), something that cannot be faked. They look for an infection that could have caused it. The patient has his car keys on him, so House sends Cole to look for the patient's car, and Thirteen
volunteers to go along. Brennan suggests that the patient might have a fungus, but the cure does not work. They put the patient in a whirlpool to keep him warm. House suggests they get a medical history by checking his blood for antibodies. The test reveals that he has had histoplasmosis
, a disease common in Ohio, but also coccidioidomycosis
, residing in southwestern US, and Chagas disease
, pointing to Central America. The patient has heart problems, so Foreman suggests they biopsy the heart. Brennan says that will kill since the patient just had a heart attack. Foreman then makes a House-like statement, sarcastically saying "We biopsy his toe instead". House tells everyone to biopsy the patient's heart, which reveals nothing.
Cole and Thirteen find the patient's car, which allows them to determine his name, his hometown, and that he carries vaporub. The patient earlier said he liked hot tubs in the presence of Kutner
, who later states he hates hot tubs. This evidence shows the patient was capable of thinking for himself, so House pretends to be the patient, so that when the patient mirrored him, he would say more about himself. The patient says he was on the road a lot, and he used the vaporub to block out the smell of dung. House infers that the patient sells farm equipment, and is around pigs a lot, and correctly diagnoses him with Eperythrozoon, an infection that occurs in pigs.
Chase
takes bets on who will be fired at the end of the case. House does not fire any of the candidates, so Chase wins all the bets. House confirms Foreman's suspicion that he was in the gambling with Chase on the bets and received 50% of the money. As they walk away, We're Going to Be Friends
by The White Stripes
plays, suggesting House and Foreman might begin to get along better, perhaps because they are so similar.
to rehire Foreman, and they get into a power struggle. To waste Cuddy's time, House tells the people in the cafeteria that the food was spoiled, and they should all go to the clinic. Then he orders unnecessary, expensive tests for the uninsured clinic patients. In retaliation, Cuddy replaces House's Vicodin with laxatives. House responds, "I know when my Vicodin isn't Vicodin. Do you know when your birth control pills aren't birth control pills?"
House realizes that no one is going to back down. (His exact quotation is "No one's going to be happy here... and Cuddy's going to end up pregnant.") So House tells Foreman he got him a job somewhere else. At first, Foreman claimed that he was miserable working with House again. But when the patient was mirroring Foreman, he said that he liked being there. Foreman realized he did like being back, and he says he doesn't want House to get him a job somewhere else.
Foreman suggests that House and Cuddy both talk to the patient at once, to see which one the patient would mirror (the patient mirrors the person he thinks is in charge). Foreman says that if the patient thinks House is dominant over Cuddy, he'll take that other job, until Wilson suggests that House was lying when he said he got Foreman another job. In Cuddy's office, with everyone watching outside, the patient tells them both to shut up and says that Cuddy has "great yabbos" (breasts). House takes this as confirmation that the patient is mirroring him, but Cuddy claims that's something she might have said as she has always considered her breasts to be one of her best features. The scene cuts to Foreman and Wilson, where Foreman simply says, "Damn" and we see House dancing in celebration and mimicking shooting Foreman with his cane as an imaginary machine gun.
House suggests that Thirteen went to find the patient's car, because she didn't want to see what the patient would say if he mirrored her. House wanted to find out what he'd say, so House and Thirteen went to see the patient together, but the patient commented emphatically on how attractive Thirteen was. House, believing the patient to be mirroring him, leaves the room. The patient, alone with Thirteen, said he was scared and it wasn't going to be alright.
At the end of the episode, after House has made the diagnosis, Foreman suggests a playful experiment, and they put the treatment on hold and get Cuddy. Since the patient had been mirroring whoever was the "alpha" in the room, House and Cuddy stand in front of him trying to argue over which of them is the "alpha". After momentary confusion, the patient eventually tells Cuddy, "you have great yabbos", mimicing House's thoughts.
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
and the seventy-fifth episode overall. It aired on October 30, 2007.
Medicine
HouseGregory House
Gregory House, M.D., or simply referred to as House, is a fictional antihero and title character of the American television series House, played by Hugh Laurie. He is the Chief of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where he leads a team of diagnosticians...
