Monday, January 24, 2011

Characters: House

Characters: House

Main Characters

Dr. Gregory House
Head of the Department of Diagnostic Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, with specialties in both Infectious Disease and Nephrology. House is a brilliant doctor; unfortunately for everyone around him, he's also a misanthrope and an arrogant jerk to everyone he meets. He walks with a cane as a result of an infarction he suffered in his right thigh and the surgery that tried to correct it; the pain from this drives his Vicodin addiction as well.
Associated tropes:

Dr. James Wilson
Head of the Department of Oncology, and House's best (and only) friend. Wilson is a sensitive and caring man, whose impeccable bedside manner sharply contrasts House's lack of one. As a result of his nature, he's been married three times, two of them failing as a result of his infidelity, and the third because of his partner's. Very much a people-pleaser.
Associated tropes:

Dr. Lisa Cuddy
Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro, an endocrinologist, and House and Wilson's boss. The frequent target of House's insults and innuendos, Cuddy tries her hardest to rein in her star doctor. Unfortunately, House usually ends up gaining the upper hand.
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Dr. Eric Foreman
Neurologist and a fellow serving under House. Foreman comes from an underprivileged background, and was a thief and a carjacker in his youth. He is the last of the three original fellows to be hired, having only joined the team three days before the start of the series. House seems to favor him above the other fellows, and Foreman serves as something of a foil to House himself, to the point of being called "House Lite" by Cuddy.
Associated tropes:

Dr. Allison Cameron
An immunologist, and one of House's original fellows. Cameron is often at odds with House over patient care — she is more concerned about the patient, while House is more focused on the puzzle. Cameron is a widow, having married a man who she knew was dying of cancer when she was 21. Starting in Season 4, she transfers from the Department of Diagnostic Medicine to the ER, working as a Senior Attending Physician.
She is no longer part of the permanent cast as per Season Seven.
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Dr. Robert Chase
An intensivist (intensive care specialist), and another of the original fellows. Chase is an Australian of Czech descent, and was originally a seminary student before becoming a doctor. He has a strained relationship with his father, largely due to his father's emotional distance and his mother's alcoholism following their divorce. House seems to single out Chase for abuse, likely due to the fact that he's the only member of the team whom House did not select himself. Nonetheless, Chase is a brilliant doctor in his own right, and has solved the case both times House couldn't. After leaving the Department of Diagnostic Medicine in Season 3, Chase becomes a member of the surgical staff at Princeton-Plainsboro.
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Dr. Chris Taub
A plastic surgeon, and one of House's current fellows. Taub was forced out of his successful practice after his partners found out that he was cheating on his wife with one of the nurses. As part of the agreement, he signed a "non-compete" contract, which states that he can no longer pursue a career in his chosen specialty. Taub can be combative, and has tried to undermine House's authority, going so far as to try to get House thrown off of a case.
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Dr. Lawrence Choudray Kutner
Formerly a sports and rehabilitation medicine specialist, and is /was another of the current team of fellows. Of Indian descent, Kutner was orphaned at the age of six, following his parents' shooting in a burglary attempt. He was subsequently adopted by another family, leading to his decisively non-Indian name. Despite this, he is /was generally cheery, and displays /displayed an honest enthusiasm for what he does.
Associated tropes:
  • The Big Guy
  • Boisterous Bruiser: You do not lie to Kutner.
  • Bollywood Nerd
  • Dark And Troubled Past
  • Nice Guy
  • Parental Abandonment
  • Running Gag: Kutner + defibrillator = disaster
    • Foreshadowing: In "Locked In", Kutner uses the paddles without anything disastrous happening. The next episode is "Simple Explanation", where Kutner commits suicide. As Kutner's previous...mishaps with the paddles were likely a result of his characteristic overeagerness, this shows that, despite appearances, he isn't his usual self.
  • Killed Off For Real: When Kal Penn, the actor who portrayed him, left the show to work with President Obama, his character was killed off in "Simple Explanation", via suicide. House thought it was murder, but Word Of God stated that it was indeed suicide.
    • Not Quite Dead: Reappeared as part of House's subconscious in the 5th season finale.
  • Never Live It Down: Kutner and defibrillators.
  • Shilling The Wesley
  • Token Minority: For the new crew, although Foreman is still around so he's not alone. In the episode "Locked In", he refers to them as "dark and darker".

Dr. Remy Hadley
Better known as "Thirteen," she specializes in internal medicine, and is another current fellow. Thirteen prides herself on being a bit of an enigma, and her real name was not known until the end of Season 4. It's later revealed that her mother died of Huntington's disease, and she was reluctant to get tested for the disease herself, feeling that it was better not knowing. Thirteen is also bisexual, a fact which House has picked on her about.
Associated tropes:

Notable Antagonists/Secondary Characters:

Edward Vogler
A billionaire pharmaceutical magnate who "donated" $100,000,000 to Princeton-Plainsboro in exchange for being made chairman of the hospital's board. Wanting to use the hospital as a testing facility for his company's drugs, he comes into direct contention with House, whom he sees as a serious liability.
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Detective Michael Tritter
One of House's clinic patients, who bullied House into running a series of (presumably unnecessary) tests; House retaliated by using a rectal thermometer to take his temperature...and left him there, unattended, for two hours. Tritter, who is as hard headed as House (with a bad attitude to match), sees House as a danger to himself and his patients due to his Vicodin addiction, and will stop at nothing to put him away.
Associated tropes:
  • Dork Age: The Tritter arc was seen as one of the most pointless plots on the show.
    • What added to this was a massive helping of Did Not Do The Research, as most of Tritter's tactics to apprehend House would have been highly illegal in real life. Though questionable legal ethics/procedures are a part of the show, it really shows here as a thin attempt to continue this arc.
  • Jerk Ass

Dr. Amber Volakis
An interventional radiologist, she was one of the 40 applicants for the fellowship. Devious and manipulative, she earned the epithet of "Cutthroat Bitch". Eliminated in the last round of the competition due to her inability to accept being wrong, she started dating Wilson in the latter half of season 4. After suffering kidney damage in a bus crash (which brings on amantadine poisoning as a result), she dies in the season 4 finale...before reappearing as a manifestation of House's subconcious in the latter half of season 5 following Kutner's death.
Associated tropes:

Dr. Darryl Nolan

Pretty much House's psychotherapist manager in Season Six.
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