House - Episode 11 (Season Three): “Words and Deeds”
In this week’s episode of House, the mystery is good, but the medical treatment is not. There are some good character moments, but this doesn’t stop the Tritter storyline from limping to a weak ending. Spoilers follow!
Derek, a firefighter, becomes short of breath and disoriented while at the scene of a fire. He tells his partner Amy that he is feeling chills. He is brought to the hospital and admitted to House’s service. Cameron notes that he has a fluctuating temperature as well as skin grafts over half his body from bad third-degree burns suffered on the job a year ago. She also discovers that he has had several episodes of disorientation in the past few weeks. Cameron reports that Derek’s tests for hepatitis C, HIV, TB (tuberculosis), Lyme disease are all negative, as is his drug screen. The EKG is said to show an “arrhythmia” (an abnormal rhythm) but House blows it off. Foreman suggests a hypothalamic tumor, while the other doctors are suspicious of a hospital acquired infection — one he picked up when he had his skin graft surgery and which has smoldered since then. They are concerned about MRSA (methacillin-resistant Staph. aureus), a particularly nasty germ.
Because of concern about MRSA, Derek is placed in isolation. He casually reveals to Cameron that everything looks blue. Foreman mentions heavy metal poisoning as a cause of this, particularly thallium. House suspects the patient has “male menopause” (low testosterone, elevated estrogen levels) brought about by burns he has suffered to his genitals. Viagra is known to cause blue color shifts, and House believes he is taking Viagra to make up for the effects of the low testosterone. The next time we see Derek, he is out of isolation (the MRSA tests came back negative) and he is receiving hormone therapy (apparently his levels were low). He suddenly starts screaming that the hormones are causing pain, then he lashes out and starts throttling Cameron. Foreman sedates him with some Lorazepam (brand name: Ativan).
The team tests, but Derek is not allergic to the hormones and they were not contaminated. Additionally, there is no evidence of a pulmonary embolism and his EKG is normal. Foreman, true to form, suspects a neurological cause, either a frontal lobe tumor or meningitis. However, a CT scan and lumbar puncture are normal. Other possible diagnoses mentioned include polyarteritis nodosa (a rare disease caused by inflammation of the arteries) and Legionnaire’s disease. Chase also believes it is unusual that Derek’s drug screen is negative as he must be taking some pain medication to treat the severe pain from his skin grafts.
The Young Guns are paged to Derek’s bedside where they discover that he has become suddenly short of breath and tachycardic (rapid heart rate). His oxygen saturation is 85%. Chase notices ST elevation on the EKG and realizes that Derek is having a heart attack. Elevated cardiac enzymes confirm this diagnosis (a heart damaged by a heart attack will release certain proteins in a predictable pattern over several days. By testing for these proteins, you can discover if a patient has had a heart attack.) The team eventually realizes that the common denominator in all of Derek’s attacks is his partner Amy. It is only when she is around that he has problems. They can find no inciting agents she carries, but Cameron recognizes that Derek is in love with Amy. He explains that she is engaged to his brother and that he can never have a relationship with her. Cameron explains to the rest of the team that Derek is literally dying of a broken heart.
The team starts Derek on beta-blockers and nitroglycerin (common medications for heart attack patients) but they don’t help. The team considers antidepressants, but discards the idea because House believes their side effects will make things worse (which is quite a stretch). Chase suggests propylthiouracil (a drug that is inhibits the thyroid gland), but House feels it would be bad for the heart as well (not to mention a bizarre and incorrect use of the drug). At the end, the team decides to use EST (electroshock therapy) to cause a permanent memory loss so Derek won’t remember Amy or his brother.
The therapy seems to be successful, but in a casual conversation with Amy, Cameron discovers that she was never engaged to Derek’s brother. It turns out that Derek had false memories (I would have first thought of House’s favorite mantra –”patients lie” — rather than jump to the diagnosis of false memories). A brain MRI (now they get an MRI) shows decreased blood flow to one part of the brain. A close look at the blood flow in the spine shows a spinal meningioma (a tumor of the membrane that covers the spinal cord) that is pressing against the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain. When this tumor is removed, Derek will be good to go (well, except for that permanent memory loss).
Medically, the two big problems this episode were the EKGs and the ECT.
In the beginning, House ignores an abnormal EKG. You never ignore an abnormal EKG — that’s just asking for trouble, and they would likely have made the diagnosis much sooner (but then the show would be too short). Then later in the episode, Derek had a normal EKG. If he truly had suffered multiple heart attacks, there’s no way he would have had a normal EKG.
The biggest problem was the EST. First, there’s no way EST would ever be used without a psychiatrist’s evaluation and consent, and no psychiatrist would jump straight to EST without attempting other therapies first. A thorough testing, evaluation, and history would reveal the false memories. EST is still used occasionally for depression, schizophrenia, and mania — but the patient is suffering from none of these. EST can certainly cause memory problems, and does cause temporary memory loss in most patients, but it is not a predictable effect and ECT is not used to purposefully block out memories.
For nitpicking, I will point out that the bacterial cultures came back surprisingly fast once again, and that Cameron needs to brush up on her isolation skills. She wasn’t dressed correctly for either contact isolation or drawing blood.
On the non-medical side, I liked the scenes with House and Cuddy and House and Wilson — especially the ones with Cuddy; she showed some real teeth. I thought his interactions with Foreman and Chase were good, but wasn’t as impressed with the scenes with Cameron.
Legally, it seemed all wrong. I am certainly not a lawyer, but the show seemed to be confusing grand juries and actual trials. The judge said she was going to determine if there was enough evidence to try House, which suggests a grand jury (or something like that), but House pleaded “Not Guilty” before that. How can he plead if he hasn’t been brought to trial on charges yet?
And the resolution of the whole Tritter storyline? Let’s just say that it ended with a whimper and too much deus ex machina for my taste.
I did like that House had the last laugh after all.
The medical mystery was good, so I give it a B+ and the ultimate solution was well-thought out and earns another B+. The actual medical treatment was bad, especially the EST aspect, and drags down the overall medical score to a D+. The character interaction/soap opera was good and earns an A-. Overall, I give the Tritter arc a C-.
The previous House review
A list of all prior House reviews
January 9th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
I think if they had made the circumstances really, really, really dire — as in, this is our last chance or he’s going to die — I could have swallowed the ECT. But the way it was presented was absolutely outlandish, and the first time ever I couldn’t suspend disbelief in an episode of House.
January 9th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
The ECT was just. . . c’mon.
“We had to kill the patient in order to save him.”
January 9th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
My layman’s view of the episode copied from another forum I just posted in regarding the episode.
Ok, I’m very disappointed with this episode.
The patent of the week case didn’t have me interested much, the male menopause thing was good but other then that. You would think some would try to verify the guy’s story or notice a lack of engagement rings and the brother and the girl before going all lets wipe out your memories or ask the question about martial status as part of the examination when they were testing the girl too see what could be causing the guy’s heart attacks. Why didn’t House yell at his team for not seeing something so obvious? If it was the entire act reformed thing I can understand. Well not even that, was House’s team even testifying in his trail? The rehab people weren’t around in the scene were he met his team after walking out of court. There no reason for him to be so accepting of this screw-up. A screw-up isn’t even truly acknowledged as a screw-up, (and this is just looking at it from writer’s perspective never mind the obviously bad medicine) What I really can’t understand is why the writers are agreeing with that mindset.
