I liked POTW's last line - "I wonder what else I don't like?" I have been told that a guy will give up his best friend for sex, so that's believable. We have been led to believe that Wilson is more "civilized" than House, but looks like he isn't. House's competitive nature would force him to try and oust Amber. I was a little harder to believe that they would go to Mommy "Cuddy" and accept her punishment. Or do they like being "punished"? I thought the whole thing was really annoying. What's with Wilson and House's hair? They both have a small amount of hair lying dead on top. They look like they've aged 3 years in the last 6 months. Chase is ever so cool now. He is so self-confident and attractive. The case went about the same as many other cases. I still don't like the new doctors.

Cameron made it more personal by talking about sleeping with him (or not). So I thought House's response about using a condom and not having syphilis was a shot of reality in the conversation about the fake patient. There was something about the tone in his voice when he answered her that I took to mean he was actually talking about himself for a moment and not just the faked paperwork/patient. As far as we know, House didn't have syphilis in Half Wit, but the entire syphilis scenario was based on Luke N. Laura's blood, not House's, so nothing was medically proven about House. This time, House told Wilson he deliberately left a tube of his (or supposedly his) blood in the lab, knowing that sooner or later his team would want to test it for something. Wilson asks him why he switched the blood, what does he have to hide in case of a test, and House tells him he's missing the point. He successfully diverts Wilson from that question and they have their giggle. The old team has no reason to think House can't have syphilis because of Half Wit. They could perhaps have suspected House of faking the vial, but since they think they are one step ahead of House here, not behind, I cut them some slack there.

Well, this was a very good way to come back from the writer's strike. I loved the House/Wilson/Amber custody battle(although I really didn't get the punishment at the end, could just be that I'm slow). And the drunk!Wilson. And the casual!Wilson. and House and Chase bowling was also made of win. (And I get the flippy hair back!) When Chase asked if Cameron and house had slept together, I just took the pillow I was sitting on and buried my face in it until the scene was over.

I don't think Amber was lying to House when she said that she hoped she had changed -- with Wilson she got love and respect. She had just lost a job she wanted very much and having someone treat her like that must have been great. It helped her get feel better about herself (that's what Wilson does.) And she saved the aspect of her personality that "treats every encounter like it's the last copter out of Saigon" for people like headwaiters. But she's feeling better about herself and therefore reverting to her basic personality. I doubt she's using Wilson to get revenge on House for not hiring her. She's doing it because this is how she deals with everything -- she's dating Wilson, House wants Wilson, she has to win. And she's so busy trying to win that she doesn't realize that she could destroy the relationship in the process. House also always plays to win and he's probably better at it than she is (although I also think he deals with defeat better.) But the big difference here is that he has a decade plus of a relationship with Wilson. He can push harder without it breaking because of everything they've shared. I don't think Amber is capable of seeing that. She'll push just as hard as House does and that will cause her to lose.

Refresh my memory. Aside from telling Kutner(?) that House faked the syphils and ratting out House to Cuddy, what exactly has CTB done? Granted, the whole arrangement is nutty, but if those acts are evidence of pushing it too far, it seems to me that it doesn't take much pushing at all. Given the craziness of the agreement, I'd say she's behaving in a way that's neither mean nor desperate.

Eh, pretty mediocre overall. Some fun H/W/A moments and the confirmed knowledge that House bowls like Obama, but other than that, lots of character regression, it seems. House swears Wilson to secrecy and he runs straight to CTB to tell her about House's trick? In an episode that Foreman knows he's being fucked with, he (and the other older ducklings) can't recognize that they're being fucked with again? How many times does Foreman think he gets to tell House he's got syphilis anyway? No one can remember that about the last thing House likes is people gossiping and obsessing about his health? Chase? Really? You ask your girlfriend questions like that in public and then get bitchy when she doesn't want to answer you? I guess Chase and Cameron are going to break up in the same awkward, clunky, doesn't-really-make-sense kind of way that they got together. Amber works in the hospital now? I guess I missed the episode where Cuddy hired her. Because that was really strange that she was assigned patient duty in a hospital she's not employed at. To top it all off, a boring PoTW and still no clinic patients to be found. Damn, I thought the show was back on track with "Frozen" and, to a lesser extent, "Don't Ever Change." I'm kind of resigned to the fact that in season 4 the show has downgraded from "fantastic, can't miss" to "amusing at times."

