House MD Shows the Life of Dr. James Wilson in “Wilson”

On November 30, 2009, House MD aired Season 6, Episode 9, “Wilson.” This episode was different than the rest of the 120 previous episodes. Instead of revolving around Dr. Gregory House and his Diagnostics Team (Thirteen, Chase, Taub, and Foreman) the main character was Wilson. For once, we live the life of Wilson, with House as a mere afterthought and glimpses of the Diagnostics Team running around in the background solving strange cases.

I enjoyed this episode. For so long, we only saw Dr. James Wilson as Sherlock/House’s Watson, the little sidekick full of morals and integrity. But in “Wilson,” we get to see the moral dilemmas shaking Wilson’s steady world and his loyalty to House being challenged. And in the end, Wilson comes out as a more rounded character, with a little bit of bad and little bit of good mixed into one. The case of the episode is a friend of Wilson’s.

Five years ago, Tucker was diagnosed with leukemia, but with Wilson’s help, they put it into recession. While hunting on the five year anniversary of health, Tucker collapses with what appears to be a stroke. Of course, House diagnoses the case as cancer, but because Tucker is a friend of Wilson’s, he denies it and looks for any other possible cause. In the end, it is a brain cancer, and when Chemotherapy fails the first time, Wilson tries to fix it by doing a double-dose of Chemo. This results in liver failure, giving Tucker only 24 hours to live. The real kicker? The last time Tucker was sick, Wilson gave him a transfusion from Wilson’s own blood. So he knows that they are compatible.

Now Wilson is stuck with a decision: should he donate a lobe from his liver, or let one of his patients die, waiting for a donor? And when he does make a decision, he realized that Tucker was just a selfish jerk in the end.

Another dilemma of the episode revolves around Cuddy and House. Cuddy is moving in with Lucas and currently looking for an apartment. Wilson is a little snappish about it: “What, you need House or my approval?” But when Cuddy finds an apartment she likes, Wilson puts a bid on it. As he says, it was wrong for Cuddy to do that to House – so Wilson’s loyalty shines, even though it meant backstabbing Cuddy.

So now we see the light and dark sides of Wilson, and I love him even more. I understand why House and he are best friends now – they are a lot alike, even though Wilson tends to follow the straight and narrow. They really are Dr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.

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