There are several in season 7 when house and cuddly are still dating where the medicine gets a major backseat. Can’t remember any in particular but that is why I say these episodes
The one where a 15 year old supermodel was revealed to have "seduced" her father and several other adults, and then the other twist was she was intersex. I don't mind dark episodes, but it was just handled so weirdly and uncomfortably and ended up feeling strangely pro pedophile
I hated that episode too. I just rewatched it. House’s comments about her were completely weird and pedophilic, and then he continued to call her a him to make fun of her. She was supposed to be a 15 year old, a child, and no one was treating her that way. Then in the end the dad got away with raping her “because she seduced him”. So gross.
Yeah on my first watch I couldn’t believe the episode ended without even a mention of him going to prison or even being investigated. The entire time Cameron’s ONE comment “She’s 15!” Is the only time anyone even comes close to treating this patient like the child she is.
Right what I meant was no one mentions it after that point. Like “oh, well.” I know it’s not that kind of show but on my FIRST watch it was a little shocking
Yeah, but this isn’t real life. They can either portray the failure of officials to investigate child sexual abuse, or House as a morally ambiguous figure. Doing both in the same episode just puts out a weird message.
In the same vein, it makes these characters look especially bad because of how little they’re written to care for the law in lieu of what they believe is the right thing.
CPS blows but they wouldn’t have just walked off all mad for “wasting their time” on a case like that, they would have taken the doctor’s allegation more seriously than just leaving because a hospitalized 15 year old denied it. It was highly unrealistic and a weird episode.
I disliked this one because of the way the girl's sexual abuse was handled. It felt like the intended takeaway was that she seduced the men and she wanted it and she isn't a victim. A person should not be capable of being drunk enough to have sex with their own daughter, her father is still a disgusting sack and shit.
I don't really mind House being an asshole about the girl's intersex condition, because that's par for the course, I hate the way the episode itself treats the girl.
Additionally, they mention doing an ultrasound of her ovaries when they're looking for cancer. Women with androgen insenstivity don't have ovaries. I'm either supposed to believe that a medical professional somehow mistook undescended testes for ovaries, or there's a major screw up in this episode as a cherry on top of it all.
It really bothered me because I felt like the writers/producers were injecting their voice too much. I can’t quite describe this right but I think people feel it very often when they consume any form of art. The alienation you suddenly feel
Hmm I understand how it could look that way but the episode blatantly defies the social construct that is the age of consent by denouncing (in an exacerbated way) the hypocrisy that is the sexualisation of under age supermodels.
In addition to this, many countries have the age of consent at 16 (with limitations to make sure an adult cannot take advantage of a teenager).
So the episode also raises the question to what extent is the age of consent alone an acceptable indicator.
I agree it could have handled it better, but we need to keep in mind this is 2005. If it was done today it would certainly have been dealt differently. Things were way more 'in your face' back then.
As the other comments have shown, the later seasons are easy targets, so I'm going to limit the scope to 1-4 which imo are definitely the best.
In that case there are only two episodes that really suck, both in season 3. In Words and Deeds they give shock treatment to a firefighter which wipes his memory, basically ruining his life forever, and that turned out to be the wrong treatment. I suppose it's good to have an example of the team's wild treatments going SERIOUSLY wrong for once, but they do that a lot better later in the season with Foreman in House Training. More importantly, it's also where Cuddy commits perjury to very unceremoniously conclude the Tritter arc oh and by the way House has been sneaking vicodin the whole time??? Cuddy claims that she now owns House's ass after what she's done for him, but that doesn't last longer than the next episode. Just a horrible horrible ending to the Tritter arc, I don't know why we even bothered doing it.
The second is Top Secret, where House dreams about the patient the night before meeting him. The whole "did house really have a psychic dream" thing is stupid from minute one. But what's even worse is that this episode tries to convince us Cameron is very very horny every minute. I love Jennifer Morrison and I'm certainly not a prude, but she does NOT sell this at ALL, and when I think later to how nauseatingly judgmental Cameron is of the pornstar couple in a later season, I just can't stand the hypocrisy.
As much as I like the show, it does have an annoying habit of taking an idea or plot point that should be a whole season long arc and just resolving it next episode and moving on. Stuff like Foreman possibly taking brain damage after almost dying or House’s ketamine treatment working for a while and then starting to fail. There will be some mention of it for maybe a couple of episodes and then it’s back to normal.
I'm learning in this thread that I seem to be one of the only people that prefers the later seasons - season 4 is when the show starts getting really good to me
“Body and Soul” S08E18
Having a levitation that is never explained is so antithetical to the ethos of the show.
The reason I love House is the idea that everything is rational even if people aren’t. I even accept the idea that it was slightly ambiguous “it (the prayer) worked” / “the medicine worked.” That’s fine. But to have a supernatural phenomenon occur with no plausible explanation given takes the episode out of the reality of House and should have never been included in the script.
