Thursday 26 April

house que sera sera (6/24) 21.00–22.00

Hugh Laurie stars as the curmudgeonly medic in the third season of the acclaimed hospital drama. In tonight’s episode the team treat a morbidly obese man who is admitted in a coma. Meanwhile, House pays for his rude behaviour towards a patient by spending the night in jail.

House’s team of medics meet to discuss the case of morbidly obese George, a 600 pound (42 stone) man found in a coma in his apartment. Firemen at the scene had to cut a hole in the side of his building to winch him out into the street. House joins the discussion late and dishevelled, and after some debate, the team decide to do an MRI scan on George’s brain.

Lifting the patient onto the MRI scanner proves difficult. House is in favour of skipping the test altogether, while Foreman and Chase are concerned about breaking the equipment. It is Cameron who eventually organises the scan, which reveals nothing. However, inside the machine, George wakes up and has a panic attack.

George is now conscious but the doctors are no closer to diagnosing his condition, ruling out diabetes, STDs, head trauma and hormonal problems. George wishes to discharge himself, saying he would rather go home and resume his lifestyle of four-course gourmet meals than sit in a hospital and risk catching an infection. Foreman, however, is opposed: “A coma’s not like a stomach ache,” he says. “You can’t just shrug it off and hope it’s nothing serious.” House believes that George may already know what is wrong with him and is refusing to tell them, but the patient insists: “If I knew what was wrong, I’d tell you.”

George is discharged and Cameron wheels him to the exit, only for him to collapse. Afterwards Cameron admits she slipped him some medication to disorient him and keep him in the hospital: “I didn’t think he should be discharged,” she says. House speculates George may have a parasite and orders Foreman to extract fluid from his brain, but during the procedure, George suddenly goes blind.

Back on the ward, George wishes he’d never been admitted and refuses to help in any more procedures relating to his weight: “I’ve been fat all my life, but I’ve only been sick these last few days,” he says. “You look for a disease that has nothing to do with my size and I will help you.” House is not one to take advice from his patients, however, and returns to the idea he might have diabetes. He storms into George’s room and tries to force him to down a sugar drink, only to notice a clue in George’s fingers that might provide an answer that no one expected.

Also this week, House’s trouble with the law deepens. After being arrested by detective Michael Tritter (guest star David Morse) in last week’s episode, ‘Fools for Love’, for driving under the influence of painkillers, he spends a night in jail. Tritter then searches his apartment and finds a stash of 600 Vicodin tablets. House insists that the drugs are legally prescribed, but suspects somebody at the hospital of tipping Tritter off. He also justifies his stash to Wilson: “A guy’s got to be prepared for a rainy day,” he remarks. Tritter claims that House intended to sell them on, and the hobbling medic is forced to hire a lawyer, whilst rejecting calls to make a bargain: “The only thing I’m guilty of is humiliating him,” he says of Tritter. But when the detective confronts Wilson about there being two different signatures on the Vicodin prescriptions, Wilson is forced to make a dangerous decision to protect his friend.