Larger than Life

Larger than Life
Director(s)	Miguel Sapochnik
Writer(s)	David Hoselton
Airdate	January 17, 2011
Episode number	7.9
TV.com rating	8.8/10
Guest star(s)	Candice Bergen, Matthew Lillard
Final diagnosis	Varicella
Zebra Factor	2/10

Season Seven Episodes: Now What? Selfish Unwritten Massage Therapy Unplanned Parenthood Office Politics A Pox on Our House Small Sacrifices Larger than Life Carrot or Stick Family Practice You Must Remember This Two Stories Recession Proof Bombshells Out of the Chute Fall From Grace The Dig The Last Temptation Changes The Fix After Hours Moving On Episodes • 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8

Cuddy: "Did you sedate my mother?"

House: "Kicked in just in time!She‘ll wake up in a couple of hours, be good as new. Think of it as my birthday gift to you. You told me to keep my mouth shut. It was the only way I had a chance."

―Larger than Life

Larger than Life is a 7th season episode of House that first aired on January 17, 2011. It was written by David Hoselton. Candice Bergen guest stars as Cuddy’s mom, Arlene Cuddy, in this episode. The team treat a man who collapsed after selflessly saving a fellow commuter who had fallen on railway tracks. House is sure that the man’s selflessness is a symptom of a much deeper condition, while Masters insists that anyone is capable of a random act of heroism and focuses instead on the more prosaic symptoms, fighting with House all the while about the proper way of going about the diagnosis. Meanwhile, House’s hypochondriac clinic patient turns out to be Cuddy’s mom and he finds himself at a loss for words when he’s required to sit in on Cuddy’s birthday dinner with her mother and Wilson.

Not very many episodes of the series develop characters other than House, and this is a happy exception. The introduction of Arlene Cuddy, even at this late stage, helps to develop Lisa Cuddy's character with the audience. Arlene's return later in the season only increases our insight.

The remarkable thing is not that Cuddy shares characteristics with her mother (like her forcefulness and ability to speak her mind) but as with the introduction of John House in Season 2, we see someone who is actually capable of significantly changing the behavior of a main character. As House reacts to the presence of his father by stopping the wisecracks and acting respectfully, Cuddy similarly becomes a lot more reserved when she's around her mother (something House points out a few episodes later in Family Practice - Cuddy is willing to confront absolutely anyone... except her own mother).

Meanwhile, the patient of the week once again allows House and Masters to have their usual discussion about human nature - in this case the nature of altruism. Masters believes, correctly as it turns out, that the patient's altruism is spontaneous, while House is convinced it's a symptom of an underlying pathology. Although House is wrong on this occasion (and this isn't the first time) his insights into the basics of human nature have been shown to be correct before.

Recap

A man is with his daughter on a subway platform when a woman has a seizure and falls on the railway tracks. The man jumps onto the tracks and tries to revive the woman. When he realizes the train is coming, he cries for help, but at the last moment he covers the sick woman’s body with his own, getting them both off the rails. The train stops on top of them, then moves off to show that they have both survived. The woman seems to be recovering and the crowd on the platform applauds the man. He sees a medic alert bracelet and realizes the woman is an epileptic. However, as he stands to re-join his daughter, he collapses.

Masters brings the subway hero’s case to House. House is uninterested in the heroism and asks Masters what the most interesting symptom is. House thinks it is the patient’s selfless act. House instructs them to look for masses in the limbic system.

The patient is enjoying his fame when his wife Eva shows up. Like House, she is not impressed with what her husband did and tells him their daughter is still shaken up about it.

House goes to speak to Cuddy about going to Cuddy’s birthday dinner with Cuddy's Mom. House wants to attend a film festival with Wilson. Surprisingly, Cuddy is supportive of House’s plan, as she describes her mother as “a handful”. However, House uses the excuse that he has to go to Cuddy’s birthday dinner to get out of the film festival with Wilson. Wilson agrees the birthday is more important.

