Pardon the Interruption: House 7:6 - Office Politics

Overall: 6.3

I have real mixed feelings about this one. Below, I explain why.



Plot Synopsis:

The official site has the basic blow-by-blow here.

The Skinny:

First, let's get the things that really annoyed me out of the way. Number one, I didn't like the strong implication that immigration is not in fact a legitimate issue to bring up during a campaign - or that the only people who would be willing to discuss immigration are those who are merely interested in scaring people to serve their own political self-interest. As SABR Matt pointed out on our other blog, every country - every country - jealously guards its own borders. Have you looked up Mexico's immigration policy? Let's just say that folks from Central America hate the Mexicans for a reason. Why is the U.S. being held to a different standard? Oh, right - because we're rich and therefore deserving of punishment for our evil, rapacious exploitation of the planet.

Number two, I didn't like the equally strong implication that only right-wing political strategists would sink to bending the facts to serve their agenda. Sure - lefties would never, ever resort to using phoney facts to agitate their political base. They are paragons of virtue, don't you know. Except wait - they're not:



So yes - the actual politics we see in Office Politics is typical Hollywood drivel. On the other hand, in our recent string of Thirteen replacements, Masters has, so far, been the best. I particularly liked that Masters was able to keep to her personal code and therefore disprove House's contention that we should all act like little Machiavellis to get what we want. In this way, Masters fills a role that has always been missing on this show: that of the serious moral challenger. Usually, House is able to bend the other characters to his will through the force of his personality. It's nice to see a guest character succeed in resisting that pull.

By the way, in case you're wondering: I have no comment on the House/Cuddy situation as of yet. I need to see how that unfolds first.

Writing: 7.0

Except for the over-simplified political bits, this is not a bad script. As I said, I like Masters. I also enjoy watching the guys needle Taub. The scene in the jail is especially classic.

Acting: 8.0

There are no problems with the acting here. Amber Tamblyn's performance holds up quite nicely next to Laurie's.

Message: 4.0

The political elements of this plot get a 0. Masters gets an 8.