[H]ouse 8x17: We Need the Eggs

Original Air Date: 16 April 2012

Storyline: House and the team take on the case of a man who starts tearing blood. Meanwhile, House is interviewing for a new favorite hooker, since his current favorite, Emily, has decided to get married and leave the business. Desperate for Emily "companionship," House teams up with his "wife" Dominika to sabotage Emily's budding relationship.Trivia: The woman that Taub briefly dates has the same last name as Peter Jacobson, the actor who plays Taub.Best Quote:

Wilson: Hey, foosball?
House: Can't. Marriage to destroy.
Wilson: Okay...
House: "Okay" as in passive-aggressive reverse psychology? Or as in depressed resignation?

Review: Among the many cases that could have been lupus but weren't, House delighted us with weird sexual preferences that traveled the whole range of fetishes, so why should I be surprised that she show finally touched the subject of "alternative" partners in the form of a lifelike silicon doll?

That's what this week's patient called his girlfriend and, surprisingly, this wasn't a neurological symptom of his condition, but rather a life choice: why waste time in search of the perfect woman, not even being guaranteed that you'd find her eventually, is you can spend $7000 on a doll which you can customize according to your preferences?
Unfortunately, other than seeing Adams giving a pelvic exam to the doll, this wasn't much of an interesting case. I miss the old times, when infections and different diseases were thrown into the mix and Cuddy had to stop House from doing dangerous procedures on patients. These days, even Foreman seems to be missing - and, weirdly, I am not too upset about this - and House can simply run around free and do more or less whatever he wants, even if that means holding auditions for hookers in his office. As upset as I am that this series has been cancelled - as I think it's the end of an era and no other medical show will be able to rise to this one's level ever again -, even I can say that it's, indeed, time to put the stops while people still watch it.
Having said that, two plots developed around the case of the patient with the doll and used this doll as a metaphor for whatever was going on in the characters' lives. First of all - and what I consider to be the main arc of the week -, House was caught in the situation of having to deal with the loss of his own "doll"; his favorite hooker, Emily, announced him that she's retiring from "hooking" because she was getting married. Hard blow for a guy who hasn't had a real relationship since he destroyed his last girlfriend's house by driving a car into her living-room. What House hasn't considered - although everyone else around him has - is that he actually has a stable functional relationship in the form of his wife, Dominika, who may just be more than just a temporary nuisance. Wouldn't it be weird if his realization, that he may actually like his wife, led to a real relationship? In some sort of unexpected way, I think it wouldn't be all that weird and it's certainly something I'm waiting forward to see unravel. Especially since, as in all his previous relationships, House considers he has to lie in order to keep the girl.
Until then, I'm having fun watching him and Dominika plotting and scheming and building a rather domestic life together in House's little apartment.
As for the secondary plot and House's ongoing mission to mess with his team's head, the doll became a metaphor to explain everyone else's lack of romance in their lives: Park's doll is her parents, Taub's - his kids, Adams' - her charity work, and apparently Chase's is having meaningless sex with strangers or coworkers. This led to all of them reconsidering their dating life and trying to change things - all of them except for Chase, who may be on the road to grow up and actually not date any of the people he works with. I expected the topic of Chase and Adams getting together to pop up at some point and I'm surprised it hasn't earlier, and I was speculating that the writers will put these two together for no other reason than to create some sexual tension in the group, the same way they did with Chase and Cameron back in the day. I can't even tell you how glad I am that this hasn't happened yet and, by the looks of it, won't happen at all. As for the others, I hope Park does get some, that guy is cute and it may cure her of that annoying inferiority complex she has and which makes me want to bang her head into a wall.
So, how do you see the relationship between House and Dominika? Is it destined to fail, just like every relationship he had before? Or will this be the one to stick around, despite his deceit regarding her citizenship?[H]ouse 8x16: Gut Check Back to Season 8