Don't Ever Change

I love House, and have recently started watching it on DVD from the beginning of the series, as I am not predisposed to scheduling my day around television schedules. This being so, I have the advantage of being able to compare the most recent season with earlier seasons without benefit of easing gradually into them, which would make comparisons a little fuzzier. And I have to say, there is a huge difference between this episode and episodes from seasons one and two, which I just finished watching. It's not a good difference. I thought at first that it was just the new cast members, but it became clear by the end of the program that House himself has lost some of his edge. The banter aimed at witty, but missed. The pace was too slow, and the entire episode gave me the overall impression that the show had lost more than a few IQ points. Hopefully the sub-par writing is due simply the recent writer's strike and is a temporary problem. But I fear that the director is also part of the problem. And if it's also the cast, I'm afraid I'll probably just have to stop watching altogether.

I've run into doctors with bigger egos but the difference is they really care about all patients ... house is a bully that cares only about himself and will stop at nothing to stroke his own ego... if he ever met me, he'd cave from a lack of stature and words to excuse himself from crapping his pants ... this guy is a dead bang loser looking to inflict his garbage on anyone who will listen ... everyone enables him and the worst is his lover cuddy .... why this junk lasted as long as it did is the real puzzle

A woman becomes Hassidic and marries a man of that persuasion. During her wedding, when the bride and groom are held high by the congregation, she faints and falls to the floor.

We are then led into what happens when ancient Jewish tradition meets modern medicine. Of course, House is totally disrespectful and crass. I am an atheist, but find that people can be respected for their faiths, as long as they keep it in their own back yard. So when House crosses this line it's a bit harsh for me.

The case itself is interesting because while the test continue to be negative, when she is on her feet she has heart issues.

The subplot involves Wilson having an affair with that nasty woman, Amber, from the fellowship group. There is a kind of reckoning at the end. Solid episode with some education into the Hassidic world.

"Don't Ever Change" has a bride collapsing at her wedding. House and his new team are stumped as the woman grows worse and in fact prepares to die. The solution, while improbable, allows House to show off as only he can. In the previous episode, we discovered Amber is back and dating Wilson. House is so concerned, in this episode he has a couple of meetings with Amber, where she proves to be more than his equal. She appears to be back to stay, and I for one can only hope so as she was my favorite new character through season 4. I certainly would not have chosen the Cameron lookalike over this wily and very sexy blonde. "She has legs that go all the way to Canada," one character comments during the episode. Yes she does. And a mind to go with it.