Allison Cameron (House)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr. Allison Cameron
House character
Image:Allison cameron.jpg
Time on show	2004-present
First appearance	Pilot
Portrayed by	Jennifer Morrison

This article is about the character on the American TV series "House". For the Canadian composer Allison Cameron, see Allison Cameron (composer).

Allison Cameron, M.D. is a fictional character, portrayed by Jennifer Morrison, on the American medical drama House.

1 Character
2 Biography
3 Relationship with House
4 Trivia

[edit] Character

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Dr. Cameron is a member of Dr. Gregory House's team of handpicked specialists at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (PPTH), Department of Diagnostic Medicine. She is an immunologist and was hired by House six months prior to the pilot episode (implied in the un-aired version of the pilot). Prior to working at PPTH, she was a medical intern at the Mayo Clinic and was one of the top students in her class in medical school. House explicitly told her that he chose her for her looks: a pretty girl who went into medicine shows greater commitment than an ordinary-looking better student because a pretty girl could have used her looks to get an easier job.

She is currently working for House under a medical fellowship, along with Drs. Chase and Foreman.

Cameron is by far the most empathetic member of House's team possesses the best bedside manner. She is also known for her honesty, sincerity and possesses a strong moral and ethical character. Cameron is hesitant and unwilling at times to do House's bidding in which she is required to lie or deceive their patients and has gone head-to-head with her boss before on several occasions on the issue. She has also occasionally shown extreme reluctance to relate bad news to patients or their family (1.04, "Maternity", 2.01, "Acceptance").

Cameron agonizes over showing as much empathy as possible; she has interfered with House's cases and even undermined him to prevent him from lying or misleading his patients. When discovering that a patient, professional biker, was on performance-enhancing drugs (2.06, "Spin"), Cameron reported him to the newspaper, determined that he not succeed for "cheating". While never directly subordinate (she is fully devoted to House), her unwaving and almost robotic compulsion to good had put her and her employer at odds. By season 3 House seems to be finally wearing her down, as she is seen slipping into some of his bad habits, such as berating or lying to patients, things that she would have been more squeamish about in season 1.

[edit] Biography

Despite her kind and earnest nature, Cameron has undergone extremely traumatic experiences in her life. According to a conversation between her and House ("Fidelity", 1.07), she fell in love and married when she was twenty-one. However, the marriage lasted six months ending with her husband's death due to thyroid cancer that had metastasized to his brain. She also revealed to Dr. Wilson that she had met her husband shortly after he was diagnosed and that if they hadn't married, he would have died alone. ("Acceptance", 2.01)

In another surprising confession to Wilson, she told the latter that she fell in love with her late husband's best friend, Joe, but felt guilty never acted on her feelings. ("Spin", 2.06)

In "Hunting" (2.07), a man infected with HIV coughed blood into her mouth and eyes, putting her potentially at risk for contracting the disease. He suggested to her that she should enjoy life and experimentation a little more, causing her to take crystal meth and have a one-night stand with her co-worker, Dr. Robert Chase. Prior to this episode Chase and Cameron had exchanged somewhat flirtatious banter, particularly in the season one episode "Occam's Razor". In this episode it was revealed that Chase finds Cameron attractive. Cameron then uses this knowledge to give herself power over Chase. Over the course of the first season little more is said about Chase's crush on Cameron, though he expresses a bit of surprise upon learning that Cameron has a date with House in "Love Hurts" (season one). In season two, Chase asked Cameron out for drinks, though this date never occurred. When Chase arrived to pick Cameron up at her apartment, she began kissing him and proceeded to sleep with him. After their acknowledgement that the sex was very good and vowing to never let it happen again, little has been said about the relationship between Cameron and Chase.

Cameron and Dr. Foreman's friendship became strained after she accused the latter of plagiarizing her article for a medical journal after his article was published ("Sleeping Dogs Lie", 2.18). Her frustration and anger were further exacerbated by her peers' indifference (especially House's) to the entire affair. She eventually confronted Foreman and apologized for the angry way she had treated him, though, claiming she didn't want to damage their friendship. Foreman replied by telling her that their relationship was purely professional, and they were by no means "friends."

However, in a later storyline ("Euphoria" -- Parts I & II, 2.20 & 2.21) when Foreman was dying from an unknown disease, he apologized for his prior actions (including exposing Cameron to the disease on purpose which led her to go to the patient's house in an effort to find the source despite it being declared off-limits several times by House). Although Cameron didn't accept his apology initially (fearing it was a knee-jerk reaction to his impending death rather than one made in sincerity), she recanted her position before he was put into a chemically-induced coma. Foreman also named her his medical proxy while he was incapacitated, giving her the right to allow a white-matter brain biopsy to be performed on him, despite House's vehement objections.

