House TV Show - The Tyrant - House Recaps, House Reviews, House Episodes | TWoP

Aired 2009-10-05

Two men argue in a car with diplomat plates. One of the men is played by James Earl Jones, so you know this will be awesome. Apparently, James Earl Jones' character, Dibala, is the "president" (dictator) of an African country that will not be named because it doesn't exist and in America for a UN meeting. It's going on right now, but Dibala snuck out of it to visit his son, who is a student, I'm guessing at Princeton. His aide, Ntila (well, he's credited as Ntila, although Dibala calls him "Joseph." I'm confused), thinks leaving the security of the UN building is a bad idea, but Dibala doesn't care. Suddenly, the car is stopped when a large van pulls up in front of it, and Dibala no doubt regrets his decision. A man gets out of the van as Ntila rushes out of the car with his gun drawn and ready to fire. But the man is just presenting Dibala with a "civil subpoena." Yes, he's one of those non-violent hippie types, and he's suing Dibala for crimes against humanity and all sorts of terrible things. The van takes off, its passengers so freaking lucky not to have their faces shot off since Ntila would probably have been justified to think they were a threat and he's got diplomatic immunity anyway, and Dibala exits the car to look at the subpoena, which he then barfs blood on. Good thing they put it in that ziplock bag!

Cuddy has called Cameron and Chase into her office to ask them to temporarily work for Foreman until he can find new Cottages to replace Taub and Hadley. Chase is more shocked that Foreman fired his girlfriend than he is that Cuddy thinks so little of him and Cameron that she expects them to be okay with leaving their positions as the only ER doctor and the only surgeon to work for Foreman, who sucks at everything. Case in point: "you two are both competent and I know I can work with you," Foreman says. Such a sweet talker. Chase thinks it'll be "interesting," but Cameron isn't so hot on the idea of treating "one of the most repressive dictators in the world." No, no, Cameron. Foreman is your boss, not the patient. Oh -- she meant Dibala. He's a jerk, too. Foreman doesn't see how this is any different than when they treated death row inmate LL Cool J, but Cameron says LL Cool J went back to jail after they cured him, whereas Dibala will go back to his country and murder millions of people. Also, Cameron was too busy in that episode trying to avoid telling a woman she had terminal cancer to care about LL Cool J. Cuddy steps up and tells Cameron to stop caring about a fictional ethnic group thousands of miles away who will all be killed if Dibala recovers and start doing her job. Normally, I'd agree with Cuddy here and tell Cameron to shut up, but ... millions of people is a lot of people. I'd rather let Dibala barf up blood than have their blood on my hands. But I also didn't take an oath to treat people and stuff, so I guess Cameron is kind of screwed.

By Sara M

Chase and Dibala spend some quality time together. Dibala thanks Chase for saving his life. Chase says that the would-be assassin told him that Dibala is preparing to massacre millions of people. Dibala says he's just "fighting a guerilla war." Chase says another word for that seems to be "genocide." Dibala says it's not that simple -- the Southern people massacred tens of thousands of people twenty years ago when their rebels took over part of the south. "And they would happily do it again! I'm trying to impose order. I'm trying to prevent genocide," Dibala says. And when he says it, it really does sound reasonable and make logical sense. But that might also be because it's James Earl Jones saying it. He says that his youngest son -- the one at Princeton -- hasn't spoken to him in years because of the things the American newspaper accuse Dibala of. So American newspapers are accusing Dibala of genocide, and yet we still let him in this country? And the UN wants to meet with him? And he still pays to send his son to an American school? Weird. Chase asks Dibala about that labor league, and Dibala sighs and takes responsibility for it -- sort of -- saying that he hired men to run it who "stepped over the line" "in their zeal." But he assures Chase that he's very sorry about all that. Not as sorry as the victims of that "zeal," I'd bet. "That will not happen again," Dibala promises. Because there won't be any people left for the labor league to torture.

House actually wrote the apology letter and is about to leave it on Murphy's doorstep when a cleaning lady opens the door and walks out with some garbage bags, thus leaving the guy's door wide open. Okay, fire her ass. That's ridiculous. There's a strange man standing right there, and she just walks away from the apartment and leaves it open? I'll bet the cleaning ladies in Dibala's country wouldn't dare to act like this. House starts to look inside, but then summons up all of his strength and actually leaves the letter on the doormat and starts to walk away without doing anything illegal. This won't do at all, so God promptly strikes House down by causing his cane to slip on the hallway floor. House's legs fly out from under him and he crashes to the ground, taking a bucket full of splashing water sound effects with him. House quickly picks up his apology letter before it gets too wet and now he has no choice but to enter Murphy's apartment and leave the note in a dry place. And while he's in there, he just happens to notice a big Canadian flag on the wall. Hey, he tried to be good. This is still progress.