The rehab act screwed up the dynamic of House and his team functioning on a deeper level then just the geographical separation of a few floors. House’s team Cuddy, Wilson are supposed to second guess House when they don’t, like in this episode bad things happen had they seconded guessed House they might have caught the real culprit (or more accurately to the show make House discover it) or if House was down in his office being made to see these people against his will instead of in the rehab wing he would have found it. Why is this not being pointed out to us? Why is Cuddy leting House do things just becuse he stops insulting people when he makes his crazy theories? Why is this destroying of the dynamics that make the team (and the show) work properly being portrayed as good. “It bought us time” is not a good enough reason. First off it you expect me to believe that the guy real couldn’t have lasted the time with out the treatment; without seeing the girl for a few days at most? Not too mentioned had normal dynamics been maintained the team would have likely caught the false memories and started the correct treatment right away.
The show in how it handled these elements betrayed it own premise and it further betrayed it own premise by Cuddy saying House make everyone around him worse for being there (and again it not that she said it but that the writer in every aspect of how it was done agree with her). The entire point of the show is like Dr. Cox on Scrubs House is a jerk but one that make those around him better for it not worse. As a interesting parallel the latest episode had the same “broken heart syndrome” and parodied House only they not only kept Dr. Cox in character (the father of House really) they showed a good understanding of what make House work. (sad that parodies seem to be more in touch with the shows dynamic then the show itself.) The entire handling of Cuddy’s perjury was a misstep also.
The entire Cuddy perjuring herself and the judge just dropping the case was a cop-out, but was really is disappointing is that the cop-up draw light on what could have been a much much more interesting twist. It would have been much more interesting had the writers written the arch so Cuddy did actually swap out the real meds. (make House’s recovery afterwards a placebo effect like the “morphine” shot in the she-male model episode and the passing out just from drinking alcohol or a drug/alcohol interaction with some over the counter meds Cuddy swapped in.) and that she was letting House sweat it out to try to change him to make him learn humility. This has been an arc all season with Wilson and Cuddy plotting behind House’s back for his own good this twist would have wrapped up the arch nicely especially since Wilson himself said the word “meaning” bring us back to the beginning of the arch.
It would have also made the entire end sequence more interesting we would be left with House unable to out fox Tritter, but still be smart enough to say ahead of Cuddy and Wilson but it would have changed the dynamics of the scene so that when Wilson said nothing has changed right before House apologized we could see how the characters on there own, not via the contrivance of the writers, have come full circle. It would have been a more layered more satisfying conclusion.
I don’t how the writer could have overlooked such potential in making the arch as such. maybe they were afraid it would be too big a twist for an everything stays the same ending; maybe the various false dichotomy that the show bases it self around are become too obvious for disbelief too be suspended or maybe the writer just don’t know how to make a satisfying arch spanning multiple episodes. Whatever the reason I’m disappointed very very disappointed.
In a way the three week wait doesn’t seem so bad now it lets me erase this mess from my head.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:03 am
New episode in THREE WEEKS? GRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…….
January 10th, 2007 at 12:18 am
House wasn’t having a grand jury hearing, he was having a preliminary hearing by the judge to see if there was enough evidence to go to trial. I don’t know how common those are in New Jersey, but they are pretty common in most parts of the country.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:20 am
The philosophical aspects of applying the ECT are keen enough to cause alarm. Permanence, as based on facts which may or may not be correct should have been studied more thoroughly, especially if the man is having heart attacks at odd times, but not constant enough to imply an emergency. Further tests, mainly, isolation from the character involved with the cognitive and physiological reactions of the fireman and further questioning. The melodramatic touch that the unrequited love and the fatalistic approach of the three stooges took are needed for the show to move on in the FOX way. An isolation period, as HOUSE would regularly require (that is, a reasoned and seasoned wait) would have allowed for the destruction of the malady and a happy ending for the two love birds. Overall, i think the stooges proved semihousical (almost House-like thinking) and outdid themselves; is it the end of HOUSE? The learning capacity of the stooges was incredible from the last episode as to scare me into thinking the producers want the public (mainly myself) to believe that even if HOUSE is to end up in Federal Do-me-up-the-butt prison, the Princeton General Hospital will not cling on to consistency on the last nail.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:21 am
I concur, Steve. We wait, what, almost a month since the Christmas episode and now another 3 weeks until the next new episode?! Are they going to have to put on another “two hour event” again?! Argh.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:34 am
The trial was most likely a probable cause hearing. Probably cause is defined as the reasonable belief that a crime has been committed by the defendant. If there is no probable cause then the defendant cannot be held for trial. The purpose of a probable cause hearing is to determine if the police do indeed believe that a crime has been committed (as opposed to just using the legal system to harass an innocent person)and if that belief is reasonable given the evidence (as opposed to wild speculation).
It was certainly not a Grand Jury as there was no Grand Jury there.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:41 am
I agree. The EST was the most suspension breaking thing I’ve seen yet on House. Boo for Season 3 writing. I hope the 3 week hiatus is a result of new/different/better writers coming in and trying to improve the show.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Scott, I’m curious what it would take to earn an F on the medicine. The ECT-as-memory-wipe was absolutely ridiculous. Every part about the case seemed tacked on as a lame excuse to justify something else, with the ultimate conceit being the ECT. I can just imagine the conversation in the writers’ room:
>We should do an episode on shock therapy. What is it good for?
>Nothing interesting. But it can screw with your memory.
>I know! We’ll have a guy who’s obsessed with a woman he can’t have and wants to forget her.
>But why is that a medical problem?
>Because he’s got broken heart syndrome!
>But doesn’t that happen in old women?
…
and so on.
On the other hand, I did like that House admitted he was wrong and apologized to Wilson. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, both acts were undercut significantly.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:11 am
The apology wasn’t “undercut” — it showed at the end that House meant it sincerely (but wouldn’t admit it, at least not openly). Actually, I was hating the episode right up until the ending — which really redeemed it for me. I love, love, love, love that House was still on Vicodin the whole time, especially since his withdrawl symptoms were wayyy too lamely light.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:34 am
For what it’s worth, the part with the judge was meant to be a preliminary/evidentiary hearing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evidentiary_hearing
January 10th, 2007 at 1:34 am
He pled “not guilty” at an arraignment, where charges are read and plea taken. the 2nd proceeding was preliminary hearing, where judge determines if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial. based on Cuddy’s tough-to-prove-false testimony, judge says there wasn’t. i call shenanigans — maybe that was enough to make the possession charge go away, but what about the forgery and fraud? they must not have had the money to pay for anymore of David Morse’s time. and, who the H was “voldemort” ?!
January 10th, 2007 at 1:57 am
It’s a preliminary hearing, which is equivalent to a grand jury as it determines whethere there is sufficient evidence to go to trial, and what evidence is presentable in a trial if there is one. But since, yes, there’s been no actual trial yet, I don’t believe it is necessary for House to state his guilt or innocence. That part was for dramatic effect.
I didn’t really see any way that the Tritter thing could’ve ended in any really good way, so I’ll take what was given. What’s interesting is that this is the episode that there’s finally someone who tells Tritter off (well two times, both House and the judge). Turns out Tritter was right (actions still mean nothing), but it’s about time someone called him for hunting a white whale and that he took this on a personal level way beyond any normal cop would. Everyone just seemed cowed by his presence.
The medicine was obviously secondary on the minds of the writers. They did, after all, actually correctly diagnosed the cause of the heart attacks halfway through the episode, which even the last minute twist didn’t actually nullify.
