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Link Time! 4/9

BuzzSugar — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:30:16 -0700

Save One Show is back - can your fave get saved? - Watch with Kristin
This "trailer" for an Everybody Poops movie spoofing Where the Wild Things Are cracks me up. - Cinematical
Speaking of spoofiness, did you catch "Kanye West" on South Park last night? - Popwatch
Chuck week continues with some fun Chuck polls. - Give Me My Remote
Check out No Doubt covering Adam and the Ants' "Stand & Deliver." - PopSugar
Leonard Nimoy as William Bell on Fringe: highly illogical? - The TV Addict
Speaking of which, someone may have cracked the Fringe symbols code. - TV.com
More on Kal Penn's new White House gig. - CitizenSugar
Ben Silverman's time at NBC, in handy charts and graphs. - Vulture

What Does That Shocking House Death Mean For the Show?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:30:25 -0700

As I mentioned in today's rundown, Kal Penn has decided to trade House for the White House. Today, the actor-turned-political outreach liaison and his former bosses, House executive producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs, hopped on the phone to talk about Penn's decision, Kutner's death, and what it all means for the show going forward. Here are some key things to know:

Penn's interest in politics is nothing new. "Growing up, I always had two passions, one being public service and the other being the arts and acting," said Penn, who described himself as "formerly a very cynical independent" (now less cynical, but still an independent). During President Obama's campaign, he worked on outreach for young voters, Asian Americans, and the arts, and he'll now be doing something similar in an official capacity.
He was surprised to hear about Kutner's suicide, too. "I loved playing Kutner, and there was more than a little bit of shock and loss when I found that out," he said. And he said he liked the mystery with which his character went out: "People did feel types of loss and anger and confusion about [Kutner]," he said. "I don't think you would have gotten that same feeling if it had been a very Kutner-heavy episode where you see his trials and tribulations. . . . I asked if there was anything in his background that might have indicated [he'd be suicidal] or any warning signs. The answer generally was no. It's kind of tough [as an actor] to know that he was obviously tormented by something but didn't share it with anyone."
Kutner's death will have a lasting impact: "It'll resonate at least through the end of the season," Shore said. "It's a question House can't answer, and he has an answer for everything. That's what was really exciting, the unexpected nature of it."
The element of mystery was key to Kutner's exit: "Had we seen some major dilemma in his personal life, we couldn't have done this story the way we did," Shore said. "If he'd just broken up with a girlfriend, even though the answer would have been much more complicated than that, that would have been something that somebody could just hang on to."

For which characters will have a significant reaction to Kutner's death, just read more.

Cameron and Chase's reaction will be in the spotlight: "We are gonna see, perhaps surprisingly, more of Cameron and Chase's reaction to it - and of course House's reaction and Wilson's reaction," Shore said. Ultimately, though, the producers said House will have the hardest time coping: "He has no resources," Jacobs said. "He has no family to go home to."
We'll probably never know what made Kutner do it: "Something went on in that man's head, but it went on in that man's head, and that is ultimately unknowable," Shore said. "Knowing that and accepting that is a more interesting issue than trying to put a little pin in the answer."
As for Penn, he's not retiring from acting for good. "I'm not packing up and saying I'm leaving Hollywood and all this sort of stuff," he said. "I'm just pursuing another passion right now." He plans to spend at least a year or two in Washington, and he'll be on a total break from acting during that time - which, he acknowledged, probably means no more Harold and Kumar sequels.

Photo courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 20, "Simple Explanation"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:30:56 -0700

In this age of spoilers, I'm always impressed when a TV show manages to pull off something shocking. So kudos to House for keeping a secret; that made what happened in Monday's episode mean even more. To say more would risk ruining it for those who haven't seen it, so if you're ready to chat, just read more.

If you'd asked me which House character would be most likely to commit suicide, I never would have said Kutner. Taub, sure. Foreman? Wouldn't have been surprised. Thirteen? Definitely. Even Wilson and Cuddy have gone through things this season that could drive them to the edge. But Kutner? He's the goofy one, the Guiness Book of Records crawling champ, and the surprisingly good doctor who - in his last act on House's team - let Taub take credit for one of his discoveries. And maybe that's why it's so interesting for him to commit suicide: There is no simple explanation. House, whose entire idea of himself is built around solving mysteries, can't crack this one.

