TV-Reviewed

Dr. House and his diagnostics team had quite a case on their hands this week. A teenage male, Nate, was brought to Princeton-Plainsboro after a chess match went terribly wrong. After soundly defeating his opponent, Nate hopped to his feet and brutally assaulted his opponent with the clock used to time the chess match. Nate was complaining of a terrible headache.

Although we didn’t get to see the chess match in its entirety, it was enough to demonstrate the young man’s personality. Very arrogant would be one way, but the term “jerk” works as well and goes along with the episode title. Once Nate was in the hospital, his behavior continued. He was rude and sarcastic to everyone. In fact, Dr. Foreman had had enough verbal bashing from the youngster that he decided to give him a sedative, just so he could perform his job.

Speaking of Dr. Foreman, his future at the hospital has been very much up in the air of late. He doesn’t like the fact that he’s becoming more and more like House and is ready to leave. Soon after he leaves to go for a job interview, Foreman returns and accuses House of canceling the interview. House denied the accusation and turned it into a witch hunt. Every main character on the show was at one point or another accused of being involved. Chase finally figured it out and correctly pointed the blame at House.

If you’re a fan of House, then you should be familiar with the way some of correct diagnoses are determined. As in this case, Dr. House picked it up from his interaction with Dr. Chase. The way Chase was playing with the chess pieces reminded him of the way Nate held them in competition; he didn’t use his thumbs to hold the pieces. The reason is his body has too much iron. He has hemochromatosis, an ailment used in a previous case.

While Foreman toiled away in the lab, working on a theory of his, House neglected to inform him that he had already solved the case. Since Foreman was going to have to re-run the tests, he would be pulling an all-nighter. This shows that the episode title not only was a fitting description of Nate but Dr. House as well. I wasn’t very surprised by House - he’s getting predictable in his behavior. But at least Nate gave him a bit of a run for his money. I liked the character. He was funny at times, which helped balance out his rudeness.

House - The Jerk
Original Air Date: May 15, 2007

Rating: 8.0