At some point or another in our lives, we've probably all been frustrated with the medical system. But frustrated enough to stick up a hospital clinic and take hostages, promising to kill them if you don't get answers? That's what happens in this week's episode of House [1], when a gunman (Emmy winner Zeljko Ivanek) bursts into PPH, counting Thirteen and House among his captives. To chat about how it all went down, just .

All in all, I'm not sure this episode worked for me; I didn't feel the kind of tension I think the writers wanted me to feel. All along, I thought that things were probably going to turn out OK for at least House and Thirteen, and that Jason would either get arrested or shoot himself (though the idea of watching poor Ivanek have to commit suicide on yet another show [2] didn't thrill me). But there was still some interesting stuff, even if the hostage situation didn't seem that scary.

The writers keep trying to get me to care about Thirteen, and I have to admit, it's starting to work. Seeing her in a situation where her life is directly threatened is illuminating. She's going to die anyway, right? So who cares if it's by taking a bunch of drugs in combination, or by getting shot by a ruthless gunman, or by waiting eight to 10 years and letting her genes take over? Well, as it turns out, she does; that last injection could kill her, but she can't make herself do it. And later, getting treated for her failing kidneys, she tells Foreman she's in for his clinical trial on Huntington's drugs. Maybe she values her life more than we (or she) thought.

Meanwhile — House gets Jason's gun away from him for the MRI, then . . . gives it back? In what universe? I get that House wants to get the diagnosis right; I'm sure it was a blow to look at the brain scan and not see a tumor. But at that point, doesn't House just start trying other things? Why not run some other test? Why not just keep the gun? That was frustrating. I also was a little shocked at House's insistence that Jason must want to know what was wrong with him for a reason. For one thing, uh, yeah, he probably wants to feel better. And for another, isn't a basic tenet of House's personality that he wants to know for the sake of knowing? Is that why he gave the gun back — because Jason did a wildly dangerous and irrational thing to get a diagnosis, so House had to do the same?

A couple of other things:

• So, did Cuddy act differently because House was in the room? Would she have let the SWAT team run things differently if it had been some junior doctor she's never flirted with?
• Both Chase and Foreman walk out of the differential. The only problem with House having two teams now is that when a few of his fellows think he's being stupid, there are always more around to help him out.
• Did any other fans of The Wire [3] notice Avon Barksdale running the SWAT negotiations?
• Once again, Taub's major character trait seems to be saying, "I have [insert problem here], but that doesn't make me do [insert bad thing here]." This week's is, "I got debt, too; you don't see me acting like a lunatic."
• Did I see correctly that the whole reason House was in Cuddy's office in the first place was to turn her desk drawer upside down? Also, nice of him to leave her with blood on the walls. Don't they have a cleanup crew?

What did you think? Do you care about Thirteen? Did House's behavior baffle you, too?

Photos courtesy of Fox [4]