For eight highly watched and critically acclaimed seasons, House was comfortably the most compelling medical drama on television. The main part of what made the series work so well was, of course, none other than Hugh Laurie's often unhinged and unconventional expert diagnostician Dr. Gregory House.
From day one, House is unapologetic about any part of his personality and lifestyle that may offend others, whether it's his biting wit or his tendency to pop Vicodin pills whenever he feels like it. But through the entire series, House routinely shows why he's regarded as a truly brilliant medical mind, even if he's also exceedingly unprofessional most of the time. But for every moment of genius House has in the series, there are plenty of moments in which his stupidity is also shockingly apparent.
Genius: The little boy putting toys up his nose
Gregory House might not be the biggest fan of clinic duty. Okay, no, that's putting it mildly. House absolutely hates working clinic duty and does whatever he possibly can to get out of doing it whenever possible. In the first season episode "Mob Rules," an adorable and amusing stint in the clinic leads to one of House's most ingenious discoveries.
When a brother repeatedly brings in his baby brother to the clinic, claiming that the baby won't stop crying, House soon realizes that the little boy has been shoving metal toys up his nose - a fire truck, a firefighter, and a police officer - all in hopes of rescuing the first toy he'd shoved up his nose - a little cat.
Not A Genius: All his romantic decisions
If being in love makes people do stupid things, then Gregory House might just be one of the dumbest people around. Regardless of whether he's in a relationship with past love Stacy, on-again-off-again partner Cuddy, or green card wife turned something more Dominika, House is never exactly the best romantic partner a woman could hope for.
Even in other romantic flirtations, such as the brief exploration of Cameron's feelings for him, or his short-lived affair with Lydia, House was never able to get outside of his own head and make an actual effort to care about someone's feelings other than his own.
Genius: House’s Head/Wilson’s Heart
The two-part fourth season finale of House features a truly tragic loss for the series, as Wilson's great love Amber tragically dies after a bus accident that she and House were both victims of. But Amber's identity is a secret for much of these episodes, which find House - working in an addled state as a result of the injuries he suffered on the bus - working to crack the mystery his subconscious has left him with.
To be fair, you could also make the case that House is not a genius at all in these episodes, considering it's his selfish behavior that leads to Amber's death. While that's entirely true, it's also beyond impressive that he's able to piece all the clues together, even while working in a compromised mental state.
Not A Genius: Taunting Tritter
Mouthing off to figures in authority roles is more or less one of the most defining aspects of House's character. His unprofessional relationship with Cuddy more than attests to that fact, as does the first season storyline that finds him at odds with a powerful investor in the hospital, Edward Vogler.
House makes his biggest mistake yet in the series' third season, as he harasses and torments Detective Michael Tritter, a police detective who soon makes it his life's work to expose House for the drug abuser that he really is.
Genius: Solving a case that plagued him for years
The second season episode "All In" finds House grappling with a patient showing similar symptoms as those of an elderly woman whose case House had never been able to solve. His failure to save that woman's life, and his inability to ever determine what had been the cause of her illness, is something that has plagued House over the years.
So when a patient, a very young little boy, presents a second chance at solving the mystery and righting his past wrong, House becomes focused to the point of obsession - only to learn that he had been right all along with his diagnosis of Erdheim-Chester disease.
Not A Genius: Tricking Wilson into thinking he had a son
House and Wilson might be the series' most beloved relationship, and also its most stable one, despite the many ups and downs the bromance endures throughout the series' eight-season run. In the series' eighth and final season, House does something so truly cruel that it should have been the last straw for Wilson, and likely would have been for anyone else.
In an attempt to allegedly cure Wilson of his sadness regarding never having a child, House hires a child actor to pose as the son Wilson never knew he had. The cruel ruse lasts for an entire episode and truly hurts Wilson in the end. But of course, House never pays for any of it.
Genius: Diagnosing a patient in the South Pole via video chat
Dr. House makes some of the most bizarre and unique diagnoses over the course of the series, but the patients he's diagnosing are usually in the same room, building, and zip code. None of that is true in the case of patient Dr. Cate Milton in the fourth season episode "Frozen," a doctor who is working in research at the South Pole when she presents with symptoms that only House will be able to diagnose.
Thanks to the advent of video chatting technology, House was able to assess Dr. Milton's rapidly deteriorating condition via video chat, as she was unable to travel and no one could travel to her. He was able ultimately to make a shockingly simple diagnosis, saving her life in the process.
Not A Genius: Driving his car into Cuddy’s house
We've already talked about the fact that Gregory House is one of the worst boyfriends in television history; there's no point in even trying to deny that fact. But not only is House a terrible boyfriend, he just might be an even worse ex-boyfriend, as evidenced by his totally psychotic behavior at the end of the series' seventh season.
Realizing that ex-girlfriend and longtime object of his affection Lisa Cuddy was moving on with someone else, House did something that no human being with any level of ration or compassion would do: He drove his car right into her house, climbed out of the car, handed her back her hairbrush she'd left at his place, and walked away.
Genius: Orchestrating his own Reichenbach Fall
It's widely known that the character of Gregory House was based on Sherlock Holmes, that James Wilson was based on John Watson, and so on. The parallels between these characters are endless, so it only makes sense that House's greatest example of genius should come as a total homage to the great detective and, in his own right, diagnostician upon whom he was based.
In the series finale "Everybody Dies," House enacts his own Reichenbach, faking his own death much in the way that Sherlock Holmes once did. In doing so, House is able to start a new life away from all that he has done and move on with his best friend Wilson by his side, far away from Princeton Plainsboro.
Not A Genius: Flushing his season tickets and damaging the hospital
It's well established by now that House has a real problem with both impulse control and also flaunting authority wherever and whenever he possibly can. One of the dumbest examples of this comes in the series' final episodes. Already on probation and parole after a stint in jail to start the season, House flushes a package of season tickets in the hospital bathroom.
Of course, the tickets clog up the plumbing, leading to flooding and considerable damage within the hospital and to one of the MRI machines. As a result, he's in violation of his parole and faces being sent to jail to resume his sentence of six months - all for the sake of an idiotic prank.