TV Review: House 8.13, 'Man of the House'
There’re only a handful of episodes left to the series House, so it makes sense that we’re entering a last phase where storylines get tied up.
rating: 3.5
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Therere only a handful of episodes left to the series House, so it makes sense that were entering a last phase where storylines get tied up. One storyline Im sure everyone was waiting for the outcome of was the one centering on Houses (Hugh Laurie) Ukrainian bride. Wait, you werent? Youd forgotten she even exists? Ah, well. Lucky you. You get to be reminded. Our episode begins with a marriage counselor/motivational speaker addressing a seminar crowd on the differences between men and women. I actually found myself getting slightly caught up in what was being said, but then the guy had to turn into the patient of the week by stumbling over his words and fainting. Spoilsport. We go through the opening credits and then to the diagnostic room where the team is trying to figure out what happened, and Chase (Jesse Spencer) is completely back to normal. Yes, no limp and no beard. Probably for the best, since neither one really worked well for him. Anyhow, as they are working on the case, the wife shows up. It seems that the Immigration and Naturalization Service is trying to schedule an interview and home visit so they can make sure the marriage is legitimate and not just a scam to get the woman a green card, which it most certainly is. House is initially reluctant to do anything to help her, but then she offers him thirty-thousand dollars, and theyre off to the races. Meantime, back at the hospital, House announces that hes trying to find a new assistant to replace Foreman (about time, really). He plans one of his usual competition-type schemes, and Chase, Adams (Odette Annable), and Park (Charlyne Yi), all immediately jump at the bait. Taub (Peter Jacobson) prefers to remain above it all and largely ignores the competition. The team goes through their usual series of diagnostic efforts on the patient. They eventually determine that he might have low testosterone caused by a couple hard kicks to the junk during a bar fight. They give him testosterone injections, which seem to improve his mood, but also elevate his sex drive, his aggression and his overall levels of jerk-assitude (its a word, look it up). His main problems continue, however. As House continues to study up on his wifes past, the team begin to suspect the patient may have MS, so they begin investigating that while the mans wife gets more and more concerned that her husband is turning into someone she cant love. Then things start to get really bad as the patient begins to develop liver problems. Meantime, things reach a climax with the wife situation when the INS investigator turns up to interview the happy couple. Hes initially pleased with the way everything goes, but then as hes leaving discovers the fraud (I wont spoil it by telling you how). This leads to a meeting in his office, the final outcome of which isinteresting. This was a good episode, but not a great one. While I did like the eventual outcome to the INS thing, the lead-up to it felt a little forced. I also wasnt even remotely invested in the patient or his case, since frankly neither one were even remotely gripping. I also had a tough time getting into the race to be Houses assistant. The outcome of it was pretty obvious, and Houses usual antics werent nearly as entertaining as they have been in the past. Still, it was a good episode, and given that we wont have many more episodes period, Ill take what I can get.