Andre Braugher's House Character Explained and Why He Was Important

An important component Home was Dr. Gregory House's (Hugh Laurie) addiction to Vicodin, which he finally addresses in Season 6 with the help of Andre Braugher's character, psychiatrist Dr. House is a brilliant diagnostician who always makes miraculous medical connections that no one else can. do, then the characters of Home allowed his addiction for five seasons. House masks his pain with his sarcastic sense of humor, but his ability to cope with his misery reaches a tipping point in Season 5, where drugs alone no longer mask his emotional pain.

House is dealing with the death of his father and the loss of two colleagues, including Lawrence Kutner's shocking suicide in Home and Amber Volakis' bus accident while helping House. House begins having hallucinations that match reality perfectly, a side effect of Vicodin abuse that scares him into admitting he has a problem. At the end of Season 5, House is admitted to Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital, where he will meet Dr. Nolan, the perfect doctor to challenge House.

Braugher's Darryl Nolan is introduced as House's psychiatrist

House's work is just beginning after his detox

House checked himself into Mayfield voluntarily to detox from Vicodin, but in some ways, detox was the easy part. When House finishes his physical withdrawals, he expects to leave the hospital immediately, but is told to meet with Braugher's Dr. Nolan, who will be House's primary doctor. Nolan astutely recognizes that House's problems are not resolved. Nolan confronts House's petulance with calm professionalismwanting House to be moved to the long-term ward.

Legally, House can leave Mayfield, but without Nolan's recommendation, House will never regain his medical license. Cynically, House calls it blackmail. Nolan is doing what's best for House, even if the methodology is spotty. This is the only way to bring the house to Ward 6 for supervised medication and psychotherapy. As demonstrated in many HomeIn the best episodes of House, House likes to play games, but doesn't realize he's met his match in Nolan.

As always, House has a plan to show he's above Nolan's rules. After a few weeks, House reveals to Nolan that he has been swallowing the pills with his tongue. House sees this as an empirical victory, but Nolan points out the irony of House using manipulation as proof of well-being. Nolan then shows House that he was giving him a placebo the whole time. House is frustrated, thinking he was tricking Nolan just so Nolan would be two steps ahead of him, but House isn't ready to oblige yet.

Nolan wants House to start taking antidepressants, but House fears losing the edge, a common myth about SSRIs. Nolan encourages House to help others in the Ward, but House uses his ability to read people to diagnose their mental illnesses and exploit their vulnerabilities. As always, Gregory House considers himself a genius and thinks he can game the system without consequence, so he's not open to Nolan's path until he nearly kills a fellow patient of Ward's.

How Dr. Nolan Earned House's Trust (and Vice Versa)

Nolan brings House to a very important doctor appointment

When a new patient, Steve Alcartine (Derek Richardson), enters the ward, House seems unusually protective of him. Steve lost his wife and now has the illusion that he is a superhero, Master of Freedom. House is furious when Steve is given medication that leaves him nearly catatonic, convinced he knows better than the team. Taking matters into his own hands, in part to prove that his way is better than Nolan's, House borrows a car from Lydia (Frank Ponte), a married woman with whom House has been developing a romantic connection.

House takes Steve to an amusement park where they go on a ride that simulates a free fall from a parachute, and Steve comes alive with the feeling of flying. Unfortunately, House accidentally encourages Steve's delusionand Steve jumps from the top of the parking structure believing he can fly, seriously injuring himself but alive. House's guilt is the breaking point where House is ready to fully cooperate with Nolan at the exact moment Nolan was ready to give up on House. Even though House was a complete idiot, he wanted to help Steve, not realizing how misguided his plan was.

House is not a typical patient, so Nolan doesn't limit himself to typical psychotherapy. Nolan wants House to learn to trust people and form meaningful relationships, so Nolan takes House to a hospital fundraising cocktail party and challenges him to open up to a complete stranger. House finds Lydia and they spend the entire night sharing increasingly outrageous stories with other attendees.

Nolan considers this a success, pointing out that none of these strangers reported the philandering husband or the porn producer, so even if it wasn't the truth, it proved that House can trust people. Nolan's ability to turn House's victories upside down is what helps get through to House.