Taub is driving home when he sees a billboard publicizing the hospital with his picture on it. When he gets home, his wife has seen the billboard too. The original plan was to have a bunch of doctors on the billboard, and Taub has no idea why it’s just him. Taub is still upset about Rachel’s online friend, but Rachel is in the mood to kiss and make up.

Masters is doing her first dye injection, but when she does it, the patient’s blood pressure spikes up and Chase can’t get it down. He asks for the catheter and tells Masters to get the crash cart. The patient goes into cardiac arrest.

The team is admiring Taub’s face on a bus shelter while they do a differential. Masters says the arythmia during the procedure shows a heart problem, not a brain problem. Masters notes that both of the attacks happened after stressful incidents. House colors Taub’s portrait to make him look like Hitler. Foreman suggests an autonomic nervous disorder and House thinks it’s a good idea. He orders a pituitary biopsy. Masters knows a sample of the adrenal gland is a better idea and realizes House still thinks it’s a brain problem. Chase agrees with Masters and House agrees to test the adrenal gland.

Chase tells the patient about their idea, but the wife wants to hear from Taub because he’s the face of the hospital.

House is stealing food when he finds Cuddy and Wilson behind him, obviously aware of his deception. House tries to justify himself and says he was just planning to sit alone watching television. They tell House he has to choose. House chooses Wilson, but it turns out Wilson is coming to Cuddy’s birthday dinner too.

The wife is telling Taub that her husband has been touring as a muscian for sixteen years looking for a break. She loves him, but she’s at the end of her rope. Taub assures her that her husband’s act of heroism shows there’s more to him.

Chase and Foreman are doing tests and Chase is wondering if Taub really does look more trustworthy. Foreman tells Chase that he’s too pretty to be trustworthy, and Foreman says he was cut out because he’s black. The tests show that the patient’s adrenal glands are fine and they realize they have to do the pituitary biopsy.

Chase and Foreman start the procedure while they discuss racism. Suddenly, the patient stops breathing. Chase uses suction and finds a mucous plug - the patient starts breathing again. They realize fluid in the lungs doesn’t fit anyone’s theory.

The team starts a new differential, and focus on the heart and lungs. House wonders if the patient risked his life because he knew the woman on the tracks, a woman by the name of Chloe Jeffries. House thinks he’s been cheating with her and may have been exposed to something toxic. He tells his team to focus on the girl and where she and the patient spent time together. However, Masters thinks its probably just an infection.

Chase and Taub do an environmental scan of the Chloe’s apartment, while Taub discusses how great his sex life with Rachel has become since his picture went up. However, Taub’s afraid that it’s related to the man she’s been talking to on the internet. Chase finds a CD of the patient’s band in the woman’s apartment. Taub finds roach spray.

Meanwhile, House is in the clinic with an older woman who say’s she’s tired all the time and she has a pain in her leg. However, all her tests are normal and House tells her there’s nothing to worry about. The woman says her daughter, a doctor, also dismisses her concerns. House says the daughter sounds smart. The woman asks if her daughter told House to say that, but House says he’s never met her daughter. However, when the woman tells House he’s been “shtuping” her daughter, he realizes the woman is Cuddy’s mom. House calls Cuddy and tells her they have a “situation”.

The team confronts the patient about Chloe, but he denies knowing her. However, Chloe comes in to thank him and assure him she’s all right. They find out Chloe got the CD from one of her nurses, who did know about the patient‘s band. Masters asks for a sputem sample to test her theory of infection. However, the patient is having difficulty spitting. Masters pats his back to help out when the patient starts feeling intense pain in his ears.

Masters thinks that the ear pain points to an infection, but House thinks it’s a tumor. He orders an auditory potential test.

House goes to tell Cuddy he’s been nice to old Jewish women for months and it would have been nice for him to have been told her mom was actually a Gentile who converted. Cuddy is supportive and knows that her mother set up the situation to check House out. House tries to duck out of dinner, but Cuddy won’t hear of it - he tells him to shut up and be nice for two hours so she will feel better.