[edit] Relationship with House

[edit] Season 1

In the first episode, Pilot, Cameron confronts House to ask why he hired her. He reveals that he hired her because she "looks good." He says that beautiful women don't go to medical school unless they are as "damaged as they are beautiful." He then surmises that Cameron is damaged.

Her emerging feelings for her boss can be seen as early as "Damned If You Do" (1.05), where she showed extreme trust in House's leadership to the team and gave him a Christmas gift towards the end of the episode. She was also one of the few who acknowledged his birthday. In "Sports Medicine" (1.12), House invites Cameron to a monster truck rally.

Cameron: "Like a date?"

House: "Exactly, except for the date part."

However, the episode where Cameron's interest becomes extremely clear is the episode "Control" (1.14), in which she asked him whether he liked her. House replied, "No." However, House's behavior sometimes goes contrary to this claim.

In "Mob Rules" (1.15), Cameron admitted to her feelings for House to Dr. Chase who comforted her by pointing out that their boss didn't like anyone and then went on to marvel that she, ironically, was the only person who did like him.

Things became increasingly tense in the Department in "Heavy" (1.16) as House revealed that he was being made to fire one of them by the end of the week as office politics came into play pitting the three colleagues against each other. There was a heated exchange between Cameron and House in the pathology laboratory as he implied that she had made a mistake administering the correct medicine to their patient and she accused him of stalling on having to make a decision. She would later go on to confront him about his nonchalant behaviour, in which she quietly threatened to leave her job to "make it easy on everyone". House called her out on her bluff and replied that, "maybe she should." By the end of the episode, Cameron is seen writing up her CV in the lab.

Despite House's agreement to promote hospital board chairman, Edward Vogler's new drug for his pharmaceutical company in exchange for his Department to remain intact ("Role Model", 1.17), things ended in disaster as he embarrassed his employer in a Vicodin-fuelled diatribe against the drug at a public presentation. Earlier in the episode, he had privately asked Cameron why she liked him. The conversation led nowhere as House bitterly accused her of psycho-analyzing him when she attempted to deflect the question. At the end of the episode, Cameron stopped by House's apartment to tender her resignation which he initially questioned as "another noble self-sacrificing gesture". She disagreed and revealed why she liked him -- that he did things because it was right and not to help people as she had originally thought. He rejected her attempt to shake hands as a proper goodbye which prompted her to say that there were only two ways she could deal with their current situation and she was exercising the one option of which she was in control of. House was visibly upset when she left his home.

With the departure of Vogler from PPTH, House attempted to bring Cameron back to work ("Kids", 1.19). She literally shut the door in his face the first time round as his replies as to why he wanted her back didn't impress her. By the end of the episode, House was back at her front door asking her to come back to work despite her acceptance of a new job. He offered her more perks at work and was thrown off when Cameron replied that all she wanted was "dinner", clarifying that it couldn't just be "a meal between two colleagues." She wanted a real date.

Despite an uncharacteristic show of romance by House (he bought her a corsage), the date did not go well as Cameron learnt from attempting to gain an insight as to what her emotionally crippled boss felt about her (by using Freud). House responds:

"You live under the delusion that you can fix everything that isn’t perfect. That’s why you married a man who was dying of cancer. You don’t love, you need. And now that your husband is dead, you’re looking for your new charity case. That’s why you’re going out with me. I’m twice your age, I’m not great looking, I’m not charming, I’m not even nice. What I am is what you need. I’m damaged." (1.20, "Love Hurts")

Cameron would later approach House in the later half of the first season finalé (1.22, "The Honeymoon") as he was observing his old flame, Stacy Warner, with her husband and acknowledged his rejection by responding:

"I thought you were too screwed up to love anyone. I was wrong. You just couldn't love me. It's okay. I'm happy for you."

[edit] Season 2

The return of House's former girlfriend caused the relationship between House and Cameron to be placed in the back burner for the rest of the first season and half of the second season. While it was clear that Cameron still harbored some feelings for House (and possibly vice-versa), the future remained uncertain for the two characters despite the departure of Stacy from the show's canvas and a few "tease scenes" by the producers throughout the second season.

In one episode, while treating a patient with AIDS, the patient coughed blood on her. He then informed her that maybe it would loosen her up, and that she should have more fun. She preceeded to take the patient's crystal meth, get stoned, and have sex with Chase. However, although Chase showed signs of being interested in her in the first season, the two did not continue to have a romantic relationship- the hook-up was a one night thing.

