Cursed

A young boy goes where he shouldn't and ends up with one of the most bizarre and deadly conditions House and his team have faced to date. The kid is a decent enough actor, but this is an episode that relies heavily on makeup and special effects as the kid's condition goes from bad to worse to deep-fried. It is very unsettling to watch this kid choking and breaking out in what at first appear to be sores and then rickets or shingles. The actual condition turns out to be far more grave. This is one of several episodes where House's colleagues grab his interest in a case by describing seemingly unconnected symptoms. Patrick Bachau of THE PRETENDER and PANIC ROOM fame shows up as Dr. Chase's ailing dad, an eminent physician who abandoned his son many years before. Bachau is one of those actors you either love or hate, depending on your tolerance for big, broad-faced guys with suave demeanors and intolerably thick accents. I happen to love the guy, and he and the Aussie surfer boy have some excellent give-and-take scenes. Bachaus is what this show is missing, more than anything else: seasoned actors with some bearing and weight.