Taub and Rachel have had sex again, this time in the hospital. She brings up her online friend and Taub wants to return to work. He asks Rachel if she’s in love with him, but she just says she’s never met him.

The patient’s auditory test seems normal, and Masters thinks House is wrong. Masters wants to drain his ear and his lungs to test for infections. Foreman and Chase play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to supervise her and Chase loses.

Finally, the patient’s wife is proud of what her husband did, and the patient seems ready to settle down. Masters comes in to take fluid samples. Chase gives him lidocaine in the back and the patient’s ear pain disappears.

House, Cuddy, Rachel Cuddy, Wilson, and Arlene are having dinner. Arlene complains that Rachel isn’t eating properly. House sticks to safe subjects. Wilson tries to support Cuddy, but the mother is having none of it. The mother then complains Cuddy is never home with Rachel. House takes a call from his team about the ear pain going away and thinks it might be referred pain from his thyroid or liver. Masters still thinks it is an infection, but when House is telling her off, his phone goes dead. Cuddy serves coffee while the mother discusses whether House would convert to Judaism if they got married. House announces he’s an atheist and the mother says half the Jews she knows are too. The mother also wants to know why Cuddy keeps calling him by his last name. She also tells Cuddy she doesn’t want Rachel growing up thinking her mother’s a slut. However, when House goes to confront Arlene, she closes her eyes and collapses backwards. Cuddy examines her and realizes she’s been sedated and House quickly admits he’s the one who did it. Wilson is initially supportive until he realizes House has drugged him too.

The patient’s thyroid levels are fine and Foreman starts a liver biopsy. Masters finds Taub in the cafeteria and realizes he’s down about something. Taub admits he’s worried about his wife’s online relationship, but tells Masters Rachel is the only woman he’s ever loved and he doesn’t know how to live without her. However, he also can’t guarantee he’s not going to cheat again. The biopsy results come back and they indicate autoimmune hepatitis.

House and Cuddy are washing the dishes while her mom and Wilson sleep off the sedation.

The patient is teaching his daughter how to play the guitar when he has a seizure.

The patient had three seizures overnight, which points back to the brain. House is avoiding his office because Arlene is there. The patient also has a fever, meaning Masters was probably right about infection. Foreman says that since Masters has already started blood cultures, they are probably close to an answer. However, House doesn’t think they have the time. Leptospirosis seems more likely and House agrees to treat it so the team can go back to his office and tell him when Arlene is gone.

The patient wakes up and sees House by his bed. He wonders why House is hiding behind him.

House finally goes to confront Arlene. However, she apologizes for drinking too much and being difficult. She calls him a pain in the ass with a God complex, but realizes he was nice to her because he loves Cuddy. She also threatens to kill him if he hurts Cuddy. However, when Arlene says she’s going home early because she caught something from Rachel, House gets an idea.

House asks if the daughter has had a rash, itch or fever. When the mother says no, House wonders why she’s not at school. When the mother says there’s something going around, House immediately hits on chicken pox - harmless to children but often fatal to adults. However, the patient has no blisters. House tells them they don’t present in 5% of cases. House starts him on anti-varicella gamma globulin.

The patient slowly improves and the wife comes to see him again. He tells her that her band has more gigs because of his new found fame and he’s going out on the road for a few more weeks. Taub overhears and tells her it won’t be that bad. She says he’s always going out on just one more tour and it’s tough to love someone who keeps disappointing you.

Masters cultures also confirm varicella. She comes by to gloat.

Taub goes home to tell Rachel he want’s a divorce. He’s realized Rachel isn’t happy with him and his affairs have driven them apart.

House tells Cuddy she’s surprisingly normal given her genetics. He gives Cuddy a bottle of sedatives as a birthday present. However, House can’t spend the evening with her because he’s going bowling with Wilson. However, he goes to Wilson to ask to get out of bowling so he can be with Cuddy.

Taub is alone on the street looking at his billboard. He takes paint balloons and starts throwing them at the billboard.

House takes the opportunity to spend the night alone watching television.

