Everyone knows that Dr. Gregory House isn’t the nicest man on television. The titular character on FOX’s medical drama House is as antisocial as they come, and he’s even served jail time. Just when you think there’s a line he won’t cross, he crosses it just to prove you wrong.
On the latest episode of House, the doctor outdid himself. In an elaborate practical joke, he said that Wilson had fathered a child 11 years ago. We then saw Wilson meeting his adorable, nerdy son, bond with him over goat cheese and prosciutto pizza and even say that the little kid could live with him. Then came the coup-de-grace, when House revealed that Wilson’s son was actually an actor and that he had staged the entire thing to prove that Wilson wasn’t really eager to be a father.
That’s a very involved practical joke, even for House. And despite the fact that the two friends were seen laughing about it at the end of the episode, it was still pretty bad. It says more about Wilson that he’s willing to just forgive the prank so quickly than it does about House who was willing to do it.
This particularly cruel prank got me thinking: What’s the worst thing House has ever done? While hiring a fake illegitimate son for Wilson is awful, I’m not sure it would crack the top five on his all-time list.
Off the top of my head I came up with three moments from the series that seemed particularly awful for Dr. House. See if you can name ones even worse than these.
Crashing His Car Into Cuddy’s House
The act that got him sent to prison, House, fueled by anger and jealousy, crashed his car into Cuddy’s house. He claimed he knew he wouldn’t hit anyone, but that doesn’t forgive his criminal act. Even worse, he fled the scene.
He Subconsciously Tried to Kill Chase
When House began seeing visions of Amber because his mind was broken, he started to learn how his subconscious worked, and it was ugly. House hired Karamel, a stripper, to perform at Chase’s bachelor party. Chase nearly died when he did a body shot off of her because of her strawberry body butter since he’s allergic to strawberries. House later realized that he must’ve known this and deduced that he intentionally tried to kill Chase. Chase was fine, but the horrifying glimpse into his inner psyche was enough to scare him a little.
He Pretend to Have Cancer to Score Drugs
In one of my favorite episodes ever, season 3’s “Half-Wit,” his team began to suspect that House was dying of a brain tumor. He was willing to let them believe this, only it turned out he was faking it so he could get into a clinical trial that had cool drugs. It’s not just that he would fake a fatal illness and steal someone’s spot in a potentially life-saving medical trial, it’s the fact that he was willing to let those closest to him believe he was dying.
Those are my top three, but what are yours? Is making Wilson think that he was a father one of the worst things House has ever done?
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
