House's Jesse Spencer on Chase's Return, Playing Power Games and Molding New Team Members

The band is back together.
On Monday's House (9/8c, Fox) Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) finally lures Drs. Chase (Jesse Spencer) and Taub (Peter Jacobson) back to Princeton-Plainsboro to rejoin his team of diagnosticians. Unlike some of the other docs, Spencer tells TVGuide.com that Chase has little reservation about getting back under House's wing.
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"Chase is the oldest team member on the show," he says. "He knows what he is getting himself into. House's games don't really worry him too much.  He actually just wants to work under this genius diagnostician and continue to further his career."Perhaps the bigger hurdle for Chase will be once again working with Foreman (Omar Epps), Chase's former peer and friend who is now the Dean of Medicine calling the shots. "There's obviously a push and pull," Spencer says. "Depending on the situation, he's going against Foreman and joining House or going against House and joining Foreman. He really ends up playing power games between the two of them."It's this constant game of people trying to one-up each other," Spencer continues. "But at the same time, the end result of the game is to cure the patient. So, it's a dangerous game, and they are actually careful how they play it. But they do want to win because they are ambitious and they do have something to prove."

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Also looking to prove themselves are the team's two newest members, Dr. Jessica Adams (Odette Annable) and Dr. Chi Park (Charlyne Yi). As the veteran on the team, Chase tries to show the new doctors the quickest ways to win House over."[He's teaching them] how to get onto House's wavelength, how to understand him, how to interpret him," Spencer says. "He tends to end up advising the new team members about how House toys and plays games and how they have to respond to House's demands. ... Basically, Chase is trying to mold these new doctors so they are House's puppets for the better."That becomes particularly tricky in Monday's episode, when the Patient of the Week (Jamie Bamber) is forced to reveal some dark, damaging secrets to best facilitate his treatment.House exclusive: Get a first look at unseen photos"We use this creative method of deductions to solve certain things," Spencer says. "How do we get the truth out of patients? How do we skirt around the issue, and get to the truth every time so we can actually help them? House's rule is the end always justifies the means. [You have] to play dirty a little bit to get what you want."Even though Chase usually sees eye to eye with House, Spencer says that this season — which could be the Fox drama's last — may examine the consequences of bending the rules more than ever."There's sort of a sense of foreboding," Spencer says. "If it is the last season, big stuff is going to be going down this year. House can't keep going at this pace. So something huge is going to happen."House airs Mondays at 9/8c on Fox.