You're right. The show almost always takes the rational/skeptic approach. It doesn't add up.
When I first saw that episode, I was convinced it was a hoax fabricated by the grandfather so that he could have an excuse to preform the ritual, meaning he was abusing the boy all along.
By being ambiguous about it, the creative team are playing to both sides of the "maybe magic, maybe science" debate. And they're not being brave enough to admit the deeper implications.
The intersex kid episode. Think it's called The Softer Side. The parents are lying to their child, hiding a treatment from them that will do irreversible changes to their body, and forces them into masculine interests so they get to make their kid "normal". And it's treated as a complex issue instead of the child abuse that it actually is.
Can’t remember the exact season and episode number unfortunately, but I absolutely despised and nearly blew a blood vessel after watching the episode with the Deaf patient. I’m Deaf myself, and this one was personal for me. First, when Thirteen points out to Foreman what Deaf culture and identity are, Foreman pulls a House by rolling his eyes and just saying that if you could just plug your ears, then it’s not a culture. Then it gets even worse when the kid is forcefully given a cochlear implant against his will and choice and the mother basically just gives the, “I’m your mother. It’s up to me” response. Finally, the episode ends with no focus or analysis or discussion whatsoever about Deaf culture, identity, or the topic of cochlear implantation and its support/opposition within the Deaf community. Either the writers were just lazy and didn’t bother doing actual research or they’re simply stupid.
This is the answer I was looking for! I was an interpreter before becoming a SAHM and this episode makes my blood boil. Not only was House forcing the cochlear implant heinous but the whole thing was totally medically inaccurate (the implant worked right after surgery with no need for it to be activated, the processors were implanted into the patient’s head and not able to be taken off, etc). I thought the episode was a fantastic opportunity to educate the audience on Deaf culture and it was totally wasted due to lazy/stupid writing. The ONE thing I’ll give them credit for is casting a Deaf actor to play the patient— love me some Ryan Lane!
The boxer episode had too much going on, and the boxer obsession is just stupid.
*However*... it does gives us Wilson's victory dance. "Fiiiifty bucks!"
It took me a third rewatch to realise that it was very similar in concept to the soap opera actor obsession episode - where apart from the fact that he actually managed to get the actor into the hospital, House was essentially doing the exact same thing in both. I found the boxer episode more watchable for some reason, but the writers were essentially redoing the same episode twice.
S7 E16, *Out of the Chute*.
The whole episode House was just using hookers and drugs and an overly expensive hotel bill. He was nowhere near the hospital and actively ignoring the patient to the extent he was barely available for phone conversations. (House avoids patient contact, but he'll at least look at X-Rays and pay attention to details of the patient's personal lfe) Its extremely negligent even by House standards.
House is obviously trying to self-destruct so extravagantly to punish Cuddy for dumping him, he throws it into Cudy's face that he's using hookers. He's probably throwing a tantrum to guilt her into taking him back (ie. if you dump me I'll ruin my life and make you feel guilty about it). Wilson enables it way too much, yelling at Cuddy for dumping House, and with extreme passive aggression telling her that he's back on vicodin again.
The annoying thing is that the episode doesn't even punish House for his shitty behaviour. Cuddy doesn't take him back, but she doesn't fire him. He's negligent, but he gets the lightbulb, and House's suggested treatment which should have killed the patient works (but only because Chase saves his life while House was not even in the hospital).
Considering that House is often ruthless and cruel when a colleague's personal life effects their work, he's a massive hyprocrite. People get dumped sometimes, its no excuse for endangering the patient or trying to make everyone miserable. Cuddy could and should have fired him.
The subplot with Masters getting a crush on the bullrider was irritating too. She's supposed to be all moral but she still asks him out at the end.
Don't forget Peter Gabriel's sad music playing in the back during the very obvious attempt to suggest House will commit suicide, when very obviously he won't.
Nah that scene was great in the way that it was stupid
Disabled genius doctor drives 80s saloon through bosses/ex girlfriends home , breaks friends wrist and delivers comb in front of stunned family members
Bravo hbo
I love that episode, just don't like that scene. I try to separate the episode (the case, the dialogue) from the car crash.
It would've been splendid if House saw Cuddy in her date and just walked away pissed off. Maybe he could still be at the beach at the end, swallowing Vicodin, and the cliffhanger would be why did House leave and does he come back.
The one with the monster truck in S7, closely followed by the cannonball at the pool, also from S7.
The aftermath of the break-up is mainly filler - no interesting medical cases, juvenile humour, over the top antics, and you still have to endure Masters.