Am I the only one who got a totally different take on the scene where House tells Wilson that he faked the syphillis? Right there at the end, Wilson is going to get his shoes, doubles back and asks House if he needs to talk...House says no, and Wilson says something to the effect of... you're still screwing with... and House says yes. I TOTALLY saw that as House meaning he was doing Cuddy...not at all that he was continuing to mess with his team. Plus the earlier reference to his doing taxes and Cuddy. And that scene at the end...was he actually complimenting her? (ETA...ok, I'm from CA but honestly, I don't talk like a valley girl. Goodness, "totally" twice in one paragraph. Like honest, I like so don't talk like that. No, like really! :D ) I for one loved this episode. I don't know if I was in House withdrawl and simply got my fix, or if it was really that good. I choose to think it was that good. I actually liked all the ducks, old and new...if they can squeeze them ALL in, then I don't mind the new ones so much. Though I do like Kutner a LOT. Loved the little heart he drew on the board. Cracked me up. I fell for the syphillis thing for about half a second and then decided he had to be faking. Loved drunk Wilson. Loved the strike bit, down to the red shirts. Loved the bowling scene. Finally we see some Chase and Cameron again (trouble in paradise?). I've said it before...you can take the cut-throat out of the bitch, but she's still a bitch. And I agree that House told Wilson on purpose, that he fully expected him to tell Amber, and that she would tell his team. He was testing him. (Though if not, that means again Wilson successfully lied to House.) And I was reminded of the episode where Wilson needs to talk to House when he really needed a friend to talk to and House won't give him the time of day (no idea what epi that was)...and I got that feeling here but with the roles reversed. Didn't give a rat's ass about the patient, but that's not who I watch for anyway. Didn't like the non-doctor/patient confidentiality thing when the team told Cameron about House. It sucks being on the west coast...had to avoid the boards three hours before the show and when I finished watching the show, there were 8 pages of fun discussion I missed out on!

I enjoyed this a lot, but it was so packed with detail, I'll have to watch it a couple more times to get my head around all of it. Loved the opening with the meta strike, and House being all nice. The moment when they tell him he has syphilis was utterly convincing even though I was pretty sure he didn't. I do think it would be a nice contrast if they gave House some "real" moments that don't turn out to be tricks: it would make it less predictable and more engaging. Thought Wilson's passive-aggressive manipulation thoroughly proved what Cate said in Frozen and what we've seen throughout the series from time to time, he's nowhere near as nice as he seems. If he genuinely has all the love in the world for House and Amber, why is he delighting in playing them against each other? He's not the least bit scared of either of them. He's toying with them and Cuddy too by playing this childish role, letting them duel over him: he relishes all this hoopla. It's weird. The big reveal that House is tricking the POTW/fellows/Cuddy/Wilson is now replaced with Wilson turning the tables, I guess, and tricking everyone. I think they need to find something else. Actually, the most surprising thing was how nicely House and Amber were cooperating at the end: frankly, I would dearly love it if they teamed up to give Wilson a taste of his own game. Maybe they'll pretend to have an affair to retaliate for his shenanigans: that would be great! Sort of. Really, my hopes are still high for big drama in the two-parter. The next one I expect to still have the light touch. The pendulum needs to swing back toward the drama. Do we have to drag Kaplow back?

First, the first person POV of the camera at the very beginning was different. I'm wondering what the significance was. The significance was that Deran Serafian was the director and he always, always, always has to have annoying weird ass shots -- like up someone's nose, or extreme closeups. (Pssst. Deran: they're not artistic. They're distracting.) As to why House would put his own name on the blood when he didn't before: different test. In "Half-Wit" he was faking someone else's case and didn't want anyone to find out it was his blood, since it had to go with "Luke N. Laura's" file. In this case, he wanted to find out what the team would do if they saw a vial with his blood, not just if they'd go around sampling random blood for kicks. In terms of Amber's personality. I also take her at her word that she wants to change, that with Wilson she can have both love and respect, which she's never had before. But at the same time, her reactions when it comes to the competition with House for Wilson's time is completely in keeping with David Shore's comments in the Maureen Ryan interview that: I think people don’t change that much. People struggle to change, people want to change, want to become better, but that’s what life is, that struggle to achieve that. It’s tiny baby steps. We are not that much different than who we were 10 years ago. That’s what people are. So the fact that she's still cutthroat, yet also wants the combination of love and respect that Wilson represents is in keeping with Shore's vision of the desire to change, yet the difficulty in actually changing. And, as an aside, I love that this is the second time that House has called her "CB." We have consistency!

Now about Cameron sleeping with House. Does anyone remember Resignation and stalkerCam who came to House's apt in the middle of the night knocked, then used a key over the doorjamb to enter House's apt. then bedroom? The scene after that is the next morning. Cam could have stripped down and jumped in the bed with House. And just like House kissed her back in HalfWit, he could have screwed her too. Hey, I hate Cameron and HAM with a passion but I think it's possible. I mentioned this 5 pages back - & I didn't even watch the show. Reading this thread - seriously, was there anything new in the ep other than Chase in jeans?