House — Episode 20 (Season 5): “Simple Explanation”
Big spoilers in the write up of this week’s episode of House, so don’t read it until you’ve watched the show. Overall, the medicine was good, though I would have liked to have seen more of it.
This was really an episode with a split personality. Half the episode was spent on Kutner, and only half was spent on the patient (or in this case patients) of the week. While Kutner certainly deserved the time he received, I think the medical mystery got short shrift as it had some really nice twists and turns that would have benefited from receiving more time.
Eddie is dying of lung cancer related heart failure, and is under hospice care at home. Sensing his time is near, he asks to be alone with his wife Charlotte to give her a final goodbye. In the midst of their tearful farewell, Charlotte suddenly begins gasping and struggling to breathe before collapsing. Shocked, Eddie struggles to sits up and calls out for help.
Charlotte is admitted to House’s team for evaluation of her acute respiratory failure. Her history is unremarkable except for a trip to Hawaii six months ago with her sister. Foreman suggests she may have contracted melioidosis (a tropical disease that was the culprit in episode nine) there, but the idea is dismissed in favor of Taub’s suggestion of varicella zoster (the virus that causes chicken pox; it can cause a nasty pneumonia if contracted as an adult). House wants her started on acyclovir (an antiviral drug that’s good against varicella), but she refuses treatment because she wants to be with her husband. She reports that he seemed to get better when she became sick, so it appears she will be able to spend more time with him before he dies. Taub solves the problem by wheeling her husband’s bed into her room so they can stay together.
Charlotte gets better with treatment, but Eddie starts to decline again. A short time later, Taub is called to the bedside when Charlotte starts gasping for breath. The respiratory technician tells him that her oxygen saturation is normal and it doesn’t appear to be her airway. Her lungs are normal on exam, and her heart rate, though rapid, is regular. Once again, Eddie gets better when he sees Charlotte sick. Her cardiac enzymes were normal, so that makes a heart problem unlikely. House rules out a mitochondrial disease because the vision is normal. The team then suggests a metabolic disease causing acidosis or polyserositis. House likes the latter suggestion, so starts Charlotte on indomethacin (a potent anti-inflammatory drug).
Unfortunately, Charlotte doesn’t improve on the indomethacin. Eddie, on the other hand, continues to show subtle signs of improvement. Deciding that polyserositis was the wrong diagnosis, Taub considers then quickly discards Wegener’s Granulomatosis (a disease that commonly affects the lungs and kidneys), Byssinossis (“cotton worker’s lungs” or “brown lungs” — a lung disease caused by a bacteria that lives in cotton), and mitral valve stenosis. House decides that there is only one likely diagnosis, so heads to Charlotte and Eddie’s room and confronts her. He tells her that since Eddie is improving while he is worried about her, she is faking being sick so that he will continue to improve. Grudgingly, she admits that House is correct, then she screams, complaining of left leg pain. House is doubtful, but when he examines the leg he sees muscle atrophy and petechiae, he realizes that something is truly wrong with her.
Multiple sclerosis seems a likely diagnosis, so she is sent to get an MRI of the brain to look for the telltale signs of the disease. She passes out while undergoing the procedure and is found to have a ruptured spleen. While Chase is performing an emergency splenectomy, Taub wants him to look for signs of rheumatoid arthritis. He doesn’t find any, but he does find that her liver is scarred, so whatever she has is getting worse. The team discusses and discards the diagnoses of autoimmune hepatitis and amyloidosis. House suggests alpha-1 antritrypsin deficiency (an inherited disease that attacks the liver and lungs) and orders the appropriate test (AAT). Eddie has an echocardiogram which shows he still has very severe heart failure with only a few days, at most, to live. Meanwhile, Taub has a conversation with Charlotte where she tells him that if she dies before Eddie, she would like him to get her heart for transplant. A short time later she is found seizing on the floor — she had broken into the crash cart and injected herself with all the medication she could find. She is resuscitated, but her liver has taken more damage from the drugs and she only has about 24 hours left to live. In the meantime, the AAT test has come back normal. Thirteen now suggests that Charlotte may have myelofibrosis (a disorder of the bone marrow), but mentions that the test for it takes longer than Charlotte has to live. House’s first idea is to lie to the transplant committee and say that Charlotte has myelofibrosis so she can get a liver transplant. But then he has a more devious idea. He wants Eddie to give Charlotte a partial liver transplant. Of course, a partial transplant won’t help Charlotte for long, but House understands this. He also knows that Eddie is so sick it is unlikely he will survive the surgery and will almost certainly die on the operating table, thus leaving an entire liver to transplant into Charlotte. House convinces Cameron, the “incurable romantic,” to discuss this with Eddie. He agrees to the surgery, fully realizing that he will die during the surgery, and understanding that he is dying so that his wife can receive his liver and survive.