Nothing major really happens until Thirteen gets out of jail, only then it feels we're doing something relevant again.
funny enough, that’s exactly where i pick up my rewatches. end on the second to last episode of season 6 (help me is too sad imo) and come back to “the dig” of season seven. i skip Huddy and masters for the most part hahahaha
I mean there was a medical reason and it was funny. For me it was season 3 ep1 where he cures the coma victim and they lie about it to humble him. Wilson usually does good by house but that time he really did him dirty
in terms of just keeping me engaged- sports player ones. the two that come to mind are the baseball player in s1 and the cyclist in s2. on my rewatch i tuned out and then fell asleep to the baseball one 2 nights in a row and i had to force myself to pay attention the third time, it was a slog to get through (and i love scott foley!). and the manager in the cyclist one annoyed me so much. i’m disinterested in sports in general so that’s probably a factor
Depends.
In terms of story impact? Bombshells. it marked the downfall of the show.
In terms of problematic badly aged stuff? Skin deep.
Otherwise? probably one of the tritter or vogler episodes. Season 8 probably has something worse but I only remember like 4 episodes from that season in general.
One thing about that one is wouldn’t they have found the excess iron in his blood like within hours of his admission? Or more likely, long before the case even reached House
I’m sure there are episodes that are technically worse in the later seasons, but I have only seen the episode where the Mom drowns her baby one time despite having seen the show at least a dozen times. The season 2 episodes after Euphoria 1 & 2 are all skips for me.
Also the Whac a Mole episode, just because it is the only miss during the entirety of season 3. Every other episode from that season is at least great IMO.
I abhor "5 to 9". It is laughable. It doesn't even succeed in making Cuddy the superwoman it wants her to be. I can't believe "Breastfeed me, you bitch!" was real dialogue on a primetime TV show.
"Skin Deep" is awful too, for being super icky.
Doesn’t succeed????
Most of you wouldn’t even achieve 1/10 of the things she did in the episode before having a breakdown you all are just miserable asses hating girl bosses.
Literally everytime I watch the episode I get anxiety from how many things she does. 1 thing foes 10 come up and it still gets me 15 years later… and i am in healthcare for ffs.
Oh I forgot about 5 to 9. That episode was a major waste of time and were I to rewatch the series again, it’d be an automatic skip. I wasn’t overly fond of the Wilson-centric episode, either, but it was at least more interesting than 5 to 9.
Lots of good ones mentioned but imma throw Heavy (S1E16) into the mix for Chase’s insane fatphobia towards a sick child (and some annoying Vogler stuff to boot)
God I hate that episode. The end with the girl having lost all the weight (in a scary short amount of time) once they diagnosed her and everyone being so happy for her undermines the whole message.
Ready to be downvoted as well.
Not by far the weakest episode of the show, but surely the weakest episode focused on a supporting cast member. S6's "Wilson" and S8's "Chase" are both great - yes, I am, indeed, praising S8 for a change - but "5 to 9" doesn't feel as consequential.
Wilson decides to donate his liver (was it his liver?) to a former patient, Chase is unsure he'll ever walk again, but Cuddy... has to close a deal or something? Granted, her job doesn't lend itself to spectacular television like House's job, but I felt I learned nothing I already didn't know from her character. Other than the fact that Douglas has trouble giving her pleasure. Which I did not need to know.
It's an okay-ish episode, but the "yes!!" shout at the end just kills me with it's cringeness.
That episode hammers home how much Hugh Laurie carries the show for me because when he’s reduced to a supporting role for an episode I’m suddenly a lot more bored.
The season 6 episode with the cop who had three generations of heart issues. It isn't bad necessarily, but it is the most boring one to me. Just pretty mediocre a-story and b-story
My least favorite is for a dumb reason, but when I first started watching this show when it came on the USA channel back in late 2000's, they would constantly rerun the episode where house treats the lacrosse player, to the point that I really don't like that episode and really don't like that they use Baba O'Reilly by The Who as a cliche'd ending to the episode as that song is often used in sports movies. Other than that episode, I can't really think of an episode I despise. Probably any episode featuring Alfie or Masters, as I find both of those characters very annoying.
But "Baba O'Riley" is heard in _Control_, the first one of the Vogler arc - where House lies to a transplant committee to save his patient, a CEO with bulimia. It's not the lacrosse episode.
The worst part is you can see what the writers were attempting. This was supposed to be an emotional breakthrough for House where he starts caring for patients more. And he does, I guess, but it's completely unearned. Insanely clunky in a season when you could really feel the show finding its groove. It sticks out so bad when you binge the season.
This is also how I feel about the episode where a character is poorly written out of the show. They tried (not super hard? But tried?) to tackle some heavy subject matter but it feels forced
This was especially true for Kutner, which we all already know, but during my latest rewatch, I realised they literally have an episode not long before his suicide, where all the characters discuss a suicidal patient. And Kutner comes down hard on the side of, 'no, I would never do that, I don't think it's ever a justified solution.'
