TV Verdict

Another episode that had a lot of good elements, but that was undercut by a questionable premise.  House had commented several episodes ago that his pain was getting worse, so it’s not surprising that he’d go for something as drastic as methadone.  What bugged me is the idea that the pain is what makes him cranky.  It’s been well established that House was a misanthrope before his leg got screwed up, so I’m not at all convinced that the methadone would turn him into Happy-Go-Lucky Funboy. They’d have been much better off saying that the methadone just dulled his edge or something. Also, the beavior was inconsistent with how House behaved at the beginning of season three, when his leg pain was eliminated via a ketamine treatment.  More to the point, the absence of pain did NOT diminish House’s ability–though he feared that it would.

The good mood, though it made for some interesting interaction with Wilson and Cuddy (“You slept with House!”), a fantastic exit line (“This is the only me you get.”), but when the dust settles, everything’s back to the status quo.  Which is pretty much how the whole House-Cuddy thing has been going all season long.

Quick Thoughts:

Is it just me, or does a clean shaven House just look fundamentally wrong?

Good job with regard to Taub & Kutner realizing that Foreman adn Hadley are still together.  The two continue to make a good if unlikely pair.  Can’t wait to see what House does when the methadone wears off.

Kudos to Taub’s Foreman imitation–one of the highlights of the night.

For whatever reason, the writers are intent on having us identify with Hadley, as she continues to get the bulk of the non-House screen time.  She must have pictures of David Shore with a goat or something.

The PotW was just OK.  Basically, I spent most of the episode wanting to slap the crap out of the mother and the father.

I will give them this, though–the clinic sequence–the “moron with the broken finger”–was a textbook example of how to make a scene work through editing.