Cameron tells House that Eddie has agreed to his plans, but she also mentions that she noticed nodules on his hands and suspects his heart failure may be caused by something other than lung cancer. House investigates and sure enough, Cameron was right. Eddie doesn’t have lung cancer, but instead a fungal infection (blastomycosis) that caused lung nodules that were mistaken for cancer, and then caused his heart failure. It is a curable disease, but Eddie is having none of it and refuses treatment — he wants to die for Charlotte so she can have his liver. Across the hospital, Charlotte is doing worse. Her fever is spiking and the lumbar puncture shows bunches of white cells (a sign of infection). Taub mentions that she is “infected everywhere.” Still unsure of her diagnosis, the team considers sarcoidosis and scleroderma. Taub then makes a comment about guilt and love, and House has his Eureka! moment of the week. It turns out that Charlotte was lying about her trip to Hawaii. She really snuck off the Rio with some other guy, and while there she contracted visceral leishmaniasis (a nasty parasitic infection of the organs, i.e. the viscera). She is started on antimony for treatment and a transplant is arranged, but it is tool late and Charlotte dies with Eddie by her side.
I don’t have any huge medical complaints this week, other than the ethics of the partial (wink, wink) liver transplant — I’m surprised Cameron agreed to go along with it. Sure, she’s the romantic, but she also been shown to have the strongest sense of ethics.
As usual, major complaints are in red, minor in blue, nit-picking in green:
Why did she improve on the acyclovir if her symptoms were caused by leishmaniasis?
House was discarding diagnosis left and right for incorrect reasons. For example:
No vision problems, can’t be mitochondrial. Wrong!
Normal thyroid, can’t be autoimmune hepatitis.Wrong!
Severe blastomycosis (like that causing heart failure — a rare situation) needs a stronger medication than Itraconazole.
It would be easier to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis with blood tests than a splenic biopsy.
It doesn’t take 48 hours to test for myelofibrosis.
Most of the suggested diagnoses fit the case better than usual this week (though most still required quite a bit of stretching); on the other hand, they also skipped over a bunch of possible causes — more than usual — probably due to lack of time.
I thought the scenes relating to Kutner were well done. His death seemed very abstract at first as it occurred off camera and the way they just showed the his legs and trunk through the doorway lent it an air of unreality. I liked the way they showed how the situation affected each character, and everyone reacted differently, though ultimately within character.
I’m sorry to see Kal Penn leave the show. He should be proud though: between playing Kutner, Kumar, and appearing in the last Superman movie, he’s completed this nerd doctor’s trifecta.
With the eminent thespian Meatloaf playing Eddie (who shares a name with the character he played in the Rocky Horror Picture Show), I hope you know how hard it was for me not to make any Bat Out of Hell Jokes in tonight’s write up.
Well, just one: Kutner may be gone, but Taub and Thirteen are still around and Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.
The medical mystery was good, though would have benefited from the full time, not just the half it got. It deserves an A-. The medicine was sketchy in places, but fit the symptoms better than usual and earns a B. The final solution was clever and (mostly) logical, and earns another B. The soap opera was the star of this episode, and was very good. I give it an A.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:24 am
Dramatically, I thought it was a botch from start to finish. Not one-tenth the emotion I felt over the demise of Amber. Even accepting that people commit suicide for seemingly inexplicable reasons, I just couldn’t buy into Kutner’s self-destruction – he seemed too upbeat and dynamic a character to go that way.