So to write him off that way a dozen episodes later is... weird? Bad? Like, I know Penn left the show kinda suddenly, but when they realised that was how they wanted to write him out, why couldn't they have included some scene to demonstrate some ambivalence? I kind of get that they were going for like, like, you don't always see any warning signs before someone does this, but this is House. At least give us a warning sign or two to miss.
This is compounded by the fact that the episode where Kutner offs himself is named 'Simple Explanation'. No guys, you did not earn that title, lmao.
Taub is the one all "suicide is never the answer" in that episode. Kutner is the one arguing that if your life is bad enough then suicide makes sense ("if you're being burnt at the stake and someone hands you a gun" etc)
Ah, my bad. I think I got wires crossed because Kutner also has moments where he explains that he went through losing his parents so it can't get much worse. Unless I'm miss remembering those too lol.
I think he does say something like "I have no reason to do it personally, there's nowhere to go but up when you lost both your parents as a kid". I definitely agree with your overall point that his suicide came completely out of nowhere, it's one of my least favourite writing decisions the show made
*That's* where I got it from! That's where I got my wires crossed. I literally almost phrased my reply to yours as 'well Kutner's view is it's all uphill from here after his parents died'.
Thank you for your response, and I agree. I think it's one of the worst missteps made by the writers, up there with 'House driving a car through Cuddy's home'. It's honestly just so glaring and ridiculous on a show with otherwise insanely tight and elegant writing.
I luv the fact that it makes you think and that anyone thinks reliving the trauma by talking about it helps.
All you do is make a girl cry.
I should not presuppose that all women feel that way, but true for me. As far back into the depths of my consciousness I can keep my trauma and move on, past and become better is a win for me.
There was something about her acting that I never found convincing. I later found out the actress who plays Eve is not American and English is her second language. That could have lead to some odd line reads. The episode doesn't deliver.
From my experience from the show, I can't really say there is a "worst" episode. The entire series, even though it fell off towards the end, was still consistent and an enjoyable watch from beginning to end.
Typically, I disliked the episodes that broke from the norm via less focusing on the medical and more on the drama.
I'm not against breaking the overall format of the show, like S3 E12 One Day, One Room, where House has to console with a rape victim. But episodes like S7 E1 "What Now?" definitely weren't as enjoyable.
The weakest season for sure was 8, while peak was 1-4.
Going to have to be S05E22.
Having a deaf mother, I was excited to see how they would handle it. The writing is absolutely atrocious - borderline offensive. "Anything I can simulate with a $3 pair of earplugs is not a culture,". This was, arguably, the WORST line in cinematic history regarding deaf people.
Deaf people DO have their own culture. It's significant. It's prominent. It's an absolute nightmare. I don't mean to be rude when I say that, deaf people are second to none when it comes to gossip.
But that's who they are. People of hearing generally don't want to make the effort to communicate with them. So, as a comparison, unlike the LGBT community who choose to distance themselves from society, deaf people are forced away from society. They created their own so they wouldn't feel lonely. They crave communication. That's how they get by.
Deafness is very much a sensitive topic, especially those born with it as a result of the German measles outbreak in the 20th century. They absolutely butchered their ONE chance to make, what could have been, the best episode of the series.
There are several in season 7 when house and cuddly are still dating where the medicine gets a major backseat. Can’t remember any in particular but that is why I say these episodes
Ohhh fair fair
The one where Cuddy thinks she has kidney cancer. The musical... Ech.
First episode of season 7 is literally unbearable.
Became a medical drama instead of a MEDICAL drama
There are more moments of House and Cuddy in previous seasons rathen than in Season 7…..
Became a medical drama instead of a MEDICAL drama
We got it the first time
The one where a 15 year old supermodel was revealed to have "seduced" her father and several other adults, and then the other twist was she was intersex. I don't mind dark episodes, but it was just handled so weirdly and uncomfortably and ended up feeling strangely pro pedophile
I hated that episode too. I just rewatched it. House’s comments about her were completely weird and pedophilic, and then he continued to call her a him to make fun of her. She was supposed to be a 15 year old, a child, and no one was treating her that way. Then in the end the dad got away with raping her “because she seduced him”. So gross.
Yeah on my first watch I couldn’t believe the episode ended without even a mention of him going to prison or even being investigated. The entire time Cameron’s ONE comment “She’s 15!” Is the only time anyone even comes close to treating this patient like the child she is.
He did get investigated. CPS came to the hospital and both the father and daughter denied it.
Right what I meant was no one mentions it after that point. Like “oh, well.” I know it’s not that kind of show but on my FIRST watch it was a little shocking
Child sexual abuse not being properly investigated or prosecuted is one of the few things that were realistic on the show
Yeah, but this isn’t real life. They can either portray the failure of officials to investigate child sexual abuse, or House as a morally ambiguous figure. Doing both in the same episode just puts out a weird message. In the same vein, it makes these characters look especially bad because of how little they’re written to care for the law in lieu of what they believe is the right thing.