I actually liked the Cameron interactions: the Foreman and Chase interactions were, well, nonexistent.
And I love the fact that Cuddy’s right: she now completely own House’s ass.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:20 am
But if House was really taking Vicodin the whole time, why did he get sick to his stomach in front of his “ducklings” - or was that part of the act?
By the way, I hated, hated, hated the idea of deliberately wiping a patient’s memories as a way of curing him. To me, memories equal life - you lose them, you lose your life. (Ever see MEMENTO?)
January 10th, 2007 at 7:12 am
You certainly have to plead before a trial, but you can’t enter a plea before being charged.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:06 am
Once again this season makes me wish I were a lawyer - because I’d be suing everyone in sight if they ECT’d my client’s memories away by mistake.
As for the soap opera this week, Wilson and house’s last conversation sum up everything I dislike about this season: “So nothing has changed?”
If nothing changes, where’s the show going? Nowhere.
as an interesting aside, I hear that Chase and Cameron are now engaged in real life. Good for them.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:29 am
I am almost certain he was already charged.
One, he was already arrested by Tritter. Two they would never take you to court without being charged or atleast tell you what you are being charged for first. They probably did it like that to speed it up and leave time for the soap opera.
All in all I loved the episode and regardless if it was ridiculous that they used ElectroShock Therapy it kept it interesting, I didn’t expect it at all and it didn’t follow the House show that we all know and love, but how can you really follow it? Except for the fact that he always has a cure some sudden God like way.
I also love he is taking Vicodin again, it means he is still the same old House and not some soft sad guy.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:36 am
“Diet Dan” claims to be a writer, yet his entry is so riddled with typos, missspellings, and grammatical errors as to be nearly unreadable. If this is the quality of screenwriters available in the digital post-print age, it’s no wonder this TV show is in trouble.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I do not see how Cuddy owns House’s ass. She committed perjury and could be turned in for it. Threatening House with them both going to jail seems an empty threat.
Was it the rehab monitor guy the one giving House the Vicodin? Kind of a weak plot point that he was able to be bought off so easily.
Was House really faking the withdrawal symptoms? He was only given the Vicodin 2 at a time…he was popping them like Pez on the outside.
January 10th, 2007 at 9:30 am
The ending of the Tritter arc was such crap. No dean of medicine, administrator of a large hospital is going to lie in court to save anyone, not even her “best doctor”. Secondly, what about all the other charges? I’m not sure I understand why those were magically dropped just because there is no longer evidence of him having stolen a dead guy’s pills. :-)
The “rehab” storyline seemed promising, but it took turned out to be crap because of House having bribed ‘Voldemort’. I don’t like the way that House can work himself out of anything (rehab, jail, etc.) I’m okay with him working himself out of any medical mystery; he’s a medical genius, I get that. But the show loses something if he NEVER faces consequences, or never has to live in the ‘real world’.
I don’t understand why people are happy that he’s still on Vicodin! The only way in which the overall plot has move forward in the last 8 episodes is that we now know a doctor can shove things up a patient’s rectum with little reprimand.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Long time lurker, first posting–I come here religiously after the show to see the fine medical detailing and look up the terms.
Of course Cuddy ‘owns’ House! Is HE going to turn her in for perjury? Is Wilson? No. He KNOWS she put her ass on the line for him, so, of course, she owns him. This is a great set-up for some interesting ’soap-opera’ tension late in the 3rd season, and perhaps even the 4th season. If the writers choose to set up a romantic interplay—even a teasing one– this is a point to work from.
Personally, I would LOVE to see more of House teaching. His being pushed into the classroom in that late episode in Season 1, was terrific–I especially loved to see the Ducklings sneaking in and coming to the realization that House is talking about his OWN case. More clinic work? Fine. He has some real weirdos come in and they can spice up the show (and you might even learn something!)
As for this episode as a whole, although I screamed, “F**K YOU, Tritter! HAH!!! You Bastard!”–I think it was really a sort of momentary tension release. I wanted to see more of how the judge decided that Tritter has turned into Ahab, and watch her really lambaste him–I wanted to see him humiliated the way he humiliated House–I wanted the Bastard humbled–the kill was just too quick, for having drawn the arc out for so long. Also, I was a tad disappointed with the Rehab situation–I think it would have shown a certain strength of character for House to have actually submitted–and I love his apology to Wilson and the look of utter amazement on Wilson’s face! It was priceless! The coup de grace that Cuddy performed was very handy, almost a deus ex machina, true enough, and yet,….yet, for all her faults, Cuddy KNOWS how great House is, how priceless a resource, and it is not surprising that she would risk perjury for him. The medicine was quirky to the point of ridiculous. The male menopause thing was interesting and made me curious to learn more (which is just ONE of the reasons I watch “House”), but wiping a man’s memory clean on ONLY HIS word, to not even consult with his brother, or talk to the girl, was just bizarre, and totally unbelievable. I, also, was somewhat let down by the “Nothing’s changed.” comment, because, yes, it does lead one to an idea of the show stagnating. I would probably watch it anyway, since I adore Hugh Laurie’s House, and love a real medical mystery, but, hey–change can be GOOD. I sense the writers may be afraid to do anyting radical that would disappoint the fans, however, there is as lot of room for change within the show’s specific structure–let’s see more of the ducklings and their interactions with each other, more on Cuddy’s private life or House’s early years–and as a fan of nurses in general, I’d love to see a focus on one specific nurse even (in a good way, of course).
As a last word—KUDOS to Scott for this great site—I never fail to be entertained and informed!
January 10th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Yeah, Anon, I totally agree. Must we completely suspend our disbelief re: life consequences when it comes to House? I know, I know, people will say it’s a show and not “real life,” but as you say, House works himself out of every situation and never faces consequences. In real life he would number among the great sociopaths! I was looking forward to some good writing centered around House having to face up to life like the other characters on the show do (Cuddy loses her money bags administrator, Cameron gets high and has an AIDS scare, Wilson’s wives abandon/leave him because he is distant/loves every woman in the world, etc) It is a crying shame, IMHO, that a phenomenal actor like Laurie does not get a CHANCE to take House in a more fully-orbed direction. Possibly the saddest part of all? I’m a sucker and will keep watching House in the (naive? vain?) HOPES that something substantive happens…
January 10th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I wasn’t sure how the forgery part of the case just got dropped on the floor, I mean didn’t Wilson rat out House? I might have missed something since new episodes are now appearing about as often as Haley’s comet; as I recall Tritter did not press charges against House until after the oxycodone incident, at which point he felt he had enough evidence to actually pursue the case against House.
I liked that House got the last laugh, and I liked that he’s staying the same. The show would suck if they made House a nice, functioning member of society and he had to own up to responsibilities like the rest of you unwashed masses. That’s what makes the show so much fun to watch; House is untouchable, but that’s balanced by his inner torment. People like to watch him get his way because that’s how they would all act if they could get away with it. Plus he is ruthlessly logical and would never leave himself vulnerable enough to come to any real harm (although this is the closest he’s gotten).
And no, DietDan isn’t a writer for the show.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Count me among those who breathed a sigh of relief that House remains essentially unchanged. I don’t want him to turn into some typical “nice” doctor — I don’t watch the show to see him being boring and “nice.” I watch the show because I enjoy him being sarcastic, mean, smarter-than-everybody else, and an all-around perfect pain in the ass. So I’m glad the writers found a way to keep him that way. And I liked the part about him getting access to the Vicodin. Made me smile.
