Ok here are my thoughts . . . So Wilson is in charge of the relationship? Does that make House the girl? ;) Foreman was almost tolerable. I think at the end, House realized how much he "missed" Foreman. Man, when HL smiles...... perfect Cuddy, ugh. I was NOT happy about what she did, and I am so glad that Wilson was ticked off too. Even Wilson has his limits. So Cuddy is on BCP? That seems weird, considering not too long ago she was on fertility meds. Doesn't make a lot of sense in my mind, unless she was that affected by House saying she would make a crap mother. I liked the tiny bit of Chase we got. That was pretty good. The PoTW? Could have taken or left it. And whenever anyone asks where I am or what I am doing I am so saying that I'm on a secret mission for the CIA!

Cuddy, ugh. I was NOT happy about what she did, and I am so glad that Wilson was ticked off too. Even Wilson has his limits. I'll have to watch it again (so maybe my interpretation/recollection is off base), but I don't think he was angry at her for that, he was only irritated that she wasn't taking a smarter, more effective, less fifth grade slumber party approach to it. Given that Wilson and House both have taken the fifth grade slumber party approach to dealing with each other I don't think the incident itself was offending him or that he was morally outraged on behalf of House, he was just rolling his eyes about it. And, actually, since the "smarter" approach was less effective, it didn't make much difference.

I liked this episode so much more than I was expecting to and I laughed out loud at many points. I loved that each of the mirroring scenes with the POTW offered us an important shard of the puzzle that is House, but since each candidate was alone no one but the audience got to piece it all together: --Amber said, through the Mirror, "If they don't like you, you gotta be right or you're not worth anything." This is almost a direct quote from House's baraku introspection story in "Son of a Coma Guy." And what a strikingly poignant self-analysis for both House and Amber. --Taub learned through the Mirror that "she's a little too aggressive for me, but aggressive is never a bad thing, yeah!" I interpreted that to be an indirect reference to Cuddy (and even Stacy) and how House feels about her. --Brennan's glimpse into the Mirror revealed several traits that directly reflect what we know about House: "I'm bored," a condition House relieves through various antics including latching onto the most esoteric of diagnoses. "You think everything is OK as long as you don't think about it; ignore it." Then when he thought he had extracted the exotic black pus: "So cool!" As Foreman noted later, Brennan, like House saw what he wanted to see and is ever-enchanted with the far out and exotic (remember the botched diagnosis of Lupe in "House Training). --Kutner was an extension of House's eternal search for the "cool." As the Mirror said for Kutner, "I gotta have new, if its not there I make it there! There are 300 million people in this country, if I'm doing exactly what everyone else is doing, then who the hell am I, ya know what I mean?" This is House to perfection! --Thirteen: "I'm scared." It's going to be OK, she tries to comfort herself. "No, no, it's not!" This was the most searing and moving insight into both her character and House's. I think that both of them are scared as they contemplate their futures and are overwhelmed with a deepening despair at the gloom they face. I completely enjoyed all of House's interactions with Foreman. As usual, we learn so much about House and who he is from their complicated relationship. As the Mirror said, reflecting Foreman: "Nothing around here works the way it's supposed to work. It was necessary and that was all that mattered. It's exciting." You're happy, the Mirror says. "Why wouldn't I be?" Foreman replies. And thus everything clicks into place for Foreman and he is changed. House senses this transformation in the final scene and welcomes the Prodigal Son Foreman home with the ultimate Houseian approbation: "You are the only one who learned something. You are a freak!" House sees himself to be a freak, as we know from MLC and many other episodes and now he enfolds a no-longer resistant Foreman under this rare and cherished title. Cuddy was funny, desperate, childish, adamant, and manipulative, and as always one step behind House. How juvenile to think that switching his Vicodin for laxative would make any change. In fact, I think that House enjoyed the battle precisely because it got sillier and sillier. What to make of House's threat to sabotage Cuddy's birth control pills? How does he know she is taking them? How does he know where she keeps them? How does he have access to them? Why does she take his threat seriously? And why mention the possibility of Cuddy getting pregnant to Foreman? Foreman's reply, "What does you having sex have to do...?" is cut off at a tantalizing point by House. So inquiring minds want to know: have Cuddy and House already hit the sack and we have just been left out of the fun? I loved the fun scenes with Wilson as always: the one-ups-manship, the affection, the understanding, the references to House's need to impress Cuddy were all great. Wilson seemed so proud to believe that he has the upperhand in their relationship! House holding the door (the way a well-brought up traditional gentleman holds it for a lady) was perfection. I absolutely held my breath through that gorgeous scene in which House confronted the Mirror with a reflection of the lost man's own personality. Hugh is truly superb in that scene. Of course the crucial side result of House's acting job here is that we never get a scene in which the Mirror interacts directly with House himself -- a good bit of deflecting again by the Master of Misdirection. I think that one of the grand themes of this show is the assertion that we can get a glimpse at understanding a person by knowing whom they love and why. With House we have discovered that he is eccentric, unpredictable, adamant, and surprisingly forgiving in his choices: --Fans hated Stacy as an aggressive, manipulative selfish b*tch, but House loved her; --Wilson has been roundly condemned in some quarters as a hectoring sanctimonious scold, but House loves him; -- Cuddy's many critics find her an incompetent sexpot ninny, but House loves her; -- now we see that while the viewers spew hate at Foreman for supposedly being arrogant and self-righteous, House loves him too. For me, I am always striving to uncover whatever story David Shore and Hugh Laurie want to give to us. So I think that the story of "House" is the unfolding of why House has made these bold, unconventional, and magnanimous choices. What nourishment and support to his soul do these people bring?