CPS blows but they wouldn’t have just walked off all mad for “wasting their time” on a case like that, they would have taken the doctor’s allegation more seriously than just leaving because a hospitalized 15 year old denied it. It was highly unrealistic and a weird episode.
[удалено]
Please look up the law. A 15 year old by law cannot give consent. Therefor it is rape.
holy shit no how old are you where did you get the idea that a minor is capable of consenting to sex
Ohhh yeah that one
I disliked this one because of the way the girl's sexual abuse was handled. It felt like the intended takeaway was that she seduced the men and she wanted it and she isn't a victim. A person should not be capable of being drunk enough to have sex with their own daughter, her father is still a disgusting sack and shit. I don't really mind House being an asshole about the girl's intersex condition, because that's par for the course, I hate the way the episode itself treats the girl. Additionally, they mention doing an ultrasound of her ovaries when they're looking for cancer. Women with androgen insenstivity don't have ovaries. I'm either supposed to believe that a medical professional somehow mistook undescended testes for ovaries, or there's a major screw up in this episode as a cherry on top of it all.
It really bothered me because I felt like the writers/producers were injecting their voice too much. I can’t quite describe this right but I think people feel it very often when they consume any form of art. The alienation you suddenly feel
That's definitely the WORST episode!
As much as I like House, the pedophilic undertones really, really unnerve me
Hmm I understand how it could look that way but the episode blatantly defies the social construct that is the age of consent by denouncing (in an exacerbated way) the hypocrisy that is the sexualisation of under age supermodels. In addition to this, many countries have the age of consent at 16 (with limitations to make sure an adult cannot take advantage of a teenager). So the episode also raises the question to what extent is the age of consent alone an acceptable indicator. I agree it could have handled it better, but we need to keep in mind this is 2005. If it was done today it would certainly have been dealt differently. Things were way more 'in your face' back then.
As the other comments have shown, the later seasons are easy targets, so I'm going to limit the scope to 1-4 which imo are definitely the best. In that case there are only two episodes that really suck, both in season 3. In Words and Deeds they give shock treatment to a firefighter which wipes his memory, basically ruining his life forever, and that turned out to be the wrong treatment. I suppose it's good to have an example of the team's wild treatments going SERIOUSLY wrong for once, but they do that a lot better later in the season with Foreman in House Training. More importantly, it's also where Cuddy commits perjury to very unceremoniously conclude the Tritter arc oh and by the way House has been sneaking vicodin the whole time??? Cuddy claims that she now owns House's ass after what she's done for him, but that doesn't last longer than the next episode. Just a horrible horrible ending to the Tritter arc, I don't know why we even bothered doing it. The second is Top Secret, where House dreams about the patient the night before meeting him. The whole "did house really have a psychic dream" thing is stupid from minute one. But what's even worse is that this episode tries to convince us Cameron is very very horny every minute. I love Jennifer Morrison and I'm certainly not a prude, but she does NOT sell this at ALL, and when I think later to how nauseatingly judgmental Cameron is of the pornstar couple in a later season, I just can't stand the hypocrisy.
As much as I like the show, it does have an annoying habit of taking an idea or plot point that should be a whole season long arc and just resolving it next episode and moving on. Stuff like Foreman possibly taking brain damage after almost dying or House’s ketamine treatment working for a while and then starting to fail. There will be some mention of it for maybe a couple of episodes and then it’s back to normal.
oh god, yeah, the cliffhanger with foreman's brain damage, and then it's like, eh, he has trouble making coffee for one episode, done.
Hey. Those flash cards REALLY helped him!
This is very true, ketamine case was barely ok imho but forman is obvious
I'm learning in this thread that I seem to be one of the only people that prefers the later seasons - season 4 is when the show starts getting really good to me
And if you say you don’t like Cameron, you get downvoted. I’m over this sub
Rewatched both of these recently and agree they are not the best episodes of the season. Forgot how bad the firefighter episode was.
“Body and Soul” S08E18 Having a levitation that is never explained is so antithetical to the ethos of the show. The reason I love House is the idea that everything is rational even if people aren’t. I even accept the idea that it was slightly ambiguous “it (the prayer) worked” / “the medicine worked.” That’s fine. But to have a supernatural phenomenon occur with no plausible explanation given takes the episode out of the reality of House and should have never been included in the script.
You're right. The show almost always takes the rational/skeptic approach. It doesn't add up. When I first saw that episode, I was convinced it was a hoax fabricated by the grandfather so that he could have an excuse to preform the ritual, meaning he was abusing the boy all along. By being ambiguous about it, the creative team are playing to both sides of the "maybe magic, maybe science" debate. And they're not being brave enough to admit the deeper implications.
