Half-Wit (House)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| House episode | |
| "Half-Wit" | |
| Episode no. | HOU-315 |
|---|---|
| Airdate | March 6, 2007 |
| Writer(s) | Lawrence Kaplow |
| Director(s) | Katie Jacobs |
| Guest star(s) | Dave Matthews; Kurtwood Smith |
|
|
| All House episodes | |
"Half-Wit" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of House, which premiered on the FOX network on March 6, 2007. Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Dave Matthews guest stars in the episode as Patrick, a savant and piano prodigy who comes under the care of Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) for a rare movement disorder. Dr. House also is suspected to have cancer by his staff. Also appearing is actor Kurtwood Smith, best known from his role on That 70's Show. The episode marks the directorial debut of executive producer, Katie Jacobs.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Patrick Obyedkov, a 35-year-old musical savant, is in the middle of playing a piano concert when he suffers a painful involuntary muscle contraction in his left hand. After Patrick is admitted to Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital with a rare movement disorder, his case attracts the attention of Dr. House. House learns from Patrick's father, Dr. Obyedkov, that Patrick suffered severe brain damage at age 10 from a bus accident that also killed his mother. House is intrigued as to why Patrick, who was a healthy 10-year-old at the time of his accident with no prior musical training, could suddenly play the piano flawlessly after suffering a severe injury. He pushes for further testing on Patrick's brain even though the team has diagnosed him with a simple muscle-contraction problem. While trying to deduce the origin of the brain rewiring responsible for Patrick's mysterious gift of music, House and his team must stop the deadly bleeding that is quickly threatening his life. Patrick's condition worsens as he suffers an onset of seizures, and as the team stabilizes him with House's diagnosis, House presents a very difficult option to Patrick's father — a neurological procedure that would allow Patrick to live normally, but not play the piano.
Meanwhile, Cameron discovers that House has been in contact with a hospital in Massachusetts and suspects that House may be looking to take a new job there. When Cuddy contacts the hospital, she learns that House has been in contact with a brain cancer specialist — not as a job applicant, but as a patient for a clinical trial. When confronted by his team, House denies the gravity of the situation and resents their interference, and they are forced to contend with the possibility his condition may be more serious than he's letting on. The team ignores the patient's condition and focuses on House's condition, contrary to the usual beginning of episodes where House is not interested in the case.
Near the end of the episode, the team diagnoses that House does not have cancer; however, House reveals that the medical file sent to the hospital in Massachusetts was not his and he intended to trick the doctors at the university into implanting a "cool drug" into the pleasure center of his brain. The team is downhearted that House faked cancer to get high. Wilson notes that, contrary to popular belief, for the most part it's only cancer patients with no family or friends who succumb to depression, whereas House, who was healthy and did have friends, faked the cancer and then pushed the people who cared away. Wilson advises House to start small, such as eating pizza with him. At the end of the episode, House appears to enter the restaurant where Cameron, Chase, and Foreman are having dinner.
[edit] Music
- In the opening segment, House's patient Patrick plays the opening to the "Waldstein Sonata" by Ludwig van Beethoven. On their first meeting, House and Patrick play the opening to "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats, and later in the episode, they play "The Entertainer", a ragtime piano work by Scott Joplin. During the MRI sequence, the patient plays the third movement of the "Waldstein Sonata" on his leg.
- In their initial meeting, the chord that is heard is not the same as that played by House on the piano. The chord you can hear (which is a Ab7(b5/#9)[composed by D-Gb-Ab-B-C]) is correctly recognized by Patrick, which shows the ability of absolute pitch.
- At the very end as House is walking down the sidewalk past the bar/restaurant where Cameron, Chase, and Foreman are eating, the song "See The World" by Gomez plays.
[edit] Notes
- Robert Sean Leonard and Kurtwood Smith previously starred together in Dead Poets Society. Leonard played Kurtwood's son who rebels against his father's wish for him to become a doctor.
- As a weird coincidence, this is the second TV show Kurtwood Smith has appeared in to feature a character named Eric Foreman, the first being That 70's Show where Smith's character has a son, Eric Forman, played by Topher Grace. This was not a deliberate choice on behalf of the creators of House, as stated in the commentary for this episode, though apparently no one at FOX noticed the name during the production of the pilot episode.
- After a simple test revealed that Patrick couldn't identify a piano when looking at it with only his right eye, House observes that "his right side [of the brain] has always sucked". This is inaccurate; the test result that would back up House's claim would be if Patrick could not identify a piano when it is presented to his left hemifield-- i.e., on the left side of his visual field. The right eye feeds information to both the left and right sides of the brain, as does the left. The result of the test given in the show would lead to a diagnosis of a problem with the right eye itself, or with the right optic nerve, pre-chiasm (essentially right-eye blindness). No single neurological disorder could cause agnosia in one eye and one eye alone.
- The statement that the speech centre for left handed people is inaccurate. It is, in fact, predominantly found in the left, regardless of hand-dominance.
- The alias that House uses to keep his records under is Luke N. Laura, an allusion to the soap opera General Hospital.
[edit] Awards
This episode was submitted for consideration in the categories of "Outstanding Drama Series", "Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series" and "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" on Hugh Laurie's behalf for the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.[1] This resulted in nominations in the categories of Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Boomer, (June 5, 2007) "2007 Emmys Confirmed Episode Submissions, Los Angeles Times Envelope Forum. Retrieved on June 18, 2007.
- ^ http://www.emmys.tv/downloads/2007/59ptemmys_noms.pdf 59th Primetime Emmy Award Nominations ListPDF (210 KiB)
[edit] External links
- FOX.com-House official site
- Television Without Pity-House recaps
- House Episode Guide at epguides.com
- TVGuide's Page: Full list of House Episodes
- House M.D. Guide
- Medical Reviews of House: Half-Wit
|
|||||||||||
