315: Half-Wit

"Half-Wit." Not a lot of hidden meanings can really be drawn from this title, yet I shall endeavour to do so.


The obvious reference to the patient of the week's musical savantism is...well, obvious. One may take a further step, however, and look at the final treatment: hemispherectomy. Ultimately, the patient is half as witty as before. I will close this line of thought with the comment that I do not like this possible comparison; it's very...physical in terms of its meaning.

The more satisfying hidden connection with the title regards House's alleged battle with brain cancer. The mere fact that he tried to fake brain cancer to get direct injections of antidepressant therapy drugs into his brain is ridiculously absurd and a "half-witted" move in and of itself. This clearly comes into view when Wilson confronts House about this, pointing out that the real cancer patients who get depressed don't have anyone to support them; House, on the other hand, has people willing to support him. Despite this, House fakes cancer to avoid dealing with people's support as a means of obtaining a chemical treatment for his dysthymia (I hesitate to consider House to be truly depressed, since his bad leg plays something of a factor with regard to his misery).

I'll try to do two or three of these next post, and I plan on continuing the reverse order of episodes at this rate. I may mix it up though.