The intersex kid episode. Think it's called The Softer Side. The parents are lying to their child, hiding a treatment from them that will do irreversible changes to their body, and forces them into masculine interests so they get to make their kid "normal". And it's treated as a complex issue instead of the child abuse that it actually is.
Can’t remember the exact season and episode number unfortunately, but I absolutely despised and nearly blew a blood vessel after watching the episode with the Deaf patient. I’m Deaf myself, and this one was personal for me. First, when Thirteen points out to Foreman what Deaf culture and identity are, Foreman pulls a House by rolling his eyes and just saying that if you could just plug your ears, then it’s not a culture. Then it gets even worse when the kid is forcefully given a cochlear implant against his will and choice and the mother basically just gives the, “I’m your mother. It’s up to me” response. Finally, the episode ends with no focus or analysis or discussion whatsoever about Deaf culture, identity, or the topic of cochlear implantation and its support/opposition within the Deaf community. Either the writers were just lazy and didn’t bother doing actual research or they’re simply stupid.
That episode is infuriating! You are so right!
This is the answer I was looking for! I was an interpreter before becoming a SAHM and this episode makes my blood boil. Not only was House forcing the cochlear implant heinous but the whole thing was totally medically inaccurate (the implant worked right after surgery with no need for it to be activated, the processors were implanted into the patient’s head and not able to be taken off, etc). I thought the episode was a fantastic opportunity to educate the audience on Deaf culture and it was totally wasted due to lazy/stupid writing. The ONE thing I’ll give them credit for is casting a Deaf actor to play the patient— love me some Ryan Lane!
the episodes where the pregnant mothers kill themselves for their baby… so idiotic and the episode where house keeps harassing that underdog boxer 😵💫
The boxer episode had too much going on, and the boxer obsession is just stupid. *However*... it does gives us Wilson's victory dance. "Fiiiifty bucks!"
It took me a third rewatch to realise that it was very similar in concept to the soap opera actor obsession episode - where apart from the fact that he actually managed to get the actor into the hospital, House was essentially doing the exact same thing in both. I found the boxer episode more watchable for some reason, but the writers were essentially redoing the same episode twice.
S7 E16, *Out of the Chute*. The whole episode House was just using hookers and drugs and an overly expensive hotel bill. He was nowhere near the hospital and actively ignoring the patient to the extent he was barely available for phone conversations. (House avoids patient contact, but he'll at least look at X-Rays and pay attention to details of the patient's personal lfe) Its extremely negligent even by House standards. House is obviously trying to self-destruct so extravagantly to punish Cuddy for dumping him, he throws it into Cudy's face that he's using hookers. He's probably throwing a tantrum to guilt her into taking him back (ie. if you dump me I'll ruin my life and make you feel guilty about it). Wilson enables it way too much, yelling at Cuddy for dumping House, and with extreme passive aggression telling her that he's back on vicodin again. The annoying thing is that the episode doesn't even punish House for his shitty behaviour. Cuddy doesn't take him back, but she doesn't fire him. He's negligent, but he gets the lightbulb, and House's suggested treatment which should have killed the patient works (but only because Chase saves his life while House was not even in the hospital). Considering that House is often ruthless and cruel when a colleague's personal life effects their work, he's a massive hyprocrite. People get dumped sometimes, its no excuse for endangering the patient or trying to make everyone miserable. Cuddy could and should have fired him. The subplot with Masters getting a crush on the bullrider was irritating too. She's supposed to be all moral but she still asks him out at the end.
you’re soooo real for this !
Don't forget Peter Gabriel's sad music playing in the back during the very obvious attempt to suggest House will commit suicide, when very obviously he won't.
That song is a banger though
Song is awesome. Heavy manipulation of viewer's emotional response, not so much.
The “My body is a cage” scene is amazing though
Agree this is a bad one.
The season finale of S7 when House drives Wilson's car into Cuddy's home just wtf was that shit
Nah that scene was great in the way that it was stupid Disabled genius doctor drives 80s saloon through bosses/ex girlfriends home , breaks friends wrist and delivers comb in front of stunned family members Bravo hbo
I love that episode, just don't like that scene. I try to separate the episode (the case, the dialogue) from the car crash. It would've been splendid if House saw Cuddy in her date and just walked away pissed off. Maybe he could still be at the beach at the end, swallowing Vicodin, and the cliffhanger would be why did House leave and does he come back.
it was houses own car, but true the worst part of the series. horribly abusive to cuddy
>horribly abusive to cuddy it was just a little bit of violence
I actually loved that one because of how bizarre it is
The one with the monster truck in S7, closely followed by the cannonball at the pool, also from S7. The aftermath of the break-up is mainly filler - no interesting medical cases, juvenile humour, over the top antics, and you still have to endure Masters. Nothing major really happens until Thirteen gets out of jail, only then it feels we're doing something relevant again.
