House – Is honor the same as truth?

“Adjectives matter. Hate nurses, love naughty nurses.” – House

This is one of those House episodes that fit fairly well into the title of the episode, “Blowing the Whistle.” It’s obvious the many layers of this that ran through the case of the week, from the patient blowing the whistle on the military to the brother blowing the whistle on the father. What’s more interesting is how it fit into our regular cast members’ lives (it always is). House was just taunting the team, trying to get someone to blow the whistle on him and tell Foreman about his “illness.”

The real underlying theme, though, was honor. What is honor? Is it the same as truth? The patient was doing what he thought was right and honorable, and the brother was protecting the father’s honor by doing the dishonorable thing and lying to his brother. The patient was being honorable to try to please his father, but his father wasn’t the honorable man he thought he was — he was a drunk who killed a pedestrian and then himself in a car accident. So is truth always the honorable thing? Was the brother right i trying to protect the patient?

It may have been honorable for the team to investigate House’s possible illness, regardless of their methods. But is the honorable thing to keep House’s secret, or to tell Foreman the truth? Chase, the likely whistle-blower, thinks that House tested the team to see who would have his back when he really did start to decline, inevitably someday. But is having House’s back keeping it a secret or getting House the help he needs? What is the honorable thing to do in that situation?

It’s an interesting question, and as always, the writers delve us into exploring the team members’ dynamics with one another, without defining a black or white answer to the question posed. I love exploring the shades of gray with the great minds behind House.

This and that:

• Was I the only person who thought of Brett when House made the clinic patient sing the lyrics to the iCarly! theme song?
• Speaking of the clinic, Wilson’s clinic hours gave me my favorite quote of the episode: “Good news — based on her thrifty shopping habits and taste for artificial dairy, she’s clearly not a gold-digger. Bad news — based on his rhinotillexomania, he is. Compulsive addiction to nose-picking.” – Wilson, to clinic couple
• Does anyone understand the significance of House’s last words to Chase, about Little Chase’s little cousins scurrying through Chase’s floorboards? Is House just saying that he truly thought Chase had his best interests at heart, so House wouldn’t be getting revenge on him by unleashing rats in his apartment? I had a hard time deciphering that House-speak.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Apr 02, 2012 @ 22:28 EST5EDT