The Tyrant (House)
Encyclopedia
"The Tyrant" is the fourth episode of the sixth season of House
. It first aired October 5, 2009.
) who has fallen ill;
The dictator had made threats of ethnic cleansing against an ethnic minority, the Sitibi, and the team deals with ethical issues of treating a potential mass murderer.
The episode features an African man seen to be persuading Chase to not save Dibala. Later he dresses as a nurse and tries to enter Dibala's room. He's attacked by Dibala's guards. Chase finds out that Dibala forced this man to rape and murder a woman, and the man tells Chase that Dibala will do this to all the Sitibi. Chase is more curious than others and confronts Dibala, who eventually reveals his plans on killing off the ethnic minority. Dibala also mentions his youngest son is studying in Princeton and hasn't spoken to him in years because of what he'd read in the papers about Dibala.
Since Taub has resigned and Thirteen was fired, Foreman gets Chase and Cameron to join his team. They first considers dioxin poisoning
from an assassination attempt and start Dibala on olestra
. Afterwards, Dibala has a heart attack and runs a fever. House suggests Lassa fever
, and Dibala is started on ribavirin
. Dibala brings in a lady called Ama, claiming his Health Minister advised that blood plasma
from one with antibodies for Lassa fever is more effective than ribavirin, and wants the team to use her blood. She insists they let her do this. Cameron suspects she is being threatened, and Cuddy says that if she is, she'd rather have a prick on her conscience than the death of Ama's family members, so Cuddy tells the team to use Ama's blood.
Dibala's right eye becomes bloody, a result of an enlarged lymph node which blocked the retinal vein. Foreman suggests lymphoma
. They do a lymph node biopsy which comes back negative. Dibala also develops lack of short-term memory, spikes a fever and has nodules in his fingers. House thinks it's scleroderma
. Cameron doesn't care enough to give an opinion, and Chase and Foreman think it's blastomycosis
, so they start him on amphotericin B
. Dibala's colonel, Ntiba, asks Cameron if Dibala is capable of thinking clearly. She replies that he definitely is not right now. She adds that neurons don't grow back and Dibala is already in his decline. She questions the colonel as to whether he can ever be sure if the commands Dibala from now on aren't just delusions of a sick, mad, dying old man.
While giving Dibala the amphotericin B, Dibala grabs her hand and says that if she inserts an air bubble into his IV, he'll have another heart attack. He confronts her about what she told Colonel Ntiba, and says she was putting a gun in Ntiba's hand. Now, he states, the gun is in her hand, and he tells her to pull the trigger if she wants him dead, but notes that it's not so easy to do it as to let someone else do it. After a moment, Cameron injects the amphotericin and Dibala is fine. Chase swears to kick Dibala out onto the street if he touches Cameron again. Dibala says he showed her her true character, saying she's too weak to act on her beliefs. Chase confronts him about his planned genocide of the Sitibi. Dibala says, 'Whatever it takes to protect my country!' After this, Cameron decides to take a side, and asks Chase for a blood test to confirm scleroderma.
The blood test hints towards scleroderma, so Foreman switches Dibala to steroids. Dibala eventually dies from severe bleeding into his lungs. Foreman finds a piece of paper that shows Chase had signed into the morgue at 9.45am - right before he did the blood test on Dibala. He realizes Chase faked the results of test with the blood of a 70-year-old woman, to cause the team to treat incorrectly and kill the dictator and confronts him about this. Chase says there is now a chance for peace and tells Foreman that if the police are to come for him, to warn him so he can first explain to Cameron.
The subplot involves Wilson, who tries to make amends with a difficult neighbor. House is staying with Wilson and his curiosity and meddling leads him to confront the neighbor and look into his apartment. He finds that the neighbor is a wounded veteran who lost an arm, and also finds out the neighbor is Canadian. The neighbor's anger is derived from his pain, and his pain is due to a psychosomatic attachment to a phantom limb
. House solves the dispute with Wilson's neighbor by kidnapping him and forcing him to undergo V.S. Ramachandran's Mirror box
therapy, curing his phantom pains in his amputated hand. The neighbor is extremely happy and thanks House. Wilson finds the neighbor has withdrawn all accusations and is allowing Wilson to do things he previously was very much against. Wilson wonders what House did, and House says he was nice. Wilson doesn't really believe him, but House merely asks, 'Do you really want to know?' Wilson says he'll give House the benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile, Thirteen breaks up with Foreman, saying he wanted to do it to her but didn't have the guts and therefore fired her instead. He insists this isn't true and asks her to dinner. She initially refuses, but later accepts when she finds that Foreman got her a job at Princeton-General. She asks him why he didn't just step down instead of firing her, and asks him if he would do that instead if he could turn back time. Foreman insists he made the right choice, so Thirteen leaves.
