My Thoughts - House MD: Sleeping Dogs (2006)

Synopsis: Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) is angry at both Foreman (Omar Epps) and House (Hugh Laurie) when Foreman chooses to publish a paper similar to the one she was waiting for House to read and approve. The tension rises when they attempt to diagnose a patient (Jayma Mays) suffering from insomnia and curing her involves a liver transplant from the patient's girlfriend (Dahlia Salem), a woman their patient intended to break up with before becoming ill.

My Thoughts:

I often wonder how Cameron became a doctor. I get it, she's a nice person overall. However, I find it hard to believe she somehow made it through medical school without having any sort of competitive bone in her body and, frankly, she seems more than a little bit childish at times. It's no wonder nobody takes her seriously.

Foreman's an ass, but he wasn't wrong. At no point during the course of the show, at least through this episode, has there been any indication of him and Cameron being friends. And let's face it, it's not as though she gave him any sort of respect when he was temporarily the one in charge of House's team. I don't see any reason why he should feel obligated to return the favor.

It makes me wonder if she really planned to publish that paper in the first place. As Foreman proved, she didn't really need House to read it, just approve it. The fact she chose to just leave it on his desk almost makes it seem like she was more concerned about his opinion of what she wrote than the actual publishing part.

Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) dropped the ball representing the donor. House didn't tell her why the girlfriend shouldn't donate part of her liver but also went out of his way to drop a hint there was a reason. Yet, despite that, Cuddy signed off without doing much more than asking a few questions to her patient. She may never have found out anyway and it later proves to be a moot point after Cameron learns the real reason the girlfriend wanted to be a donor, but she could have at least tried.

This episode has one of the funnier clinic scenes. The part about that girl trying to trick House into giving her birth control pills was fantastic, especially when he later reveals he can understand some of her Mandarin conversation with her mom. I kind of feel like this show should have had a few episodes that just focused on the clinic stuff.

Final Opinion: The case is interesting, but Cameron's constant whining really does make it hard to respect her character.

My Grade: A-