Also, it’s not right to say that House doesn’t face consequences from his behavior. He’s spending the night in jail, after all, has no apparent social life or real friends, etc. etc.
That being said, this may have been the most frustrating episode I’ve seen. The writing was decidedly unimaginative: (1) No way could House just walk out of court during his hearing despite being threatened with contempt. (2) The EST stuff was simply insane (no pun intended) — and talk about no consequences; this guy had his entire memory and life-history wiped out by mistake with little more than an “oops”! (3) The resolution of the Tritter arc — though I’ve been pleading for it end for weeks — was pathetic, abrupt, unsatisfying, and bizarre. (4) The number of potential charges House was facing must stagger the imagination: forgery and fraud are just two of them. How they all disappeared with Cuddy’s act of perjury is unexplained, presumably because it can’t be explained.
This episode was weak medically, logically, and emotionally. Please, please get us back to where House is a pain in the ass, not an ongoing victim. I don’t want to watch a show about “poor House” anymore . . .
January 10th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Anon asked why all the other charges were dropped “just because there is no longer evidence of him having stolen a dead guy’s pills.”
Although I generally agree with all the complaints about the legal aspect of this episode and, in fact, the entire Tritter arc, they did sort of explain this: The forgery case fell apart when Wilson refused to testify. Remember, Tritter withdrew the deal at the end of the previous episode because he had the new evidence of House stealing the pills and no longer needed Wilson’s testimony.
What I don’t understand is why, even if Cuddy were telling the truth about the contents of the bottle House stole, it would have any bearing on the fact that he did, in fact, steal it. Cuddy didn’t try to deny that House signed for oxycodone after the patient’s death. Wouldn’t that have been sufficient to prosecute?
But on further reflection, I don’t care. I’m just glad this arc is over, and I’m willing to swallow whatever pseudo-legal sophistry was necessary to put the final nail in its coffin.
Oh, and the whole ECT thing made me cringe. I thought having House perform brain surgery would be the worst assault on my WSOD they could commit, but, boy, was I ever wrong.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:44 am
“House” is having some off-camera soap opera too: Chase and Cameron got engaged.
January 10th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
I’m not a lawyer, nor an expert in NJ law, but the sequence of events in the courtroom was reasonable from many trials I covered as a newspaper reporter covering courts, cops and crime for several years.
1) Charges are filed. In many juridictions, a grand jury indictment is not needed for many offenses, including many felonies; so this fits.
2) Accused appears at an arraignment to have the charges read and enter a plea.
3) A preliminary hearing date is set to review the evidence so the judge can determine if the evidence is sufficient in quantity and quality to potentially overcome reasonable doubt before a jury. During this hearing, the prosecution can call witnesses who can be cross examined by the defense and questioned by the judge. One nitpick is that this prelim happened REALLY quickly after the arraignment. There’s usually a gap of several weeks, if not months.
4) If the evidence is not sufficient in the judge’s opinion, charges are dismissed and the accused freed. The judge in many jurisdictions and situations has the option to dismiss the charges in such a way that they may not be filed again or that they can be refiled if new evidence comes to light. The judge last night didn’t stipulate which method of dismissal she was following; so I would assume the option was open to refile, even though it’ll never be followed up on.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I have a strong suspicion at this point that Tritter will be back, as a patient, probably in the season finale this year. Which is a pity, really (since that would override my previous ‘House will be the final patient this time; the therapy after his gunshot worked just fine and didn’t wear off and his current pain is from a different and now life-threatening malady’ theory for the season’s end.) But during the House/Tritter scenes this episode I came to the conclusion that the lying, functional addict in Tritter’s own life that House wonders about is (possibly was, but probably still is) Tritter himself and that the show will have to bring him back to let the cast rub his hypocricy in his face…
January 10th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
This was another example of the show’s writers blowing off the medical consultants and making up false drug side-effects to create a phony dilemma. It is not true that antidepressants are contraindicated in post-MI patients or arrhythmia patients. This was only partially true in the eighties, and it certainly isn’t a problem with the dozen or so SSRIs on the market since 1988. Because of this ECT in cardiac and elderly patients, not that rare 20 years ago, is almost never done anymore. And certainly not bilateral ECT, which, as you pointed out is never used to deliberately erase memories.
Another issue is this: it is anxiety, not depression that has the most direct automonic effect on the circulatory system. There would be no reason not to try low dose anxiolytics or psychotherapy as these do not have cardiotoxicity.
Your point about a psych consult was excellent. If I were on the Princeton psych consult liaison staff, I would report this entire crew to the state board for discipline and malpractice.
At least this poor fireman didn’t undergo the usual unnecessary liver transplant and brain biopsy, so he should consider himself lucky.
Oh, and by the way, House does need to have his license suspended and be compelled into rehab and proper pain management by the New Jersey Medical Board. He got off with a wrist slap. Every doc I know who had just one Saturday night DUI has endured far worse.
I’ve watched this show mostly for the enjoyable thespian skills of Hugh Laurie and Omar Epps, but the writers have clearly gone off the deep end. It’s officially off my TiVo ToDo list.
James O’Brien, M.D. Psychiatry
January 10th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
minor correction to above: second sentence change “antidepressants” to “newer antidepressants”
January 10th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Wertrew:
Sorry, I just don’t agree that spending *one* night in jail is facing any sort of consequences whatsoever. His lack of social life, friends etc. is not what I mean when I say consequences. Rather, I’m talking about being disciplined by “the system”: his hospital, the judicial system, whatever.
I agree that a ‘nice’ house would be boring, but that’s not what I was asking for when I complained that everything remains unchanged. Put another way, he can remain abrasive and a jerk in jail. ;-) Maybe it’s just me, but it would’ve been fascinating to see him have to deal with life alone. Really alone. No visitors coming up to the rehab floor every other hour, dropping off gifts… No team of lackeys willing to take his orders and do his bidding… Nothing but him and his thoughts.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
@ joebeets
I never said I was a writer, I certainly am not, I said I was looking at it from a writers perspective. You don’t have to be a writer to look at something from a writer’s perspective. A white person can try to see things from the perspective of another race, an atheist can see things from a religious perspective, a republican can write something from a democratic perspective, a man can try to see thing from a women perspective and so on. The point is I can’t understand how the writers couldn’t see how ultimately unsatisfying this deus ex machine ending was and how they could so miss the potential this arch could have had
January 10th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
The EST-thing sucked, no doubt about it. But I for one loved everything else. I have been pondering on how the Tritter-story could end in a way that would leave House on top where he belongs, but I never guessed this twist. Cuddy saving his ass! Clever… I’m glad it’s over, thought. My guess for the future?
Cuddy owns House’s ass, and now she’s going to trade it for his sperm …
January 10th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Honestly, I was so baffled by the whole EST thing that I was sure it was going to be another “It’s a dream/hallucination” episode. For that one, if I were the brother, *I’d* sue, and I’m no settlement seeker. No psych consult? At all? And deliberately targeting memories and causing brain damage? Is “Broken Heart Syndrome” even a real thing? And even if it is, the MOST LOGICAL TREATMENT is to wipe out someone’s brain? How about diagnosing it vaguely as an anxiety disorder, so the brother doesn’t have the specifics, and admit him as a psych patient?
