Office Politics (House)

"Office Politics" is the sixth episode of the seventh season of the American medical drama House. It aired on November 8, 2010. It is also the first episode to feature Amber Tamblyn as Martha Masters, as a replacement of Thirteen (Olivia Wilde).

Plot

A New Jersey senator's campaign manager Joe Dugan (played by Jack Coleman) falls ill with liver failure and temporary paralysis.

Meanwhile, Cuddy pressures House to add a female doctor to his team but eventually tells him that she has chosen for him- a third year med student named Martha Masters. Taub appears to have a problem with Masters, which Foreman and Chase try to figure out. Throughout the episode, House keeps firing and rehiring Masters, rehiring her whenever he needs her for an idea, and firing her again as soon as he's done talking to her.

Masters suggests a neuroendocrine tumor, and the team also considers DIC. The team give Joe an MRI to look for a tumor, but don't find one. Taub runs Joe's blood, which also comes back normal. Looking at the senator on TV delivering a speech, House suspects the senator has Hepatitis C, and thinks that he's had sex with Joe, and thinks Joe has Hepatitis C as well. He gives Joe interferon, but Joe doesn't get better. Masters notes that a German research study has shown that 15% of people with Hepatitis C that have been injected with Hepatitis A got better. When Cuddy says that this exposes the hospital to liability, Masters tells her that she's being a coward.

Foreman and Chase eventually find out that Taub dislikes her because he interviewed her for Hopkins Med School for an hour and she didn't remember him, even though she remembered the 20th decimal place of Euler's number. At the end of the episode, Taub learns the truth about Masters. She remembers him, and he mumbles something to her.

House takes the senator's blood and runs it under Joe's name to get Cuddy to approve on his decision, despite Wilson's warnings that lying to her would be wrong now that they are involved. House also hires Masters in the end, saying she had him when she called Cuddy a coward. The show ends with Cuddy going to the nurses station to check up on House and discovering his lie. She is very visibly upset.

Reception

Critical response

This episode received a B+ from the AV Club.^[1]

Ratings

This episode was watched by 9.63 million American viewers. 2.37 million Canadians watched this episode, ranking seventh for the week.^[2]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Office Politics

• "Office Politics" at Fox.com
• "Office Politics" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Office Politics" at TV.com