's team gets a patient (Frank Whaley
Frank Whaley
Frank Joseph Whaley is an American film and television actor known for his roles in independent films.-Personal life:Whaley was born in Syracuse, New York, the son of Josephine and Robert W. Whaley, Sr. He is half-Irish and half-Sicilian and grew up in Syracuse. He has two sisters and an older...
) with breathing problems with no apparent cause. He was just robbed and does not have I.D. on him, and they do not have his past medical records. Foreman
Eric Foreman
Eric Foreman, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Omar Epps.-Background:A neurologist, Foreman was a member of Dr. Gregory House's handpicked team of specialists at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital's Diagnostic Medicine Department...
suggests it might be a result of a vocal cord spasm, and they give him methacholine which would worsen it and thus provide a diagnosis. The patient complains of additional symptoms, and Foreman determines that he is faking them. His alleged symptoms are the same as those of other patients, and the name he gave them was the same as the paramedic. Foreman thinks he might have Munchausens
Munchausen syndrome
Münchausen syndrome is a psychiatric factitious disorder wherein those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. It is also sometimes known as hospital addiction syndrome or hospital hopper syndrome...
, but House thinks it might be a rare form of Anterograde amnesia
Anterograde amnesia
Anterograde amnesia is a loss of the ability to create new memories after the event that caused the amnesia, leading to a partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, while long-term memories from before the event remain intact. This is in contrast to retrograde amnesia, where memories...
that causes a patient to mimic those around him. House suggests that they try to convince the patient that he is a doctor, since a Mirror Syndrome patient would be convinced, but a Munchausens patient would not. They go to one of Wilson
James Wilson (House)
James Evan Wilson, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is played by Robert Sean Leonard. The character first appears in the show's pilot episode when he introduces a medical case to Dr. Gregory House, the protagonist of the show. Wilson is Dr. House's only true friend,...
's surgeries, and the patient acts like a doctor. Specifically, he acts like Wilson. Wilson later notes that Mirror patients always mirror the most dominant person in the room, which means that Wilson was more dominant than House. House explains that as a consequence of the fact that Wilson was in charge of the surgery.
House notices that the patient's blood thickens dangerously when his body temperature drops (cryoglobulinemia
Cryoglobulinemia
Cryoglobulinemia is a medical condition in which the blood contains large amounts of cryoglobulins - proteins that become insoluble at reduced temperatures. Cryoglobulins typically precipitate at temperatures below normal body temperature and will dissolve again if the blood is heated...
), something that cannot be faked. They look for an infection that could have caused it. The patient has his car keys on him, so House sends Cole to look for the patient's car, and Thirteen
Thirteen (House)
Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House, portrayed by Olivia Wilde. She is part of the new diagnostic team assembled by Dr. Gregory House after the disbanding of his previous team in the third season finale...
volunteers to go along. Brennan suggests that the patient might have a fungus, but the cure does not work. They put the patient in a whirlpool to keep him warm. House suggests they get a medical history by checking his blood for antibodies. The test reveals that he has had histoplasmosis
Histoplasmosis
Histoplasmosis is a disease caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. Symptoms of this infection vary greatly, but the disease primarily affects the lungs...
, a disease common in Ohio, but also coccidioidomycosis
Coccidioidomycosis
Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal disease caused by Coccidioides immitis or C. posadasii. It is endemic in certain parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and northwestern Mexico.C...
, residing in southwestern US, and Chagas disease
Chagas disease
Chagas disease is a tropical parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. T. cruzi is commonly transmitted to humans and other mammals by an insect vector, the blood-sucking insects of the subfamily Triatominae most commonly species belonging to the Triatoma, Rhodnius,...
, pointing to Central America. The patient has heart problems, so Foreman suggests they biopsy the heart. Brennan says that will kill since the patient just had a heart attack. Foreman then makes a House-like statement, sarcastically saying "We biopsy his toe instead". House tells everyone to biopsy the patient's heart, which reveals nothing.
Cole and Thirteen find the patient's car, which allows them to determine his name, his hometown, and that he carries vaporub. The patient earlier said he liked hot tubs in the presence of Kutner
Lawrence Kutner (House)
Lawrence Kutner M.D. is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is played by Kal Penn. He becomes a member of House's new diagnostic team in "Games", the ninth episode of the fourth season...
