Review House Season 6 Ep. 3 The Tyrant
House Gets Political
The best stories are the ones that spur discussion after they are over. With that in mind, this episode of House was really quite engaging. An African dictator, Dibala (played by special guest star James Earl Jones), is brought to Princeton-Plainsboro while visiting the country after coughing up blood. The controversy surrounding his politics brings up a lot ethical questions that really make the episode pop.
An Ethical Dilemma
After the exit of Thirteen and Taub in the previous episode, Foreman convinces Cameron and Chase to fill in temporarily. Of course, this is before he learns that House is coming back to the hospital. Without his license, House cannot officially head the team, but he still sits in on the diagnostics, offering his opinions to a less than enthused Foreman.
The case itself recalls some themes brought up in the season three episode "Informed Consent," but explores it deeper. Dibala is a man who sees himself as the only one who can protect his country from gurrelia rebels, and is massacring his own people to try and stop it. This creates controversy in the hospital. A man who has seen Dibala's actions first hand attempts to assassinate him, and Cameron (like in "Informed Consent") takes issue to treating someone she feels doesn't deserve to go back to his work.
Interestingly, it is Chase who ultimately takes a stand against the dictator. When it comes down to two possible illnesses, the team has to retest Dibala's blood to determine which it is. Chase, however, takes blood from a deceased patient in the morgue instead, and Dibala is treated for the wrong disease leading to his death. When Foreman finds out he confronts Chase, who feels justified in his actions because Dibala was just going to go back and continue his genocide. In the end, Foreman keeps Chase's secret, and destroys the sign in sheet showing that Chase was in the morgue.
Good Neighbor
The B-story line follows House and his attempts to remedy tension his staying with Wilson has inadvertently cause with the downstairs tenant. The neighbor has not taken kindly to the extra noise and smells (thanks to House's new cooking hobby), and since he sits on the condo board, Wilson wants House to play nice so that the garden can get renovated.
To his credit, House does make attempts to play nice with the neighbor, a Vietnam vet who lost his hand and constantly feels pain where it used to be. But the vet is just as big of a jerk as House used to be, so his attempts to make up with the neighbor backfire. Eventually, House drugs the neighbor and uses an optical illusion to get rid of the phantom pain. The neighbor is so grateful, he informs Wilson that the renovations will be going through.
"Is It Three Years Ago?"
As in the previous episode, its seems that this season is revisiting a lot of themes from previous seasons. Unlike the previous episode, this one was able to dive deeper into the underlying issues, so it did not feel like a simple re-hash of ideas. The implications of Chase's actions are huge, and bring to the forefront the issue of when it is acceptable to take a life. More importantly, when it is acceptable for a doctor to turn on his duty to heal and bring harm to his patient. Hopefully it is able to spur some deep discussion among the shows fans.
Of course, the episode also had it's little moments that also made it enjoyable. House pantomiming his diagnosis for the rest of the team to figure out was a fantastic comic moment. And it really is almost cute to see Wilson and House living with each other, and the moment they share watching a nature program at the end was priceless. It's nice to see an episode tackle tough issues, while still creating a human connection amongst it's characters.
Grade: A
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