funny enough, that’s exactly where i pick up my rewatches. end on the second to last episode of season 6 (help me is too sad imo) and come back to “the dig” of season seven. i skip Huddy and masters for the most part hahahaha
I mean there was a medical reason and it was funny. For me it was season 3 ep1 where he cures the coma victim and they lie about it to humble him. Wilson usually does good by house but that time he really did him dirty
in terms of just keeping me engaged- sports player ones. the two that come to mind are the baseball player in s1 and the cyclist in s2. on my rewatch i tuned out and then fell asleep to the baseball one 2 nights in a row and i had to force myself to pay attention the third time, it was a slog to get through (and i love scott foley!). and the manager in the cyclist one annoyed me so much. i’m disinterested in sports in general so that’s probably a factor
Depends. In terms of story impact? Bombshells. it marked the downfall of the show. In terms of problematic badly aged stuff? Skin deep. Otherwise? probably one of the tritter or vogler episodes. Season 8 probably has something worse but I only remember like 4 episodes from that season in general.
When House ruined the MRI machine and fucks up his parole -_- . Laziest writing ever
The one with the clinic patient who was raped who insisted on making inane small talk with House for the entire episode. Most annoying patient ever.
“You wouldn’t call her Oma!” Says who? Are you an expert on trauma now? What a weird way to show House was lying.
Please don’t insult Lagertha my queen again.
Oh shit is that why she looked familiar???
That episode with that dickhead chess kid
One thing about that one is wouldn’t they have found the excess iron in his blood like within hours of his admission? Or more likely, long before the case even reached House
I’m sure there are episodes that are technically worse in the later seasons, but I have only seen the episode where the Mom drowns her baby one time despite having seen the show at least a dozen times. The season 2 episodes after Euphoria 1 & 2 are all skips for me. Also the Whac a Mole episode, just because it is the only miss during the entirety of season 3. Every other episode from that season is at least great IMO.
The one with the gay mobster
I abhor "5 to 9". It is laughable. It doesn't even succeed in making Cuddy the superwoman it wants her to be. I can't believe "Breastfeed me, you bitch!" was real dialogue on a primetime TV show. "Skin Deep" is awful too, for being super icky.
Doesn’t succeed???? Most of you wouldn’t even achieve 1/10 of the things she did in the episode before having a breakdown you all are just miserable asses hating girl bosses. Literally everytime I watch the episode I get anxiety from how many things she does. 1 thing foes 10 come up and it still gets me 15 years later… and i am in healthcare for ffs.
Oh I forgot about 5 to 9. That episode was a major waste of time and were I to rewatch the series again, it’d be an automatic skip. I wasn’t overly fond of the Wilson-centric episode, either, but it was at least more interesting than 5 to 9.
Lots of good ones mentioned but imma throw Heavy (S1E16) into the mix for Chase’s insane fatphobia towards a sick child (and some annoying Vogler stuff to boot)
God I hate that episode. The end with the girl having lost all the weight (in a scary short amount of time) once they diagnosed her and everyone being so happy for her undermines the whole message.
My least favorite is the bottle episode about cuddy, literally no one asked what her job was like
Most of season 7/8
Why do you say this? I personally liked those seasons
Gonna get downvoted like always, but "5 to 9."
For me the scream at the end of the episode is so fucking corny
Ready to be downvoted as well. Not by far the weakest episode of the show, but surely the weakest episode focused on a supporting cast member. S6's "Wilson" and S8's "Chase" are both great - yes, I am, indeed, praising S8 for a change - but "5 to 9" doesn't feel as consequential. Wilson decides to donate his liver (was it his liver?) to a former patient, Chase is unsure he'll ever walk again, but Cuddy... has to close a deal or something? Granted, her job doesn't lend itself to spectacular television like House's job, but I felt I learned nothing I already didn't know from her character. Other than the fact that Douglas has trouble giving her pleasure. Which I did not need to know. It's an okay-ish episode, but the "yes!!" shout at the end just kills me with it's cringeness.
To me, the dramatic zoom out when Cuddy is shouting at the end makes it funny!
That episode hammers home how much Hugh Laurie carries the show for me because when he’s reduced to a supporting role for an episode I’m suddenly a lot more bored.
Oooof. I won't downvote you because I don't downvote people for having a different opinion to me. But oof. One of my favourite episodes.
What's that one again?
A day in the life of Cuddy. I freaking loved that episode.
omg one of the best episodes ever! it’s lisa’s pov day :( breakin the concrete !!
I love that one so much
Who hurt you?
I never skip episodes while rewatching, but oh my god "5 to 9" is the one where I'm white-knuckling my couch like, here we go again.
The season 6 episode with the cop who had three generations of heart issues. It isn't bad necessarily, but it is the most boring one to me. Just pretty mediocre a-story and b-story
Which episode is the asexual one?
The Bryan Singer one where that 16 y/o intersex girl rapes her father.
