6.09 - Ignorance is Bliss
House and the team take on the case of James Sidas, an exceptionally brilliant physicist and author who traded his successful career for a job as a courier. For the ailing patient, intelligence is a miserable burden that has prompted depression and addiction, and this, coupled with his myriad unusual symptoms, nearly stumps the team. Meanwhile, the doctors at Princeton Plainboro wrestle with strained personal relationships in the all-new “Ignorance Is Bliss” episode of HOUSE airing Monday, Nov. 23 (8:00-9:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (HOU-609) (TV-14 D, L) Cast: Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House; Lisa Edelstein as Dr. Lisa Cuddy; Omar Epps as Dr. Eric Foreman; Robert Sean Leonard as Dr. James Wilson; Jennifer Morrison as Dr. Allison Cameron; Jesse Spencer as Dr. Robert Chase; Peter Jacobson as Dr. Chris Taub; Olivia Wilde as Thirteen/Dr. Remy Hadley Guest Cast: Jennifer Crystal Foley as Rachel Taub; Patrick Price as Nurse Jeffrey; Esteban Powell as James Sidas; Vicki Davis as Dara Sidas; Larry Cedar as Bob Beringer; Cheryl Carter as Dianna; Andrea Gabriel as Ronnie

Liked the PotW this time. He had multiple dimensions. Oh sure, they were kind of stupid dimensions, but at least they were there. It's nice to see a couple trying to work thru their differences. Cuddy tricking House just felt mean. Sure, what he was planning was mean in a whole other way, but she made him drive 6 hrs round trip! That's hard on anyone, I imagine someone with House's pain issues would be in agony. Enjoyed the team. Go Chase! If he hadn't married a completely unlikable woman with no charm or personality, I'd feel a lot worse for him. But he didn't leave with her, so there's obvious signs he sees the error of his ways. Good ep, I thought.

Oh boy, I couldn't wait to get here and see what everyone had to say about this episode. I seesawed between feeling bad for and hating the POTW. Oh House. Oh Chase. Oh Cuddy. I know he's done worse to you, but that trick was pretty shitty.

It's very hard to be brilliant, Fid. It alienates and makes ordinary conversations difficult. And believe me--it makes keeping a job really hard. How are you supposed to work for people that are so obviously stupider than you are? It's not all happy fun times, I tell you what.

I really liked this one. Good connection between House and the patient (both in terms of personality and the "ah ha" moment of case resolution), loved Chase's solution to make everyone backoff, and Taub co-opting it for his own benefit. (Hee!!) It also really feels like the House who was making progress prior to the conference, rather than the backsliding House of the last episode. He didn't undergo a complete personality change (scamming Cuddy and Lucas both -- and the fact that his "I love her" was part of the scam was dead on) but at the same time, he's accepting the situation. He's moving on, as Nolan would put it. Not that I didn't feel sorry for him for Cuddy's prank, but at the same time Cuddy is attempting to place appropriate walls between different parts of her life. Don't know if those walls will last, and God knows, she should have erected them earlier if she really wanted to separate her personal and professional aspects of her life, but still ... she's making the attempt.

:-) You have a point there, RSH, but comparing his lovely wife to a gibbon was just not nice. Taub, oh how I love you! His little bit with showing Rachel the picture at the end was hilarious.

Yeah, Cuddy went a bit too far with her trick (why do hers always seem that much more over the top than his?), but I'm proud of her for committing to Lucas. Obviously this isn't about Cuddy just waiting around for House any more; she wants and deserves her own life. Oh, Taub. Using House for sex. You smart, little man, you. Well, the POTW definitely made me feel something, which I admit is different than normal. He could be a stuck-up idiot, but if his wife is sticking that closely to him, than he must be worth something.

House has definitely done shittier to Cuddy, but even I was taken aback by Cuddy's trick. I'm not even sure what the purpose was, beyond making sure House didn't show up at her own Thanksgiving. However, it seemed as if he was going to be on his best behavior (though Cuddy couldn't know that). I'm just unsure what to feel about it, aside from it being just a generally shitting thing to do to someone on a holiday. And Cuddy's really dug her own grave in refusing to establish clear boundaries with House.

I liked this episode a lot. I can almost forgive last week's episode.The characterization fell back into being consistent with the rest of the show. There was more than one funny moment. The patient and the medical story were both pretty good. Finally, while they could have taken the same storyline and made it melodramatic and stupid, the tone was pretty subtle, while at the same time keeping my interest. I also liked how I wasn't entirely sure what was going on with House this episode, i.e. what he's feeling right now. Is he making progress by being able to accept hardships or just hiding it by shutting people (Wilson) out? By the way, more Wilson please.