The legal stuff was also silly, though I’m too glad too have the Tritter plot out of the way to complain *too* much. But honestly, a decent defense attorney could have gotten most of it tossed out based on the lack of warrants granted in the first place. The prosecutor has a really hard job to do, and all House’s lawyer would have needed to do was get the evidence tossed out… not hard, since Tritter’s behavior was way out of legal bounds from the first warrant on. Fruit of poisoned tree, and all that, and they could still have House obnoxiously flipping off the system, because in this case, he *can*. The signed prescription book is the only real evidence they had, and since the investigation should have been tossed out a long time before that, there was no reason to even go through the motions of fearing Tritter. Simple mistakes on the part of a policeman can get legitimate evidence tossed. What Tritter spent the last several weeks doing? Case would have been tossed on technicalities long ago.
Memory-wiped brother, on the other hand, has an actual case, though I hope we can just forget the unfortunate plot there.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
But she already declined House’s request for a conjugal visit!
January 10th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Deus ex machina is right. I don’t expect House to do a 180 and become the nice guy but character development is crawling at a slow pace and when it does happen, the writers don’t seem to know what to do except to write the plot off as a dream, lie, hallucination, etc, etc…. I hope House doesn’t treat Wilson so harshly in future episodes. Otherwise his apology (though honest) will mean nothing at all. It’s becoming harder to watch the show when the characters are nearly static.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
“The show would suck if they made House a nice, functioning member of society and he had to own up to responsibilities like the rest of you unwashed masses.” I’ll acquiesce to being a part of the masses, but unwashed? Poopoo. I don’t think anyone wants to see house being nice; this isn’t Doogie Houser, MD. But, I think a little development of his character…remember when he and Stacy were in the hotel room in Baltimore kissing and she says, “Your’re a jerk.” He replies, “I know.” Does he change into a nice guy as a result of this honest moment? ? No, but we see a vulnerable, dare I say human, side to him that is INTERESTING. That’s all I’m saying. Make it interesting, House writers. Don’t make us roll our eyes…
January 10th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
I’m willing to suspend a lot of disbelief for the sake of this show but this episode tried it too far.
Jumping so quickly to the use of ECT without trying other things. (And even if they erased his memories, it still wouldn’t work because there is such a thing as body memory and his autonomic nervous system would still be reacting to her.
And it was really idiotic that no one thought to check with the girl that she didn’t have feelings for him after all. Or to ask her and his brother what they thought of the procedure.
Once again, Cuddy is presented as being an idiot; for all her awesome smackdown of House at the beginning of the episode, how could she suppose that an apology to Tritter at this stage would make any difference and furthermore that forcing Tritter to see House in rehab would melt his icy heart. Where are the political smarts that got her her job?
January 10th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
First, I have been a long time lurker, so I want to say thanks for this site, Scott.
I think that those who are happy with the ending in that House would have been boring as a normal person are making a false choice. Instead of “winning” in the sense of continuing on Vicodin, a clue to what might have been came in the group therapy scene. In a seemingly sincere moment, House discusses with the leader his problems with the whole foundation of the “twelve-step” worldview, i.e. surrendering to a higher power and,as he sees it giving up his free will. Imagine someone as smart, ruthlessly rational and self-aware as House trying honestly to walk the knife edge of pain control v. addiction while hating the very philosophy of the rehab establishment. Great opportunities for some new subsidiary characters and a whole new field for House-ian rants. Can’t you imagine him doing takedowns in group after group? Everybody lies indeed!
As for the way the Tritter thing ended, I was also deeply disappointed, for the reasons others have mentioned. Finally, recalling that Wilson was willing to rat out House (nobly intentioned, as he saw it) how can we expect him not to report that an attendant/nurse in the Princeton-Plainsboro rehab unit is slipping drugs to the patients?
January 10th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
I’m really glad Tritter is gone. I was very sick of him from the get go. I do hope they lose some of the drama and go back towards the medical mystery. Drama is great sometimes, but I watch House for the medicine. Let the writers go write for Grey’s Anatomy if this keeps up.
On side note… I definitely think we will be saying bye bye to one of the lackeys or even Wilson. I just have this itching feeling about this season.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Seems as though most people are pretty disappointed with this episode. For possibly the first time, I am feeling quite out of step with the majority. I am very pleased with how the episode progressed and what it means for our characters. That being said I do have to agree with Scott, the medical aspects of the episode were farfetched and unrealistic, which is unfortunate because the medicine is why I tune into House versus other dramas such as Grey’s Anatomy. As long as the writers don’t make a habit of slacking in the medical arena I will accept this episode as a minor blip and continue to tune in regularly (or as regularly as Fox airs the show, which seems to be less and less frequently these days).
What pleases me most of all is the ending of the Tritter arc. First off, I’m not sure how anyone could expect any other outcome then the one we all witnessed. Obviously House wasn’t going to go to jail, even being mandated to attend rehab seemed like a stretch. It’s House for Pete’s sake! The show revolves around his skills as a diagnostician, making huge changes would compromise the premise of the show in a far too drastic manner. Someone above commented that this outcome seems to reveal that House doesn’t live in the real world - that he is exempt from rules and laws. I would say - but of course! It is, afterall television. If I wanted true-to-life, real world doctors I’d go sit in the cafeteria of my local hospital. House is now back to himself. He is managing his pain, he’ll go back to being witty, caustic and brillant, the Cuddy twist will provide for some interesting drama. All in all the House I’ve come to love is back, and that fact leaves a smile on my face.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I think it’s fair to say House did change a bit: his comeback “believe what you want” seems more aimed at himself than at Wilson.
Personally I’m still not totally convinced that Cuddy really perjured herself (for the above mentioned reason: it’s too much of a sacrifice for a dean of med), and I think House probably has his doubts too. Which is why I still think that she owns his ass now. Speaking of which, I think if there’s any character that really developed as a result of this, it’s probably Cuddy. Getting ripped by House when he was detoxing, snapping back at House and then saving his butt in the last ep… …it’s good to see a character that often just acts as an administrative foil develop into her own. Wish I could say the same for Wilson: he’s still the least tolerable of all the regular characters.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I get the feeling that the writers originally intended this case to go to trial, but called it off when they saw how much people hated the Tritter arc.
And the rest of Tritter’s case was thrown out because, once the one bit of solid evidence Tritter had was taken away, the judge was able to call Tritter on the highly illegal nature of his activities. Basically, the rest was thrown out for the same reason we throw out evidence obtained by illegal search and seizure.
January 11th, 2007 at 3:22 am
Barbara: I too was thinking that this entire episode could be a hallucination.
Firstly, House would never apologize to Tritter. How could *anyone*, let alone House, not see that Tritter wasn’t looking for an apology? Unlike what Cuddy thinks, Tritter never opened doors for House. The deal was in exchange for Wilson’s testimony. Tritter was just out to get House.
Secondly, Tritter would never hope that he was wrong about House and wish him good luck. He damn well knew he wasn’t. He knew that House forged Wilson’s signature. He knew how much vicodin he found at House’s place. He also wouldn’t visit House at rehab. At least not because of Cuddy (who the hell is Cuddy to him?)
Thirdly, it shouldn’t be that easy to get vicodin at rehab. They should have shown how House figured the guy out, otherwise I’m going to think that anybody can do it. The minimum wage argument doesn’t cut it. If it was as easy as finding a guy who makes minimum wage, House would not have gone through those long periods without vicodin in the previous episodes or signed his name to get the dead guy’s oxytocin.
House’s lackeys would not call him at the court. This is insane. There’s got to be other doctors that can consult at the hospital!
House would not have walked off in the middle of the hearing. Nothing that he heard to that point was anything surprising. Why would he have walked out thinking “They don’t like me here”? In an earlier episode with the false dwarfism he had no trouble being off the case while the patient was dying. Ok, House is an asshole, but he knows exactly what he can get away with, and when a judge finds you in contempt you have to be a fool to not know that you’re not getting away with that.
