This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: House Hiring Heuristic: From YKTTW
I'd like to question the one re: Grissom not firing Warrick. He refused to fire Warrick not solely out of kindness/affection, but because it was just as much his mistake as Warrick's. After all, Warrick told him he was leaving Holly to work on her own, and Grissom just accepted it. Grissom had also left Holly to work alone in the liquor store earlier that shift. This suggests that the rule about accompanying rookies at all times was being treated more as a formality - whether by Grissom alone or by all the shift supervisors, we don't know. But in saying that if he fired Warrick, he'd have to fire himself, he was completely correct.
On the other hand, this doesn't mean Grissom *wasn't* acting out of sentiment. The characters on that show very often have both external and internal motives for their behaviour, and an important part of the drama is seeing the characters either trapped or set free by the balance between the two.