In the second season finalé, "No Reason" (2.24), viewers gained an insight into House's mind when he hallucinates subsequent to being shot. During his hallucination, his subconscious has Cameron keep a vigil by his bedside for two days after his surgery and later, House would use a complex surgical machine to begin to undress her in the midst of treating a patient. When he awakens as he's being transported to the emergency room, House entrusts Cameron to inform Dr. Cuddy that he wants ketamine to relieve the pain in his leg.

[edit] Season 3

In the third season opener ("Meaning" - 3.01), House asked Cameron out on a date throwing her off. She declined his invitation citing a list of reasons. Bemusedly, he declared her to be "full of crap" and accused her of only being interested in him when he was still a "sick puppy". Cameron, in response, replied that he was still "not healthy".

In a later episode ("Informed Consent" - 3.03), Cameron is against assisting a patient's suicide for the duration of the episode, and this keeps her from participating in much of the diagnostic procedures. However, after being diagnosed with an untreatable illness, the patient mysteriously dies only thirty minutes after being declared stable. Cuddy easily believes that House is behind it, but we later see Cameron crying in the chapel. House puts a comforting hand on her shoulder, and says that he is proud of her. Thus, we are led to believe that Cameron assisted the patient's suicide.

In the episode 3.08 ("Whac-A-Mole"), House is begging all of his coworkers for Vicodin perscriptions after Detective Tritter freezes Wilson's drug perscription abilities. When he asks Cameron, she hesitates slightly, but she gives him some of her pain medications, saying "If it takes the edge off my PMS, I bet it will do wonders for you". She is the only person on House's team to give in to any of House's demands for pain medication. It should probably be noted, however, that the medication in question was most likely Midol and not a prescription pain medication at all. It's unlikely that Allison Cameron would take a powerful pain killer, such as a narcotic, simply for PMS.

In the next episode (3.09, "Finding Judas"), Detective Tritter proceeds to offer her a deal in exchange for her to testify against House. When she declined, Tritter revealed that he had looked into her background and noticed a pattern of unrelenting goodness in her record. He observed that Dr. House was turning her into someone like him. Cameron left the room after Tritter brought up her previous marrige with a dying man earlier in her life (a highly painful subject for her).

[edit] Trivia

In the pilot episode, Cameron mentions that she had a juvenile criminal record, although it is unknown whether or not she was joking.

She once mentioned to House that she was not an only child (1.02: "Paternity").

There have been theories that she might have lost a child once, as a result of her behaviour in "Maternity" (1.04). In fact, House took it upon himself to violate her privacy and pull her medical history (1.07: "Fidelity"). Though there was no note that she had ever been pregnant (due to the lack of prescription to pre-natal vitamins), some still believe the contrary.

She is an atheist (1.05: "Damned If You Do", 1.17: "Role Model").

Cameron is the only regular character that hasn't been in every episode of the show to date. She was missing primarily in "Babies and Bathwater" (1.18), stemming from her resignation from the hospital.

She was invited to move to Africa by Dr. Sebastian Charles (Ron Livingston) (a world-renowned activist, a fellow immunologist and patient) and then later, on a date, in "TB or Not TB" (2.04). Cameron confided in Chase who expressed his doubt that she would go out with Dr. Charles despite their mutual attraction, simply because he wasn't House. At the end of the episode, she declined both offers.

Cameron is the only member of House's department thus far to meet his parents, John and Blythe, when they stopped by to see him. They later invited her to come along for a drink with them but she declined. House would later thank Cameron for doing so, and then went on to compare her to his father whom he has issues with saying they both possessed an "insane moral compass" and that it was a "crappy quality for a dad". (2.05, "Daddy's Boy"). Interestingly, Cameron is the only member of House's department who has not had a parent meet House.

House told her he loved her out of the blue in order to get her to take her final HIV test. Her mouth dropped open in shock and he quickly swabbed the inside of her cheek, and told her that she would get the results the day after. By the end of the episode, Cameron finds out that House had actually opened her test results before she had a chance to find out herself, justifying his actions by citing the letter's confidentiality and that he had simply "wanted to know". (2.11, "Need to Know").

She is from the Midwest as revealed by House. (Similarly, Jennifer Morrison is also a Chicago native.) (3.06, Que Será Será)

Cameron is seen in many episodes wearing glasses to read or examine an object close up, a trait not typically seen in television characters her age. In some episodes she can be glimpsed reading without her glasses.