I realise I'm 7 years late to the party, but I'm going to vent anyway. I really disliked this episode. I agree that sometimes House's caustic behaviour and snarky comments can get a little wearing but this definitely wasn't the way to shake things up.
Prior to this, the show has tackled some medical and social issues pretty well. The 600lb man was interesting, the autistic boy made for a good episode as well, and I'm not saying that rape isn't an important and worthy topic for an episode, but it has been so overdone in countless other shows and this episode brought nothing new to the table. Not to mention the constant repetition of "I was raped" as if repeating it over and over would lend some new sincerity or weight to the statement rather than perpetuating the cliché.
The characterisation of House was weird and out of place too. Asking social advice from Chase, Cameron and Foreman was out of character, as was going for a walk with a patient to have a religious debate. I'm not saying that this isn't a potentially interesting part of House's character development but I don't think it was handled well. Season 3 has been almost exclusively geared toward the idea that House will not change, and yet this episode completely contradicts that. So why didn't he just tell her to stop being cryptic and needy and see a psychiatrist - a doctor that would actually be able to give her the appropriate treatment for the trauma she went through?
It felt as if someone thought "we should get House to think about some philosophical stuff at some point, that could be interesting", but rather than work it in to a few episodes in a potentially entertaining arc, they decided to dump a truck-load of philosophical and religious fluff in to one single mind-numbing episode.
So yeah, I didn't like it. Or the sub-plot involving Cameron and the old guy. All in all, a disappointing episode but given than it's set amongst a lot of great ones, it's not enough to stop me watching the series. Unless of course I've got any more fluffy episodes on personal growth to sit through.
Prior to this, the show has tackled some medical and social issues pretty well. The 600lb man was interesting, the autistic boy made for a good episode as well, and I'm not saying that rape isn't an important and worthy topic for an episode, but it has been so overdone in countless other shows and this episode brought nothing new to the table. Not to mention the constant repetition of "I was raped" as if repeating it over and over would lend some new sincerity or weight to the statement rather than perpetuating the cliché.
The characterisation of House was weird and out of place too. Asking social advice from Chase, Cameron and Foreman was out of character, as was going for a walk with a patient to have a religious debate. I'm not saying that this isn't a potentially interesting part of House's character development but I don't think it was handled well. Season 3 has been almost exclusively geared toward the idea that House will not change, and yet this episode completely contradicts that. So why didn't he just tell her to stop being cryptic and needy and see a psychiatrist - a doctor that would actually be able to give her the appropriate treatment for the trauma she went through?
It felt as if someone thought "we should get House to think about some philosophical stuff at some point, that could be interesting", but rather than work it in to a few episodes in a potentially entertaining arc, they decided to dump a truck-load of philosophical and religious fluff in to one single mind-numbing episode.
So yeah, I didn't like it. Or the sub-plot involving Cameron and the old guy. All in all, a disappointing episode but given than it's set amongst a lot of great ones, it's not enough to stop me watching the series. Unless of course I've got any more fluffy episodes on personal growth to sit through.