November 14, 2006: Son of Coma Guy
Stunt casting. Vegetative-state man awakes and wants a steak. Ah, yes, it must be sweeps. I'm a little bit disappointed that it wasn't Coma Guy whom House roused from sleep. But given the way the show ended -
John Larroquette's character dying to save his son's life - I was relieved that our long-standing friend is still with us.
Wilson summed up the show best: "Caustic Guy was waking up Coma Guy." To be more specific, House injected Gabe (Larroquette), against Cuddy's wishes, with experimental drugs that would temporarily release him from his vegetative state in the hopes of getting a detailed medical history for Kyle (Zeb Newman), the dying patient who, it turns out, is Gabe's son. Guilt is a heavy load to bear for 10 years. Imagine doing so while unconscious. Gabe's guilt over not being able to save his family resulted in a road trip for House and Wilson, who struggled with their own issues - namely Wilson's lying to the police to protect House for forging prescriptions.
In the continuing saga of House-vs.-Tritter, the determined detective questioned hospital staff, including Cameron, Chase and Foreman. All three stood by their boss but were less forgiving among themselves. Interestingly enough, Tritter and House share the same belief that, "Everybody lies." The difference is that House uses this adage to help his patients, whereas Tritter's usage is less noble.
The other theme running through the show - everything is conditional - forced Wilson and House to acknowledge their commitment to their friendship and address the question of whether or not House
wants to destroy their relationship by pushing Wilson too far. "I don't want to push it till it breaks," was as much of an admission of love as we'll ever hear from House. He is a man whose actions speak almost as loudly as his comebacks. His steps to protect Wilson from implication in Gabe's suicide prove this.
Gabe forced a not-so-surprising revelation from House about his reason for being a doctor. "If you're right, nothing else matters." That explains a lot, since every patient is an excuse for House to prove just that. But if House needs to be right, the people around him have just as much need to let him be so. Wilson cannot say no to House, and Cuddy pays considerable lip service to the word but always let's House have his way. Tritter, on the other hand, holds his stop sign high, and House may finally have to realize that some things in life really do matter.
