Tuesday (Oct. 9) night's House may have been structurally messy and thematically muddled, but darned if it didn't make me laugh for 40 minutes, make me misty-eyed for 10 minutes and then pack a nihilistic punch at the end.

[Spoilers to follow...]

Titled "97 Seconds," Tuesday's House was the season's second episode featuring the Good Doctor's new prospective team (readers of this site and others already know the eventual winners). It continued the show's early season difficulties balancing the plethora of new docs, House's dispersed former underlings, Cuddy-n-Wilson and the need to practice actual procedural medicine. While few fans would disagree that House has occasionally worked its way into a mechanical rut (note the good-natured ribbing on Scrubs last season), but the attempts to find a new paradigm haven't exactly been smooth.

This week's main diagnostic was already split into two. The patient was a young man with Spinal Muscular Apathy Atrophy and new-found difficulties breathing and eating and House, assured he knew the answer, set the remaining candidates to work in teams based on gender ("If your sex organs dangle, you're the Confederates. If your sex organs are esthetically pleasing, you're a Yank.").

There was much fun to be had with House's inability to remember his underlings' names -- Kal Penn became Overexcited Former Foster Kid, Anne Dudek was Cutthroat B****, Carmen Argenziano was Ridiculously Old Fraud, Edi Gathegi was Big Love ("And I don't call you that 'cuz you're a Mormon") and either Caitlin or Melinda Dahl was Fat Twin -- and with the overall spirit of competition. After last week's implicit Survivor reference, House popped up with a wooden staff, a bandana and a slew of Bunsen burners to hold an actual Tribal Council.

After a slew of weird side effects (including green blood) and mistaken diagnoses, the patient was ready for death.

That tied in excessively well to House's clinic patient, a heavy B-plot that actually gave the episode its title. The patient had flatlined for 97 seconds after a car accident and attempted to stop his heart again by stabbing a socket with a knife, saying that the 97 seconds he was gone were the best of his life. Here's where things got clumsy. After House displayed his usual callus agnosticism to the SMA patient -- telling him there was no afterlife, that he had to fight for a few miserable months, etc. -- and Wilson took him to task for refusing to let the dying man have his dream, we're supposed to believe that House's best recourse was to attempt to stop his own heart, just to investigate.

The main patient's death was manipulative as heck -- anything involving an adorably supportive helper dog is nearly as bad as anything involving an adorable child -- but it was still effective, right up to the revelation that the man's death was caused by the not-quite-attentive-enough No. 13 (Olivia Wilde, who may be too close to a pure proxy for Jennifer Morrison's Cameron), leading up to House pulling a sheet over the corpse and muttering, "I'm sorry to say, 'I told you so.'" That's dark.

As if that wasn't enough, Omar Epps' Eric Foreman made an actual return after appearing only in an apparent hallucination last week. We saw Foreman in his new gig as head of diagnostics at a New York City hospital, where he played House to his own similarly composed team -- one cute gal, one pretty boy with flowing locks and one ethnic minority. With Kathleen York appearing as the Cuddy to Foreman's House, we saw Foreman try to live up to his pledge not to become like his mentor (providing positive reinforcement where House would have been sarcastic), only to immediately fall into a House-esque pattern of making dangerous guesses and taking risks. He saved his patient (who we never saw), but was fired for his behavior. We knew he wasn't going to be able to stay away forever and we kind of suspected that he was already too late to avoid becoming House, but could the writers think of no better way to deliver that arc than hastily wedged between commercial breaks of an episode that was already packed?

Plus, both Chase and Cameron were pulled into the story by Dudek's Cutthroat B****, who conned Cameron into helping her by appealing to her humanity and roped Chase in by appealing to his desire to show-up House.

It was an all-over-the-place episode and I'm not going to begrudge anybody for having felt frustrated, particularly since the after-life issues touched on tonight appear to return next week.

Some other things I liked:

Slash-fiction fans are going to have a field day with Wilson appearing at House's bedside after his heart-stopping attempt. Did The Good Doctor's "I love you" refer to his devotion to Wilson, or was it for Wilson marking House down for additional pain meds? Or does it hardly matter?

Also appealing to 'shippers was the scene with Chase displaying new backbone to House and storming off, followed by a cutely blushing Cameron saying, "I like him better like this. You?"

Line of the episode: "Would you mind holding my metaphor for a second." (House passing his cane off to a doc)

Best exchange of the episode: "Hey Wilson! I'm gonna cut some cripple's eye out. Wanna go watch?" "Good times."

Line most likely to mobilize Detroit advocacy groups (if such things exist): "I don't have to go to Detroit to know that it smells." (House suggesting he doesn't have to die to know there isn't an after-life)

Thoughts on the week's episode? Pro or con?

Comments

i Loved it... and the flaws mentioned may be true... i still have a better time watching HOUSE then HEROS & THE BIONIC BORE combined... BEST SHOW CURRENTLY ON TV

| Oct 10, 2007 2:29:58 AM | #

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I believe it's "spinal muscular ATROPHY". I was the one with the apathy. Whatever disbelief has to be suspended long enough to think that in this litigious age a patient who was critically ill with an infectious or parasitic disease would be subjected to a "contest" has flatlined, mentally speaking.

