It strikes me that when the patient told House he could "trust him with his secrets" the real secret wasn't so much Lydia, but rather House's treatment of him. What we saw after that point was the kind and caring House (albeit with an acerbic flair) that he so rarely shows to the outside world. He gets the guy to not only talk about his daughter, but hands him the phone to call her -- then calls her back and has him give her his (more or less) dying words that he truly wants to say and that will make his dying easier. He nurses this patient -- right down to cleaning out the emesis basin -- and sits with him even after he leaves. This is the guy that Wilson calls "secretly a nice man" to House's fellows (which Taub -- Yay Taub! -- agrees with). So the secret becomes this other self within House, not merely the mention of a past affair.

That was pretty good. I loved every scenes. Foreman can be a good character. I'm happy Cameron is gone (for good). It's just sad that Chase was stuck with her and not with Taub and Foreman :wink: . My problem with her character was that she was supposed to be a mess but the show never succeed in making me believe she had reasons to be a damaged character. Sorry, I still don't get it. Foreman and Chase, from the old team, had both more reasons for me to be "damaged" but they always seemt to be allright. Cameron married a guy who was dying, I'm sorry but I don't understand why that make her soooo damaged. Chase saw his mother drinking herself to death and his father left him and the writers never seemt to notice how damaging that can be. So yes, I could sound harsh but at least, now Chase can have another storyline. Please don't make him back in the background. I'm also a little sad that he seems to be really ok with the murder. We had no real insight as how he was dealing with it (just once or twice). That's pretty big but it just seems like it's just over now.

i actually hated this episode. felt like i was watching grey's. the interactions between the characters seemed so fake, nothing really grabbed my attention. i honestly couldn't wait for it to end.

I agree that we didn't get to see what made Cameron such a damaged person over the course of the show (she's just as mysterious as 13 in that sense), but I think we got a BIG hint last night. Chase made a remark about Cameron standing up to her father when he yelled at her mother. Now, this is pure speculation on my part, but it could be that her father was very domineering or possibly abusive towards her mother and that brought out in Cameron her very strong need to save people and her concerns with empathy, fairness, etc. If she was unable to protect her mom growing up, she would search out other ways to do it.

Now, this is pure speculation on my part, It is. Sorry. But it is pure speculation. You know, I stood up to my father too and not because he is a dangerous and a angry man who hits my mother, just because sometimes they desagree and I was just sick of it. They weren't any other clue or anything that could explain Cameron as a "damaged" character. The writers spend so much (really too much) time trying to make her interesting, I never get it, I never like her and never found her entertaining. In a way, it's sad because during this episode, I was more interested in her character than during 5 seasons.

Maybe I'm evil, but part of me wondered if Cameron's tears were at least partially a response calculated to make Chase sign the paperwork, which he did.

I may be wrong here but didn't Wilson say that Sam Carr had just got divorced. So if she was married to someone else why was he still paying her allamony. I think this episode was the start of the story arc that takes us to the final episode. I enjoyed it.

Maybe Chase's memory of Christmas with her family it was a desperate attempt to make us give a damn about Cameron's back story. My theory: it's because she's a demanding bitch who insists everyone do exactly what she wants how she wants it, and her mother lets her precious baby get away with murder, while her father doesn't. So, Allison got in her father's face and told him he was being an ass and Chase was so whipped that he couldn't believe anyone would dare say anything to his darling wife. Stockholm syndrome, Chase had it. (Please note: I don't really think anything of Cameron other than, "Gosh, I hope she's never on my TV again." I'm just trying to come up with some way she might be more interesting than the human equivalent stale toast she appeared to be all these years.)

At risk of getting into boards on boards territory, people here have used the same language to discuss Thirteen and Foreman, and no one complained then. Of course I recall old days on other boards (back in the first season) when Chase was a target of hated comments. On topic, I love the fact that canon now backs up my earlier fanon thoughts that Taub really was a go-getter in his younger days, who now finds himself struggling to reconcile that he reached his limit in plastic surgery (despite his protestations earlier that he was in plastic surgery for purely aesthetic reasons) and now finds himself in this strange wilderness that is working for House. I always liked the idea that there was more to him than merely the affairs and snarking.

You know, I stood up to my father too and not because he is a dangerous and a angry man who hits my mother, just because sometimes they desagree and I was just sick of it. Fair enough. I've seen it go quite the other way as well. Also I said maybe her father was very domineering OR potentially abusive. I left a lot of leeway in my speculation. Even if Cameron's father didn't hit her mother, she might have become more sympathetic after watching her parents disagree and getting sick of it, just as you did. That's all I was saying. Can you see where I'm coming from? Whatever her experience was, she became more empathetic as a result.

Can you see where I'm coming from? Oh yes I understand. You know back in the day, when I used to love this show (now I just like it), I speculated and talked a lot about Chase (my favourite character), but I just ended disapointed. It's just that this episode, even if it was good, just show me how writers are not good with some characters. They have put Cameron at our throat during three seasons without really building the character and during this episode I was just thinking "maybe Cameron wasn't so bad at all". Don't get me wrong, I'm still happy her character is gone. I just wish they'd do a better job with her. I tend to wait too much from this show and I have way more satisfaction with all other shows I watch regularly (my love for Breaking bad and Supernatural has no bound). House tend to disapoint me so much. I should know by then. Whatever her experience was, she became more empathetic as a result. You know, I never see Cameron has a real empathetic or at least not more than Chase or Wilson, or Taub... My problem is that the writers wanted us to believe that, but it wasn't naturel at all when with Chase, we were leading to believe he was a daddy little rich boy, when it wasn't the case at all, and we get it (or at least I did). I don't know if I'm clear (sorry english is not my mother langage) Do you understand what I mean? I don't hate Cameron. I just think of all the characters, with Cuddy, she was the one the writers just seemt to have no clue of her psychology. She was wasted (and then boring for me).

I enjoyed the pace of the episode and I thought HL did a great job of getting really fantastic performamces out of the cast. I loved the JS and JM scenes. He's so enjoyable to watch. I've never been a fan of Cameron but it least now I don't feel so bad that I always thought she was a judgmental, miserable cow. I thought JM gave a great performance. I like that I'm not sure if Cam turned on the crocodile tears to get Chase to sign the papers. I enjoyed the comedy relief that Foreman and Taub provided. Even Thirteen and Wilson were cute together. The weakest link in the episode, for me, was LE. It was't her acting. I think it was the plot. I wasn't wild about the baby mommy's acting. Not that I've ever had my newborn stolen but I can't imagine that I wouldn't be on the edge of hysteria or in hysterics the whole time. The actress just didn't sell her distress. I haven't watched House religiously as I used to but if the writers don't hit me over my head with their heavy hands going forward then I will get back on the program.