house son of a coma guy (7/24)
21.00–22.00

Hugh Laurie stars as the curmudgeonly medic in the third season of the acclaimed hospital drama. In tonight’s episode, House wakes up a patient in a coma in order to help treat the man’s dying son.

House is eating lunch in a coma ward when a patient’s son stops by to visit. House notices the young man, called Kyle, does not react well to movement and suspects that he has a rare condition that can cause seizures. House flicks the lights on and off to test his theory, and sure enough, Kyle has a fit and collapses.

House believes Kyle’s condition could be inherited and orders tests. While examining Kyle, Foreman and Cameron discover wine in his bag and realise that he is an alcoholic. Moments later, Kyle’s kidneys start to fail and he slips into a coma. House decides they need to get a better family history, and since Kyle has no other relatives, only his father can possibly help.

House proposes using a treatment pioneered in South Africa to temporarily wake Kyle’s father Gabriel from his ten-year sleep, much to the horror of his team. “You have no reason to think any amount of drugs will wake a man from a coma,” Chase says, but House reminds him that Gabriel is in a persistent vegetative state, which should be easier to dispel. House ignores Cuddy’s order to stop and pushes the drugs. In seconds, Gabriel is awake and alert.

Cuddy and House tell Gabriel what has happened and that his recovery is only temporary. When they tell him about Kyle’s condition, however, Gabriel seems disinterested in his son’s plight. “He didn’t seem to emotionally register that his son was sick,” House tells Wilson. Gabriel then announces that if he only has one day free from his coma, then he wishes to discharge himself. “If I’ve got one day to live, I’m not going to spend it in a hospital being grilled,” he says.

Gabriel declares that he will only answer House’s questions if he helps him to get his favourite sandwich from a shop in Atlantic City, so House and Wilson find themselves joining him on a road trip. Along the way, Gabriel plays a cat and mouse game with House, answering his questions only when House answers questions of his own. Wilson, meanwhile, is curious to know why Gabriel has abandoned his son in the hospital: “Why would a man’s first instinct be to drive away from the only family he’s got left?” he asks.

Kyle’s condition deteriorates as problems arise in his heart, and the search for Gabriel’s sandwich proves futile. He and the two doctors end up in a hotel room in Atlantic City, where Gabriel manages to prise personal secrets from House and he finally explains to Wilson why he feels detached from his son. House, in turn, deduces the problem afflicting Kyle. But the breakthrough may have come too late, as Foreman reports over the phone that Kyle’s alcoholism has damaged his heart beyond repair and only a transplant can save him.

Also this week, Detective Tritter (guest star David Morse) questions each of House’s team about their boss’s drug use. The detective reveals that House forged Wilson’s signature to acquire more painkillers, something that Foreman finds all too easy to believe: “House is a junkie,” he says to Cameron and Chase. “Junkies do whatever they have to do to get what they need.” Tritter’s determination to catch House out reveals a very House-like philosophy: “Everybody lies,” he says. With Tritter piling on the pressure, House’s team are forced to decide where their loyalties lie.