I suppose House's reaction is absolutely normal given the strange tempo and vibe of this entire season but considering we've only seen House really laugh, what, once? in 3+ years, the happy dance seemed a bit manic. Hm, it seemed in character to me - he'd just beaten Cuddy, and with the happy dance he was both making it obvious to everyone watching that he'd won and rubbing it in Cuddy and Foreman's faces that he > them. Plus, well...no one was happy with the angst-superoverload of last season, right? This seems like maybe the PTB trying to make up for that with a more content House. The balance needs to be fine-tuned to make the levels of gloom and levity more even, certainly, but I don't think going a little lighter is a terrible idea.

In terms of the "happiness" issue, I think it's interesting (and I'll have to pay more attention on the rewatch) that House tells Brennan -- who is planning to quit at that point -- that everybody in miserable in some area. It's just a question of minimizing the misery. True, he was conning Brennan out of quitting at that point, but it speaks to House's worldview. He never expects to actually be happy. So in House's effort to minimize the misery, he engages in pranks on Cuddy, he celebrates beating Cuddy. he enjoys pushing Foreman until Foreman finally reaches his own conclusion, he seeks out puzzles. Oh yeah. And Thirteen's name is revealed on the betting slips that Chase hands out.

I think House already knew her name. He pretends he doesn't so he has a reason to push and prod. He only had to go to payroll and find out the names of his staff still being paid. And he probably wouldn't even need to do that -- in Forever it became obvious that he receives all the pay envelopes for the department for him to dole out. That was how he found out that Chasae was double dipping. Unless she's been working for free, he knows who she is. He also needs to know her medical specialty. How many of the 40 resumes show that specialty? How many of those were women? It definitely wouldn't be hard to figure out. Now her big, dark secret, on the other hand...

Thirteen's name is revealed to the audience? If so, what is it, because I didn't catch it.