That was a really good episode. House actually fooled me and he hasn't done that since Half Wit. I actually felt bad for him when he drunkenly proclaimed his love for Cuddy after being sent on a wild goose chase to her sister's house. That was a horrible trick. I was a little disappointed because I thought there wasn't enough build up to Chase hitting House. House was being an ass, but not enough to deserve a punch, right? So it was utterly delightful to hear Chase's explanation to House. I guess Chase fooled me too and I love it. It was fun that House happily accepted the explanation. I loved that House said he tripped over an ottoman, but it's very annoying that Cuddy said she couldn't have doctors punching one another when she didn't lift a finger to do anything when House punched Chase in front of way more than three witnesses. House figuring out that the genius was dosing himself was a great moment and the final diagnosis reminded me of the early days of creative diagnoses. I found Taub (he's only 40?) more bearable this episode than I've found him for the previous two years. It was amusing in a weasily way that he passed of House's black eye as his doing to his wife. I enjoyed the scene with Chase searching the house, especially the "I'm going to pretend there's something interesting over here" line. There was good chemistry between the two actors.

My take on why Cuddy's tricks are always so much meaner than House's: House knows how to prank, he has a sense of humor. Cuddy equates pranking with doing something intentionally cruel. She probably has a sense of humor, but it does not lean to the physical comedy. Almost forgot: Taub is brilliant and I <3 him.

I liked this episode. I'm so relieved since I was disappointed last week. I liked the POTW. I actually was interested in what was wrong with him. I liked that you could see the parallels between House and the patient. That House "got" him. At first I didn't think House's being drunk at Lucas' was a scam until he actually said I love her or whatever he actually said. It all came down to Hugh's performance. I just didn't feel it and I know I would've felt it just like I felt it when he opened the door to Cuddy's sister's house and realized he was scammed. Which I have mixed feelings about... I felt bad for House, but at the same time he deserved it. Although, I'm not so sure he deserved something that harsh; I may be biased though.

I really enjoyed this episode. I don't care if House says it was part of some scam, I believe what he told Lucas was the truth. At the end House realized Cuddy never broke up with Lucas. Cuddy knew that House realized the truth. Cuddy had a guilty expression every 5 seconds. She really wants to believe House has changed. Rachel's expression at the end was hilarious. I felt sorry for House when Cuddy pulled that scam on Thanksgiving. Taub saying he punched House :lol:

Oh, Lisa. How could you? My heart ached for House when he showed up at Julia's and found nobody there. And I totally bought the drunken "I love her" speech -- did not see the reveal coming. I wonder where Cuddy & Co. really were. Couldn't have been Hawaii, because she kept looking at the clock, and it was around 3:15. House arrived at Julia's in daylight. If they'd been in Hawaii, it would have been dark on the East Coast by then. And Lucas couldn't have gotten home that quickly. Loved Chase admitting that he punched out House just to get everyone to quit the "are you OK?" stuff. Loved Taub. That "woman is turned on by her man being a badass" thing usually turns me off, but it made me smile here, probably because (a) Taub is adorkable, and (b) it was a scam. And thank you, writers, for not being *too* anvilicious with the House/POTW parallels. Yes, brilliant = lonely. I was waiting for House to copy the POTW and go back on narcotics -- so glad you didn't go there.

I think (hope) they're back on track after 2 weak episodes. POTW - Interesting combination -- an intellectual snob who doesn't want to be intellectual. Has he tried talking to his wife about movies or the weather or anything other than physics? And the gibbon comment was really nasty (and, if he's such a genius, he should know that IQs are considered accurate +/- 10 points at around 100 and almost completely inaccurate over 150. So being 91 points above her is meaningless.) Interesting medical problem. They got the diagnosis right the first time, the only problem was that he had lots and lots of spleens. Didn't see that coming. (For a moment, I thought Chase was drunk and didn't take out the spleen.) Clinic Patients -- not great ones, but oh, how I've missed them. Cuddy - I understand why she did it, but couldn't she have sent him on a one-hour wild goose chase? That was mean. It's sad that just as House has detoxed and is capable of real flirting, she's gotten tired of all the games. And I believed her when she said she was. Lucas - He was nice this week. House - I totally fell for the "I love her" and the hung over conversation with Cuddy the next morning. Well played, sir. I don't believe he's going to leave them alone. Chase - was great. He knows House enough to know he could get away with it (plus House owes him a free punch after Finding Judas.) But I loved his reason. He wasn't pissed at House for the teasing. He punched him to scare away the people who were being overly solicitous. Very Housian motives. ETA: Loved Taub using House's nose and black eye to get out of the doghouse. He told Rachel that he laid down some rules with House so once he starts having to stay all night again, that halo might start getting rusty very fast. ETA: I wonder where Cuddy & Co. really were. Couldn't have been Hawaii, because she kept looking at the clock, and it was around 3:15. House arrived at Julia's in daylight. If they'd been in Hawaii, it would have been dark on the East Coast by then. And Lucas couldn't have gotten home that quickly. Cuddy doesn't like her sister. Remember how she hoped the snow would make her miss Rachel's naming ceremony? Cuddy told House that she was having a family T-Day at her sister's. But her sister's family was in Hawaii. Cuddy was in Princeton -- either at her house or at Lucas' place.