Cuddy is insane to perjure herself. She thinks she owns House, but she doesn’t have the leverage she thinks she has. She certainly can’t admit that she perjured herself, so how is she going to make House do anything? In the first season House cost the hospital $100M by not getting along with Vogler. She saved House’s ass back then and didn’t have anything.
I was hoping that House would reveal something about him that explains his condition and makes it look less criminal somehow. Some medical condition that his pride wouldn’t allow admitting until he was pushed really hard. They tilted things really heavily against House, and then they concluded with this inexcusable episode.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:13 am
**I get the feeling that the writers originally intended this case to go to trial, but called it off when they saw how much people hated the Tritter arc.**
People always have far too much faith that what they want actually impacts what comes in a series.
These episodes are written in advanced, and filmed in advanced. Moreover, they’re established at a set length (having been written that way) and ordered for that length. That’s how they know who they can cast for the roles, so that the actors can go onto other projects and not interfere with their schedules.
As for character development, I’m glad that they didn’t change House. House is again the reason why people largely watch the show. House hasn’t changed one bit permanently in this entire series, with one possible exception: his bike. All permanent changes will be small ones. All major changes will be temporary. The focus on the “development” of House, is in exposing all the hidden qualities of House so that we have a deeper understanding of him. Hugh Laurie has gone into this before (I believe on Inside the Actor’s Studio) in saying that he has a theory that in movies the main character changes and the secondary characters stay the same; in television, it’s the reverse — main character stays the same but the secondary characters change. The only way you get things new about the main character is through the discovery about them, their past, why they do what they do, etc.
And I’m pissed as all hell that they’re delaying this again for three weeks because of god damn American Idol.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:04 am
um…i don’t think you could say that they are delaying house _because_ of american idol. repeats, and months with very few new episodes, have been a fact of life in television for DECADES. think of it this way - the t.v. season generally runs from september to may - nine months. three of those months are sweeps months, where you get a new episode every week, so that usually works out to 12 episodes. at most, a t.v. series with a full-season committment will have 24 episodes, so half of the episodes remaining come in the remaining 6 months. add to that the fact that generally networks want to start off the new season strong, so they’ll often go four or five weeks at the beginning of the season without repeats. so we have 16 episodes in 4 months, with the remaining 8 episodes spread out over 5 months, or less than two a month. so how do you spread those out? fox has chosen, and probably quite smartly, to use the start of american idol to fill in a number of those weeks, since at BEST you’d only get two new houses in january anyway, and that allowed them to have fewer weeks of repeats the rest of the season.
personally, i’d rather see networks move all shows to the format they’re using for 24 or lost - either all the new shows at once or in complete “chunks” split into two “mini-seasons” - both of these formats have been used by cable networks for years. the model for the current t.v. season, and sweeps months, was based around the schedule for releasing new car models in the early years of television - it really has little bearing on modern television viewing habits or advertising. but don’t blame american idol - if it didn’t exist there’d either be another show or house repeats - they wouldn’t add more new episodes…
January 11th, 2007 at 6:19 am
This episode really didn’t do it for me. That said, NJ may not have a grand jury setup — I’m not sure, but the ABA states that only half of the states in the U.S. use grand juries. Either way, the case he was at was a preliminary hearing to determine probable cause.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:31 am
“That being said I do have to agree with Scott, the medical aspects of the episode were farfetched and unrealistic, which is unfortunate because the medicine is why I tune into House versus other dramas such as Grey’s Anatomy. As long as the writers don’t make a habit of slacking in the medical arena I will accept this episode”
AND
“Someone above commented that this outcome seems to reveal that House doesn’t live in the real world - that he is exempt from rules and laws. I would say - but of course! It is, afterall television. If I wanted true-to-life, real world doctors I’d go sit in the cafeteria of my local hospital.”
I think many of us tune in for the combo of drama+ cool medicine. If we wanted pure drama, Grey’s Anatomy. If we wanted totally realistic med, our local hospital ER. There’s a balance in there somewhere many of us are wanting…
January 11th, 2007 at 8:35 am
I tune in to see Hugh Laurie
January 11th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I’ve been coming to this website for awhile and haven’t written anything. But this episode warrents it.
First of all, the whole Tritter arc, I agree with nearly everyone. It was very, terribly disappointing. Especially when the “kill was too quick”.
I do NOT think it was a bad decisions to keep House on his drugs. In fact, it would have been terrible for the show if House had been taken off his Vics. When you think House what do you think of? Besides doctor. His drug problem. His Vics don’t define him, but they ARE his huge character flaw and you can’t just take that out.
“Nothing has changed”, like a lot of people have said, was very disappointing, though. House did NOT get reprimanded in anyway (besides being Cuddy’s biotch, but who wouldn’t want to be ;]). Why? Because now when they introduce a problem in House’s life where he could get in major trouble, the audience will say, “Nothing will obviously happen to him. He’s invincible.” And that kind’ve makes the show a little more predictable, which is always bad.
All in all, I thought some of the decisions the writers made were good (drugs, FINISHING the Tritter arc, changing almost nothing) and some things were bad (making the show almost predictable, Tritter arc being ridiculously unbelievable, House receiving no punishments).
I think, going into Season 4, they should really put House in almost the background (like Wilson) and focus on the supporting cast, especially his three protiges. Why? It’s not necessarily getting old with House, but it’s always the same ol’ sh*t. They need an injection of originality STAT (sorry, I’m a geek)!
I’m not saying blot out House completely. Just…pull a Seinfeld. Make some episodes totally centered around Foreman, or Chase, or Cameran, or Wilson, etc. How much have we seen of these characters’ personal lives? How much lies unexplored?
January 11th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
If anything, House now knows he owns Cuddy. There’s no rule she won’t break to save his butt.
I’ll be really disappointed in the writers if they follow through with the double clinic hours for any length of time.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
@ Barbara:
Broken Heart Syndrome is in fact a real ailment, and is the common name term for Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (spelling?)
January 11th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I was pretty disappointed in the episode. Although I loved the whole Tritter story arc I didn’t think they would be able to pull off a good ending for it, and they didn’t. And even I, who is willing to go a long way in allowing them medical mistakes (although I always come here to find out about them!) couldn’t buy the ECT storyline…. without a psych consult, without investigating any other possibilities, just go right to brain-frying? And Cuddy letting it go on? The other problem I had with the writing there was that Cameron was out of character - she’s too damned nosy to let a story like “She and my brother are engaged” go by without looking into it, especially when something unorthodox like ECT to destroy memory is involved.
Cuddy’s closing shot about “helping me find donors” went by almost without notice, and I was just waiting for Wilson and House to go dancing down the hall together in slow motion to some syrupy 70’s strings at the end…….
Oh well - I still have my season 1 DVD’s to fall back on.
January 11th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
besides being Cuddy’s biotch, but who wouldn’t want to be ;]
Well, House, actually. House’s lack of attraction to Cuddy was always one rather important aspect of the show, and one of the subtler nuances of the character that survived into season 3.
As was pointed out on this site during the hallucination eps, Cuddy was very conservatively dressed, while in the real world, she shows a lot of skin for a woman her age in and in the position she has at the hospital.
January 11th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
Hey there, Scott; Happy New Year!
