One of the most left-field character deaths in recent memory was the unexpected demise of Kal Penn's Lawrence Kutner, who was introduced in season four, and then killed off near the end of season five due to Penn's decision to work as the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison for Barack Obama. After Kutner doesn't turn up for work one day, Thirteen and Foreman end up discovering him to have committed suicide in his apartment, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Kutner didn't leave a suicide note, and though House initially believes that the person who killed Kutner's birth parents may have been involved, this eventually appears not to be the case, and Lawrence is laid to rest at the end of the episode. The death heavily divided audiences, some who felt that it coming out of nowhere was an outrageous stunt, whereas others felt that his sudden death was realistic, considering how under-the-radar depression flies as an illness, and how suicide is often sudden and unexpected. Whatever your own take, it was a much-discussed, shocking and incredibly bold way to write out a likeable character.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
