The first scene from this week’s episode seemed like it belonged on Showtime with Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) quickly skipping bases to get to the good stuff. Cut to her lesbian partner seizing on the floor and being taken straight to the hospital. As it turned out, that’s exactly how she (Angela Gots) planned it. Apparently she was only using Thirteen to get to House (Hugh Laurie). Ouch.
House treating Thirteen’s one-night stand actually turned out to be an interesting story arc, largely due to the pleasure House took in invading her privacy. Props go to Hugh Laurie, whose portrayal of the perverse doctor is brilliant. House’s informality is nothing new, of course, since he’s had a private investigator digging things up on his friends for quite some time. But his behavior in this episode is why the government has laws against this sort of thing. Read on about his stake-out outside of Wilson’s (Robert Sean Leonard) house.
Having Wilson and House back together brought its own magic to the episode and helped counterbalance the doom-and-gloom that now hangs over Thirteen and her terminal illness. House is hell-bent on having things as they were and decides the only way to facilitate a return to form is with a welcome-back prank, which lands Wilson flat on his back next to milk and a donut. Good one! Meanwhile, Wilson returns the favor by ordering a hooker (which House learns about by camping outside Wilson’s house with his PI) and pretending that he’s in love. Somehow, House fails to see that it’s all an elaborate joke until his PI finds blood-stained syringes in Wilson’s trash. Gotcha!
Spencer, which we (and Thirteen) learn later on is the name of the patient, has all sorts of symptoms. First it’s one thing, then another. Eventually, it doesn’t really matter. House even claims that her illness could be the result of a spider bite, so Thirteen (rather than one of the guys) has to examine her, as “that way there’s no sexual tension.” House, you dog. Aside from some inappropriate touching however, which is definitely eye-catching, Spencer fades into the background. She is hardly an interesting case on her own and we never really learn anything about her.
The highlight of the episode comes much later, when we discover that Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) is adopting a child. The look on House’s face was worth Foreman’s (Omar Epps) inquiries about whether he’s dull or not. Foreman, if you have to ask, you most definitely are.
I can’t wait till next week’s episode to see the little tyke. Something tells me House is not big on kids, which means this story arc is sure to be a delight. The preview showed what looked like House and Cuddy finally getting their moment, but it could just be a well-edited ploy to get our hopes up.