As he tries to figure it out, House does some truly terrible things. Telling Kutner's parents it's their fault? That's awful, and even though he does look a little shamed when he realizes how far over the line he's gone, that's not a thing you take back. He's ruthless in his investigation, breaking into Kutner's apartment multiple times to search for clues (to the shock of Wilson, though I don't really know why: House's primary motivation is never kindness). And in the end, there's nothing - no outward signs of pain, no diary. House even believes for a while that Kutner must have been murdered; he can come up with a better explanation for that than for why Kutner would take his own life.

Watching the rest of the doctors deal with Kutner's death reveals a few interesting things: One, Foreman doesn't know how to get and give support in a time of crisis. He's used to dealing with things alone, so he rejects Thirteen at first - but finally steps forward at the funeral to take her hand. Two, Taub would rather wait with his dying patient than mourn the death of his friend. But this episode also made me sad that Kutner (and Kal Penn) didn't get to do more on the show. The fact that Kutner is a blank slate may be why his suicide is intriguing, but it made me feel much less than Amber's death did last year, simply because Amber was such a rich character and Kutner (other than a few key touches, like his childhood trauma or his geekiness) was always on the periphery. I'm sorry to see Kutner go, and I wish we could have known him better first.

Some other thoughts:

It's impossible to separate what happened from why, so here's the quick answer: Kal Penn asked to leave the show to go work in President Obama's White House. ~~I'll be talking to him, and to House producers David Shore and Katie Jacobs, later today, so leave any questions in the comments.~~ Update: Here's more on that.
The patient-of-the-week story barely held my attention given everything else that was going on, but I will say there seemed to be some pretty significant ethical lapses going on re: potentially letting patients die rather than treating them appropriately. An intentional side effect of Kutner's suicide? Or did the writers figure we wouldn't spend a lot of time picking apart the case when there was so much else going on?
So who's looked at Fox's Kutner memorial yet? It's a very web-savvy thing to put together, but at the same time, something feels very eerie about it. And I wish there were some info about prevention of actual suicides (which I'm glad they included at the end of the show).
Everything in this episode was so dark! Especially at the beginning, that upped the eerie feeling; the first shot back in the hospital after Foreman and Thirteen find Kutner felt particularly ghastly.

Were you shocked by Kutner's death? Sad to see him go? Wondering what this will mean for the rest of the season?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 18, "Here Kitty"

BuzzSugar — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:30:59 -0700

This week's episode of House finds the team chasing around a "death cat," a little gray kitty named Debbie who's come to some amount of fame (at least local TV fame) by predicting deaths of nursing home patients. Meanwhile, Taub thinks he's found a way out of some financial and personal misery, but that ends up being a trickier proposition than it looks. To chat about it, just read more.

I suppose if this episode had a theme, it would be "believing in stuff" - and, as usual, House seems to come out ahead. His adherence to facts and science gets him not just an explanation for the death cat but also keeps him from falling prey to a con artist who wants to take all his money and run (ahem, Taub). There were some funny moments, and it's always nice to see Judy Greer get a job, but episodes like this where House's beliefs aren't really challenged always turn out to be a little on the dull side for me.

I would have liked it better if the writers had really gone full-force into showing everyone's superstitions. Instead, we just got poor Kutner edging his way around the ladder as he leaves the room and tossing salt over his shoulder. I'm not surprised he ends up becoming the victim of a particularly mean-spirited House prank ("do you like cranberry juice?"), though he seems to have gotten some revenge at the end with the cat pee - or, perhaps, "cat pee" - on House's chair. The show draws a little parallel between the patient being superstitious because her son died and Kutner being superstitious because his parents died, but it didn't have a ton of oomph for me.

Even though it's a tangent, I actually enjoyed Taub's storyline on its own. He's apparently going through some tough financial times - he's not making high-powered plastic surgeon money anymore, and he lost a bunch of money in the stock market - so when a guy he maybe kinda remembers from high school shows up at the hospital and thanks him for treating a minor problem with cigars and expensive scotch, he sees a chance at a different life. But his golden parachute turns out to be a major scam, and Taub's only saving grace is that he didn't turn over his money. So it's back to the team - with a big box of donuts, just as House predicted - to a job he never really liked in the first place.

The death cat story itself seems pretty lightweight, but it has its moments, including House's James Bond reference and the rather evil decision to test the cat's death-predicting powers in the coma ward. While House hates the whole idea of cat as omen, he doesn't seem to mind the cat itself, considering he rustled up a litter box and some genetically modified mice for it.