Zebra Factor 2/10

Although a vaccine has finally been developed for it, varicella is still a very common infection. It is less common in adults, but many people do manage to avoid getting infected in childhood and contract the disease as an adult. In this case, it was a bit harder to diagnose as it did not appear with its classic symptoms.

Major Events

• Cuddy's mom, Arlene, appears for the first time.
• House deceives Cuddy and Wilson in order to spend the night alone.
• House sedates Arlene along with Wilson.
• Mother Cuddy wonders why Cuddy keeps calling House by his last name.
• Taub decides to divorce his wife due to her having formed an intimate emotional bond with another man, despite the fact she is having immense amounts of sex with Taub as a result.

Title

The title is an English idiom for someone who is exceedingly imposing, impressive, or memorable. Like many titles in the series, it refers to three things - the heroism of the patient Jack, Cuddy's mother Arlene, and Taub being the face of the hospital on a giant billboard.

Trivia and Cultural References

• the tittle is also both a reference and has the same name as the backstreet boys song larger than life.
• For the first time, Jesse Spencer is credited before Peter Jacobson in the new opening credits. As with many other Season 7 episodes, Olivia Wilde receives a screen credit, but does not appear.
• The episode reunites Amber Tamblyn and Sprague Grayden, who also appeared together on Joan of Arcadia.
• The incident depicted at the beginning of the episode is based on a real-life event which occurred in New York in 2007.
• More about Sea Lions and Seals. In addition to having clear external ear flaps, Sea Lions have longer flippers, the ability to walk on all four flippers, and shorter, thicker hair.
• When talking about heroism, Masters refers to "the guy who landed the plane in the Hudson." This is a reference to US Airways Flight 1549, otherwise known as the "Miracle on the Hudson." The pilot in this incident was Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger.
• "Riding the pine" is a slang expression used to describe a substitute athlete on a team who never gets to play in the game, staying on the "bench". It is most usually used in baseball and in this context it means "to stay away from danger when an opportunity presents itself to be a hero".
• Clark Kent is the secret identity of Superman.
• Kryptonite is a fictional mineral that is harmless to humans but deadly to Kryptonians like Superman.
• The Real Housewives of New Jersey is an American reality series.
• The name of the patient’s band is Suicide Season.
• The Yiddish slang flies fast and thick. “Schtuping”, from the German for “nudge” or “stuff”, is slang for “having sex”. A “Shiksa” is, politely, a non-Jewish woman or, less politely, a “whore” from the Hebrew for “abomination”, “impure” or “object of loathing”. A “vilde khaya” is a “wild animal” or a person who behaves like one, particularly a child. “Bobi” or “Bubby” is an affectionate term for a grandmother. A “shmendrick” is a “stupid person”, derived from the name of such a character in an operetta.
• Rock-paper-scissors is a game often played as a selection method.
• Euclid was a mathematician in ancient Greece in the 3rd century B.C.E. He established the principles that are still used in flat-plane geometry.
• The Pythagorean theorem is a key principle in flat-plane geometry and algebra. Pythagoras was the first person to complete a proof of the theorem, but earlier mathematicians were familiar with the relationship. In geometry, it is expressed as "on a right angled triangle, a square drawn with the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) will have the same area that squares drawn with the lengths of the other two sides have". In algebra, it is expressed as "there are an infinite number of solutions to the problem where (a*a)+(b*b) = (c*c) where a, b, and c are all whole numbers".
• In case you're wondering, although mixed-religion couples are common in the United States, it is generally impolite to ask you child's partner if they plan to convert to your religion upon marriage.
• Although it's not the only example in the series, Arlene pointing out that "House" and "Cuddy", although intimate partners, still call themselves by their last names is an example of Lampshade Hanging. It is used in writing to point out an obvious problem with plot development (in this case, this part of the multi-episode Huddy story arc). House and Cuddy still use their last names with each other after this, but Arlene's line is largely in there to let the audience know that the showrunners are aware of the issue. Continuing formality between intimate partners who have had a long platonic relationship is a common trope. In the Once Upon a Time in China film series, the ultra traditional Wong Fei-Hung (Jet Li) is a constant companion of his Western educated cousin (Rosamund Kwan) who he formally refers to as "Thirteenth Aunt" in the Chinese version and "Cousin Yi" in the English version. After they get engaged, he still calls her by her formal name until she challenges him to call her by her familiar name "Siu-Kwan" in the Chinese version and "Lily" in the English version.
• The Poconos is a vacation area in northeast Pennsylvania.
• Gotham is the home of Batman, but is also an old slang name for New York City.
• House draws hair and a moustache on Taub so he would look like Hitler. Hitler was the leader of the former Nazi Germany, or 'Third Reich', and caused the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the brutal and ruthless murder of 17 million people. 6 million of those people were Jewish, or Jews, which Taub is.
• The piece playing in the background while House and Cuddy clean up the dishes and Arlene and Wilson recover from being drugged is "Wachet Auf" by J.S. Bach, usually translated into English as "Sleepers, Wake". However, when the series was shown on Netflix, Bach's "Air on the G string" is substituted.