Maybe they should have done a two-parter – they seemed to be cramming too many things into too short a time.
IMHO.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:31 am
The episode did seem a little flat for the demise of a major character. There was a lot more drama in the promo! But they are not done with Kutner’s death; I’m sure it will play out over the rest of the season. It’s going to drive House crazy that he, of all people, didn’t pick up any clues about Kutner’s state of mind.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:32 am
I like how House was obsessed with finding out why Kutner killed himself. Almost to the exclusion of the Patients of the Week. But more importantly, I like that no solution was given. For some reason, though, I do suspect that Taub may know something about Kutner’s suicide. Most likely Taub may have known Kutner was talking about it or something. But I could be very wrong about that as there was nothing in the episode to support this.
This is the second week in a row that a musician was a patient. Last week, it was Mos Def and this week, of course, Meat Loaf. Seems like there’s been at least one more musician appear this season. Or am I wrong about that?
BTW, this is the second funeral we see this season. The first was for House’s father. The first few eps of this season dealt with the aftermath of Cutthroat B’s death. Death for characters we’ve seen more than once in the series seems to be a theme for this season, doesn’t it?
April 7th, 2009 at 1:38 am
I thought that the concept was interesting but it should have been 2 episodes, not 1. Kutner’s story didn’t quite make much sense. So the guy who killed his parents died in jail 2 months ago so now that he doesn’t have to testify anymore he kills himself… 2 months later? I would have thought that if he killed himself because he no longer feels the need to fight to keep his parents’ murderer in jail that he would do it soon after the other guy dies and not 2 months later. Plus what does Taub know? He was covering for Kutner in the beginning. I think that both storylines deserved their own episode, but as it was, a pretty interesting show. =)
April 7th, 2009 at 1:42 am
In an editorial about Kutner’s death the writer also voiced how implausible he felt it would be for that character to commit suicide. (Link http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/04/house_simple_explanation_a_sho.html )
He went through all the other characters saying why it would make so much more sense for them to have killed themselves, such as 13’s Huntington’s, or Taub’s complicated work and home life.
However, the way I look at, that is exactaly why Kutner was the perfect one to do it. Everyone else had obvious reasons (except maybe Cuddy) that they would want to commit suicide. Kutner, who seemed well adjusted and enjoying life, was really the most messed up of them all. It would have made sense for any of the other characters, which wouldn’t have been nearly as dramatic or been as good for the plot.
There would have been no mystery, no puzzle if it had been anyone else. House would have justified it in about 2 seconds and moved on.
In retrospect, you could look at Kutner’s behaviors and attitudes and see it as over compensating; basically overacting a role he was trying to fit into. The demand of always being the class clown could have gotten to him too. Then he starts thinking that he can’t keep up the facade of what everyone wants him to be. He also can’t show how he’s really feeling because that doesn’t fit into the image every one else has of him.
A lot of people with depression play it off. They think “oh it’s all in my head, I just need to get over it. Look at xxx, they have cancer and they don’t want to kill themselves”. They feel their problems aren’t worthy of attention because everyone else’s problems are so much worse. (13’s Huntington’s, Taub’s failing marriage etc).
I agree that neither story line was really given the amount of time it deserved. Judging from the previews for next week it looks like they are going to go on with the aftermath of Kutner’s suicide, which may give the story a little more room to breathe.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:45 am
I have to say though, that the fact that they didn’t show Kutner at all made it seem like one of those dirty Hollywood tricks where they kill off a character because he doesn’t renew/sign a contract and hence isn’t available to shoot the scene. Don’t know if FOX would have allowed a corpse scene like that during prime time though.
Whenever somebody commits suicide there is usually a rush to find any “warning signs” that were missed. My experience is that this is more based on giving the living something to argue and pass blame around for rather than actually trying to do something proactive for future people in trouble. Maybe we will see more of this expanded on next week. We saw the crew showing up at his apartment for the very first time. Did none of them visit him at all off the clock? And now they argue about not seeing warning signs?
