Dr House and the Bread

I am not a frequent TV viewer these days. I have, however, seen a handful of episodes of "House," the show about a cranky and drug-addicted Doctor who is such a good diagnostician he can't be fired, however many people -- patients, their family members, co-workers, bosses, you name it -- he might offend. Or at least, that seems to be the theme of the show: You, too, can afford to be obnoxious and even law-breaking so long as you are really good at something.

That is no doubt a wholesome message. But based on the samples of it I've seen, the show works best when that is put off to the side, and the plot moves along in Sherlock Holmes type fashion. For there is always a detective show buried in there. But Vicodin is the new cocaine.

For example, in one episode a man -- a police officer -- comes into the hospital with a condition that, among its other symptoms, has him in inexplicable euphoria. Nobody, not even House, knows what's wrong with him. So they go out to the police officer's home to look around (yes, House makes house calls. Of the investigative sort, anyway.)

The officer's house is a mess. He is an utter slob who seems to live on pizza deliveries. So?

So ... by itself, not very much. But House notices several loaves of bread in amongst the mess. Still, his colleague wonders -- So?

So, House instructs her (rather in the tone that Sherlock presumably used with Watson) a man this messy, living from one delivery to another, doesn't plan meals ahead. Why does he have a lot of bread in the place? One plausible hypothesis is that he uses bread to attract birds to his terrace. Why does he want to do that?

It turns out there is a reason why he wants to use bread to attract birds, and it relates to his illness.

Implausible as it all is as the story of a diagnostician's activities, it is a detective story, playing by the rules according to Hoyle. Or, rather, Doyle. Nice one, Doctor.

Reading Assignment

Today I'll simply suggest a bit of seasonally appropriate reading: The classic Conan Doyle story, "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle."

The story actually takes place on December 27, and a couple of years after Dr. Watson has moved out of the famous Baker Street flat.

Nonetheless, 'tis still the season ... when better to visit an old friend and wish him the best? Watson does this, and before long he's seated himself in the old armchair to listen to Holmes cogitate about an abandoned hat, while he (Watson) warms his hands by the crackling fire, "for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows were thick with ice crystals."

With the familiar setting already warming him and his readers, I leave you to it.

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/acdoyle/bl-acdoyle-blue.htm