Barb L | Oct 10, 2007 3:38:42 AM | #

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I agree with the first poster it was a great episode regardless. House is definitely better than Heroes and Bionic Woman is boring although I'm not surprised Bionic Woman is a hit. I guess people like mindless shows these days.

I've never watched a House episode that I didn't like. The Tribal Council scene was hilarious.

FightdFuture | Oct 10, 2007 4:33:41 AM | #

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How come people miss that, like Bones, House purely relies on science and is slowly being taught humanity? Just as Bones agreed with Booth last night about that love connection that science can not explain, House is beginning to question science and wonder if there really is more. This has been an ever present theme on the show, and I thought it was pretty well played tonight with the knife in the socket.

And isn't Olivia Wilde gorgeous? I'll take her over Cameron any day. And keep Foreman away. I called the firing of him during the episode and hope he ends up off the show because I can really not stand him. More of Chase though, he has really come into his own.

Josh | Oct 10, 2007 6:36:22 AM | #

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I actually like House this season. I used to watch but got bored by the formula. To say the show was predictable was an understatement. This season they appear to be taking chances. I'll stick around as long as they continue to surprise me.

Brian | Oct 10, 2007 7:07:38 AM | #

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While I liked all the jokes and banter in this episode (Big Love nearly had me in tears) I felt it was too rushed. I would like to have seen more of the Foreman aspect. His awkward encouragement was perfect. It was so obvious that he was trying to be the opposite of House, but when it came down to it, he did as House would have. The scene with him trying to wheel the patient into chemo himself was something House would do. I would have liked to see maybe a little of Foreman in this episode and then the conclusion in a less full future episode.
I am thinking #13 is a little too like Cameron. I hope to find out something shocking and different in the next few episodes.

Mandy | Oct 10, 2007 8:34:24 AM | #

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This episode left a bad taste in my mouth. Having such a sympathetic character (and his dog, too!) die because of a mistake made because House was playing mind-games really bothered me.
Granted, there were some great moments and lines but the overall effect was one of grim sadism that was too far off the mark for me.
We've been told over and over that the only reason the hospital puts up with House is because he saves people. This was the wrong time and patient to go 'realistic' with in an otherwise absurd situation. Tribal council?Knife in the wall socket???
I was very disappointed in this episode.

wcm | Oct 10, 2007 10:39:31 AM | #

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Loved this episode. Can't wait till next episode! I hate that it is 2 weeks away!

Becky | Oct 10, 2007 10:56:00 AM | #

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Also dove-tailing into last evening's script is that fact that Anne Dudek had a recurring role on HBO's "Big Love" this season as one of Alby's wives.

Wasn't all that thrilled with this episode, but am anticipating the show's return in a fortnight.

Dean Speir | Oct 10, 2007 11:44:35 AM | #

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Even though I don't ship House/Wilson(I prefer Huddy), I still squealed at House telling Wilson he loved him.

Laci | Oct 10, 2007 1:32:05 PM | #

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The love you from House to Wilson was for the meds IMO.

Ep was ok, although the reason to fire the other 3 females (twins and Indian) was weak, either #13 should have been axed with them or none should have gone.

I wish Anne Dudek would have got one of the jobs - I've always liked her, and felt bad for her when she got replaced after the pilot in Psych - I think the reason she will be fired is b/c she always asks for help rather than doing things on her own - just a guess.

Am looking forward to seeing how they do cut the final 4 - and if they do keep the 'fraud' around as an assistant beyond the firing stages of the competion.

Rishi | Oct 10, 2007 3:25:06 PM | #

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Didn't anyone think it was weird that the guy didn't ask for the pills after she got him the water? I thought it was more a suicide attempt by him then a mistake by her. She didn't expect him to want to die.

tv | Oct 10, 2007 7:04:39 PM | #

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I loved it! then again to me it's the best show on mindless TV.
I am a huge House fan, he is the glue that holds this show together, playing an American with the dry British sense of humor is what makes him most appealing to me.
I am anxious to see Foreman back clashing with "Houseism" that added spark to the show, I like Chase but he tends to get boring pretty quickly, to me he doesn't have the range to make a showdown with House believable.
Foreman gives that stern look of disapproval and then they clash, but chase in this episode looked more like he was being schoolboy petulant.

Seth | Oct 10, 2007 9:34:45 PM | #

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Not one of the better episodes. House acted like a fool, and frankly was very unsympathetic. If he'd kept his mind on his job instead of playing stupid games, that poor patient and his dog might both have lived. At the least, he should have respected them enough to try his best.

As for his "suicide" attempt, it was ridiculous. The basis for it was just dumb and I'm beginning to dislike House so much that I almost wish he had killed himself.

It's a shame. I used to find the character a lot more interesting and now he's fallen to one-note too much of the time.

Lisa | Oct 11, 2007 3:10:14 PM | #

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