End of the Thought Process

Last Monday, FOX began re-airing the third season series of episodes known in the House fandom as "The Tritter Arc." Like most of the series' extended character arcs, fans tended to love it or hate it. Personally, I like these longer stories because they give viewers an opportunity to see more deeply into the character(s) — and to watch Hugh Laurie magically pull new rabbits from his considerable thespian hat.

That FOX has decided to re-air this third season arc now, just before new episodes begin is unfortunate only because it will end abruptly without closure to make way for the brand new episodes (unless FOX decides to add extra House reruns to its April schedule). I'm all for the new episodes and cannot wait for the final four installments of the current season. But newcomers to the series will not have had the opportunity to see the Tritter arc play out. Of course, all of you "newbies" can buy the DVD or download the remaining Tritter episodes from Amazon Unbox, so it's not a total loss.

In any event, I'd like to give my take on the first two episodes of the Tritter Arc. The story begins with episode five, "Fools for Love." As House covers his dreaded clinic duty, he walks into an exam room to treat the next patient, Detective Michael Tritter.

House observes Tritter, already in a foul mood from waiting two hours to be seen, who believes he has a sexually transmitted disease (STD). House notes that the rash doesn't present like an STD, and I'm pretty sure that House knows an STD when he sees one. He also observes that Tritter is chewing nicotine gum, which evidently causes skin dryness. The location of the irritation suggests a diagnosis and course of treatment, which House offers with his usual cold bluntness. House's demeanor and attitude are, needless to say, neither compassionate nor kindly, but nothing in his behavior or words warrant what Tritter does next. For, as House reaches the door on his way out of the exam room, Tritter kicks his cane, sending him reeling into the closed door as he tries to catch his balance.

"Patients don't want a sick doctor," House tells Wilson in one of the first scenes of season one, revealing how he believes patients view him. From the very first episode of the first season, it is clear that House's self-image is very much tied up with the condition of his leg, his limp, and need for a cane. He does everything he can to hide his disability, from pushing himself to walk faster than anyone else to refusing to ever discuss his physical problems with anyone.

The degree to which House tries to minimize his leg is obvious when when we see him alone in his apartment. His gait is slower and his limp more exaggerated away from the potentially pitying eyes at the hospital. And, being tripped, intentionally and smugly as Tritter does, must be particularly humiliating to House in the aftermath of the returning pain, and in the aftermath of the shooting.

So, should House have left the thermometer in Tritter's butt? I get that it was nasty; but the jerk probably deserved it, to an extent, at least. What was House supposed to do? House has by now concluded that Tritter is a bully. (Who else would trip someone with an obvious physical disability?) And, in House's mind, what he did was a reasonable response; it wasn't harmful, not really painful. Agreed. It was slightly humiliating and cost Tritter more time in the clinic. Understand, I do not believe that what House did was appropriate, and I'm not justifying House's actions. But from House's perspective, it probably put them even. 

article continues here

My new wordpress blog is here