The episode ends with House and Wilson watching TV, and they shout 'Oh!' together when the alligator eats a frog. Dibala's son arrives from Princeton and is shown crying over the dictator's dead body. Chase goes home and lies down in bed next to Cameron, very clearly feeling guilty. Foreman is seen burning the records that showed that Chase had accessed the morgue without a valid reason. These records incriminated him of faking the blood test.
.
In 2009 Wilde was ranked #1 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100. It was included as an inside joke where House, upon hearing about Foreman's recent firing of Wilde's character, sarcastically teased, "My condolences. Although, it's not like she's the hottest woman in the world."
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
. It first aired October 5, 2009.
Plot
The team treats a brutal African dictator named Dibala (James Earl JonesJames Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
) who has fallen ill;
The dictator had made threats of ethnic cleansing against an ethnic minority, the Sitibi, and the team deals with ethical issues of treating a potential mass murderer.
The episode features an African man seen to be persuading Chase to not save Dibala. Later he dresses as a nurse and tries to enter Dibala's room. He's attacked by Dibala's guards. Chase finds out that Dibala forced this man to rape and murder a woman, and the man tells Chase that Dibala will do this to all the Sitibi. Chase is more curious than others and confronts Dibala, who eventually reveals his plans on killing off the ethnic minority. Dibala also mentions his youngest son is studying in Princeton and hasn't spoken to him in years because of what he'd read in the papers about Dibala.
Since Taub has resigned and Thirteen was fired, Foreman gets Chase and Cameron to join his team. They first considers dioxin poisoning
Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds
Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds are by-products of various industrial processes, and are commonly regarded as highly toxic compounds that are environmental pollutants and persistent organic pollutants . They include:...
from an assassination attempt and start Dibala on olestra
Olestra
Olestra is a fat substitute that adds no fat, calories, or cholesterol to products. It has been used in the preparation of traditionally high-fat foods such as potato chips, thereby lowering or eliminating their fat content...
. Afterwards, Dibala has a heart attack and runs a fever. House suggests Lassa fever
Lassa fever
Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus and first described in 1969 in the town of Lassa, in Borno State, Nigeria, in the Yedseram river valley at the south end of Lake Chad. Clinical cases of the disease had been known for over a decade but had not been connected...
, and Dibala is started on ribavirin
Ribavirin
Ribavirin is an anti-viral drug indicated for severe RSV infection , hepatitis C infection and other viral infections. Ribavirin is a prodrug, which when metabolised resembles purine RNA nucleotides...
. Dibala brings in a lady called Ama, claiming his Health Minister advised that blood plasma
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
from one with antibodies for Lassa fever is more effective than ribavirin, and wants the team to use her blood. She insists they let her do this. Cameron suspects she is being threatened, and Cuddy says that if she is, she'd rather have a prick on her conscience than the death of Ama's family members, so Cuddy tells the team to use Ama's blood.
Dibala's right eye becomes bloody, a result of an enlarged lymph node which blocked the retinal vein. Foreman suggests lymphoma
Lymphoma
Lymphoma is a cancer in the lymphatic cells of the immune system. Typically, lymphomas present as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. Treatment might involve chemotherapy and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable depending on the histology, type, and stage...
. They do a lymph node biopsy which comes back negative. Dibala also develops lack of short-term memory, spikes a fever and has nodules in his fingers. House thinks it's scleroderma
Scleroderma
Systemic sclerosis or systemic scleroderma is a systemic autoimmune disease or systemic connective tissue disease that is a subtype of scleroderma.-Skin symptoms:...
. Cameron doesn't care enough to give an opinion, and Chase and Foreman think it's blastomycosis
Blastomycosis
Blastomycosis is a fungal infection caused by the organism Blastomyces dermatitidis...
