House just wants to be happy – is that so wrong?

I’ll admit that this wasn’t my favorite episode of House this season. I definitely expected more going into the finale. but then again, I can see where they set us up for the finale in a lot of ways.

What I did love was the callback to one of my all-time favorite House episodes, way back in season one: “Three Stories,” which ironically led into the first season’s finale. They employed a really fun storytelling element using the flashbacks, yet reality blends in with the story being told. I loved how Nolan shows up in some of the flashbacks, that he and House are sitting in Cuddy’s office while she calls House, and that Nolan even wonders why he’s there with Taub. It’s fun and clever and keeps the viewer guessing and interested.

Which is good, because overall it just wasn’t that interesting of an episode. We got pretty Lisa George from Dirty Sexy Money as an amnesiac who turns out to be allergic to her semi-removed tattoo. That’s all well and good, but what we’re really supposed to get out of this whole thing is that her past was affecting her present, which was mirroring House’s issues.

Now the really interesting part is that House never admitted to Nolan his real issue: House is in love with Cuddy. Unless I’m missing something here and he’s really just sulking because everyone has figured out happiness but him. Nah, because the book written by her great-grandfather was so important.

At one point, when House is talking about the patient’s husband, he says, “People’s brains stop working when they think they’re going to lose someone they love.” He was explaining how the patient’s husband was coming on too strong, but it also explains why House went out and got boozed up and picked a fight when he felt Cuddy was lost to him. How will this play out in the finale?

Other things:

• I had so much fun watching Alvie and House … glad they brought him back for an episode. The best part was stealing the book back from Professor A-hole.
• House really summed up why his relationship with Wilson is so important to him: “I can say whatever I want to him and he’ll never leave.”
• “Aren’t therapists supposed to be nurturing?” – House
  “Nowhere is that in the manual.” – Nolan
• We know that House is still “recovered,” since he coaches the patient’s husband to court her. He really wants others to be happy; we’re still seeing the reformed House. Will this change since he abandoned his therapy at the end of the episode?

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on May 10, 2010 @ 22:34 EST5EDT