A couple of other thoughts:

I did like the patient's argument for why she believes in things: "If there's no greater purpose in the world, that's not a world I want to live in."
Love how House so accurately predicts that if Taub doesn't actually have another job lined up, he won't follow through with quitting.
House, when the cat is making particularly nasty-sounding noises in the elevator: "Stop it, Dr. Wilson! It's just not cute anymore!"
Also, House to Cuddy when Cuddy suggests the hospital will end up getting sued for House's work on this case: "I wish there was a lawsuit cat that would warn you."

What did you all think? And was the heavy emphasis on Kutner and Taub to make up for all the Foreman/Thirteen earlier in the season?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 11, "Joy to the World"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:30:57 -0800

This week's episode of House just plugs along like normal - a confusing case, a blown diagnosis, maybe a little extra holiday spirit but nothing that out of the ordinary - until suddenly, in the final 15 minutes, it takes one big honkin' emotional turn. Maybe I should have seen it coming, but I was pretty surprised by all the twists this episode took, and it sets up some pretty interesting stuff for when House returns in 2009. Want to chat about it? Just read more.

Major developments first: Cuddy's getting her baby! And in a most unusual way, for a number of reasons: It's she, not House, who finally diagnoses their teenage patient; the baby's supposed to be dead but instead has been kept alive by a couple of squatters; and now she's going to become at least the foster parent - and at best the adoptive mother - of the daughter of a patient who really resonated with her. The story took a lot of turns to get to that resolution, and I'm not sure I really believe all of them (The baby's alive? The squatters don't put up more of a fight? The patient's parents don't want to raise the baby?), but it's sweet and emotional and a good holiday tale - especially with House's "Merry Christmas, Cuddy" at the end. I wonder if this baby will also be named Joy?

While all of this is going on, House takes Wilson up on a challenge to be nice - kind, even. So he goes to the clinic, full of "if you can't be nice, why be a doctor?" speeches. The woman with the inhaler is an instant classic, but House's response to the question about whether a woman can get pregnant from sitting on a toilet seat really made me giggle: "There would need to be another guy sitting between you and the toilet seat - but yes, absolutely." Also, House fakes a virgin birth (to Bitsie Tulloch of Quarterlife!) rather than have to tell his patient's fiance that she cheated on him, which is apparently how you do "nice," House-style.

Foreman, meanwhile, keeps doing very House-ian things while insisting he's not like House, and this episode's case in point is the way he's treating the patients in his clinical trial - like numbers and data points rather than people. It's what he's been trained to do, but he ultimately lets his human side show through. Even while apologizing to Janet, he's not exactly the picture of warmth, but Foreman does care (at least a little) or he never would have gone after her at all. And then Foreman and Thirteen kiss! I buy their chemistry at least a little bit, but that still seemed sudden.

Some other thoughts:

Kutner was a bully! I guessed that as soon as Taub sarcastically pointed out that as an adopted Indian kid, school must have been a breeze for him - but I still liked him showing up on the doorstep of the guy he tortured.
This week's patient just made me sad - and afraid for all teenage girls in the world. I wouldn't go through that again if you paid me.
Wilson's story about Irene, "the one who got away," had me laughing from the start. Taub's so gullible! That said, his "a love like this needs to fly free" speech was one of my favorite moments of the night.
Speaking of Wilson, line of the night No. 2 for me (after House's pregnancy thing) is: "If it's a subpoena, he's gotten that kind of present before."

Do you buy the "Foreteen" kiss? Are you happy for Cuddy? And how did you feel about our "medical miracle"?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode 10, "Let Them Eat Cake"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:30:41 -0800

After last week's big hostage episode, this week's installment of House went for something a little smaller, and you know what? I liked it better. Almost every character got a storyline, and some of them were awfully clever. Cuddy and House become office-mates, Thirteen starts her clinical trial, and Kutner reveals an, uh, interesting strategy for making money on the side. Ready to talk about it? Just read more.

I really liked the patient's story this week, which is rather surprising since I usually treat the cases as kind of an afterthought. As a personal trainer who'd had gastric bypass surgery to do what she's now convincing her clients they can do naturally, she's a perfect representation of a bunch of House's themes: lying, cheating, denial, etc. Taub, in particular, is wildly offended by her lies - honestly, why does he think he's so morally superior? - and she rightly points out that it's not like he's never been a hypocrite. The ending of her story also surprised me: Faced with the choice of being thin and sick or heavier and healthy, she chooses her beauty over a diet of cookies and cake.

