'Dead and Buried' Episode Review

House tries to manipulate Foreman into letting him take on the case of a four year old, who just happens to have died five years ago unexpectedly. He values the mystery and the uncontrollable need to solve the case more than the life of a fourteen year old who is still alive.

There is an ironic touch to the way House discovers the death of the child (Drew). He is taking anger management classes and so while being treated for one problem he satiates the desire to get his fix on another (the mystery). House exploits the fact that the father is not only angry about the son's death but also about the unknown cause by saying "People need answers". It is a projection of how House himself feels. Wilson knew he was an addict of “pills, anti social behaviour and sarcasm” but of course House is addicted to finding an answer. It was a particularly Holmsian episode, especially with the investigation of a death.

House exhumes the body and it becomes both a literal and metaphorical uncovering of the truth. Amusingly, when Chase asks where he is, he answers, "Nowhere, he said cryptically". I am a big fan of wordplay and book/film references, so I also appreciated the "Igor" one. The funniest line has to be "You owe me a new pair of pants". The episode is full of humour despite two very profound cases.

Iris, who House was initially willing to ignore is eventually diagnosed with multiple personality disorder as a coping mechanism for trauma. Her repressed memory is manifested through different people and her psychological symptoms indicate suffering. Through hypnosis she accesses her unconscious. The characters her mind created to cope were chosen for specific reasons, as were their symptoms. The little girl (young Iris) is incapable of moving her arms because "I'm nobody, nobody sees me". She was unable to do anything to save her father and her guilt and grief paralyse her. That personality is also allergic to strawberries which is what she was eating when the car crashed and her father died. The magic eight ball Iris got for her birthday triggered young Iris' vision of the eight ball keychain hanging from the rear view mirror. Iris also creates a boy, which shows the level of agression she has inside. This character represents masochism and punishment. "He" bruises her arms and makes her keep things like violent porn films. The tunnel vision symptom or blurred vision represents the blurring of personalities and truth. The blur of her multiple personality disorder buries her cancer which masquerades as a pregnancy.

The episode is very touching (the music certainly adds to the atmosphere). House invites the father into his home, and he also tells him that his son looked "peaceful" when he exhumed him. House connects in a way unlike him, which shows that he understands the importance of having people there. The mystery is vital but it's not enough. There are allusions throughout the episode of traces of someone that is gone (ie/ notches on the door frame which indicate leaving or passing), referring to the son, but in my opinion also referring to Cuddy. She "managed rather than controlled him" as Foreman is trying to do. House manages to cheat the system over and over but Foreman believes "He's the most rational man I've ever met". So between Foreman and Wilson we can conclude that House is a rational addict. Rare, but that's House.

The zebra was there telling us it was important but we didn’t know why. It's a show of great writing when the answer is staring at you and you can't decipher it. Of course, the slightly deaf grandfather was the trigger clue, indicating the genetic disease. It was ironic that Wilson, who was trying to disuade House from pursuing the case was the one to give him the answer ("fall on deaf ears"), as often happens.

It was an emotionally charged episode, the father visibly grieving for his son and the mother burying her sadness. She can only really let herself feel when the matter has truly been put to rest. Her detachment from Drew was a manifestation of guilt and impotence. House felt her lack of emotion was a symptom, but instead it's a coping mechanism, which is a parallel to Iris and her story. The mother tells House there are two types of people, those who can move on and those who can’t. On the Housian side of the spectrum this applies to his inability to let a mystery go unsolved and his unwillingness to really let Cuddy go, which we see at the very end of the episode.

Only by digging deep and breaking down the resistance barriers of emotion can both cases be solved. House accepts the consequences of his actions and gets into the police car after he reveals the genetic condition to the family, without resistance. He even puts the mystery before himself.

The episode has a very fluid continuity with 'Parents', using the nightmare theme of a haunting past (I wonder how many people noticed the figurines of the clowns) and with the mother deciding to mask her child's 'moodiness' by prescribing her Diazepam rather than letting her face the truth.

I have to say that I loved this episode, it was touching, intricate and yet not crowded, funny, intriguing and very Housian. Two thumbs up.

Ps. The parody of Chase as a TV doctor. LOL.