'House': Father Nietzsche has AIDS?

February 16, 2009 7:15 PM

If ever there was a POTW tailor made for House, the bitter, cynical, atheist priest with a drinking problem was it.

POTW: In addition to all the faithless heathenry, the priest also sees a vision of a levitating Christ and says to him "That's not funny, freak." Thus, I think this proves that the savior does not appreciate name calling, as shortly thereafter, the priest is in House's care. Also, his toe turns black and falls off, he gets chest pains, loses his vision and gets covered in boils. That's some Old Testament smiting right there!

Huddy: Cuddy is welcoming the new baby into her Jewish heritage and tries to trick House into not showing up by inviting him. Which works until Wilson undermines her by talking House into actually going. So she tells House that she doesn't want him there and he agrees not to attend, which is when she realizes that she really DOES want him there. These people did get advanced medical degrees, right? How come they are acting like middle school students?

Foreteen: House concedes that he helped Foreman with the situation around the clinical trial in order to save his license. However, he did not say it would save his job. He gives the couple an ultimatum: break up or get fired. It's an uninteresting plot, as Foreman was already fired once. They try to up the ante this time by having Cuddy refuse to write him a letter of recommendation, impeding his ability to get a job. But the last time he was fired, he couldn't get a job because he is viewed in the medical community as a canon that is just as loose as House, only with less of the genius. Making the aforementioned plot device pointless. And in the end, he and 13 both get to toss insults, bicker annoyingly AND keep their jobs, making the entire story arc equally pointless.

The Odd Couple: Lately Kutner and Taub seem to exist merely to disagree with each other. Tonight, Kutner believed the priest was innocent of molestation charges while Taub didn't. In fact, Taub decides to break HIPAA law and contact the boy who made the molestation accusation to tell him he should get tested for AIDS. Instead, the kid shows up at the hospital to apologize to the priest.

The Epiphany: It starts when Wilson tells House to overlook Cuddy's religious hypocrisy in order to not feel like a hypocrite for showing up at her shindig. Instead, House decides to overlook symptoms and when he takes away the hallucination of Christ, he's left with Wiscott-Aldridge syndrome. Which looks like AIDS but is genetic, like a gift from God. The vision of Jesus was therefore brought on by all the scotch the POTW was drinking. All the same, it appears to strengthen the POTW's lost faith when he considers the series of coincidences that brought him to House and his eventual diagnosis.

Highlights:

Cuddy: What are you doing Friday night?
House: Taking a lovely lady to the philharmonic.
Cuddy: So, spending the night with a hooker?
House: Two. You can't create a harmonic with only one.

POTW: Coincidence brought me to you in the first place.
House: You promised you wouldn't go there.
POTW: Einstein said that coincidence was God's way of staying anonymous.
House: And a woman in Florida said 'Look! Jesus is on my cheese sandwich!'

What do you think? Was House's case browsing the work of a higher power? Was 13 right about Foreman clinging to House out of fear? And if that is the case, how come he's just as controlling and manipulative as she is in regards to their relationship? Given that he was fearless about ricking his license for her, is his fear relegated exclusively to his relationship with House? And how long until Cuddy finally DOES get House? It seems like when a virginal priest can tell that they are hot for each other, it's time to just deal with it, don't you think?

in FOX, House

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15 Comments

This entire episode grated on my nerves. If I wanted senseless drama and stupid relationship woes, I'd watch Grey's Anatomy.

Rorschach | February 16, 2009 7:29 PM

House is turning religious. If they want to save the show, get rid of it.

Alex Meth | February 16, 2009 9:06 PM

WHY oh WHY didn't 13 get fired???????????????????

I don't get it.

Grace | February 17, 2009 1:29 AM

The ending scene suggests that Foreman and Thirteen somehow set up House (prior to the kissing, she took a bow, as if to suggest it was an act) and thus, they both have their jobs. Okay ... I can somewhat buy that as character advancement for them if that was the writer's goal ... but the problem is ... it thus implies that they think they can carry on the relationship secretly without House knowing, when neither one was smart about it to begin with.

And honestly, if they have so much money that they can keep Jesse Spencer and not have him do anything, you'd think they could hire a couple decent writers. At some point, they need to give Cameron and Chase something to do, or just write them off.

Tony | February 17, 2009 1:53 AM

Here's an interesting note: I was once a "Man of the Cloth" although not a Catholic Priest and the lines they gave POTW when House first "introduced" himself was 100% ME!

"My church abandoned me, and my God forsook me and I couldn't come up with a reason why God would do that." (House starts to be really interested). Then after the no so ridiculous comment by Kutner about freewill, comes this brilliant observation: "I know, God wants life to have meaning. Life's meaningless without freewill. With freewill there is always suffering so, God wants suffering. I got tired of that argument before I finished saying it. Anyway, if I bought that what the hell is God doing? Just the big stuff?...We better damn pray." (Now House has a soul mate!)

My point is losing faith and not having faith are no the same, BUT they have the same result, viz. it makes you question why are there too many games being played in the universe? Or as House says in the final dialog with POTW: "Don't worry, your life will go back to sucking soon enough." Talk about meaningless, this, by the way, is not Nietzsche, this is Camus and Sartre.

JC | February 17, 2009 12:09 PM

I liked this episode. House was really nicer than most of his co-workers. When he went looking for a not too interesting case in ER, Cameron gave him a hard time. House acted more normal than either Cuddy or Wilson on the issue of the party. Of course she should have just not invited him, but this way was more interesting. House wasn't out of line in wanting to break up "14". He wanted to because they now only agreed with each other in discussing problems. Even Foreman admitted House made the correct call. So 13 & Foreman pretended to break up to save their jobs. Unlike Jessica, I thought that was intesting. Taub was so quick to blame the priest, but by breaking the rules and telling the boy he got the boy to come to the priest and say he was sorry for lying. I found the POTW had very interesting story and resolution. Good Show.

chuck | February 17, 2009 12:17 PM

This weeks show was good not great! House was right Foreteen as it was constructed was destroying the team. This plot was not rehashed because Foreman quit a few years back he didn't get fired. Writing was good. About half the viewer I'm sure though House was going to the shin-dig, but us who know and love the show knew that it would be too much too soon. Just him wanting to go is enough character advancement for us!

Daniel | February 17, 2009 1:23 PM

I LOVED seeing Hugh playing the piano....the song that he wrote.

Grace | February 18, 2009 5:08 AM

Like usual, too much Huddy and too make 13/14. The episode was bland and boring.

Brad | February 18, 2009 11:46 AM