House also impacts Nolan. When Nolan's father receives a fatal diagnosis Nolan gives House a day pass to the hospital ostensibly for a second opinion but House deduces this because there is no one else there. House is the closest thing Nolan has to a friend. They must respect each other's medical skills. House is characteristically cruel, even when Nolan mourns his dying father, but he stays, which is significant for Nolan.

When Lydia walks away, House turns to Nolan to overcome the pain rather than turning to Vicodin to numb her, a huge moment of growth. In a reversal of the normal therapeutic relationship, House checks in on how Nolan is dealing with his father's death. Braugher brings tenderness to Nolan when he thanks House for staying with him when his father was dying.

Because of the connections House has made with Lydia and other patients at the Ward, Nolan knows that House is recovered enough for Nolan to release him from the Ward with the letter of recommendation to get his medical license back. House Couldn't Have Reached His Healthiest State HomeThere are eight seasons without Nolan's supervision.

How Nolan Helped House Return to Medicine

House fears the pressure of the diagnosis could lead to a relapse

Even after regaining his license, House does not return to medicine, abandoning his diagnostic position. Home It evolved steadily over eight seasons, but the fact that House wasn't a doctor would change the entire series. House's confidence is shaken and House fears the high pressure of his job will lead to a Vicodin relapsea sign of how deeply committed he is to recovery. However, House tells Nolan that his leg is hurting, so Nolan suggests that House find a hobby to keep his mind occupied.

House accompanies Dr. James Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) to a cooking class, but House's addictive personality causes him to overdo it. He doesn't make cooking a hobby, but an obsession, staying up all night tinkering until the recipe is perfect. However, his leg continues to hurt, which House interprets as a failure, but Nolan encourages him to keep trying different hobbies until he finds one that works.

Ultimately, Nolan helps House realize that his diagnostic work at Princeton-Plainsboro is not a hindrance to his mental health, but an important component of it. House's leg stopped hurting when he secretly helped his team solve a case by posting anonymously online. Although House fears he has “relapse” upon diagnosis, Nolan wisely advises him to return to medicine even though he is scared. House's trust in Nolan is absolute to take such a big step at Nolan's suggestion.

Why House Stopped Seeing Dr. Nolan

House loses faith in Dr.

Medicine, especially psychiatric medicine, is not always linear. House has been dating Nolan for a year, and during what would be their last session, House wants to talk about an interesting case with an amnesiac patient, but Nolan keeps redirecting the conversation to House. House clearly has a wall up, insisting it was a “normal week,” despite Wilson asking him to move out. Like a doorknob confession, House mentions that Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) is moving in with her boyfriend, the significant event Nolan was trying to uncover.

House reaches his breaking point, attacking Nolan bitterly. House complains that his only goal with Nolan was to find happiness, but everyone can be happy except him. House accuses Nolan of being a “faith healer”, someone taking advantage of those who want to believe. House misdirects his anger at Wilson and Cuddy at Nolanending the sessions by claiming he no longer believes Nolan has the answers, but House is avoiding the hard work of analyzing his feelings.

Nolan's Role in House Finale Explained

Nolan attends House's funeral

In HomeIn the divisive series finale, Wilson and Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) are trying to find House, who has been missing for several days. House faces six months in prison while Wilson has a terminal cancer diagnosis, and they are worried that House will relapse or something worse. House has never been one to face the consequences of his actions. In House's abandoned apartment, they find House's phone has a call to Nolan.

Wilson and Foreman begin a group therapy session that Nolan is leading, asking if Nolan can prove any clues as to where House might be. Nolan is torn between patient confidentiality and his desire to help. Nolan does not reveal what he discussed with House, even though House is no longer his patient, but he warns Foreman that he is in the right direction when Foreman remembers that House's last patient was a heroin addict. Nolan has proven that he will break the rules in the interests of his patients, tempering his rule-abiding nature with compassion.

A body identified as House's is found in the rubble of a building that caught fire and collapsed. Many Home characters return for the final funeral, including Braugher's Dr. Nolan. Nolan doesn't speak, which is appropriate for a therapist attending a former client's funeral, but Nolan's presence alone underscores the deep and lasting impact House had on him.