One of the disadvantages to being a House fan living on the left coast is that by the time I've read through all the east coast comments on the episode thread just about everything that needs to be said has been said, and better than I can say it. So I'm left with voting: I don't mind the light-heartedness of the current season at all. Didn't I spend most of season 3 reading lots of complaints about all the angst? I'm glad Foreman is back. There, I've said it. He's far from my favorite character on the show, but I didn't like seeing him turned into a total pr**k last season. I liked him last night. I must admit that Cuddy is bugging me this season. It's like the writers don't know what to do with her. She's almost as much on the fringe now as Chase and Cameron. Clearly House is the alpha in all cases. Wilson just whines louder in his head ;-P Yup. I'm loving the changed relationship between Chase/Cameron and House. Now I just need to see more of the younger doctors on screen. I suspect that will happen once House whittles his team down to the three keepers.

It's a little depressing to come here and see so many people disappointed in this season because I'm really enjoying it so far. ITA. I think I'm going to back off reading these comments about each episode, because I'm finding that it's actually interfering with my enjoyment of the show. Last season, everyone on That Weird Other Place was in a froth because the show had gotten so dark and had lost its humor. This year, here, there are some people who are upset because the show isn't angsty enough and it's lost its focus because it's too light. One of the things I treasure about this show is that it mixes both dark and light. When I tune in, I never know what I'm going to get (unless I start reading the spoilers, which I'm discovering really do spoil it for me). I'll say this once, and then I'll go away: For the most part, I like what the writers are doing. That doesn't mean I love every episode, and I certainly was not fond of the Tritter arc, but on the whole, sure. When I watch the show, I'm almost guaranteed to get some clever writing, humor & angst, insight into human behavor, phenomenal acting by HL, twists and turns I don't expect, and a view into a strange alternate universe that I never once confuse with real life. What more could I ask out of a TV show that doesn't cost me a dime? Do I expect every show to be a gem? No. Do I expect that every episode will be my cup of tea? No. But, as I said in my earlier message, I'm enjoying the ride. I'm looking forward to where this journey is taking me. When I stop enjoying myself, I'll stop watching. I guess the short version is that I don't feel the need to agonize over every detail of every episode, so maybe this part of HHOW isn't for me. See you all in other areas...

She replaced his secret stash, not all of his pills. I didn't see it like that. Wilson walked in on Cuddy replacing his secret stash but when she said "Where were you two hours ago?" I took that to mean that she had messed with his regular stash two hours before and was now back to also switch his secret stash assuming he would have to dip into it because the regular stash laxative subs weren't giving him the pain relief he needed. IIRC this scene is followed immediately by House in the toilet...? I think assuming House dropped to the substitution, didn't take the laxative but then pretended to have the runs is taking the subtelty a little too far. I think he didn't realize the switch till the laxative hit him and the timing fits in with Cuddy's two hours ago comment.... I still think the mayo thing was more on par with the Foreman thing and the way she did it, in front of the new candidates, etc and the laxatives were Cuddy taking it to a much low, less mature level than House's retaliation with the mayo. The game got lower with every move and while messing with her Pills was lower than the laxatives, he did warn her in time for it not to have a disasterous result and, imo, after the Foreman and the laxatives she deserved it. ETA: I think House already knew her name. He pretends he doesn't so he has a reason to push and prod. He only had to go to payroll and find out the names of his staff still being paid. And he probably wouldn't even need to do that -- in Forever it became obvious that he receives all the pay envelopes for the department for him to dole out. That was how he found out that Chasae was double dipping. Unless she's been working for free, he knows who she is. Actually it's a lot simpler than that: her name had to be on her application/resume for the fellowship. You don't show up for an on-the-job interview without the person hiring you knowing your name from having seen it on multiple forms, letters, transcripts, recommendations. All he's need to do to check on her name is open a file in his office.

I personally found this episode great, i swear Hugh get's funnier by the episode! I was surprised by Foreman too, i usually find him very very irritating, but i found the banter between him and House enjoyable. I like what the writers are doing so far this season. More Cameron & House and i'm a happy bunny :)

Regarding House's happy dance at the end - was there also a bet on whose personality the POTW would mirror between him and Cuddy? Although I can't imagine very many people would have bet on Cuddy. That's how I took it with so many people standing outside the room watching, hence House's happy dance to signal he won.