TV Review: House - "Fools for Love" - Page 2

People who hadn't gone near a TV listing in the past month, or read an article about David Morse joining the cast for a six-episode arc, might have had some delayed gratification on this, but those of us who knew the character was a cop could have seen it as a bit of clever dialogue:

Tritter: You're rude.
House: Wow, you're like a detective or something.
Tritter: And you're smart. And you're funny. But you are bitter, and you're lonely, so you treat everyone around like they're idiots, and you get away with it, because of your cane.

See, if House paid attention to the signs, like the fact the interrupted dialogue gives a clue that he is, in fact, a detective, or the subtle hint of the guy's profession being written in his chart, House might have realized he's pissing off a cop.

Tritter even trips the poor, crippled doctor, and House's surprise that his cane isn't his get out of jail free card this time is evident on that expressive Hugh Laurie face.

Morse plays the role with a quiet menace, which, so far, is a much more effective contrast and antagonist to Laurie's often-theatrically acerbic Dr. House than the caricature board chair Vogler, played by Chi McBride in the first season, or last season's ex-love Stacy, played by Sela Ward — though it was largely because it's hard to buy into an antagonist when you know they really want to jump each other.

And I know he's had a million roles since then, but it's a bit of a shock to someone who remembers Morse fondly as the sweet Dr. Boomer. Tritter is not what I would call sweet, but it's hard not to think House deserves a little of the sweet revenge the cop threatens after House "forgets" to remove the rectal thermometer he inserts following the reluctantly administered swab test. If "No Reason"'s Moriarty couldn't get House to be nicer to patients permanently, because it's the right thing to do, maybe the threat of getting the crap beaten out of him will do it.

Of course, it won't, and it would ruin the show if it did, but we've got the promise of a very interesting battle of wills here, at least. Though Cuddy makes House promise to apologize, and Tritter confronts him to bully an apology out of him, House the bully naturally refuses.

When Foreman and Chase find condoms in the young couple's apartment, Chase and House think Jeremy must be cheating on his birth-control-taking wife. Foreman's belief in their devotion to each other is vindicated when it turns out they really did just want to be extra cautious, and test negative for STDs. When Tracy lapses into a coma and scans show she has lesions on her brain, House wants to do a risky brain stem biopsy with the husband's consent.

Article Author: Diane Kristine Wild

Diane writes about boring things by day, pop culture things by night. She also runs the TV, Eh? website, a compilation of news about Canadian television. Follow her on Twitter @deekayw for more random thoughts.

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