Now a few weeks removed from the Kutner suicide, House feels rudderless. Its surprising to see how big an impact Kutner had on the show. Very rarely did a show hinge on Kutner’s personal life, but there’s no doubt now that he was a serious anchor on the show. House as a character has always been about bouncing between the profane and the ridiculous, the serious and the silly. Kutner was a big help in establishing the warmth and humor that House possesses. Much of this episode was meant to be playful, but it couldn’t quiet make it work.

As usual, the tension doesn’t come from the patient but from the group. Most importantly, from House’s new imaginary friend Amber. Fans will remember Amber as both Wilson’s dead love interest and as House’s foil “the cut-throat bitch” or CTB. House plays off the return of CTB as a hallucination brought on by lack of sleep and pills. Regardless of the reason, CTB is ever present in this episode. She questions, complains and even leads House astray a few times while dealing with his patient.

Speaking of the patient, a young deaf high school wrestler suddenly hears the sound of explosions. Deaf since birth, the young man has no idea what is happening to him. Brought in for treatment, House realizes that the kid’s handicap could be overcome with an implant. Though House is annoyed by the kids frustrating attachment to his deafness, he’s distracted. Not only by his new hallucination, but also by Chase’s bachelor party.

Chase and Cameron are getting married and in true House form, he takes the reins of Chase’s bachelor party. House apparently really knows how to throw a party and proceeds to get every stripper and hooker in New Jersey to attend. This is the before-mentioned playful portion on the show. While it was certainly fun to watch Wilson and House try to remember all the strippers from Wilson’s bachelor party, mostly the playful side felt hollow. Maybe its just me, but I kept wanting to see Kutner with a dumb expression of excitement while getting out lap dances.

In typical fashion the patient’s illness is obtuse and masked by a billion other options. The one different aspect of the patient is his deafness and his desire to remain so. Having never been able to hear, the young man clings to the proud identity he has created. House finds this decision to remain handicapped insane and decides (with the assistance of the ghostly CTB) to install a implant allowing the boy to hear without his parent’s permission.The plan seems to backfire when the patient tears them out. Ouch. In the end, after hearing his mother speak his name for the first time, he decides to keep his implants, but not before he is near death twice and misdiagnosed five or six times. Again, pretty standard.

The real star of the episode was CTB. Prowling around House, telling him he’s crazy and watching House try to rationalize her away all made for some fun TV. Good news as well, she’ll be back next week. House’s plan to stay up for several days to attempt to exhaust the hallucination away turned up empty, and thus she’ll be back next week. Still, I couldn’t help but miss Kutner during the bachelor party scenes.