"Half-Wit" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

'' and premiered on the

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

network on March 6, 2007.

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

-winning singer/songwriter Dave Matthews guest stars in the episode as Patrick, a

savant Savant syndrome () is a rare condition in which someone with significant mental disabilities demonstrates certain abilities far in excess of average. The skills that savants excel at are generally related to memory. This may include rapid calcu ...

and piano

prodigy Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to: * Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer ** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess Arts, entertainment, and ...

who comes under the care of Dr. House (

Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie (; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He first gained recognition for his work as one half of the comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. The two men acted together in a ...

) for a rare movement disorder. Dr. House also is suspected to have cancer by his staff. Also appearing is

Kurtwood Smith Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American television and film actor. He is known for playing Clarence Boddicker in ''RoboCop'' (1987), Robert Griggs in ''Rambo III'' (1988), and Red Forman in ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), as ...

. The episode marks the directorial debut of executive producer Katie Jacobs. The patient in the episode closely resembles real world savant

Derek Paravicini Derek Paravicini (born 26 July 1979) is an English autistic savant known as a musical prodigy. He resides in London. Biography On 26 July 1979, Paravicini was born at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, He was born extremely prematurely, at ...

Plot

Patrick Obyedkov, a respected pianist, suffers a painful involuntary muscle contraction in his left hand during a piano concert. The case attracts the attention of

Gregory House Gregory House, M.D. is the titular protagonist of the American medical drama series ''House''. Created by David Shore and portrayed by English actor Hugh Laurie, he leads a team of diagnosticians and is the Head of Diagnostic Medicine at the f ...

, who learns from Patrick's father that Patrick suffered severe

brain damage Neurotrauma, brain damage or brain injury (BI) is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. In general, brain damage refers to significant, undiscriminating t ...

from a bus accident that also killed his mother. House is intrigued as to why Patrick, who had no musical training at the time of the accident, could suddenly play the piano after suffering a severe injury. While trying to deduce the origin of the brain rewiring responsible for Patrick mysteriously gaining musical abilities, House and his team must stop the deadly bleeding that is quickly threatening his life. Patrick's condition worsens, and House presents a difficult option to Patrick's father: either perform a

hemispherectomy Hemispherectomy is a neurosurgical procedure in which a cerebral hemisphere (half of the upper brain, or cerebrum) is removed or disconnected that is used to treat a variety of refractory or drug-resistant seizure disorders (epilepsy). Refractory ...

, allowing Patrick to live normally but not play the piano, or to continue as he is and never live a normal life. Patrick's father, after overcoming his anger at the suggestion, opts for the surgery. After the procedure, Patrick loses his ability to speak, though House says this will return. While the father is talking with House about his son's recovery, Patrick buttons his shirt, a task which he had previously been incapable of doing. Meanwhile,

Allison Cameron Allison Cameron, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama ''House'', portrayed by American actress Jennifer Morrison. An immunologist, Cameron was a member of Dr. Gregory House's team of handpicked specialists at Princeton-Plains ...

(

Jennifer Morrison Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, director, producer, and former child model. She is mainly known for her roles as Dr. Allison Cameron in the medical-drama series ''House'' (2004–2012) and Emma Swan in the ABC adventure-fantasy s ...

) discovers that House has been in contact with a hospital in Massachusetts and suspects that House may be looking to take a new job there. When

Lisa Cuddy Lisa Cuddy, M.D., is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama ''House''. She is portrayed by Lisa Edelstein. Cuddy was the Dean of Medicine of the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. Cuddy quit her job after the e ...

contacts the hospital, she learns that House has been in contact with a

brain cancer A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...

specialist — not as a job applicant, but as a patient for a

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

. When confronted by his team, House denies the gravity of the situation and resents their interference, and they are forced to contend with the possibility his condition may be more serious than he is letting on. Near the end of the episode, the team discovers that the medical file sent to the hospital in Massachusetts did not belong to House, and he intended to trick the doctors at the university into implanting a "cool drug" into the

pleasure center The reward system (the mesocorticolimbic circuit) is a group of neural structures responsible for incentive salience (i.e., "wanting"; desire or craving for a reward and motivation), associative learning (primarily positive reinforcement and class ...

of his brain, possibly in order to get over the pain in his leg.

Awards

This episode was submitted for consideration in the categories of " Outstanding Drama Series", "Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series" and " Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" on

's behalf for the

59th Primetime Emmy Awards The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 2007, honoring the best in U.S. prime time television programming at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ...

. This resulted in nominations in the categories of Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Music

*Patrick begins to play the

Waldstein Sonata Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 21 in C major, Op. 53, known as the ', is one of the three most notable sonatas of his middle period (the other two being the ''Appassionata'', Op. 57, and ''Les Adieux'', Op. 81a). Completed in summer 1804 and sur ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

(1st Movement) at the piano recital, in the opening scene. *As a test of Patrick's musical recall, House wheels a piano into his room and plays the opening bars of "

I Don't Like Mondays "I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the 1979 Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, '' The Fine Art of Surfacing''. T ...

" by the

Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line ...

. Patrick plays them back note for note as House adds the hand-claps at the right moments. *House also starts playing the opening bars of Slacker's "I Have No Memory". Patrick joins in and House withdraws after playing it together for a while and lets Patrick complete it. *During the fMRI, the third movement of

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

's Symphony in C major is being played. *When Patrick was asked to pretend that his leg was a piano, he played the 3rd movement of the Waldstein Sonata. *In the end of the episode, House walks by a restaurant with the music "See the World" by Gomez playing.

References

External links

FOX.com-''House'' official site
{{House (TV series) House (season 3) episodes Dave Matthews 2007 American television episodes fr:Demi-prodige