Every time this "Whac-A-Mole" episode of House started to annoy me with little character moments that didn't make sense to me, up popped scenes with big character moments that made me happy.
Patrick Fugit of Almost Famous is great as pragmatic, dryly humorous 18-year-old Jack, surrogate parent two his two younger siblings since their parents were killed in a car accident. Jack gave some kid a birthday to remember when he threw up on the presents during a shift at a kiddie-themed restaurant, then had a heart attack and the slightly lesser symptom of itchy feet.
Always game to make his own fun and to show off his unusual teaching methods, House seals his own answer in an envelope and challenges his team to come up with the diagnosis on their own. After all, as he points out, how will they learn if he doesn't let them swim on their own? But of course he doesn't, really, because that would mean shutting up. And where's the fun in that?
About 15 minutes in, Foreman, Cameron, and Chase are miraculously provided with the results of a Hepatitis A test they didn't order, and the Hep A explains the puking, which caused the heart attack. Which seems a little prosaic for the lofty department of diagnostics, but since it comes only 15 minutes in, it's safe to say that's not the end of the game.
When Cameron opens the envelope, she finds it contains not the diagnosis of Hepatitis A, but the diagnosis of how Foreman, Cameron, and Chase would react, proving House's diagnostic skills work on personalities and not just diseases.
Fortunately, Jack's Hep A is curable. Unfortunately, his sudden propensity to bleed out of every orifice, and some non-orifices, is unrelated to the original diagnosis.
Though David Morse doesn't appear in this episode, Tritter's shadow does. Wilson, apparently a fan of LA Law, Chicago Hope, and maybe even The Guardian, picked Alan Rosenberg to be his lawyer, who grills him about the forged prescriptions.
Wilson: What, are we, like, role playing?
Lawyer: Yeah, and you suck at it. Which is really unfortunate, because you're pretending to be you.
Long-lost Marco the put-upon pharmacist has to break the news to Wilson that he can no longer prescribe, which puts a hamper on the cancer doctor business. Tritter has taken a page from the Evil Board Chair Vogler playbook, getting at House through destroying Wilson's career, though my feelings of deja vu were counteracted by later revelations that this time it's playing out differently.
Article comments
1 - BB
"House's diagnostic skills work on personalities and not just diseases."
Actually, House diagnosed correctly what they would do in a medical context (i.e. procedures) but not in a personal one. He was obviously taken aback when they all refused to issue him a scrip. His diagnostic genius failed him there.
2 - Diane Kristine
That's true. That's what I meant by his manipulative skills weren't working, but it's obviously affected his ability to diagnose how they'd react to him, too. He obviously hasn't yet realized that everyone around him is pushed to the breaking point. I think that's because he's so blinded by what his role in their breaking point is - he still sees this as Tritter's fault completely.
3 - Bliffle
These doctors truly are The Miserable Ones. Bishop Wilson tries nobly to give up the silver vicodin tabs, but, lo, Javert Tritter confounds all by persecuting Wilson in turn. Then the others. Will Jean Val Houses soul be saved? Will Fantine Cuddy be his deliverance? Is Cameron Cosette?
4 - genagirl
This episode nearly broke my heart. I have to say RSL is an amazing actor - he has a Tony they should give him an Emmy for the angry/hurt/desperate need he shows in that last scene - all without saying a word. House needs to get a grip on his life and realize that everything Wilson has done has been for him. He's pushed Wilson too far - anything Wilson does now will be to save himself.