Meanwhile, Thirteen starts her clinical trial afraid she doesn't deserve to be there, which Foreman quickly puts to rest by discovering her nerves have already started to decay. You guys, I really didn't think I cared about Thirteen, but I suddenly do. The episode's peppered with soft-focus flashbacks to young Thirteen watching her mom suffer with Huntington's; eventually she admits to Foreman that she's scared to be around other patients not because she knows what will happen to her someday but because it reminds her of how much she hated her mother.

And Kutner! Jeez, the guy goes online and sets up a second opinion clinic under House's name but doesn't think House will find out? I'm sure House is the kind of guy who has all sorts of Google alerts on his name. Anyway, it all turns out to be an elaborate House punking, with Chase and Cameron in on it and the "patient" turning out to be an actress who got paid to sing the "Lime in the Coconut" song. How quickly did you pick up on this being one of House's pranks? It honestly took me until he showed up in the morgue and started doing CPR on the "corpse." Also, how much of Kutner's money will he actually get now? House gets 50 percent, Taub claimed 30, and Chase took a piece of it, too . . .

House ends up with a few extra hours with the actress that leads to flirting (and other things?), which is extraordinarily unfortunate because right when Cuddy's coming to make nice with him after he somehow finds her desk from med school, she sees them being all cozy and walks away. Argh! Thwarted again.

Some other thoughts:

How'd you like that sad "Lime in the Coconut" slow jam at the end?
So did House really have a change of heart about rewrecking Cuddy's office, or is there still a bidet instead of a toilet ("Not in addition to. Instead of.")?
The scene with House asking Cuddy why she dresses like that (seriously, Lisa, we all want to know) feels so tense, with them so close together and Cuddy saying "everybody knows this is going somewhere." Where it's going, though, is to House's hands on her breasts. Nice one, Mr. Smooth.
Apparently Kutner's an oversharer: "You told us when you renewed your subscription to National Geographic."
Best. Taub. Line. Ever: "Sure, but I wouldn't call a meeting of the Lollipop Guild and tell them they can grow if they work real hard at it."

What did you think? Surprised at how much they managed to pack into this one? Feeling any sympathy for Thirteen? And ready for a House-style Christmas?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode Eight, "Emancipation"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:30:45 -0800

The people you work with can become a sort of weird, twisted family - especially if you spend as much time together as the House doctors do. It's great to have a close safety net when you need support, but it can also get a little too stifling sometimes. On this week's episode, a few of the doctors seek freedom from the PPH family, with varying results. To chat about it, just read more.

So, this was one of the House episodes with a clear parallel between patient and doctor - maybe the most obvious one this year, and a little too obvious for my taste. The main patient is an emancipated minor who first says her parents are dead (drawing the interest of fellow orphan Kutner), then says she cut them out of her life because she was raped, then admits she has no contact with them because she accidentally killed their son. The doctors know pretty early that she's lying in some way, but it takes lots of different strategies (including guilting her with the fear of dying, as Taub did by pretending to be a Huntington's patient like Thirteen) before House finally figures out how to tell her what she needs to hear: that she's hiding from her parents because she did something horrible, but if she lets herself die, she will have killed both their children.

While all of this is going on, Foreman's becoming something of an emancipated minor himself, taking on a secret case in the clinic without House's approval or backup. (And just in case we needed another family parallel, this one turns out to be about an older brother accidentally hurting his younger brother.) The best thing about that story was seeing Foreman, Chase, and Cameron together again, batting around suggestions for what was wrong with the boy - and seeing how quickly Chase in particular picked up on what Foreman was trying to do. No matter how much he wants to prove he can be free of House, Chase tells him, nothing will ever be enough. But in the end, he saves the boy and gets House to agree to let him do clinical trials. Shouldn't he have known by now that you don't ask House, you tell him?

I was disappointed that there's so little follow-up in this episode to House's utter failure to ask Cuddy out, but I suppose we need an episode off every now and then if that story's not going to get tired. All we know is that House tells Wilson he went to Cuddy's house but did not (hee) ring her bell, and he stares at her longingly as he leaves PPH. Pretty much the status quo.

Some other thoughts:

Hey, Thirteen says her own name for the first time! Remy Hadley. Sounds so weird. Did we know the Remy part?
Interesting to see how hurt Kutner was when he found out the patient had lied about being an orphan. He'd take even bad parents over no parents, it seems.
Taub pretending to be the one with Huntington's: overstepping his bounds, or an interesting way to get the patient to admit the truth (and Thirteen to confront her own issues with her family genes)? Discuss.
Cuddy's sweater at the end is very cleavage-y, no?

