The Tyrant 

When a controversial African politician falls ill, he is brought to Princeton Plainsboro for treatment. The team struggles with whether to help a merciless dictator being subpoenaed for ... See full summary »

Director:

David Straiton

Writers:

David Shore (created by), Peter Blake

Stars:

Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Omar Epps

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Laurie	...	Dr. Gregory House
Lisa Edelstein	...	Dr. Lisa Cuddy
Omar Epps	...	Dr. Eric Foreman
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Dr. James Wilson
Jennifer Morrison	...	Dr. Allison Cameron
Jesse Spencer	...	Dr. Robert Chase
Olivia Wilde	...	Dr. Remy 'Thirteen' Hadley
James Earl Jones	...	Dibala
David Marciano	...	Murphy
Garikayi Mutambirwa	...	Ruwe
Roger Aaron Brown	...	Ntila
Christopher Fairbanks	...	Agent Boss
Kelsey Scott	...	Ama
Jason Nash	...	Long Hair
Jarell Dubose	...	Dibala's Son

Storyline

When a controversial African politician falls ill, he is brought to Princeton Plainsboro for treatment. The team struggles with whether to help a merciless dictator being subpoenaed for crimes against humanity in his country. Meanwhile, Wilson tries to make peace with a feuding neighbor, but House's prying exacerbates the problem.

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Plot Keywords:

disabled character | destroying evidence | duct tape gag | bound and gagged | canadian flag | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 October 2009 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 10, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Heel & Toe Films, Shore Z Productions, Bad Hat Harry Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the most controversial episodes, it is often used as a lesson piece for Moral Theology classes at private, Catholic schools.

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Goofs

The opening scene in which Dibala is being served a civil subpoena, the man serving it cites to Title 18 of the United States Code section 1350. This section does not deal with genocide or crimes against humanity. Section 1350 concerns "Failure of corporate officers to certify financial records." The section dealing with genocide is section 1091.

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Quotes

Dr. Gregory House: [Foreman, Chase and Cameron enter and spot House sitting at the conference table] Oh my God. It's three years ago, does it mean I'm still crazy?

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Connections

References Say Anything... (1989)

User Reviews

Can a TV show really be this good?

What more is there to say about House? Albeit, in this episode, the dosage of drama was a tad outlandish and perhaps the ethical scenarios were a bit contrived, nonetheless, it really all was quite original. Besides, the rest of the episode had some of House's best moments.

From the self-reflexive jokes (when House remarks on Foreman's firing of Thirteen he says "it's not like she was the hottest girl in the world") to the clever incorporation of the 'mirror box' to cure the neighbor's phantom limb (inspired directly from the real-life work of neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran) this episode ranks as one of the better episodes of House.