1x05 - DAMNED IF YOU DO
AUGUSTINE: Dr. House found his miracle.
CHASE: I doubt he’ll interpret it that way.
AUGUSTINE: You told me your favorite passage. Would you like to hear mine? “Celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again.”
CHASE: The prodigal son.
AUGUSTINE: He’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready.
it's a christmas episode (in october) and it's time to chaseblog for real!!!! as in this is literally just going to be a chase post with some other characters thrown in.
five episodes into the show and chase has been more of a background character than a main character. he's just sort of...there. cameron, who has been working for house for half of chase's tenure, and foreman, who's still new to the team, both seem to have deeper connections to house and to the department than he does and the writers have sort of emphasized them as the leads. the pilot is through foreman's eyes, maternity is through cameron's, and finally we get an episode through chase's with damned if you do.
by this point in the show, we don't know much about the personal lives of the ducklings. we get bits and pieces. we know about foreman's teenage years, that cameron lost someone important to her, and that chase got his job because his dad made a phone call. we're still a few episodes away from cursed, the big chase trauma/lore dump episode (and i'm already looking forward to recapping that) but damned if you do still does a great job at giving us a little insight into his background, more specifically his religious background.
chase's initial reaction to finding out that augustine is a nun is interesting in its own right. he hates nuns. this is our first clue that something is connecting chase to this case whether he wants it to or not. something personal and real. his first interaction with her without any of the other doctors present is incredibly revealing. she asks if he always wanted to be a doctor. he says yes, always, but without a hint of conviction in his voice, and house proves that right during his own conversation with chase. he did what his dad wanted him to do. be a doctor. augustine views the church and her sisters as the family she wished she had growing up. this is something that this episode doesn't really touch on, but it does come up later in the show that chase also felt the same way when he was in seminary. first time viewers back in 2004 probably didn't have chase connecting with a nun on their bingo cards but hey. this isn't the craziest thing to happen on this show. him praying with her despite struggling with his own beliefs and OF COURSE the insane prodigal son line that we all go insane over. this is a great episode for the chasenators.
in terms of other characters, i really love the conversation between foreman and cameron about faith and belief and the idea that cameron doesn't believe in god but she believes in house. and the foreman and house relationship is the gift that keeps on giving in this first season in a variety of ways, but notably when house praises foreman in front of cameron. be like foreman. stand up for what you believe in.
damned if you do isn't really a classic chase centric episode, but with all the focus and the revelations we get, it certainly feels like one. it unknowingly sets up some interesting storylines for him later on in the show. and, of course, the ending with house and wilson having dinner as silent night plays will forever be iconic <3