Reviews

• TV.com users rated the episode an 8.8. They chose Matthew Lillard as their most valuable performer.
• IMDB users rated the episode an 8.6, with 35% of users giving it a "10". It did best with females under 18 (9.5) and worst with males under 18 (7.1)
• Polite dissent thought the medicine was okay, giving the mystery a B, the final solution a B+, and the medicine itself a C. He enjoyed the plot with Arlene Cuddy, giving it a B+ and stating that they should have let Candice Bergen have more screen time.

Medical Ethics

Unnecessary testing

To test or not to test. That is the question. Whether it is nobler to suffer the fate that the test you didn't order may turn out to be relevant or, in the alternative running up unnecessary expense to the patient.

House's refusal to permit a sputum culture and Masters proceeding with the test against his instructions is a seemingly benign discussion of a very serious issue in medicine - when is a test appropriate? As medical knowledge increases, it is becoming increasingly clear that the emphasis on testing and "early detection" is one of the biggest drivers of expense in medical care and the possible over-treatment of patients. In the United States, at least, patients have come to expect to be tested (see Foreman's dilemma in TB or Not TB with a patient with a breast lump who demands a biopsy against his advice).

This dilemma was illustrated by comedian Adam Conover on his series "Adam Ruins Everything".

The Little Known Truth About Mammograms

A positive mammogram could show one of five things:

• A "false positive", where there is, in fact, no actual growth
• A very quick growing cancer, which will kill the patient no matter how early it is caught
• A very slow growing cancer, which the patient is likely to outlive
• A cancer which grows quickly, then stops, posing no future danger
• A cancer which can grow quickly enough to kill you, and can be stopped with appropriate treatment.

However, absent a biopsy, these growths look the same on a mammogram. As such, if the patient chooses a treatment, it is likely to be aggressive and potentially deadly on its own, or to have serious side effects. Typically, the options are a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

House has also admonished fellows who test without a theory (most notably in 97 Seconds). However, he is surprisingly fine with fellows who go behind his back to order a test as long as, to put it in his words, they are wasting their time, not his.

Ideally, testing should be proceeded by a theory. Many times, testing is properly grounded in a person's medical history. A person with a family history of diabetes mellitus should have routine blood and urine tests for the condition even if they are not showing any outwards symptoms. The same is true of most persons with a family history of a disease. However, the possibility of over-treatment and over-diagnosis by performing even simple tests, like a sputum sample, should put both doctors and patients on their guard.

Celebrity doctors

Rarely do people choose what plane they fly by picking the "best pilot". However, in the medical profession, some doctors (like House) are seen as the "best doctor" and attract patients to their employer from this reputation. Nevertheless, trying to rate doctors is almost always an exercise in frustration. It's much easier to recognize a doctor who might be on the "cutting edge" or who is being "innovative". However, in quick order, those skills usually make their way through the medical community in quick order as an innovative doctor teaches techniques to other doctors.