, so they start him on amphotericin B
Amphotericin B
Amphotericin B is a polyene antifungal drug, often used intravenously for systemic fungal infections...
. Dibala's colonel, Ntiba, asks Cameron if Dibala is capable of thinking clearly. She replies that he definitely is not right now. She adds that neurons don't grow back and Dibala is already in his decline. She questions the colonel as to whether he can ever be sure if the commands Dibala from now on aren't just delusions of a sick, mad, dying old man.
While giving Dibala the amphotericin B, Dibala grabs her hand and says that if she inserts an air bubble into his IV, he'll have another heart attack. He confronts her about what she told Colonel Ntiba, and says she was putting a gun in Ntiba's hand. Now, he states, the gun is in her hand, and he tells her to pull the trigger if she wants him dead, but notes that it's not so easy to do it as to let someone else do it. After a moment, Cameron injects the amphotericin and Dibala is fine. Chase swears to kick Dibala out onto the street if he touches Cameron again. Dibala says he showed her her true character, saying she's too weak to act on her beliefs. Chase confronts him about his planned genocide of the Sitibi. Dibala says, 'Whatever it takes to protect my country!' After this, Cameron decides to take a side, and asks Chase for a blood test to confirm scleroderma.
The blood test hints towards scleroderma, so Foreman switches Dibala to steroids. Dibala eventually dies from severe bleeding into his lungs. Foreman finds a piece of paper that shows Chase had signed into the morgue at 9.45am - right before he did the blood test on Dibala. He realizes Chase faked the results of test with the blood of a 70-year-old woman, to cause the team to treat incorrectly and kill the dictator and confronts him about this. Chase says there is now a chance for peace and tells Foreman that if the police are to come for him, to warn him so he can first explain to Cameron.
The subplot involves Wilson, who tries to make amends with a difficult neighbor. House is staying with Wilson and his curiosity and meddling leads him to confront the neighbor and look into his apartment. He finds that the neighbor is a wounded veteran who lost an arm, and also finds out the neighbor is Canadian. The neighbor's anger is derived from his pain, and his pain is due to a psychosomatic attachment to a phantom limb
Phantom limb
A phantom limb is the sensation that an amputated or missing limb is still attached to the body and is moving appropriately with other body parts. 2 out of 3 combat veterans report this feeling. Approximately 60 to 80% of individuals with an amputation experience phantom sensations in their...
. House solves the dispute with Wilson's neighbor by kidnapping him and forcing him to undergo V.S. Ramachandran's Mirror box
Mirror box
A mirror box is a box with two mirrors in the center , invented by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran to help alleviate phantom limb pain, in which patients feel they still have a limb after having it amputated....
therapy, curing his phantom pains in his amputated hand. The neighbor is extremely happy and thanks House. Wilson finds the neighbor has withdrawn all accusations and is allowing Wilson to do things he previously was very much against. Wilson wonders what House did, and House says he was nice. Wilson doesn't really believe him, but House merely asks, 'Do you really want to know?' Wilson says he'll give House the benefit of the doubt.
Meanwhile, Thirteen breaks up with Foreman, saying he wanted to do it to her but didn't have the guts and therefore fired her instead. He insists this isn't true and asks her to dinner. She initially refuses, but later accepts when she finds that Foreman got her a job at Princeton-General. She asks him why he didn't just step down instead of firing her, and asks him if he would do that instead if he could turn back time. Foreman insists he made the right choice, so Thirteen leaves.
The episode ends with House and Wilson watching TV, and they shout 'Oh!' together when the alligator eats a frog. Dibala's son arrives from Princeton and is shown crying over the dictator's dead body. Chase goes home and lies down in bed next to Cameron, very clearly feeling guilty. Foreman is seen burning the records that showed that Chase had accessed the morgue without a valid reason. These records incriminated him of faking the blood test.
Cultural references
Wilson addresses House as "Sookie", from the HBO drama True BloodTrue Blood
True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
.
In 2009 Wilde was ranked #1 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100. It was included as an inside joke where House, upon hearing about Foreman's recent firing of Wilde's character, sarcastically teased, "My condolences. Although, it's not like she's the hottest woman in the world."
External links
- "The Tyrant" at Fox.com