[H]ouse 8x12: Chase

Original Air Date: 13 February 2012

Storyline: Chase takes on a patient, Moira, who is a cloistered nun on the verge of making her life-changing vows, and through the treatment process, they form a unique connection that tests their faith and reason. But when Moira's condition worsens and requires a risky surgery, Chase's judgment is compromised. Meanwhile, House and Taub try to remain one step ahead of each other's pranks.Best Quote:

Chase: This has nothing to do with the truth. You don't like that I'm reassessing my life. That I want to change it. That I can.
House: Anyone can screw up a life. I never said that wasn't possible.
Chase: You're incapable of human connection so you want everyone to be like you.
House: If I wanted you to be like me, I would be urging you to make a stupid, stubborn decision that blows up your life and leaves you lonely and miserable. You reassess your life when you make mistakes. You didn't. You just got stabbed.

Review: I wish I didn't have to start this review with a bad news, but I have to. This weekend, showrunner David Shore announced this would be the last season of House. This news is making me sadder than I've been before about a TV show being cancelled, mostly because it's one of the few I've watched religiously since it first started. Making abstraction of its ups and downs - mostly the Huddy, which ruined last season, House is an innovative show and its name character is one of the greatest ever created. Actually, if you ask me, it is the greatest. So let's just take a moment to acknowledge the big impact it made in our lives and in the TV business and with everyone on the show good luck with their future careers.

Moving to this week's episode, it was the natural follow-up of Chase getting stabbed and, as expected (and not only because the spoilers said so), he was the center of the story. At some point, almost all of the characters have faced the question whether they are becoming more and more like House or not, and what can they do to stop turning into their boss, at least at some level. Chase's turn came up more than once and it's almost naturally so, given the strong bond between him and House. Cameron was the first one to notice the change and it was what determined her to leave Princeton-Plainsboro and ask for a divorce. And she was not wrong - though in my opinion Chase is sometimes worse than House, even if his reasons may not be as selfish. After all, House would have never killed a patient on purpose or slept with one, the latter being Chase's way to reconnect to the world after his stabbing and to try to rebuild his shattered, meaningless life.
It was Jesse Spencer's time to shine, and shine he did. While most of the characters have intriguing lives (OK, we can take Adams and Park out of this list, especially since I doubt there's going to be time to develop their backstories), Chase's is especially interesting and this episode reminded us of his past as a seminarian and played on his religious beliefs, or lack of, thereof. Me, I'm one who doesn't really believe in the concept of deity, at least not in its christian sense, so religious themes do not always appeal to me. But this time it was more about finding the meaning of life than religion so I could get passed the fact that Chase's love interest was a nun. 
Of course, there's that element that I've been complaining about before with other procedural shows, medical or not, and that's turning the case of the week in some kind of parallel to the hero's life; here we have Chase in desperate need of finding some meaning to his existence and he is miraculously paired with a postulant who, much like he did in his youth, questions her decision of turning her back to real life for good. But Chase's struggle between reshaping his life and returning to the workplace where he got stabbed is a thrill ride and that makes this one of my favorite episodes of the season.
On the House side, things are not too different. He's trying to mend fences with his favorite employee but things are not easy at all; they're not as hard, though, as the first time he lost Chase, but that's mostly because Chase himself changed a lot since the days he was more influenced by morality than by practicing good medicine. But what really great is House actually showing that he cared - in his own way, of course. He knows Chase won't be happy someplace else, especially since he's tried getting away multiple times. And he knows Chase is struggling with turning into his boss and that's something House doesn't want either. The Huddy allusion was quite fitting, showing that House is really struggling with his bad decisions (but don't mistake this comment with me wanting all that shit back!).
As for the rest, each had their own filler little plots, with no real meaning or contribution to the main story. Adams keeps being a judgmental bitch who makes my list of most hated characters on TV (didn't she perform surgery on Chase and was clearly emotionally involved in that situation? Thank why is she insisting that Chase, who has years of experience ahead of her, cannot perform his job properly when it comes to Moira?), Park is useless in every capacity (how is she even a doctor?) and Wilson was, once again, virtually absent. The comical release came from House's war with Taub, which reminded me of the chicken arc with Wilson.[H]ouse 8x11: Nobody's Fault Back to Season 8