In my humble opinion, the worst ‘medicine’ demonstrated in this episode is the idea that a reputable teaching hospital would have an addiction treatment ward that would actually use something as profoundly useless as the dreaded ‘12 Step Program.’ It is well known that 12 step programs produce NO BETTER results than going ‘Cold Turkey,’ and to imply that a respectable medical facility would actually use the worst known treatment method possible is patently silly.
With so many Americans battling addictions to drugs or alcohol, isn’t it a bit of a disservice to imply that doing the ‘12 Step Shuffle’ is the best that medicine has to offer? The very idea that addiction can be ‘cured’ by completely disempowering the patient is preposterous. “This addiction is BIGGER than you! You CANNOT win on your own! You are POWERLESS against it! You can ONLY win if you COMPLETELY surrender to God!!” …What a load of bullsh1t!! Why would anyone expect that such a ridiculous, counterproductive, irresponsible approach would actually work?
There are MANY more reasonable, scientifically and medically based addiction treatments available, with MUCH higher success rates (75 to 85%-five year) than any ‘12 step’ crap (5 to 10%-five year) programmes. Why not use one? Most include some therapy component, so those scenes would still have worked.
Can it be that they wanted to wallow in the sordid stupidity of ‘12 Stepping’ for the sake of a few laughs on the show? Shame!
January 12th, 2007 at 12:31 am
NJ may not have a grand jury setup
New Jersey does have a grand jury setup.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:38 am
House and Tritter are one and the same. House fooled Tritter into thinking he was seeking rehab. Tritter fooled House into thinking he’d got away with it by wishing him luck. Don’t think we’ve seen the last of Tritter. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an end of season finale with him making a comeback.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Did anyone other than OhKen like the Tritter arc? I certainly didn’t and hope that this is the last we see of him.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Hey Lauriefangirl, Voldemorte is a Harry Potter reference where Voldemorte is Harry’s nemesis in the entire series.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I really disliked Tritter saying (I can’t remember the exact words) that, “I never cared about what you *said*, I cared about what you did”. Bull. In one of the first episodes with Tritter, didn’t he specifically agree that he’d settle for an apology from House (which House, of course, refused to give him)? I’m not saying that he therefore is bound to accept it in this episode — just it’s a little strange for the writers to ignore that scene in the earlier episode. A better line would have been, simply, “it’s too late for that now.”
I still don’t see why we want House to change *at all*. In fact, it’s been demonstrated multiple times during the show that he cares for the proteges, that Cameron (at least) cares for him, that Cuddy and Wilson like him on an emotional level, and that he cares for his patients. His gruff, cynical, clear-eyed exterior is what, in my opinion, makes him so attractive. He’s sort of what many of us wish we could be: incredibly witty, smarter than any person in the room, and void of sentimentality or self-deception.
The fact that his character resonates so strongly is because it’s so novel on American TV. But think of Inspector Morse on the British mystery series, for instance. This is a well-established archetype over there, and it’s refreshing to see it brought here. (Indeed, there’s a long tradition of painful-but-lovable characters crossing the Atlantic (think Archie Bunker or Michael Scott (on “The Office”), both based on similar characters on BBC shows).
As a result, I’m always eager to learn more about House’s background, and I certainly like the episodes where he’s cutting and sharp and sarcastic more than those when he’s psychotic, targeted, and violent; but do I want to see “character development” from him, if by that we mean he changes into a more traditional, and less entertaining, “nice guy”? (As if we’re all, deep down, identical, and only by acting according to accepted norms can we demonstrate full mental health). Heck no.
Oh, I was actually hoping that Tritter and House would engage in an ongoing battle, perhaps of increasing seriousness. Instead, it became all about Tritter’s unrelenting persecution of House (with no opportunity for House to harass Tritter in response). That was substantially less entertaining, for me.
Finally, I hope they *do* get House more time in the clinic. Can I be the only person that really enjoys those scenes?
January 13th, 2007 at 9:33 am
This was not a real good episode, to say the least but, fortunately, it ends the Tritter story. Get excited about the next episode.
January 13th, 2007 at 10:24 am
“I really disliked Tritter saying (I can’t remember the exact words) that, “I never cared about what you *said*, I cared about what you did”. Bull. In one of the first episodes with Tritter, didn’t he specifically agree that he’d settle for an apology from House (which House, of course, refused to give him)? I’m not saying that he therefore is bound to accept it in this episode — just it’s a little strange for the writers to ignore that scene in the earlier episode. A better line would have been, simply, “it’s too late for that now.””
Tritter was not interested in the “I’m sorry” part of the apology, he was only interested in the action of apologizing, which would humiliate, humble, and probably shame House. In that same episode Tritter says he doesn’t care about the apology, he just wants House to show a little humility.
And character developement doesn’t necessarily mean changing him. To change the personality of the main character on a hit show would be really risky. But they can still explain more of his past (why he and his father don’t really get along, besides his father being short with him) and why he opperates the way he does.
January 13th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Kyle, that’s a fair point — but however we define it, Tritter does in this episode imply that he’s not interested in House’s apology, when earlier he would have accepted it. Isn’t House showing the same humility and surrender here that he would have been in that earlier episode?
Character development *does* mean changing him. That’s what the word “develop” means. (sorry — that sounds sarcastic or snippy, and I don’t mean it to). You’re asking for more background and information on him, and I completely agree. I’d love more of that as well. But I don’t particularly want him to “develop” into a different character, in any form or fashion.
January 13th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
That seems to be a trend these days. Shows like House or CSI are researched very well- at least, well enough to look well researched to the lay audience. But then those “in the know” can’t enjoy them because there ARE critical errors.
January 13th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
TV is so much more fun when you’re gullible.
January 13th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Actually, House did have to plead. If he’d pled guilty, he would have probably had to give a statement telling what happened, then it would have moved straight to sentencing, bypassing the trial entirely. Since he pled not guilty, the judge examined the evidence. If there had been sufficient evidence, House would have gone to trial, the DA might have offered him a deal, bypassing Tritter entirely.
It was odd that Tritter offered a deal, usually the ADA would have offered it, after he was arrested and booked.
January 14th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Well, I liked Tritter.
There, I said it.
First off, whenever there’s a character who gets by by being a jerk to everybody he meets, I always enjoy seeing him get a taste of his own medicine.
Second, House gets away with the things he does because of a sort of mutually assured destruction; he makes sure he’s in a position where losing his skills would be worse then tolerating his irresponsible behavior.
Whenever Cuddy threatens him, he basically says, “Well, if you want the patient to die, go ahead and punish me” and she pretty much always folds. It drives me nuts.
I thought it was nice for him to finally have to deal with somebody for whom that gambit wouldn’t work.
As for Tritter going completely overboard, I kind of assumed that the police department in the House universe works a bit differently from the one in our universe. After all, in House’s world breaking and entering is a legitimate diagnostic tool.
It’s not hard for me to imagine that politics and procedures in the police force operate in the same way we’ve seen them work in the medical field.
January 14th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
And now that I think about it, House pretty much tried that on Tritter in the beginning; He sort of assumed that Trietter wouldn’t really put that much effort into dogging him over a little thing like a private apology.
I die a little inside each time that strategy works on Cuddy, so I’m glad it failed for once.
January 14th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Is the same House of two past seasons??????
Of course not.
Bring it back! Let’s have better medicine and a House, Chase Cameron triangle. Wilson trying to come back with his wife, asking House how to do that (House-Stacey way).
C’mon. Same show of two past season… not this poor script c….
January 14th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
First, I LOVE this site. It is interesting, funny and literate - a difficult feat indeed.