All in all, this seemed like sort of a placeholder episode before next week's big crisis at PPH. What did you all think?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode Six, "Joy"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:30:44 -0700

The title of this episode of House ends up loaded with meaning: It's the potential name of the baby that Cuddy so desperately wants; it's a major component of the case; and it may be the emotion we're supposed to feel when something big happens in the final minutes. Am I being too vague? Well, this is one episode I wouldn't want to spoil, so to chat about it, just read more.

First, the kiss. Or rather, it should be The Kiss, because of the anticipation and the significance it carries. On the list of those who want House and Cuddy to be together, I've never been near the top, but when they kissed in this episode - in a moment of great desperation for Cuddy - it actually felt right. It also felt . . . well, hot. Their back-and-forth relationship is one of the show's strong points, but I was still surprised by how their chemistry oozed from the screen the moment they locked lips. What did or didn't happen in their past is something I could speculate about for hours, but they have some kind of bond, something that would make Cuddy turn to House in her worst moments (and House be there for Cuddy, a shockingly human action that's typically outside his wheelhouse). Do I want them to be together? Eeeeeh, I don't know. But sometimes a kiss is just a kiss, right?

The episode's strongest material is what leads us to that kiss - namely Cuddy saving, and then losing, her adoptive baby. It's the first truly Cuddy-focused episode in a while, and the writers made up for her absence by giving her some powerful scenes: Willfully ignoring House's insistence that she doesn't actually want to be a mother; forcing Cameron to admit the baby's mother even though there appears to be nothing wrong; hollering "Cry, Joy, cry!" in the delivery room when it looks like the baby might not make it. And then there's the way that story ends: The mother decides that, with this baby, she can turn her life around and be the strong, independent woman Cuddy has inspired her to be. The shot of Cuddy slumped against the wall in her half-painted nursery, eyes red but too stunned to cry, is completely heartbreaking.

Meanwhile, what I love about this episode's case - about a father and daughter who were essentially sleepwalking and who also couldn't feel happiness - is the way it's shot. All those long looks into empty rooms, those first paranoia-inducing moments with the dad alone in his kitchen, the close-ups on dilated pupils . . . it felt like I was watching a horror film. Very cool cinematography there.

Some other thoughts:

So, Thirteen knows her coke. Huh. Not entirely surprising, given last week.
House's insults to Cuddy were particularly harsh this episode: "You're not equipped to handle a real kid, let alone a factory second" was bad; "If you take in strays, don't be surprised by the worms" was worse.
From now on, I will think of Kutner as Skutner. Nice pseudonym.
Another interesting character note: Taub doesn't want kids, nor does he think single people should have them.
Nice to see that House is back to taking food from Wilson's hand. Also, it was hilarious to see Wilson call House on the way House used him: "I just gave you your answer, right?" "Now you're going to walk away without saying a word, right?"

What did you think? Will this earn Lisa Edelstein an Emmy nod? And what did you make of The Kiss?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode Four, "Birthmarks"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:30:30 -0700

The theme of this week's House is how parents can really mess a person up - mostly accidentally but sometimes on purpose. House has to confront his feelings (and suspicions) about his father, while his patient seeks out her birth parents and winds up at PPH fighting for her life. Meanwhile, House and Wilson explain the genesis of their relationship, and it's better than I ever hoped. Ready to talk about it? Just read more.

A list of things House would rather do than deal with his family would stretch for miles, so it's no surprise that when his father dies, he has no intention of going to the funeral. Cuddy and Wilson won't let that stand, though, and essentially drug and kidnap him to force him to go. It's the kind of plot House himself might attempt, which explains the look on his face (bewilderment mixed with admiration) when he comes to.

What follows is a wacky road trip that reveals a lot about House's family life and even more about the House/Wilson friendship. As we learn when Wilson gets arrested on an outstanding Louisiana warrant, the two met when Wilson hurled a bottle through a mirror to get a piano player to stop playing a Billy Joel song at a medical convention; House was the person who bailed him out of jail. The first thing House ever said to Wilson? That he'd take care of it. Back then, Wilson didn't know enough not to believe him. But it explains a lot, doesn't it? Wilson wants to prepare for every eventuality and make rational decisions - and when he occasionally bursts out of his even-keeled box, House is there to bail him out. That's why Wilson clings to House despite his better judgment. No matter how much House aggravates Wilson, nobody else brings him nearly that much joy.