That being said, I’m curious to know what the average suicide rates are for physicians. I’m presuming (hoping) that it’s lower than the population average. It does seem very unusual.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:48 am
I completely agree with Mr.Buddwing. I hated CTB but I will admit to crying during that episode. I liked Kutner more than anyone else on the team, but the episode was totally flat until the last two minutes or so. I’m so disappointed that they killed him off instead of killing either of Foreteen or those other two.
And after he made the diagnosis last week! How rude.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Apparently, Kal Penn left the show so he could accept a position with the white house. So, as the actor was suddenly leaving the show, his character suddenly left this mortal coil.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Why Kal has left the show is told here: http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/04/house-exclusive.html#comment-152001233
Of the newbies, Kutner was my favorite. I’m going to miss him.
April 7th, 2009 at 1:55 am
“he seemed too upbeat and dynamic a character to go that way.”
Unfortunately this is sometimes the case. I’ve know two people who have committed suicide, and both were seemingly happy, outgoing, positive people. The episode felt all too familiar, and overall I thought it was well done — it felt unreal, and everything happened very quickly, likes scenes in a play. I think they set up Kutner’s suicide well; he had a traumatic past, bullied at least one person while in school, tried to make amends, and was highly sensitive to the pain or discomfort of others (not to mention in a high-stress work environment). These things don’t always add up to suicide, obviously, but they’re probably reasons enough for some.
I never would have guessed, but it makes sense to me, in as much as these things do make sense. I wonder if we’ll learn more about it, like whether something specifically triggered it. I almost hope we don’t.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Hm, how did leishmaniasis cause muscle trophy? Was it secondary to the liver damage?
April 7th, 2009 at 2:48 am
First time leaving a post, but I’ve read almost all of your medical explanations of House. Great job and thx!
As a first year medical student, I can’t stay away from House and all the drama. I’m sad to see Kutner go, and I agree that his departure and this medical mystery probably needed more time. A 2-episoder with a cliffhanger would’ve been nice.
I couldn’t help but to laugh and agree with your thought on the nerd doctor’s trifecta. I’m gonna miss Kutner. He was my favorite out of the new threesome (primarily b/c Harold & Kumar are 2 of my favorite movies). I hope they explain in later episodes more about the circumstances surrounding his death.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:48 am
I thought Taub killed Kutner, until i saw him bawl at the end. I cried my eyes out when Amber died because it was so emotionally written. I thought the last 3 minutes/funeral part were the best. I think I’m just as interested as House as to why Kutner did it. I really hope they divulge. There was an episode when Taub revealed his little insulin/suicide incident to Kutner … Does anyone remember Kutner’s response/feelings towards that?
Has anyone been to the “memorial” site? It’s a little (okay, a LOT) creepy. It links you to a memorial thing on Facebook too. Sooo weird.
Rx analysis: For leishmaniasis, you defo treat with antimony. As an alternative, you could use (liposomal) Amphotericin B (which is actually preferred when it’s visceral). For hubby’s blastomycosis, i agree that something stronger than itraconazole is needed — like Amphotericin B! CUTE!! I love it when couples match…
-Pharmacy Student
April 7th, 2009 at 3:02 am
I’m … upset that he’s gone with no note. no final message. Nothing from Kutner to say, “So long, my life sucked, hope to see you guys on the other side.”
I suspect murder. But there was no forced entry into the apartment, cops would’ve seen that. So huh.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Hi, long time reader, first time poster. I guess now’s a good time as any, considering it’s spring break, and this episode does deserve some afterthought. I actually thought they did a well done job of handling Kutner’s death. Viewing it, at first, there’s this feeling of indifference, mostly because it was so sudden and quick that you don’t really have time to reel it in and process it. Whereas as with Amber, you see her slowly deteriorating as her body starts to give, with Kutner, it’s just like BOOM (no pun intended), he’s gone. Really makes you wonder how much you really know someone. Anyways, I’m not a medical expert, but delightful read, nonetheless.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:26 am
I feel the exact same about the transplant thing. After they learned they could cure Eddie I couldn’t believe House was trying to justify going on with it.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:05 am
All the Kutner stuff aside…
I’m really sad that they decided to use this particular case in this episode. It was actually interesting, but the whole Kutner fiasco was too distracting. It feels wasted to me.
