Spoilers after the jump.
That was kind of a mess. I'm not really sure how to recap House episodes so I'll try a different approach.
The patient of the week was lying to his wife about still being in real estate when actually he was a janitor doing heavy industrial cleanup. Masters, paired with Chase for most of the episode really takes issue with this as you might expect. Chase tries to moderate her, he doesn't want to get involved in the patient's life but she keeps trying to encourage the patient to tell his wife the truth. She seems to think Chase doesn't care because of his disrespect for women. She figures it doesn't matter to him if someone lies to their wife because he sleeps with a different woman every night and discards them so easily. Of course, she wasn't around when Chase not lying to his wife led to the disintegration of their marriage.
Seeing the wife's strongly negative reaction to the patient's confession seems to deeply affect her. She is still belligerent with Chase later wanting to tell the patient that his wife has stormed out and left him, but he insists to her that if a patient is near death then hey, she should be nice to him. The old adage goes that if you are heaping a lot of bad news on someone and a little bit of hope, they're liable to only hear that little bit of hope. In talking to the wife later she applies this and begins to understand how complex relationships can be, something she has no experience with. After the patients hearing fails and he falls into a coma, Masters lies to his wife telling her that he'll be able to hear her if she talks to him.
I really like Masters, it's a pity she'll be leaving soon once Thirteen returns. House promised to break her integrity and belief in others. It appeared to crack in this episode under the supervision of Chase, usually a passive character almost forced to reign her in. The little spark between them is unsurprising given how much she reminds of Cameron but she's clearly too uncomfortable getting close enough to people to have to lie. While it appears initially as though Chase is detached from the patient whereas Masters is invested, it's only because of the distance she keeps that she so easily demands others hold to her own standards of the truth. Whether that's good or bad is subjective. I doubt her outlook will change under the tutelage of House.
Taub displays the emotional maturity of a plastic duck in this episode. Foreman, usually so aloof can't help but coddle him though it doesn't seem to do any good or lead anywhere. It feels to me like Taub thinks he is more depressed about his divorce than he actually is. Wallowing in his own tears, he manipulates Foreman who just doesn't know any better, never having been in a situation like this himself. House suggested two weeks ago that maybe Chase and Taub should get together and commiserate, maybe that's not such a bad idea. In any case, having someone to fill the emptiness in their lives is better than nothing.
I think I'm out on Huddy. The end of the episode has him deciding he would rather be in a relationship with her than being a doctor, contending he can't do his job effectively and be happy at the same time. Of course, he's heavily drunk at the time, despondent over the patient's death and reminiscing over past failures. When he sobers up I suspect he'll find he's horribly wrong. I think he views romancing Cuddy as a challenge. Arranging a mariachi band for the ceremony but then failing to turn up, it seems more like like diagnosing what would make her happy and then leaving the treatment to someone else, just like usual. It's not enough for her and she only puts up with it because she's been obsessed with him since their days at Michigan.
There was a lot going on in this episode and it was hard to keep up with and be interested in all of it. The main thread of interaction between Chase and Masters was good, as previously mentioned, I love me some Amber Tamblyn. The rest of it wasn't so involving. Watching Cuddy and Wilson chasing House around the hospital is getting a little old. While he's meant to be developing, he's not really developed at all which is why this relationship feels like a sham set to collapse at any moment.Wilson referenced one of my favorite first season episodes, "Babies and Bathwater". I was just disparaging Gossip Girl for referencing old episodes, but the difference is that this show is usually so memorable I knew exactly what he was talking about.
"House" airs Mondays on FOX at 8:00 pm EST.
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