By Sara M

Chase finds Cameron in the lab looking at Dibala's biopsy. He wants to talk to her about her "joking" about letting Dibala be assassinated. Cameron insists that that was no joke. "You can't want to kill anyone. Especially not your own patient," Chase insists. Cameron doesn't think it's that simple, but Chase says you'd have to be a psychopath to kill someone without having "some sort of breakdown." Cameron thinks it would be justified in this case, but Chase says that doesn't matter. Cameron says she's not going to kill Dibala, but she wouldn't be all that broken up if he died, either. And anyway, the biopsy is negative for lymphoma.

Murphy comes home to find House waiting for him outside his apartment, looking very smug indeed. House says he knows Murphy's dirty little secret, thanks to a look at his proudly-displayed flag and a chat he apparently had with the housekeeper afterwards. I hope that chat was good for her, because she is so fired now. Murphy is definitely Canadian, and House knows that Canada didn't send troops to Vietnam. Outraged rather than busted, Murphy quickly tells House that he's going to jail for breaking into his apartment, to which House says he'll join Murphy there, because pretending to be a war hero is against the law. Is it really? Even if it's just so you can get away with being an asshole to your neighbors? As it happens, though, Murphy did go to Vietnam from Canada after all: they sent troops over to reinforce the 1973 peace accords. That was where Murphy tried to save a boy who stepped on a landmine. He was not successful in this endeavor, and for thirty-six years since then, his phantom hand still feels like it's closed tightly and painfully around the boy's arm. "Oh," House says. Yeah. OOPS. House is lucky he wasn't punched in the face by an arm-hook.

By Sara M

Chase and Cameron inform Dibala that the biopsy was negative. Dibala doesn't seem relieved about the news, though, most likely because he doesn't remember them even saying it. He asks about the biopsy results again. So that's a new symptom.

But let's check in on Foreman and Hadley for some reason. They're out to dinner, eating outside even though we're supposed to be in New Jersey in mid-October. The LA writers forgot that it's cold outside in other parts of the country. Foreman thanks Hadley for coming around and being so understanding about him firing her. He says it was his only choice if they had a hope of staying together. Not quite, Hadley says. Foreman could have stepped down as head of diagnostics. Foreman says they both would have lost their jobs then, since there wouldn't be a diagnostic department. Hadley says Cameron or Chase could have taken the head position, since they're both obviously interested enough in the department to temporarily be on the team. She asks Foreman what he would do if he could do it again. All he has to do is say what she wants to hear, but he won't. "I made the right decision," he insists. Hadley decides to get dinner somewhere else. Doesn't she know Foreman well enough by now to know that he can't see when he's wrong, let alone admit it to someone else? And hasn't she been on this show long enough to know that no one gets any real character development so he'll stay that way forever?

Meanwhile, back at PPTH, someone decided to save on the power bills by turning the lights out in the hallway outside Dibala's room, where Ntila asks Cameron for her "medical opinion" as to whether or not Dibala is capable of thinking clearly. Ntila, if you want a good medical opinion, you should probably ask someone -- ANYONE -- else. Even Wilson's neighbor's cleaning lady would be a better choice. Cameron says he isn't, for now. When Ntila asks about the future, Cameron has a nice little opportunity to possibly undermine Dibala's rule and takes it, telling Ntila that Dibala is declining and will not get better, so they'll never know from now on if his orders are sound or "just the delusions of a sick, mad, dying, old man." Meanwhile, she could not be more obvious in her agenda. No doctor talks like that when she's giving actual medical advice. Nor do they disclose things like this to the patient's personal bodyguard or whatever Ntila is. But nice try anyway, Cameron.

By Sara M

House returns to PPTH to diagnose Dibala with scleroderma. He cites Dibala's nice, tight skin as a symptom. That might also just be a symptom of black don't crack, though, House. Foreman likes blastomycosis, a fungal infection, instead. Chase agrees with Foreman, but then says they didn't see the fungal lesions on the head CT that would indicate Foreman's diagnosis, so I don't know what he's talking about. Cameron says they can try something crazy called a "test" on Dibala for some antibodies that would indicate scleroderma, but Foreman nixes that, saying the test is not conclusive and Dibala's fever is too high right now to wait on silly test results anyway. They have to pick one diagnosis and treat Dibala for it. If they pick the wrong one, he'll die. Of course. House looks to Cameron for support of his diagnosis, but she says she doesn't really care about Dibala. House tells her that if she's going to be here and work on Dibala's case, then she needs to get over her personal feelings and do her freaking job. Foreman should have told Cameron that already, but he was too busy with Hadley. Cameron takes a stand for blastomycosis, then gives House a childish "ha ha" look, having obviously only agreed to Foreman's diagnosis to stick it to House. House threatens to go to Cuddy, but Foreman reminds him that he's in charge and this is his call to make. He orders Chase and Cameron to treat Dibala for blastomycosis.