April 7th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Hello to everyone ,
I have been reading these reviews with very much interest for months now and am impressed with the work and detail that goes into this.
I would like to say thank you because you are my number one doctor in cyberspace.
And, although I am an electronics engineer, I try to at least to understand a little about the medicine ( it’s my nature ). So thank you, I’m always learning here.
I just wanted to say that this episode is one of the best in regards of the ’soap opera’ I’ve seen so far. It had me literally in tears ( both cases, by the way ) .
I really liked Kutner, and it hit me as a train that I didn’t see this coming ( not unlike House, and I’m also annoyed by that fact ). But still, it was portrayed beautifully. (even the Amber episodes didn’t do this to me ).
And I can’t believe how fast you get these reviews up !
April 7th, 2009 at 6:26 am
I’m so astounded at how bad the writers have become. For a show that was so great for seasons one and two, it’s been nothing but horrible ever since. The show was good the way it was, they didn’t need to “mix it up” by making House jump through all these Vicodin hoops and switching out the team. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Foreteen will get married and leave the show and Chase & Cameron will come back and the show will be about medicine again.
Until then I’ll just keep watching Mystery Diagnosis. It’s not as dramatic, but at least you know it’s not BS.
April 7th, 2009 at 6:38 am
I hope House’s investigation on Kutner’s death will continue into next episodes (maybe having epogeum in season finale). Shooting yourself is not the way most of depressed people would choose, unless they have contact with firearms on everyday basis (which Kutner didn’t, as we are led to believe). Murder theory is far stretched, but an additional factor seems clearly to be missing.
Of course knowing House writers the real reason might be forever left to our imagination and speculations…
On other note, I would pay a nice sum for next episode not having a “admit you lied or you die” moment. Starts to be a cliche…
April 7th, 2009 at 6:50 am
This is actually my first post on here – given Kutner’s sudden disappearance from the show I’m not surprised to hear that Kal Penn had other work lined up.
* Rakaur, you should check out mystery ER – I think it is much more interesting and well done than mystery diagnosis. And, they give you mini cases to solve in between commercial breaks!
* I’m not in med school yet, I was wondering why House would throw out mitochondrial diseases just because of a lack problems in the eyes. I know there are a number of mitochondrial diseases that can affect different parts of the body and I know a number of them do affect the eye, but is the cellular distribution so much higher in ocular cells that it made since to write off that diagnosis with a lack of symptoms or was that just an error on the writer’s part?
April 7th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Kal Penn’s going to work in the White House with Obama? That’s awesome!
Now, about the episode:
I was unspoiled, so I sat with my mouth hanging open with the reveal that Kutner shot himself. I figured that it would be something that they’ll patch him up, it wasn’t that bad.
Although I know why they did it, the idea that they would kill off the only member of the team who seemed happy and goofy and sweet is astonishing. And now, every time I watch a rerun with Kutner, I’m going to look for warning signs.
However, that really is the way with depression. Some days you’re happy and upbeat and full of life, and other days, you hide from the world. And then there are those days where you shouldn’t be allowed 10 feet from anything that could kill you.
I thought it was well done. I thought the team’s devastation, especially House’s was poignant. Especially House’s denial and Taub finally breaking down at the very end.
The episode itself was great, although I agree the PotWs were given the short end of the stick. However, I was angry at the official Kutner memorial site. I haven’t been to it, but I felt it was a cheap ploy. Don’t enough people have troubles determining reality from fiction? A forum post on Television Without Pity said that for a brief time on Wikipedia, there was a post that Kal Penn had committed suicide last week. Wikipedia pulled it down, but it was up for a little while.