, who later states he hates hot tubs. This evidence shows the patient was capable of thinking for himself, so House pretends to be the patient, so that when the patient mirrored him, he would say more about himself. The patient says he was on the road a lot, and he used the vaporub to block out the smell of dung. House infers that the patient sells farm equipment, and is around pigs a lot, and correctly diagnoses him with Eperythrozoon, an infection that occurs in pigs.
Chase
Robert Chase
Dr. Robert Chase is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. He is portrayed by Jesse Spencer. His character was a part of the team of diagnosticians who worked under Gregory House until the end of the third season when House fires him. However, he was then re-hired in season 6...
takes bets on who will be fired at the end of the case. House does not fire any of the candidates, so Chase wins all the bets. House confirms Foreman's suspicion that he was in the gambling with Chase on the bets and received 50% of the money. As they walk away, We're Going to Be Friends
We're Going to Be Friends
"We're Going to Be Friends" is a promotional single by the American alternative rock band White Stripes from their album White Blood Cells. It was released in late 2002, and tells the story of meeting a new friend at the beginning of a school year...
by The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
plays, suggesting House and Foreman might begin to get along better, perhaps because they are so similar.
Foreman, Cuddy, and House
House didn't want CuddyLisa Cuddy
Dr. Lisa Cuddy, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama House. She is portrayed by Lisa Edelstein. Cuddy was the Dean of Medicine and hospital administrator of the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. She also becomes House's love interest through the...
to rehire Foreman, and they get into a power struggle. To waste Cuddy's time, House tells the people in the cafeteria that the food was spoiled, and they should all go to the clinic. Then he orders unnecessary, expensive tests for the uninsured clinic patients. In retaliation, Cuddy replaces House's Vicodin with laxatives. House responds, "I know when my Vicodin isn't Vicodin. Do you know when your birth control pills aren't birth control pills?"
House realizes that no one is going to back down. (His exact quotation is "No one's going to be happy here... and Cuddy's going to end up pregnant.") So House tells Foreman he got him a job somewhere else. At first, Foreman claimed that he was miserable working with House again. But when the patient was mirroring Foreman, he said that he liked being there. Foreman realized he did like being back, and he says he doesn't want House to get him a job somewhere else.
Foreman suggests that House and Cuddy both talk to the patient at once, to see which one the patient would mirror (the patient mirrors the person he thinks is in charge). Foreman says that if the patient thinks House is dominant over Cuddy, he'll take that other job, until Wilson suggests that House was lying when he said he got Foreman another job. In Cuddy's office, with everyone watching outside, the patient tells them both to shut up and says that Cuddy has "great yabbos" (breasts). House takes this as confirmation that the patient is mirroring him, but Cuddy claims that's something she might have said as she has always considered her breasts to be one of her best features. The scene cuts to Foreman and Wilson, where Foreman simply says, "Damn" and we see House dancing in celebration and mimicking shooting Foreman with his cane as an imaginary machine gun.
Mirroring
The patient's mirroring gave several people insights about themselves. When he was mirroring Amber, he said that she had to be right since no one likes her and she 'had to be right, otherwise she wasn't worth anything'. When he was mirroring Taub, he said that he was attracted to Amber's dominant and aggressive personality. When he was mirroring Brennan, he said that he didn't like being in this hospital. In response to that, Brennan told House that he was going to quit and go back to his old job when the patient was cured, although he didn't end up quitting. When the patient was mirroring Kutner, he said that he was obsessed with new things and that he likes pain.House suggests that Thirteen went to find the patient's car, because she didn't want to see what the patient would say if he mirrored her. House wanted to find out what he'd say, so House and Thirteen went to see the patient together, but the patient commented emphatically on how attractive Thirteen was. House, believing the patient to be mirroring him, leaves the room. The patient, alone with Thirteen, said he was scared and it wasn't going to be alright.
At the end of the episode, after House has made the diagnosis, Foreman suggests a playful experiment, and they put the treatment on hold and get Cuddy. Since the patient had been mirroring whoever was the "alpha" in the room, House and Cuddy stand in front of him trying to argue over which of them is the "alpha". After momentary confusion, the patient eventually tells Cuddy, "you have great yabbos", mimicing House's thoughts.
External links
- "Mirror Mirror" at Fox.com