The danger of this approach can be seen in this episode. House is hardly a perfect doctor. In fact, in this episode, his judgment is biased by his feelings about the patient's heroism. In the end, it turns out to be irrelevant to the diagnosis. House's reputation is, nevertheless, justified by his unique an innovative approach to diagnosis. Moreover, he hardly does this Alone - it's been demonstrated that, without fellows, his skills aren't nearly as sharp.

But doctors sometimes get undeserved reputations, often because of their celebrity. While they may still be competent physicians, believing that, somehow, they are "superior" is a stretch. Because Taub's face is on all the posters, the patient's family feel that "he must be good". There's no question that Taub is a fine doctor, but whether he's a better doctor than any of the other fellows on the team is a bigger stretch.

Goofs

• The mustache and hair on House's "Hitler sketch" on Taub's poster change from shot to shot.
• Chase says that Jack has "fluid in the lungs", which indicates pulmonary edema. However, the symptoms are a better fit with a pulmonary effusion, fluid in the space surrounding the lungs.
• House's explanation of referred pain is probably wrong. His explanation makes it seem like it's the result of nerve connections remaining established between parts of the body that were close together in utero. However, modern science believes it happens when areas with high sensitivity (like the skin) have nerve bundles that meet the spinal cord together with nerves coming from areas of low sensitivity (like the internal organs). The brain senses low grade but unusually intense signals from the organs as coming from the skin, which routinely has strong signals. As such, referred pain is usually consistent from patient to patient even though some of the relationships are poorly understood. One well understood relationship is between the testicles and the abdominal muscles.
• The "treatment" for the referred pain is equally suspect. When they go to drain the fluid around the lungs, all Jack needs is a local to numb the site where the needle goes in. In order to block referred pain, you would need to perform an epidural, a much more invasive and dangerous procedure. This is what they tried in Painless. It is unlikely a local anesthetic would effect referred pain. However, not to worry, as the procedure they were going to use to remove the fluid is far more dangerous than Masters lets on.
• The time line for varicella is wrong. Jack has only been with his daughter for a few days but, assuming she's a carrier with no symptoms, the incubation period for varicella is at least 10 days.
• Immunoglobulin is not a recommended treatment when the infection is this far advanced. It is only recommended for "off-label" use early on in an infection to keep it from getting much worse.
• If they had taken an x-ray or CT Scan of Jack's chest, it would have shown the pneumonia. Since Jack was having lung problems, they should have gotten a much quicker diagnosis.

Cast

• Hugh Laurie as Gregory House
• Lisa Edelstein as Lisa Cuddy
• Omar Epps as Eric Foreman
• Robert Sean Leonard as James Wilson
• Jesse Spencer as Robert Chase
• Peter Jacobson as Chris Taub
• Olivia Wilde as Remy Hadley (credit only)
• Amber Tamblyn as Martha M. Masters
• Matthew Lillard as Jack
• Sprague Grayden as Eva
• Jennifer Crystal Foley as Rachel Taub
• Nate Witty as Bike Messenger
• Shyloh Oostwald as Daisy
• Candice Bergen as Arlene Cuddy
• The Colbert Sisters as Rachel Cuddy
• Julie Mitchell as Chloe Jeffries
• Rosalyn Sidewater as Woman in Suit
• Thai Douglas as Conductor
• Bobbin Bergstrom as Nurse
• Nick Lorenz as Subway Passenger
• Jared A. Robinson as Subway Traveler
• Kie Spring as Consoling Subway Patron

Music

• Sonata for Cello and Piano No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38 by Johannes Brahms (during dinner)
• Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 by Johann Sebastian Bach (while House and Cuddy clean up after dinner)
• Air on the G string by Johann Sebastian Bach (substituted in the syndicated version)
• Start a War by The National (over the closing credits)

Quotes

Rachel Taub: Am I imagining things, or did I see a billboard with your face on it on my way home tonight?
Dr. Chris Taub: Oh, was my whole face there? 'Cause I just saw the nose.

