House: The Tyrant

A long time ago House was a show about riveting medical mysteries, difficult ethical decisions and a cantankerous genius who attempted to solve both. For the past couple seasons, it's been more of a soap opera in a hospital setting. "The Tyrant" was the most stunning return to form possible. James Earl Jones guest starred as an African dictator who falls ill on a diplomatic visit to the United States. His performance was nothing short of incredible and the episode that surrounded it was easily the best to come out of this series in a couple years.

I always wanted to like the new team. They all brought something a little different to the show that set them apart from the original three and for a while they managed to breathe new life into the series just as it was all becoming a bit rote. Still, I can't argue with how well the show worked in this episode with the original team. They slipped back into their traditional roles, but there was an added depth provided by years of carefully crafted character development. Chase was still dry and unscrupulous, but not in a self-serving, petty way. Cameron got caught up in the moral conundrum of the case without really being indecisive. Ah, and Foreman. We've spent more time with him than with any other character except for House. Consequently, it was easy to feel his frustration at landing right back in the same career slot he occupied at the beginning of the series.

Despite winding up with the old team, this episode didn't feel like a reboot exactly. House was given plenty of opportunities to fall back on his old ways, but he definitely started to apply the lessons he's been learning from therapy. When he's not tagging along for diagnostics, he's forced to deal with Wilson's cranky neighbor who has been complaining about the noise House's cane makes when he walks. Using a mix of his old tricks and some newly acquired sympathy, House comes to a unique (if a bit far-fetched) resolution. It's one thing to watch a character develop, it's another thing entirely to see it applied to the show.

Because it would be a crime to waste James Earl Jones, a significant portion of "The Tyrant" revolves around the treatment of the patient as well as the creepy implications of making this person healthy. Jones's character is posited as a genocidal monster who can talk his way into appearing reasonable. When it becomes clear that, should he recover, the dictator will return to his country and continue slaughtering an entire people, Chase decides to play God and fudge some test results so the treatment will be ineffective. With the patient dead, Chase is left to face the guilt and possibly the criminal prosecution of knowingly killing a man.

See, this is the stuff that made House so good in its heyday. I certainly hope this wasn't a fluke or a one-off nostalgia trip. I'll miss the new team, but it's a price I'm willing to pay for the show I used to love.

Best Moment: Chase and Foreman's conversation at the end. It was a fine demonstration of how much these characters have grown over the years.

Notes: Looks like Taub is gone for good. Kind of a quiet exit, especially compared to his coworkers. It's not clear how much more of 13 we'll be seeing from now on.

Episode Rating: 4.9/5- The mirror therapy thing was a bit hokey, but the rest of the episode was top notch. The status quo isn't so bad when you tweak it a bit.