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House – I think that stripper really likes me

Tonight's 'House' was like an okay bottle of wine. Nothing you'd want to spend more than $10 on, but definitely not the boxed stuff.

- Season 7, Episode 4 - "Massage Therapy"
I’m not a doctor; I don’t even play one on TV. But on this week’s House, I diagnosed the patient way before any mention of psychiatric illness was made. The opening of the episode is like the beginning of a horror movie: paranoid schizophrenia ring anybody’s bells? I didn’t get the diagnosis right away, but we all know by now that everybody lies. Despite the level of detail Margaret (“Jenny”) was using about her abusive ex-husband, I knew she was lying. However, I thought she poisoned herself. That would still point to some kind of mental illness.

A relevant anecdote: I stopped watching Bones after Zack left the lab, and they started circling through new, annoying graduate students every week. Conversely, I did not stop watching House when the original three fellows were replaced. However, it was the show’s most tedious season. I bet I’m not alone in saying that I don’t particularly want to repeat that experience.

That said, overall, I liked Kelly. I don’t think she’s stupid, exactly. I liked how she defended the idea of coincidence, but she’s clearly not cut out to be on a team like this. Seriously, tell them that they are mistakenly thinking that everything is connected? No wonder House was openly mocking her:

House: Would you mind standing next to the screen?

Chase: Yeah, she’d love to become a target for your ridicule.

House: She isn’t already?

The person who actually is stupid is the patient’s husband.Who actually believes that an abused woman who is hiding from her ex-husband would keep his name in her address book?

I am sick of the House/Cuddy relationship already. When Cameron and Chase started dating, I thought at the time that I wanted to see more of them. Wow, I am so glad so much was left to the imagination. Wouldn’t it be interesting to imagine how things are going between House and Cuddy based on how their relationship develops and changes at work?

It was amusing and very, very House for him to send Cuddy a male prostitute at work, in defense of the hooker with a heart of gold who is now massaging him chastely. “Do you know how hard it is to find a straight male hooker?” However, it’s also the kind of slapstick bullshit that pulls me right out of the episode. It breaks the fourth wall because it’s so over the top, so unbelievable. The show has always been a bit uneven in its balance of the serious and the camp; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Tonight, it just didn’t really interest me or work for me. House’s concerns about his relationship with Cuddy seem a little too manufactured.

I guess that’s as good a way to describe this episode as any: a little manufactured, but competent.

Photo Credit: Adam Taylor/FOX

Categories: | Episode Reviews | Features | General | House | TV Shows |

3 Responses to “House – I think that stripper really likes me”

October 11, 2010 at 11:53 PM

I’m definitely up in the air about Chuddy. They did the relationship so well in the premiere. While House has to grow up, overtly exploring their relationship slows down the plot. Plus, I miss the active Cuddy/House one-upmanship.

This is terrible to admit, but outside the male team members, I’ve always felt iffy on the women, save Amber. I loved Cameron S1-3, but after that she went off track. I didn’t warm to 13 until S6 and Kelly felt like a rehash of Dr. Terzi. Could they get a female character where they don’t just focus on her looks?

October 12, 2010 at 2:08 AM

Cameron’s character started to go downhill in the second half of season 3 with the ridiculousness of the FWB, the same time the show started pushing the House|Cuddy relationship. Coincidence? I think not.

By season 6, Cameron was being written all over the place and pretty much destroyed as a character by the time she was written off. It’s too bad because the show could really use her back right now to put some emphasis back on the medical aspects. I have no interest in yet another search for the perfect fellow (not to mention that Katie Jacobs said that they had to move the fellows on after 3 years for the sake of ‘reality'; what are Taub and Thirteen still doing on the show in season 7?) and I wish the House|Cuddy relationship would just go away already. I see enough dysfunctional relationships in real life; I don’t want to see one during my relaxation time.

October 12, 2010 at 10:11 PM

Totally agree with ya, Jen. It had a sprinkle of old school House- but it was pretty disappointing. Its still uncomfortable for me as a viewer to see House/Cuddy be so affectionate and kissing. I wanted Chuddy like many House fans, but, I don’t know. The writing is going off the walls. First Cuddy is in a serious relationship with House’s old private investigator, then she drops it, and the stability with her child the relationship created … and goes for House. I am feeling like I know Cuddy less and less with these newest episodes.

Also, you totally nailed it with the diagnosis part. I don’t get why it took the team so long to break the case. It seemed another case of jumping from illness to illness with little compelling reason until it was the end of the episode and time to reveal the malady. The promos really hyped the secrecy angle, which is been there done that.
On top of it, Chase kept setting Kelly up throughout the episode as if she was going to be the one who arrived at the correct diagnosis. They mentioned writing for a campus paper like 5 times, and her psychology background several times as well. Throughout the episode I wanted to scream at Kelly- what was she doing standing around like a sad idiot? Instead of digging for the truth and analyzing the patient?

I hope next week is better. House is showing its age, so far having less impressive ratings this season than its had in a long while.
This episode left me with more frustration and questions than answers.

luvs ya jen. keep em coming. xx

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