Unless posters on that site talk about how suicide has personally affected them and it’s used as a sort of counseling site (like the posting of the crisis hotline at the end of the episode), then there are going to be tributes to a fictional character, and I feel manipulated.
Can’t blame the show itself, though. Because that was nicely done. From the surreal finding of Kutner’s body, all through the grief of the team.
Powerful episode.
Kat
April 7th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Eh … I felt cheated by the episode. I enjoy pretending that I can appreciate the medical mystery … and I can at times when it’s particularly obscure to the point where any layman can walk in and say “Whoa that’s cool” (one episode which comes to mind was the tapeworm of season 3, pulled out of that girl who couldn’t feel pain). Truth is I think I mostly watch the show because I love House as a character. The witty banter, the accute sense of “everything” going on around him, its all gold.
The reason why I feel cheated by this episode is that I feel like everything which happens on this show needs to have a definite stimulus. Why do we read mystery novels? I do it to have a chance at figuring out the answer before the protagonist. I’m sure that a good deal of the posters here enjoy hitting the medical “nail on the head” before House, even if your answer is a wild guess. In the beginning of this episode, when it is discovered that Kutner has commited suicide, I needed to know why. Kutner was an upbeat fellow, and this seems extremely out of place.
I know that in some cases suicide can be … for lack of a better word, spontaneous; as presented in this episode. I myself have no experience myself with this sort of thing, but I believe that can definitely be true. And if it that is the case with Kutner, or that his reasons for commiting suicide were harbored deep inside of him for us to never know, then I can “kind of” appreciate the show portraying that aspect of life and its fragility.
However, my favorite part of this episode had to be the first time House himself was investigating Kutner’s apartment. I know I’ll catch flak for this, but it was at that moment that I thought, “Alright! The hands down king of deductive reasoning will put some sense to this situation”. Then Wilson entered the shot for the front door, and all I could think about was that we finally had a true manifestation of our favorite limping physician taking on the role of the famed “detective on Baker St”. I ate up the murder aspect like kids eat cake at a birthday party.
Kind of fell flat in the end, and I fear that subsequent episodes will play up the “House discovers a new apsect of himself” … aspect. Personally, I’d much prefer them following a “House kicking butt and taking names” approach to finding out for himself what happened. But that’s just me … and I’m not sure how much of the market share people with opinions similar to mine take up, but I suspect it’s not 100% :).
April 7th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Kutner’s suicide must inevitably be the beginning of another multi-episode story arc. House found nothing definitive in this episode, and he is nowhere near ready to give up, so he’ll keep worrying the problem until he figures out why Kutner committed suicide. (Surely it won’t turn out to be murder, that would be entirely too melodramatic.) With four episodes to go this year, I hope they will resolve it and not leave it as a hanging thread until next year’s season-opener!
P.S. See the interview with David Shore at http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/04/house-exclusive.html
for confirmation of the multi-episode arc.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:15 am
This season, or maybe last, the show jumped the shark – medically – as far as I’m concerned. They leap to conclusions, TELL the patient that they know what it is, treat and nearly KILL the patient, then try again until the “dramatic” cure.
As for the soap opera, I agree that Kutner’s death deserved better. I kept waiting for it to be revealed as “a dream” or some other device.
Still worth watching but no longer compelling.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Thirteen had Kutner’s keys. Was there something there we don’t know about?
(and I was thinking Taub killed him too, particularly when he decided not to go to the funeral. Still could happen, though it’d be a cheap trick)
April 7th, 2009 at 11:45 am
House didn’t go to the funeral, either, so does that mean he might have done it?
Kal Penn was in a wonderful movie called THE NAMESAKE, if you want to see a great performance of his.
As long as they don’t kill off Cuddy’s tight skirts, I’m OK with it.
April 7th, 2009 at 11:47 am
I hate the phrase “jumped the shark”, but I think that’s what happened in this episode. The writers killed off the least developed character, and then Fox has the arrogance to create an online memorial to Kutner as though anyone cares. Maybe if they had killed off Wilson or Cuddy (not that I would want that). The only good news it that we’re one doctor closer to getting rid of the scabs and back to the original team.
