3.24 Human Error
From tv.com: A Cuban couple attempt to get to America by raft... to see House about the wife's heart condition. But when she gets worse House wonders if someone on his staff messed up. Meanwhile Foreman prepares to leave and his departure threatens to shake up the entire team.

Otherwise known as the episode with most unrealistic Cuban couple ever

Why do you think they were unrealistic? Both of the actors are Cuban-American.

I'm just sort of 'meh' about the whole episode. But Foreman FINALLY left after like 4 episodes.

Why do you think they were unrealistic? Because they were happily married? That never happens, after all!

This show really has a thing for the religious Latino stereotype. That said, good things about the episode: 1) Foreman as a tool for h/w discussion 2) House being a better doctor than Foreman was made abundantly clear 3) Jesse Spencer actually looked hot in that diner scene, and I never think he's hot!

Because they were happily married? That never happens, after all! Not on this show it doesn't.

I thought House's conversation with Cuddy when she tells him to take the patient off bypass was interesting. He tells her he's not holding out hope for a fairy tale ending or concerned at all that Esteban traveled all that way there. Which I can believe. But, when he says he doesn't care, his words don't match that. I think there'd an idea that caring is one thing and there are very precise ways of feeling it and showing it - and because House doesn't fit any of those molds he doesn't care. And, maybe he believes it himself. But, to me, the fact that he is still trying to find a way to fix things does show a version of caring. That he doesn't want to just find the answer during the autopsy says it's not just about solving the puzzle (although I think sometimes, not always, the puzzle and the caring go hand in hand). I'm not sure if I'm really being clear on what I mean, and I don't mean to make it seem like I think has a hidden heart of gold -a phrase I hate, anyway. So, maybe I'm not making sense. I also still don't understand how his attitude towards not having a team proves he's a heartless bastard. And, I've read attitudes on both ends of the spectrum. It's horrible that they've confirmed he's a heartless bastard /It's terrific that they've confirmed he's a heartless bastard. Sure, it's unusual to lose your entire team in practically one fell swoop, but what was heartless about him being okay with it? To me, Cameron and Esteban's assessment of things to be reasonable. Cameron expecting him to be fine, and not seeming at all upset that she thought he'd be fine. Esteban commenting that he must be upset to lose them, and then, without changing his tone clues in to the fact that he wasn't. It's interesting only because I was surprised that he didn't take it harder than he did -and House seemed surprised by it himself. If anything, his attitude seems healthy.

I forget, what happened to the wife? I still can't find my DVDs. *sob*

Her heart defect is repaired by surgery and she and her husband will live happily ever after. Her husband was really hot, I must say, even though he was too hairy for my taste.

Ah. They live happily ever after because there was no sex in this episode, right? Because sex kills both people and relationships.

I also still don't understand how his attitude towards not having a team proves he's a heartless bastard. I don't either. IMO its the natural order of things to move on & its good House finally does so. There's a nice parallel that this is the ep that both Chase & House let go of a couple of extreme attachments that they each have (& make them very similar in some respects), they both have extreme attachments to their jobs & certain pivotal people in their lives. I'd have been more concerned if they both had freaked out, & were not coping well.

I love this episode for the closing scene. I never understood the dislike for Foreman until this episode. I love House's little speech in the doctor's lounge because he was right. Yes, he's angry and reacting against Foreman, but dammit if it wasn't true. To quote what HL said once about what he admires in House, it's that "he doesn't ask for thanks, he doesn't ask for applause." House is partially a better doctor because he is actually selfless in that way. Foreman is too much of an egoist to not see that a patient is only going to care about whether their doctor can help them, not if the doctor is being fulfilled emotionally by the case, or feels happy, or had a nice lunch, or whatever. Requisite HL is brilliant talk: the other great thing about the scene is that the viewer is basically put in Wilson's shoes. Throughout the episode, the viewer has been with Wilson in wanting House to stop the childish games and just tell the truth that he wants Foreman to stay already. Finally, he does, and HL is heartbreaking in showing House's vulnerability. "I need you." That was HUGE for House to say to anybody, and then to see Foreman basically dismiss it and throw it back in House's face was painful. Wilson cares for House, and knows better than anyone just how much that admission took, and so does the viewer. So we're right there with Wilson in being saddened at horrified that House is attacked in a moment of vulnerability. Then Foreman leaves, and House can't even eat anymore. He dumps his food in the trash and says, "Nice tries are worthless." House has been so cruel, and gone so far in the past, yet when he's wounded it seems almost like smacking a puppy! And it's easy to see how Wilson feels so protective of House.

Oh yes, this is definitely where I absolutely hated Foreman. I don't have any feelings for Chase one way or the other, but I loved the diner-scene. The way he realises he's free at last, but most of all the complete lack of a reaction after Cam turns down his offer of a drink. They could have gone so wrong there, but I thought his complete lack of disappointment was absolutely wonderful. The goodbye scene with Cameron made me cringe (of course). The first part was OK really, when she said that House would be just fine. I liked that actually, but then she goes on to tell him she'll miss him in the way she should have used with Chase, and not House. What struck me was the fact that in that rather crucial scene in which House seems to realise that he is quite happy with his team leaving, it is not Wilson, but Esteban he 'celebrates' with. Any ideas as to why TPTB took that road? It seemed like such a typical H-W scene. And BTW, after seeing it again, I am now completely convinced that House bought that guitar for himself, and not Wilson.

House celebrating with Esteban shows growth on House's part. At that point, he's letting the ducklings go (emotionally) and feeling that he's fine. Wilson isn't the only person House can enjoy a reflective moment with and Wilson doesn't think so either (the pizza speech, "someone"). His ducklings have all flown the coop and are happy to be free of him so it seems fine that he should be happy to be free of them as well: suddenly he's free from the emotional entaglements and manipulations of his PPTH co-workers and is simply enjoying the fruits of his work with the patient's husband, the guy who believed in House enough to surmount obstacles to get his ailing wife to him and then, when House was sitting back cogitating, Esteban was also the guy who literally got him off his butt and made him do his job. Esteban, being a universal fix-it sort of guy, could be seen to represent the part of House that loves to fix things (guitars, video cameras, people...), and I think in a way House responds to him as a sort of fellow craftsman. Esteban's appeal to House isn't to his sense of duty or medical responsibility, it's "how can you fix something if you don't look at it?" That hits home and House responds immediately. Also, Esteban's not part of the daily grind for House: once he's gone, House will never see him again, so opening up to him is easy, even pleasurable, and sharing a cheroot allows him to just be in a brief moment with no expectations unmet. And yes, House definitely got himself that guitar. It's so good to see him finding some pleasure first in fixing the patient, then sharing it with someone new, and finding some pleasure in his new musical refuge. Oh, and one other thing: House buys a new acoustic guitar in this episode, he's got a new flying V at the beginning of S4. If we ever see his apartment again, who wants to bet it's like a music store in there? ;-)