Cameron prepares to inject Dibala's IV with the medicine when he grabs her wrist and tells her that since she's so dead set on killing him, she might as well go ahead and do it right now with her own hands by putting an air bubble in Dibala's IV instead of telling his advisors things that will cause them to revolt and kill him. Whoops! I guess Dibala's memory loss thing went away, and also Ntila is a tattletale. And why is the camera out of focus right now? We finally get a face on camera and not chopped off the side of the frame, and it's all blurry. Why. Dibala says that killing people isn't so easy when you have to do it yourself. I guess he would know. Cameron thinks for a minute, then injects the medicine, air-bubble-free, into the IV. "Allison," Chase speaks up. Oh. I guess they would call each other by their first names now, huh? Cameron tells Dibala that apparently when it comes down to it, she doesn't want him to die after all. Well, she just got told. By a third world dictator with the blood of thousands and perhaps millions on his hands. That's not easy. Chase tells Dibala that if he lays a hand on his wife again, he will personally kick him out of PPTH. Honestly, that would probably be a favor for Dibala. Speaking of favors, Dibala thinks he did one for Cameron by showing her "her true character," which is "too weak to act on her beliefs." I'm sure she's out in the hallway feeling really grateful for that gift right now, Dibala. He says most people are that weak. Like his advisors and Ntila, who are always telling him to be diplomatic and sign stupid treaties and promise not to hurt people while letting his enemies run around free and clear and plot his assassination. Those enemies, by the way, are the Southern people. Dibala says Chase couldn't possibly understand, since all he has for an enemy is "some younger physician who covets your office." Um, younger? Chase is like fifteen. They don't get much younger than that. Dibala says that his enemies want to kill him and his world is full of bloodshed. "That makes you a man. And men make choices," he says. Chase asks what those choices are. Dibala won't go into specifics, but it's pretty obvious that those Southern people are not going to have a good time when he returns. If he returns.

By Sara M

And now, it's time for House to face the wrath of Wilson about the neighbor. House says he'll fix this, but Wilson isn't having that, since last time House tried to fix it, he broke into the guy's apartment and made everything a whole lot worse. Wilson fixed it instead, agreeing to kick House out of his condo if Murphy didn't press charges against him. Aw, House is sad about this. His feelings are hurt. But how could he have thought this would end any differently?

Now that Cameron knows she's too weak to act on her beliefs, she's going to do her best to save Dibala's life. She thinks House was right about the scleroderma and presumably only agreed with Foreman's diagnosis because she thought it was wrong and thus Dibala would die. Now she wants to run that antibody test on him to show it's scleroderma, and she wants Chase to help. Screw you, two million Southern people! But I'm sure you'll be happy to know as you're being tortured and raped and watching your family members murdered and your village burned to the ground that Cameron learned a lesson. Chase says he can get Cameron some of Dibala's blood to test.

Sure enough, it's positive for the antibodies. Cameron shoves the test result in Foreman's face, but he refuses to be convinced, saying it's not definitive proof that it's scleroderma. "Blasto still fits best," he says; "I've made my decision." Cameron decides to get personal, saying she knows Foreman well enough by now to know that he can't admit when he's wrong when it's about something really important. Like firing Hadley. Or this diagnosis. Foreman tells them to treat Dibala for scleroderma.

By Sara M

Murphy arrives home to find House waiting for him inside his apartment with a syringe full of sleeping potion. When he wakes up, he's duct-taped to a chair with some more duct tape over his mouth and House sitting in front of him. Murphy starts to panic, as you would, but House ignores him to say that he has some real personal issues he's trying to work on and what he's just done to Murphy is "a definite setback." He did try, though. But Murphy made it impossible, so here he is. I think Murphy is learning a few lessons of his own about treating people a little bit better just in case they happen to be insane and good at picking locks. Oh, and have access to sleeping potion. How does House have that stuff, by the way? He shouldn't be allowed to touch drugs without his medical license. House puts a large box with two large holes in it on the side on the table, calling it a "magic box of neurological trickery," and forces Murphy to shove his stump through one hole and his left hand in the other. House closes the top of the box over the stump and tells Murphy to look at the divider in the middle of the box, which is a mirror. It reflects Murphy's left hand so that it looks like he has two intact hands. House tells him to clench his fists as hard as he can. And then let go. When he does, his phantom right fist unclenches, too, for the first time in thirty-six painful years. House can tell by the amazed expression on the guy's face that the trick worked and he can remove the duct tape gag without Murphy screaming for the police. He sobs that his pain is gone and thanks House, who probably wishes his pain could be cured so easily. , Murphy might want to have a chat with whoever his private health insurance assigned to be his doctor for not trying this a long time ago.

Meanwhile, back at PPTH, Dibala is bleeding profusely out of his nose and mouth. Chase tries to cauterize the bleeds, but there are too many of them. Dibala is dead. Well, yeah. We couldn't let him get better and go back to his country and kill two million people, right? Even for this show, that's still too dark.