I’ve been clamoring for some action from House for a few weeks now. The formula is tried and true, but is also becoming more stale as the episodes roll on. I had high hopes for the relationship between Foreman and Thirteen, but that just turned into a game of hide and seek with House. I had similarly high hopes for the relationship between Cuddy and House, but that too has stalled. This week though an even deeper relationship was held up for examination. The love affair between House, his drugs and his pain.

A thirteen year old boy passes out at his basketball game. He is no ordinary child. Due to a birth defect, parents had to decide if the baby would be a boy or a girl. They’ve agonized over the decision for years and have kept it from their child.

House takes on the child’s case with surprising ease and positivity. He’s acting like a normal human being rather than the obnoxious ass we’ve come to love. He even humors the patient’s parents by allowing an MRI that he knows is unneeded. The strange behavior culminates when House passes out in his office and stops breathing. Using the classic “purple-nurple” resuscitation technique, Foreman revives House who claims that he just took too much Vicadin. Unconvinced, Cuddy and Wilson believe that heroin is the reason for all this. After prodding, Wilson discovers that it isn’t heroin but methadone, heroin’s no-fun cousin. Apparently, Methadone has finally freed House from his pain even allowing him to walk without the cane. Cuddy isn’t going to stand for him to be on methadone for fear that he’ll kill himself, and he quits the hospital.

Now without even the upbeat and positive House, the crew’s diagnosis of the worsening patient is flailing. His parents are intent that their son not find out about his medical issue. After discovering what she thinks is a suicidal poem by the boy, Thirteen spills the beans starting a huge uproar with the kid and the parents. Regardless of the emotional damage, the boy’s symptoms swing wildly and the crew seem unable to get a handle on it. Finally out of options, they decide that his condition is terminal.

After his first full shave in five seasons, House sets out to find a new job. Cuddy can’t let him leave and decides to have House back as long as she is able to administer his Methadone. He accepts and for just a moment, we get the feeling that we could see a whole new Dr. House.

The idea of watching House wrestle with his insane personality minus the crutch of drug use and constant pain is tantalizing and could have been invigorating for the series. Sadly, the producers of House didn’t agree.

After being caught up on the patient’s progress by the team, House has the epiphany. The child has little more than significant dehydration. Because of the parents insistence on an MRI, and House’s  nice guy attitude in allowing it caused the child’s simple condition to continually worsen. Happily, the boy’s illness will be solved by just a few dialysis treatments. House realizes that the new happy House also had a hand in the child’s sickness. Despite all the positives that could come from staying on methadone, House decides to return to the cane and his misery.
I feel a lost opportunity here. There’s no doubt in my mind that a newer, happier House would not play well with his core audience. It might have been able to send the show into a new direction. A real several episode arc of House trying to find a balance between his drug use and humanity could’ve propelled the general story arc for a good while. It could have been compelling. This episode sure was.