[H]ouse 8x03: Charity Case

Original Air Date: 17 October 2011

Storyline: When a rich man suddenly collapses after making a rare and generous donation, House and Dr. Chi Park are convinced that his extreme altruistic behavior may indicate a deeper medical disorder. With no definitive explanation for Benjamin's loss of consciousness and unresponsiveness to treatment, House pushes just the right buttons to recruit former prison doctor Jessica Adams to volunteer her time and expertise to the case. Benjamin then makes a bold but life-threatening offer that could save another life, and the team must diagnose his disorder before he puts his own life on the line. Meanwhile, Adams and Park test each other's outlook on generosity and gratitude, and Thirteen's guilt conflicts with her pursuit of personal happiness.Best Quote:

House: I'm not joking. You're fired. Don't come in tomorrow.
Thirteen: House...
House: I can work with people who've got nowhere else to go. People who've got something to prove. People who just get off on weird cases. but I can't work with someone whose here so she doesn't have to feel bad.
Thirteen: You're trying to save me.
House: Yes. I think that little of you and that much of me.

Review: Olivia Wilde's swan song on House did a little bit more than reminding us what Thirteen was always about - a character with a profoundly realistic view on life due to her condition - and gave us a last look at the relationship between her and House, one he only shared with women on this show. Yes, Wilson is his best friend and yes, he did inexplicably selfless things for him on occasion, but it was Thirteen (and before that, Cameron, in a way) that he shared an interesting, deeper connection with - maybe as a substitute for the lack of romance in his life. Remy Hadley is, in a lot of ways, just like him: a person who sees people for what they are, without embellishment, in a very realistic manner, and this is only one of the reasons I will miss her on the show (the others are her screen moments with Chase and the possibility of House building his own version of Charlie's Angels). 

Giving Thirteen a quiet exit was refreshing. Looking back at the way other characters left the show (Cameron after finding out that her husband at the time had killed a man, Kutner committed suicide, Cuddy left after the events of last season's finale), I kind of liked the lack of drama. Seeing her ride into the sunset with the person she loves was actually better than having House help her die - which was one of the theories, giving her condition and the pact they made.
Speaking of Chase, when are he and Taub going to return? There's way too much estrogen even for me and I'm not crazy about either Adams or Park, though their charity war was funny in this episode. They are certainly learning from their boss on how to manipulate people, despite House doing most of the manipulation.
To be honest, Wentworth Miller's presence went unnoticed for the most part (maybe because I don't understand all the fuss about him nor have I ever watched Prison Break), and the case was not original. I remember at least two House episodes that looked at extreme altruism as a symptom of a disease. There weren't even extreme things that House did to solve this one, as dosing the patient up to force a symptom has been done numerous times. It seems that he is playing safer than ever - maybe because he doesn't want to go back to jail, despite his belief that everyone should pay for their mistakes. In the end, I was extremely surprised that Wilson didn't give him crap about basically being the reason why his patient had died, but maybe it was because he realized that his own insistence to have Benjamin donate his kidney was selfish. 
What's also clear is that Foreman is not Cuddy. I've been pretty vocal in saying I don't miss her, but what I should say is that I don't miss Cuddy as a romantic interest for House in the way that it's been in the last season. As an administrator and as the one responsible to keep House in check, she was the more entertaining character.
The episode was mainly an essay on ethics. "Hypothetical, if I'm offered oral sex from a sexaholic, do I have to decline? Saying no will cause both of us pain. Saying yes will cause both of us pleasure." That was one of House's typical analogies when faced with an ethical dilemma. As Wilson puts it, "you can't take sex from a sexaholic. You can't give booze to an alcoholic, and you can't take this guy's money." When it comes about patients, one cannot take advantage of their condition for their personal gain. One might argue that House was not thinking of himself and that finding the money to fund his department and hire back his team is actually in the interest of the hospital. But we know better that that. So, how will Chase and Taub return now?
While the episode was nor overly exciting, it had its highlights (Thirteen checking on Benjamin to see if he really was crazy is just one of those) and I find this season to go in the right direction, definitely a better one than what I had expected after the way things ended last May. The new characters still need time to really fit in, but things are looking bright.[H]ouse 8x02: Transplant Back to Season 8