House M.D. (TV Series) Damned If You Do (2004) User Reviews

"You are aware of the Hippocratic oath, right?"

[MaxBorg89 · 9/10 · 12 June 2010]

At some point, religion ends up being being discussed in most hospital shows, usually through a minor character (James Cromwell's priest in ER, the religious nurse in Scrubs). House is no exception, only this time the subject is closely linked to the medical science, a contradiction that makes for an utterly fascinating watch.

The diagnostic case is that of a nun (Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell) seemingly suffering from an allergy of some kind. When she doesn't respond to treatments, but instead gets worse as time passes, the enigma becomes a direct confrontation between the nun's spirituality and House's belief that he has a better chance of saving her life than any higher power that might be.

The topic of faith provides interesting insight into the character of House, who has his own set of beliefs - chiefly the "everyone lies" mantra, which plays an important part in the episode's outcome - and comes off as a very complex man beneath the misanthropic mask he wears at work. Mitchell is a nice contrast to that attitude, and their interactions are the emotional and philosophical core of a story that manages to go beyond its formulaic plotting to tackle something deeper, and does so with great care.

You've got a better shot betting on me than Him.

[lastliberal · 9/10 · 6 September 2008]

Elizabeth Mitchell ("Lost", 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, The Santa Clause 2) plays Sister Mary Augustine, who came in with what looked like a simple allergic reaction.

The whole issue of nuns, belief in God, and belief that House may make mistakes comes up at various times.

What was interesting was the fact that the solution came in the patient's past life. The initial story was not the whole truth as it usually isn't Everybody lies, as House always says. Once the lie is exposed, then a solution is found.

Faith may be a wonderful thing, but reality is what gets us through life.

A House Christmas Episode?

[rigovega · 8/10 · 30 April 2020]

I watched this episode not knowing that in the weirdest way this would be a Christmas episode of sorts. Now, I know it hardly touches the subject, but there is some Christmas aspects about it in a House sort of way. Well, with or without this being about Christmas, this episode has become one of my favorites because I like the way the show talks about faith and spirituality.

Hard to watch Part Deux

[xredgarnetx · 3 April 2006]

Another unpleasant and extremely serious episode, as House works on a nun who exhibits a scary bunch of symptoms. She has a secret House must wrest from her in order to save her. But she would rather fly into the arms of her loving God than help House. This is one of those episodes that is so intense, I am amazed the show has any audience. But the truth is, it represents drama of the highest order, as House and the nun go at each other. The acres playing the nun is first-rate and quite believable. This is the kind of episode that makes me flashback to my days as a hospital orderly and nurse's aide, something I would rather not dwell on.

House Fights the Nuns

[holy_big_sandwich · 7/10 · 24 January 2023]

Every time a nun gets a rash they think its stigmata. Like a moth to a burning bush.

This episode is a taste of House's ongoing battle with religion. As a man of science, he believe in only the empirical evidence of life's cruel nature. However, many of his patients (and coworkers) generally believe in a higher power if not a guiding grace. This makes a lot of sense when you're in a hospital and death pollutes the air while the living are made to grapple with the seemingly random suffering of others. Not to House. So he goes out of his way to not just battle religion undermining science but to just demonize the whole thing.

Again its early days for the show and they haven't had House launch a full on offensive against Christ yet. You get a fun mystery surrounding some nice fake-outs that ends in a Nun suffering for her past.

House Quote: "Pretty much all the drugs I prescribe are addictive and dangerous. The difference with this one (cigarettes) is that it's completely legal."

Holy Tea

[eunbi0530 · 7/10 · 1 July 2021]

"When I was 15, I was on every kind of birth control known to Man and I still got pregnant. I blamed God, I hated Him for ruining my life, but then I realised something: you can't be angry with God and not believe Him at the same time"

She says she was on every kind of birth control, but she might have forgotten that abstinence is a form of birth control and the only one that is 100% efficient, so she is either Holy Mary or she was lying and as House says: "Everybody lies". Not only that, she blamed God for something she did, out of her own will? Still, logic isn't necessary to believe in a higher being.

Also, it kinda bothers me how the "same" mistake happened at two episodes in a row, the last one the kid getting cough medicine from his mum without telling his doctors, now we have a nun drinking tea - that mislead everyone on the issue she had - and no one says anything against it?