I have one major problem with this episode which I haven’t seen addressed. House’s rehab was farcical. Any treatment program I’ve ever heard of requires blood or urine tests at least once a day. Visitors are not allowed at all during the first week and after that, they are carefully supervised. House consulting with his cronies from work is just plain silly. One of the main purposes of treatment is to remove the patient from his familiar surroundings so he can focus on recovery.
Other than that, I’m glad House is still good, old, unreformed House and popping those pills. Three weeks wait sucks though (note the erudite wording). I guess I’ll just have to break out my stash of Vicodin to carry me through.
January 15th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
“What I don’t understand is why, even if Cuddy were telling the truth about the contents of the bottle House stole, it would have any bearing on the fact that he did, in fact, steal it.”
In law unless there’s strict liability you have to have BOTH mens rea (guilty mind) and actus reus (guilty act). Mens rea was present since House had the intention of stealing pills. Actus reus wasn’t because he didn’t actually commit the deed since (according to her) Cuddy switched the pills to placebos.
January 15th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
I have missed that last three episodes of House (usually my dad records it for me when I’m out late studying at school) so I appreciate this site for keeping me up to date on the details of House.
Recently, a classmate of mine published a paper on “Broken Heart Syndrome”, the first case ever noted in a Hawaiian individual. It made a minor splash in the local news because of its cute novelty. It’s cool to see that the TV shows are picking up on it as well.
I do have a question about it though. Rather than electroshock therapy to treat it, wouldn’t it be easier to do an alpha-1 block like pre-op pheochromocytoma patients get? That would prevent the coronary vasospasm caused by excess catecholamines… I hope that House brought up phenoxybenzamine or phentolamine as treatments before the radical “let’s wipe out your memories” thing. It didn’t work in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind! (one of my favorite movies) Shame shame.
I like House because they utilize obscure and rare diagnoses, but if they are just going to string them along in a linear fashion with weak and tenous links, the audience is going to fall apart as quickly as the story lines. :-\
January 16th, 2007 at 4:13 am
I’d be genuinely surprised if this was the last we hear from Tritter. Maybe it’s just me, but some friends and I have a theory that when he went into the clinic for the first time, it was because of House, possibly with some reason connected with the guy that shot House at the end of last season.
Go back to House’s literary roots. Namely, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes’ main nemesis was a guy by the name of Moriarty, who was Holmes’ logical and deductive equal in every way. Holmes first discovered that Moriarty existed through deduction, in fact.
Look at Tritter. Tritter has displayed a knack for dealing with House and his colleagues by picking up on the little tells that House himself uses on patients and patients’ families. Someone with his tendency to take the tiniest insult and unleash hell on whomever annoyed him would have been caught and drummed out of the police a long time ago, unless this is the first time he’s been motivated enough to do it or he’s clever enough to get away with it. On top of that, I have trouble buying that the guy that shot House at the end of last season was named ‘Moriarty’ by the writers (although it was never spoken aloud, almost as if it was meant for the fans to catch) purely as a red herring. I think there’s some connection between the guy and Tritter that will become relevant again.
Or at least, I hope so. Because otherwise the writing’s just getting really sloppy if we’re expected to believe that Tritter’s going to leave this be.
January 17th, 2007 at 1:17 am
“joebeets” embarrasses himself yet again. He complains about “typos, missspellings [sic]” only to self-implode with a laughable gaffe of his own. A sanctimonious pedant hoist on his own petard. lol!
January 19th, 2007 at 5:41 am
“I’d be genuinely surprised if this was the last we hear from Tritter.”
I’ll be genuinely surprised if we ever see him again, much like Vogler. (I wouldn’t count on seeing Stacy again either.) There’s a clear pattern of introducing a new character to play House’s foil for each season. Bringing the actor back is more effort than just introducing a new character, which opens up more story-telling opportunities anyway.
January 20th, 2007 at 10:55 am
Wertrew says “Character development *does* mean changing him. That’s what the word “develop” means. (sorry — that sounds sarcastic or snippy, and I don’t mean it to)… But I don’t particularly want him to “develop” into a different character, in any form or fashion.”
However, character development does not necessarily mean change. It means either revelation of hitherto unknown details, or character growth. The term is a literary one, “develop” possessing here the same kind of meaning as in photography.
January 20th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Believe it or not, I realized my mistake almost immediately after I wrote it, and have been waiting with chagrin and embarrassment for someone to call me on it. Even the photography metaphor occurred to me. My apologies, especially for the snide tone. I still think we’ve been debating, in this eternity between episodes, whether or not we want to House to change, and I fall squarely on the side of not wanting him to change one iota. However, to the extent I, in my arrogance, argued with someone who was in fact making a completely legitimate point, I really do apologize. Good catch, Chris.
January 20th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Just for the sake of my own pride, I’ll also point out that when the term “character development” was initially used in this string it was clearly used to mean character change or growth rather than illumination. Cindy said that “I don’t expect House to do a 180 and become the nice guy but character development is crawling at a slow pace and when it does happen, the writers don’t seem to know what to do except to write the plot off as a dream, lie, hallucination, etc, etc…” Subsequent writers such as Kellibuz also seemed to use it in the same sense.
Still, mea culpa . . .
It is funny, in my opinion, how much more enjoyable the episodes are when they’re focused less on humiliating and “defeating” House (like those with Vogler or Tritter) than when they focus on other things. IMHO.
January 22nd, 2007 at 3:29 pm
A very interesting slip, Scott — you wrote House’s favorite mantra –”patients lie”
It’s “everybody lies” — not a major mistake, but the difference is important to House….
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:25 am
Wertrew, if you’re apologizing to sounding snide towards me, it’s perfectly fine. That’s why I didn’t retort saying “character developement DOESN’T mean change.” I didn’t feel like starting an argument.
;-P
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:45 am
Primarily the apology was for being dead-on wrong, though some of it, as you suggested, was for sounding snide while in the *process* of being dead-on wrong. It was a two-fer. Really, not one of my better posts.
:)
House himself may get away with being incredibly rude and snide (I’m always amazed when House and Wilson are incredibly direct and rude to one another in one scene, then are totally chummy with one another in the very next scene — as if friends normally call one another outright liars and cowards before walking away), but it’s certainly not my style.
January 24th, 2007 at 5:48 am
scott, thank you for writing these reviews, i read them after every episode of house that i watch :)
January 24th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Anon got me dead to rights on misspelling “missspelling”. I was afraid I might trip myself up that way, and sure enough I did. Mea culpa! But when was the other time I embarrassed myself? I’m losing track.
Like most reviewers, I’m disappointed with the writing this season. The medicine is losing out to the soap opera. Can anyone confirm that the lead writer left the show at the end of last season? I’m sure I read that somewhere–probably here.
January 26th, 2007 at 6:27 am
Hmm, after reading this I am, for the first time, hesitant to even watch this episode.
I perform ECT regularly, and thank God many people here are sensible enough to know a good treatment with few sideeffects when they see it. Most of all in older people with oftentimes psychotic depressions that don’t react to SSRI, it’s often a lifesaver.
We really, really didn’t need just another tv show to lure the public into believing that ECT is a horrible, barbaric thing.
Moreover, I find it funny they didn’t consult a psychiatrist - where did they have the ECT machine? In every hospital I know it’s actually in the psychiatry unit - I’d like to see other people try to get close to it without us knowing ;)
January 26th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Many of us here think one of the problems with this episode is that they resort to ECT *without* a serious and t