The House/Holmes Connection
By Bert Ehrmann
2005-10-03 — How best to describe
Gregory House, M.D. (Hugh Laurie) the central character of the Fox
television series House, M.D.? He's a doctor who's loud, crass and
rude, more likely to berate a patient for not telling the truth than
to visit their bedside. He's nearly friendless, antisocial, and a recognized
genius in the medical field.
The character has more than a few passing similarities to Sherlock Holmes,
P.I.
Sherlock Holmes solves crimes the London police deem unsolvable. Using his
skills of deductive reasoning, Holmes uncovers the truth following the axiom
of (sic) "eliminating the impossible and finding what whatever remains, however
improbable, has to be the truth."
House is a detective who focuses on disease, a board certified diagnostician
with a double specialty in infectious disease and nephrology. What House enjoys
most in life, like Holmes, is solving puzzles. And what greater puzzle is there
than diagnosing and treating diseases an average doctor would run shrieking
from? House uses his skills of logic and reasoning to uncover what the patient
doesn't have in order to find what they do have.
House walks with a cane, an aftereffect of an infection (tissue death) in his
leg. The pain is constant enough that he has become dependant on Vicodin and
keeps a ready supply in his pocket. Though House might disagree that he has
a drug problem, he sees it as a pain problem that the drug alleviates; still,
House pops Vicodin much like a smoker lights up.
Like House, Holmes was drug-addicted, injecting cocaine occasionally, though
during Holmes' time cocaine was legal. Then again, Vicodin is legal when prescribed
by a doctor, and House is a doctor...
On a very basic level, Holmes most common character trait, other than the deerstalker
hat, was his constant pipe. Although House doesn't puff on a pipe, when we
do see the character at home there's usually a cigar smoldering in an ashtray
as he plays the piano - Holmes preferred the violin.
Holmes had a "mortal enemy" in Moriarty; House's enemy is Edward Vogler (Chi
McBride), an extremely wealthy benefactor who would donate millions to the
hospital that employs House if House wasn't there. Whereas Moriarty was out
to literally kill Holmes (and seemingly did at one point), Vogler is only interested
in ruining House's career.
Then, of course, there's Doctor Watson, Holmes only friend and companion, and
a sounding board for Holmes while solving mysteries.
House has his own "Dr. Watson," except his Dr. Watson is really four doctors.
First and foremost is the character of Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard).
(Look at their last names - each starts with a "W," ends with a "son" and is
six characters in length.) The relationship between House and Wilson mirrors
that of Holmes and Watson. Without Wilson, House would spend most of his time
at the hospital and the rest alone at home. With Wilson, at least, House has
an opportunity to occasionally dine with a friend and have someone to talk
to in a non-work related manner.
House's other "Watsons" are Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps), Dr. Allison Cameron
(Jennifer Morrison) and Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer). Forman, Cameron and
Chase act as a sort of extension of House's will, doing what he cannot, or
doesn't want to, do.
I guess it would be easiest to describe House as "Sherlock Holmes with an attitude,
with four Doctor Watson's instead of one." Then again, whatever Fox is doing
to promote the show must be working. Currently, the series is in its second
season on Fox with the first season available on DVD.