Pardon the Interruption: House 8:2 - Transplant

Overall Rating: 6.8

Lots of little chuckles - and for fans of the show who just want a weekly medical mystery and House shenanigans in a bottle - this is your comfy format episode.  Otherwise...meh.



Plot Synopsis:

FOX has the summary here.

The Skinny:

First the good:

1. We love that Foreman has become the Hospital Administrator in Cuddy's absence.  Foreman was the natural choice given the direction of the show, and...well...he's always coveted a position of authority over House and now he has it.  Sort of.  That dynamic won't have the unresolved (and later resolved badly) sexual tension that House and Cuddy always did, but it will at the very least possess intrigue.
2. We love the new girl!  Charlyne Yi seems like a solid actress and we love that we're getting someone who won't take House's crap, and is even willing to stand up to his wrong-headed approach to patient-handling.  Which is cool.  This is also a good way to diversify the personalities with which House must deal on a daily basis.
3. This particular episode reminded us why we like House and Wilson's relationship...which is good.  We do have some negative commentary on that in a moment.  There were several very good laugh lines to keep us involved at least.

Now the bad.

1. Wilson is a coward.  An utter and complete coward.  And I don't much like cowards.  He doesn't like House...he's said so many times...and he's got good reason given all that House has done of late.  But...he keeps enabling his retched behavior because he can't stand the possibility that turning him away might make him worse.  (on top of his sick pleasure at being House's whipping boy)
2. They are moving House back to stasis.  Very quickly, even.  And I do not like that.  After going off the deep end in re: Cuddy, he cannot be allowed to simply return to stasis...that will invalidate every single episode before this time.
3. I am also disappointed that we're losing Olivia Wilde (after a few episodes) and we don't get a satisfactory resolution to her life story in the bargain (or at least it seems unlikely).
4. I think Cuddy cannot simply be left in the ether...we need House and Cuddy to come to some resolution eventually or their relationship will have meant nothing.

All in all...this episode didn't commit any egregious sins...but it has a real mixed bag of pros and cons and wasn't, itself, particularly compelling TV.

Writing: 7.0

The dialogue was good, but the plot was a bit mundane and routine...the old formula can't be dropped entirely, and it's good to seem them return to it, but this episode felt a little TOO ordinary.

Acting: 7.5

Count me as marginally in the "yay for Yi!" camp for now.  That was a solid welcome.

Message: 6.0

The return to stasis for House and Wilson was disappointing...he needs more than a right cross to the jaw for all the things he's done.