Dr. Robert Chase: [to Taub] So she's not cheating on you, and you're getting all the action you can handle. I don't see the downside.

Dr. Lisa Cuddy: House, I need you to come to that dinner for two hours, keep your mouth shut, and behave like an adult. Yes, you will be in Hell, but I will feel better having you there. That is what a relationship is. We average our misery.

Dr. James Wilson: Leaving aside the fact that House is a sociopath, I have to admit that I'm - I'm honestly relieved. Your mom is quite a - quite a handful. What?... I feel fu... oh, you've got to be kidding me! [passes out]
Dr. Gregory House: Sorry. I honestly thought you'd be worse.

Arlene: In the clinic, you were a complete schmendrick. But once you knew I was Lisa's mother, you held your tongue. That's because you love her. I still think you're a pain in the ass with a God complex, and I'll kill you if you hurt her, but I'm glad she has you.

Rachel Taub: Hi.
Dr. Chris Taub: I think we should get a divorce. You have feelings for him, and I can't handle that. But it's my fault you needed someone else. I keep hurting you.
Rachel Taub: We love each other.
Dr. Chris Taub: I know. But are you happy?'
Rachel Taub: No.
Dr. Chris Taub: Then what are we doing?

Eva: Do you think we could consult with him?
Dr. Robert Chase: I didn't know you knew Dr. Taub.
Eva: I don't.
Dr. Robert Chase: You saw the ads.
Eva: Look, no offense, but you were wrong yesterday. And they wouldn't have made him the face of the hospital if he weren't really good, right?
Dr. Robert Chase: Dr. Taub. The patient would like to see you.
Dr. Chris Taub: How can I help?

Dr. Chris Taub: Three weeks isn't so bad.
Eva: It's not three weeks. This is what he's always done. Just one more tour.
Dr. Chris Taub: I'm sorry.
Eva: The pathetic thing is, I let myself believe that he could change, he could be this other guy. There's nothing worse than loving someone who's never gonna stop disappointing you.

Dr. Robert Chase: You think Taub really comes across as the most trustworthy doctor here?
Dr. Eric Foreman: I knew it was bugging you.
Dr. Robert Chase: They cut me out.
Dr. Eric Foreman: You're a pretty boy. Works well with the ladies, not so much with the patients. No one wants an underwear model performing their splenectomy.
Dr. Robert Chase: I notice they weren't exactly knocking down your door looking for Dr. Trustworthy.
Dr. Eric Foreman: That's 'cause I'm black. Cortisol levels look normal. We were wrong.
Dr. Robert Chase: Which House will interpret as him being right. He's gonna make us biopsy the pituitary gland.

Dr. Robert Chase: You seem pretty calm for a guy who's surrounded by racists.
Dr. Eric Foreman: 80% of the Princeton population is white. Some are racist, some aren't. White works with both demographics.
Dr. Robert Chase: So race is your excuse, not the fact that you usually look like you're about to punch someone in the face?
Dr. Eric Foreman: We're good.

Dr. Gregory House: [about Masters] God! She's still talking. Make it stop.
Dr. Robert Chase: House's world view doesn't include random acts of self-sacrifice. He's gonna count heroism as a symptom until proven otherwise.

Dr. Chris Taub: That poster got me laid when I got home last night, so do your worst.

Dr. Gregory House: [House turns around finds Wilson and Cuddy] I forgot. you guys talk. Look, no offense to either of you, but dinner with your mom? Come on, I- I have to act like a decent human being, and you know what a strain that puts on me. And *you*. Ever since you broke up with Sam, you've done nothing but mope and whine. It's an unbelievable bummer.
Dr. James Wilson: And just what is so exciting you have to blow off both of us to do it?
Dr. Gregory House: I just want to sit on my couch in my underwear, drink Scotch and watch the Real Housewives of New Jersey... by myself. I just want one night off. Is that so much to ask?
Dr. James Wilson, Dr. Lisa Cuddy: Yes!