Meanwhile, House delivers a eulogy that's half-offensive, half-appreciative before snipping off a little piece of his father's earlobe to prove that he's not House's real father after all. That's the moment that drives Wilson nuts (and causes him to pitch a bottle through a stained-glass window in what I thought was too heavy-handed a reference to the New Orleans incident), and ultimately, it's the one that makes House admit he has feelings. He's been right all along; he's the product of an affair. But when he tells Wilson that he now has proof even his mother couldn't stand his father, there's some real emotion there.

This week's patient has parental issues of her own: She's traveled to China to find her biological parents, who rejected her. We get some nice moments between the patient and Kutner, whom we learn was adopted by a white family. I assumed the big reveal would have something to do with China's one-child policy but didn't expect attempted murder. It's the one case in the whole episode where the parents really are the only ones to blame.

Some other thoughts:

Foreman, Chase, and Cameron, all in one room! Is it my birthday?
House's ringtone for his team is "MMMBop," and the one for Wilson may or may not be "Dancing Queen."
Loved House calling Wilson on his lie about Amber giving him his keychain: "Not unless your pet name for her was Volvo."
Chase's suggestion for what to send to House's mom on behalf of House: a cookie shaped like a coffin.

Your thoughts? Was it good to have Wilson back? And would he really chuck a bottle through some expensive glass again?

Photos courtesy of Fox

House Rundown: Episode Three, "Adverse Events"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:30:47 -0700

This week's episode of House hit the trifecta of major show themes: lying, spying, and drugs. It also made me laugh out loud for the better part of an hour, and now I'm pretty sure "Adverse Effects" is my favorite House episode of the season. Even Lucas Douglas, PI, is growing on me, which is a huge surprise. Did anyone else love this episode? Or do you all think I'm crazy? To talk about it, just read more.

Often, when House tries to do episodes where the patients' and the doctors' lives intertwine, it can end up feeling heavy-handed, like Grey's Anatomy at its worst. I liked how "Adverse Effects" handles things, though, mostly because the events tie so closely into the show's themes: Do you feel better knowing the truth? Is there such a thing as "the truth" to know? Are the only good doctors miserable?

But here's what I really loved about "Adverse Effects": It's funny. I mean, the Kutner/Taub/Thirteen exchange about Kutner's crawling is priceless ("I didn't do it to get the babes." "No, that would cheapen the purity of your achievement.") - and seriously, Kutner's in the Guinness Book for crawling? Kutner and Taub also have a snappy bit about Taub's wife hypothetically "doing the doorman" (Taub: "We don't have a doorman"), we see House as a cheerleader, and Chase punctuates the removal of a nasty medical marvel with the line "And that is why I won't let Cameron get a cat." I laughed harder at this episode than I have at any comedy I've watched this week.

The humor helped take the edge off what could have been a heavy episode, with House digging into everyone's personal lives and forcing people (well, forcing Taub) to deal with truths they otherwise would have kept hidden - a nice parallel with the patient, who literally nearly killed himself trying to keep secrets from his girlfriend. This episode has some bits that really speak to what House is all about - Lucas and House's exchange about the truth ("There is only one truth." "Maybe true for you.") and House's assertion that miserable people save more lives, to name just two. Some other thoughts:

Aw, Cuddy and Lucas, sitting in a - um, diner - and not quite k-i-s-s-i-n-g but not too far from it, either. Is Cuddy just attracted to people who drive her crazy, manipulate her, and go through her personal belongings?
So much was made about Taub's wife's secret bank account that I was expecting a twist. Instead, we got one car and zero lies on the wife's part. I think the storyline would have had more zip if I hadn't nearly forgotten that Taub had an unconfessed affair.
Speaking of which, I bet that reference to the fictional "Jefferson Mutual" bank was funnier a few months ago.
Breckin Meyer looks old.
House played lacrosse and was a cheerleader? I know I'm supposed to be most shocked at the cheerleader revelation, but I didn't figure lacrosse would be his sport, either.
Yet another episode with only the briefest glimpse of Chase and no Cameron. I hope they're enjoying what must amount to a paid vacation.
I always love the irony of House saying things like "People hate people who mess with other people."

So: How are you feeling about Lucas now? Wasn't the jam session at the end kind of awesome? And can you picture House doing spirit fingers and basket tosses?

Photos courtesy of Fox