Wednesday 20 April 2011

House, M.D. - S7 E19 - Last Temptation

Masters graduates.


Spoilers after the jump.

Adios, Martha M. Masters, you were awesome while you lasted. I can't understand why more people didn't love her, perhaps because she's not a trollop or another flat one-dimensional to be found in Emmy award winning (Ha...!) Grey's Anatomy. Or probably because Amber Tamblyn doesn't look like Yvonne Strahovski. I thought she was fantastic and in an episode entirely dedicated to her, bowed out of the show in sensational style.

Disregarding the inaccuracies in medicine and procedure because I wouldn't know the difference anyway, this was brilliant drama. Descending from her typical bubbly self to the traumatized shell was tragic in its outcome. As she transitions from student to intern, everything suddenly becomes a lot more real and House finally manages to goad her into breaking her own moral structure. She empathizes with the patient of the week but only up till a certain extent; while they're each very obsessive in their chosen fields, while the young patient has a clear goal set in her mind, Masters still doesn't really know what she wants. Does she really want to be a part of House's team or does she just feel like she should be? Conversely did House really want her on his team full-time or was he just so invested in breaking her?

The point that her roommate makes is pointed - It's suggested that masters has mild Asperger's and it doesn't go unnoticed by people, as commonly witnessed in her interactions with Foreman the last few weeks. On that note, it was disappointing she didn't have any tearful goodbye with Chase, as they had started to form a bond. It's House's approval she truly seeks as he seems to be the only one not lining up to tell her how brilliant she is. Not so she can be told she's a great doctor but because it's such a challenge. They share the same curiosity and while Thirteen (Doctor Thirteen, that is) notes that the rest of the team is nosy, in a way Masters is the worst of them all.

Her uncertainty regarding her future leads her to catastrophically betray her own moral center to do what she thinks is right. Completely missing, or rather disregarding the point and context of Wilson's retelling of the House-Stacy saga, she cons the patient's parents into signing the consent forms. As she sits in her room, folding her origami planes and plotting her course of action she probably already knows she is done with this diagnostics thing but goes through with it anyway, so stubborn is her resolve. She later says of her decision she thought it would make her happy. She probably thought the same thing about medicine, about college and excelling at her studies but when Kendall the patient talks about the waves and the fulfillment she gets from sailing, Masters realizes nothing has made her feel that way - not even bowing to the will of House. Now she leaves perhaps on a journey to find that passion for herself.

How brilliant was the House-Wilson chicken subplot? All we caught were bits and pieces which made it all the more brilliant, a pseudo Noodle Incident. I wonder why House's chicken was still strutting around at the end of the episode for Masters to almost trip over though, the security guard had found it by then. I saw that chicken enthusiasts were bemused that House called Wilson's chicken an Australorp when it wasn't, but they forget House's mantra: Everybody Lies. I wonder how long it will take for Thirteen's true reasons for being away to come out to the rest of the group. There was a weird sexual vibe emanating when Masters gave Thirteen the lumbar puncture. Cuddy is back to being exceedingly useless since splitting from House. Her old flame Lucas is apparently returning soon, which is sure to enrage the Huddy fangirls. I enjoyed this episode a lot - only bettered this season by episode 11, Family Practice.


"House" airs Mondays on FOX at 8:00 pm EST.

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