[H]ouse 8x10: Runaways

Original Air Date: 30 January 2012

Storyline: The team treats an underage and homeless female patient, but when her symptoms worsen and call for an invasive surgery requiring adult consent, House and Adams argue over whether they should contact social services. The patient confesses that she ran away from home after struggling to take care of her mother, a recovering drug addict. But when her mother appears at her bedside, a more complicated relationship is revealed and the patient's mother must put the past aside and make the best decision for her daughter. Meanwhile, Taub has a difficult time connecting with his infant daughters and House threatens to exploit Foreman's relationship with a married woman.Trivia: Shells do not pop out of a shotgun after they have been fired. It is necessary to remove them by hand unless they are installed in a mechanism that expels them mechanically following their detonation.

House is eferencing Mommie Dearest, a 1981 film about actress Joan Crawford and her adopted daughter's efforts to please her. It was based on the 1978 book written by her daughter, Christina Crawford. 

Best Quote:

Adams: Do you think people can change?
Chase: No. But I don't think that's gonna change your opinion, because... people don't change.

Review: It's not always that House gets involved in a patient's life. In fact, more times than not, he's not even meeting his patients face to face, caring more about the puzzle than about them as persons. It's one of his defining traits. So watching him actually take an interest in someone's life, beyond their illness, was a surprise and a good one, in my books.

The patient is an underage girl who ran away from home because of her mother's drug addiction and who is doing pretty well on her own, living in a foreclosed house, having enough food and water and going to school - even making captain of the volleyball team. In House's books, this means she's better off without her mom, who could only stand in her daughter's way of living a good life. And I'm on House's side on this one. I'm one of those people who don't believe a blood tie entitles one to the right of making decisions or even being in someone's life if they're not wanted. If a person is better off without their biological family around, then by God, let them be.
Of course, this doesn't stand well will everyone on House's team. While Park rationalizes that there are people who need their parents and people who don't and Chase prefers to stay away, Adams and Taub think social services need to be called and the mother needs to be involved in the medical decisions regarding Callie. It's something one would expect from Taub, being a parent himself, but Adams is simply too moralizing to make me like her. She's the worst combination of Cameron, Masters and Thirteen and, unfortunately, she only took the shooting skills from Olivia Wilde's character. And while Cameron was endearing for the most part and I loved Master's banters with her boss, Adams is simply annoying and she's ruining any pleasure I have watching this show, which is unfortunate, because House was just starting to get good again.
For the most part, I enjoyed this episode and House's sort of attachment to Callie, even if he wouldn't admit to it. What I didn't care for were the secondary plots - Foreman's affair with the lovely, but completely useless Anita, and Taub's inability to bond with his daughters. Yes, all children are boring. But you contributed to their being in this world, so get over it. One would think that, with not one, but two baby girls, Taub would be busier though...
Also, I would have liked to see Wilson more involved and not only stand aside and comment on House's interest in his patient's life. But he did have a fun moment when Taub started asking him about bonding with his patients. I loved his "I also have kind eyes" reply. He can be subtly snarky at times.
There wasn't much development regarding the characters, other than confirming that Adams is the most annoying female ever in this show. But, for the most part, I had fun watching this episode, though at this point I can't wait to get to the very advertised ones centered on Chase.[H]ouse 8x09: Better Half Back to Season 8