Arlene: I wish that you would take a second look. I'm tired all the time, and when it's cold I get this weird pain in my shoulder.
Dr. Gregory House: I have a pain in my leg. You don't hear me complaining... except for just now.
Arlene: How do doctors get this idea you're better than everyone else?
Dr. Gregory House: Probably all that pulling people back from the brink of death, it's just a guess.
Arlene: My own daughter is a doctor. She makes a hobby of dismissing my concerns.
Dr. Gregory House: She sounds smart.
Arlene: Did she tell you to say that?
Dr. Gregory House: I've never met your daughter.
Arlene: That's hard to believe since you're currently shtupping her.

Martha Masters: Why is your assumption of his guilt more valid than my assumption of his selflessness?
Dr. Gregory House: Because my assumption is backed up by millions of men, and Taub, who've cheated on their wives. Find the girl and the love nest. Every hero has his Kryptonite.

Arlene: I've got a train to catch.
Dr. Gregory House: I thought you were staying till Sunday.
Arlene: I'm coming down with a cold. Every time I stay with Lisa or her sister, one of those rugrats gets me sick. Children are awful.

Arlene: So, say you two got married. Would you convert to Judaism?
Dr. Lisa Cuddy: We haven't gotten that far, mom.
Dr. James Wilson: That's actually a really interesting question.
Dr. Gregory House: I'm an atheist.
Arlene: Honey, half the Jews I know are atheists. It's about community.

House: Faced with almost certain death, a normal person rides the pine.
Masters: What about firefighters?
House: The guys who undergo months of training to deny their own instincts for self-preservation?
Taub: And the patient isn't a firefighter, he plays a bass in a band.
Masters: So, humanity is apathetic and self-serving?
House: Yeah.
Taub: The other hundred people stayed on that platform. That's a normal response to danger.

Masters: Jack has an infection that's spread to his mastoid.
House: Great. We'll confirm that in a week, when your secret cultures have sprouted.
Masters: Am I in trouble?
House: I only get mad when you waste my time. Couldn't care less about yours. But let me know when they come back negative, and I'll mock you.

Dr. Wilson: You have to go. Your girlfriend's birthday? It's not even a question.
House: She has one every year. How often do you break up with the love of your life? Okay, for you, it's more often than most, but still...
Dr. Wilson: I'm a big boy. I think I'll survive.

Taub: I was mugged once. When I saw the gun, my legs went out.
Dr. Chase: I always thought it was fight or flight. Didn't know it was fight or flight or faint.

House: We finally know what Tuab would look like if he were life-size.

Dr. Cuddy: Wilson.
House: It's uh, bowling night. He'll never forgive me if I don't. Oh, screw it. I'm coming.
Dr. Cuddy: No, no. no. I am not going to be responsible for that. You drugged the man, you go bowling with him.
House: Well, my chances of sex are considerably lower with Wilson.

Release Dates

• United States - January 17, 2011 on Fox
• Canada - January 17, 2011 on Global
• United Kingdom - February 10, 2011 on SKY1
• Finland - February 15, 2011
• Hungary - April 27, 2011
• Germany - May 31, 2011 on RTL
• Bulgaria - July 1, 2011 on Nova TV
• Czech Republic - October 31, 2011 on TV Nova
• Poland - November 3, 2011 on TVP2
• Sweden - November 1, 2011 on TV4
• Slovakia - April 26, 2012 on STV1
• Japan - February 19, 2013
• Finland - April 8, 2013 on MTV3

In Other Languages

• Brazilian Portuguese-Maior Que A Vida (direct translation of Larger than Life)
• French - Le Héros du jour (Eng. The Hero of the Day)

Links

• Episode page at IMDB
• Episode transcript at Clinic Duty
• Episode page at House MD Guide
• Episode review at Blog Her
• A review of the medicine at Polite Dissent now at Archive.org
• Episode article at Wikipedia
• Episode page at TV.com

Video

1 Larger than life

House meets someone's mom

2 larger than life

January preview

3 Larger than life

Guest star Matthew Lillard

Previous episode: Small Sacrifices

Larger than Life

Next episode: Carrot or Stick

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