During the weekend, I thought spring was finally here. Fifty-one degrees did I see? Then there was snow, again. Oh well, I will let this one go because it was a day before this year’s kyungchip (the first spring day when frogs come out) by the lunar calendar. Let’s move on to my latest obsession. No, it’s not NASCAR. Those of you who know me know I have not watched races since May 2007. Instead, I have been watching “House, M.D.” I am sure my students are hand-quoting “for research” right about now.

Usually, I watch the shows I like faithfully. “House” is different. I didn’t follow the show during its regular seasons. I bought the DVDs for three seasons and watched them at once. Watching three entire seasons together without the commercial interruption should make my job easier in finding the patterns. Again, “House” is different. After watching each episode multiple times (I lost count after 34), I still cannot put my finger on why I am so into this show. Dr. House is an insensitive, sarcastic, pessimistic, arrogant genius diagnostician who plays games with mysterious diseases (he doesn’t heal patients). He is insensitive as he speaks his mind on everything via blunt metaphors (well, if such things exist). He is not hesitant to say to his patients, “You are dying.” He eats his lunch at a coma patient’s bedside. His sarcastic humor materializes race, ethnicity, culture, gender, religion, age, sexual orientation and physical appearance, to name a few, in not so politically correct manners. “Everyone lies” is his maxim as a doctor and as a person. He doesn’t see his patients (to stay objective and detached). Dr. House is everything that I argue against in my Health Communication class, and I still can’t stop talking about him.

Among the many things I have provisionally concluded so far, one is hard to miss. He solves a case of a mysterious disease that nobody can. No matter how difficult the case might be, he is the man. The mighty power of his intelligence, deductive skills and determinism, along with the mighty technologies he orders to test blood, urine or bone marrow, is obvious in every episode. This image reminds me of Rambo, an action hero in 1980s who defeated many enemies all by himself with mighty machine guns. Rambo in medicine? Hard to imagine? Here is a scene that captures my imagination:

Dr. House is yelling at patients in the waiting room (not to bother him with their runny nose and to go home). When his boss, Dr. Cuddy, comes out of her office to stop him, a man in the waiting room, all of a sudden, starts to scream (out of pain) and runs in a circle. Everyone freezes out of fear. Cuddy, who is also a doctor, looks scared and tells a nurse to call security. House calmly observes the man, goes over to a pharmacy desk and gets a syringe (a paralytic, not a sedative). After watching the screaming running man for one more lap, he uses his cane to tackle him down on the floor, passes his cane to Cuddy, and holds the man down and sticks the syringe in to his butt. The chaos is stopped (“One Day, One Room,” Season 3).

This is one of my favorite scenes. The scene is written humorously. (If you don’t laugh at this scene, you will in one minute when House announces to his team that the man has a cockroach in his ear, not a mysterious disease.) House is just cool, calm and collected in this scene while Cuddy, another doctor, who happens to be a woman, looks confused and even terrified by the man’s running and screaming. First thing she does is to ask for help, “Call security.” Did I mention that she is a doctor, too? Now do you see my point that House = Rambo in medicine, or would you like me to explain my points further? To be continued …