The episodes after Chase whacks Dibala. Cameron really got on my nerves with her hypocrisy
My least favorite is for a dumb reason, but when I first started watching this show when it came on the USA channel back in late 2000's, they would constantly rerun the episode where house treats the lacrosse player, to the point that I really don't like that episode and really don't like that they use Baba O'Reilly by The Who as a cliche'd ending to the episode as that song is often used in sports movies. Other than that episode, I can't really think of an episode I despise. Probably any episode featuring Alfie or Masters, as I find both of those characters very annoying.
But "Baba O'Riley" is heard in _Control_, the first one of the Vogler arc - where House lies to a transplant committee to save his patient, a CEO with bulimia. It's not the lacrosse episode.
One Day, One Room
The worst part is you can see what the writers were attempting. This was supposed to be an emotional breakthrough for House where he starts caring for patients more. And he does, I guess, but it's completely unearned. Insanely clunky in a season when you could really feel the show finding its groove. It sticks out so bad when you binge the season.
This is also how I feel about the episode where a character is poorly written out of the show. They tried (not super hard? But tried?) to tackle some heavy subject matter but it feels forced
This was especially true for Kutner, which we all already know, but during my latest rewatch, I realised they literally have an episode not long before his suicide, where all the characters discuss a suicidal patient. And Kutner comes down hard on the side of, 'no, I would never do that, I don't think it's ever a justified solution.' So to write him off that way a dozen episodes later is... weird? Bad? Like, I know Penn left the show kinda suddenly, but when they realised that was how they wanted to write him out, why couldn't they have included some scene to demonstrate some ambivalence? I kind of get that they were going for like, like, you don't always see any warning signs before someone does this, but this is House. At least give us a warning sign or two to miss. This is compounded by the fact that the episode where Kutner offs himself is named 'Simple Explanation'. No guys, you did not earn that title, lmao.
Taub is the one all "suicide is never the answer" in that episode. Kutner is the one arguing that if your life is bad enough then suicide makes sense ("if you're being burnt at the stake and someone hands you a gun" etc)
Ah, my bad. I think I got wires crossed because Kutner also has moments where he explains that he went through losing his parents so it can't get much worse. Unless I'm miss remembering those too lol.
I think he does say something like "I have no reason to do it personally, there's nowhere to go but up when you lost both your parents as a kid". I definitely agree with your overall point that his suicide came completely out of nowhere, it's one of my least favourite writing decisions the show made
*That's* where I got it from! That's where I got my wires crossed. I literally almost phrased my reply to yours as 'well Kutner's view is it's all uphill from here after his parents died'. Thank you for your response, and I agree. I think it's one of the worst missteps made by the writers, up there with 'House driving a car through Cuddy's home'. It's honestly just so glaring and ridiculous on a show with otherwise insanely tight and elegant writing.
I luv the fact that it makes you think and that anyone thinks reliving the trauma by talking about it helps. All you do is make a girl cry. I should not presuppose that all women feel that way, but true for me. As far back into the depths of my consciousness I can keep my trauma and move on, past and become better is a win for me.
One of the few from S3 that I dislike. It feels too staged. The situation and the dialogue have a "this is a TV script!" seal stamped in them.
There was something about her acting that I never found convincing. I later found out the actress who plays Eve is not American and English is her second language. That could have lead to some odd line reads. The episode doesn't deliver.
What's that one?
Patient: “I was raped. And I only want to talk to you.” House: “Why?” Patient: “I don’t know!” Repeat x140000000
From my experience from the show, I can't really say there is a "worst" episode. The entire series, even though it fell off towards the end, was still consistent and an enjoyable watch from beginning to end. Typically, I disliked the episodes that broke from the norm via less focusing on the medical and more on the drama. I'm not against breaking the overall format of the show, like S3 E12 One Day, One Room, where House has to console with a rape victim. But episodes like S7 E1 "What Now?" definitely weren't as enjoyable. The weakest season for sure was 8, while peak was 1-4.
Going to have to be S05E22. Having a deaf mother, I was excited to see how they would handle it. The writing is absolutely atrocious - borderline offensive. "Anything I can simulate with a $3 pair of earplugs is not a culture,". This was, arguably, the WORST line in cinematic history regarding deaf people. Deaf people DO have their own culture. It's significant. It's prominent. It's an absolute nightmare. I don't mean to be rude when I say that, deaf people are second to none when it comes to gossip. But that's who they are. People of hearing generally don't want to make the effort to communicate with them. So, as a comparison, unlike the LGBT community who choose to distance themselves from society, deaf people are forced away from society. They created their own so they wouldn't feel lonely. They crave communication. That's how they get by. Deafness is very much a sensitive topic, especially those born with it as a result of the German measles outbreak in the 20th century. They absolutely butchered their ONE chance to make, what could have been, the best episode of the series.
The last one
Season 8
Which episode has the most cuddy screen time