House “Wilson”: A Day In Wilson’s Life

Photos from Fox

Monday night’s episode of House(Fox) was titled “Wilson” and it was all about Dr. James “don’t call me Jim” Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard). It was a great change of pace for the show, which is usually all about Dr. Greg House (Hugh Laurie). It provided an interesting look into House’s best buddy, roommate, and conscience. The focus on Wilson allowed fans to see a day in the life from the eyes of Wilson, with his own staff, his own patients, and a friend that isn't House. It’s this friend who provides the lesson for Wilson, and in this case, it’s House who is providing the guidance. House’s patients take a back seat, and this is a welcome respite, since I am getting a little tired of House’s patients and his somewhat dysfunctional staff.

In this episode, Wilson and his friend Tucker (Joshua Molina) go on a hunting trip to celebrate Tucker’s several years of being cancer free after being treated by Wilson. After Wilson sticks a chemo bag on a tree and Tucker shoots it to smithereens, Tucker collapses soon afterwards and wonders if he is having a stroke. But when they get Tucker to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, Wilson thinks he has an easy diagnosis. When the treatment doesn’t work, House insists that Tucker’s cancer has returned, but Wilson refuses to believe it, making other diagnoses and continuing to treat Tucker unsuccessfully.

Tucker’s very young girlfriend Ashley (Marnette Patterson ) seems to be having a hard time dealing with his illness, and Tucker gets Wilson to interceded to get his daughter Emily to his bedside, and she brings his ex wife, Melissa (Katherine LaNasa). Melissa acts as the calm head in the room, and quickly takes control in his treatment decisions, with Tucker giving it to her, much to Ashley’s dismay.

During his say, Wilson also treats other patients, and we get a snapshot of his true care and concern for his patients. But he is not clear headed when it comes to his friend, likely because he does not want to face the obvious – that Tucker’s cancer is back. Meanwhile, Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) tries to interject her own problems in finding a new place so she and Lucas can move in together. I realized a long time ago that I don’t care for Cuddy and the fact that she is so self absorbed while the hospital staff is working to heal people and to save lives. So I found it rather sickening that she feels that she has to get Wilson involved so House would eventually find out that she and Lucas are going to live together. I feel happy, however, when this comes back to bite her in the ass later on.

Things get very complicated for Wilson when he manages to double the dose of chemo for Tucker and his cancer is cured, but it destroys Tucker’s liver in the process. Making matters worse, when a suitable donor is not going to present itself in time, Tucker demands that Wilson donate some of his own liver. House tries to talk him out of it, and when Wilson decides he is going to do it anyway, House refuses to watch the operation. He says if Wilson dies, he will be all alone. But House seems to change his mind, and while Wilson begins the anesthesia for surgery, he spots House watching from the gallery.

Wilson’s rude awakening comes when Tucker decides that his old family served their purpose, and now that he’s been cured again, he’s going back to his young girlfriend, Ashley. It was clear that Tucker was a major heel and he used Wilson, just like he used his family. Wilson indicates he is disappointed, but House says Wilson should allow himself to be angry. Wilson then takes it out on Cuddy by outbidding her on the loft that she really wanted for her and Lucas, using the fact that Cuddy hurt his friend (House) as an excuse. Personally, the loft is a much better place for House and Wilson than Cuddy – why would she want to give up a nice house with likely a small yard for a loft, especially with a kid in her life? I swear that Lisa Cuddy is a head case.

I enjoyed this episode quite a bit because it provided a look into life at PPTH with someone else’s eyes. We get to see not only what kind of doctor that James Wilson is, but what kind of friend he is, willing to give literally of himself to save a friend. He has done that so many times, not with body parts of course, but with his heart and soul, to House many times. I think that House has come to the full realization of what kind of friend that Wilson has been to him – one that would literally give him anything in order to help his friend. Will this prevent House from using Wilson as his own doormat? Maybe only a little bit. Will this experience with Tucker change Wilson’s view of his friends? I’d say that is likely, not because Wilson can’t keep donating body parts. I think that Wilson will start putting himself first in some cases, and that is a good thing, because he really can be too much of a doormat. But one thing we learned from this episode – Cuddy only cares about Cuddy, and she is obsessed with House. It’s the one constant that the show can’t seem to shake. In a way, it is another cheapening of the character of Dr. Cuddy, just like putting her in provocative attire which is inappropriate for her job. She’s becoming a rather toxic character. It is the only disappointment that I continue to have with this series, and I suspect she isn’t going away any time soon.

All in all, a day in the life of Wilson seemed to solidify that the two people who really belong together are House and Wilson. They are both damaged in their own way, and yet they can both heal each other in their own way. Like yin and yang, House and Wilson are two opposites who move together to form a balance in their lives. Now, if Cuddy would just move out of the way…





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