April 7th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Another episode with clinic! That’s how you know it was good.
Yeah, Kal Penn is off to be a public liason for the Obama White House, so the writers had to write in his character’s death. However, I was really really impressed by the effort the writers took to make each person’s reaction to Kutner’s death different.
Thirteen took it the hardest because it reminded her of how little time she has left.
Foreman wanting to be alone was absolutely what his character would want to do.
Taub is the kind of guy who likes to avoid dealing with issues as long as possible (like admitting his affair), so him hiding his grief was perfect.
And of course, House focuses on his failure to solve a puzzle.
And also, Cuddy uses Wilson to try to protect House. Well done, I was always drawn to the medicine and characters on this show. Good to see both elements in full force (even if the comedy was lacking).
April 7th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
For someone who was suicidal, he sure seemed scared of Death Cat a few weeks ago.
April 7th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I liked the ep. But I was disappointed by Kutner’s parents’ portrayal of loss. It felt empty to me.
April 7th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
The main reason I find it hard to believe that Kutner killed himself at this time?
He didn’t wait until after May 8th, when the new Star Trek movie comes out!
At the very least we need to see how Simon Pegg plays Scotty!
—Kimberley
April 7th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Anyone else get the impression that the wife lied about her affair so that her husband wouldn’t sacrifice himself for her?
April 7th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
For the first time I have no desire whatsoever to discuss medicine. The writers practically slammed this one onto me and it got me shaking. It is a holiday in my country today and it is the Day of the Health-Care Worker. Believe me it is a holiday I will now never forget (considering that I am single, live alone and didn’t exactly had the sunniest childhood too). I’ll just leave it there – and I will also say that while depressing it was incredibly realistic – it was well played, believable to a scary level which is exactly what was so depressing. I hope the next episodes unravel the whole “mystery” (there is no mystery, but somebody/everybody will search for meaning until they hit something). I’m ashamed to say that for a sec there I thought “murder” than for another sec “Taub did it”. Stupid thought – much better for the purposes that the writers/producers had in mind. We’ll see anyway. I don’t think I’ll post other thoughts on this episode the subject is painful to me. See you next week.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Hmm, those are a few interesting insights via the commenters:
– Kutner did feel weirded out by Death Cat. Someone who is suicidal would not have been.
– Taub DID behave rather strangely until the end when he cried. And it doesn’t seem that far of a stretch for me to think of him killing someone.
It would be the perfect way for them to get rid of Taub, too–reveal him to’ve killed Kutner because of x-reason (maybe Kutner found out that Taub was having yet another affair on his wife…you know what they say about men who have affairs…it’s a hard habit to give up, particularly when the guy doesn’t feel like he’s getting what he wants from his wife [and in this case, it's children...not saying that he's breeding with some other woman, just saying that that would be the effect of his having been denied]).
Because if Taub left…then we could get both Chase AND Cameron back. And then it would be like old times, except for the presence of 13. HMMMMM….
April 7th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
McLean Stevenson’s character Lt. Col. Henry Blake was ‘killed off’ from M*A*S*H because he signed a deal with NBC. The fictitious Korean War environment made the unexpected demise plausible and Blake’s personality a true heartfelt loss despite only TV. Kutner’s suicide by self-inflicted gunshot was unrealistic to the point of absurd. As if a last minute contractual departure or holdout and the show’s writers had to spin up something at the last second. Perhaps from in gun-plagued USA, especially with the recent New York immigration office slaughter, decided to insert a subtle statement. Would’ve been better for Kutner to move on in one piece and if had to kill off, should’ve been run over by a bus or something. A totally pointless end without any prior lead-up and appears to have been done for sheer dramatic effect in a show that has clearly been suffering from hokey writing .
April 7th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Here’s my take…
Taub killed Kutner. Towards the end of this episode we see a list on the white board of House’s clues to murder amongst which is money and motive. 13 gets punted over her ‘behind-the-back’ liason with Foreman and we begin the new season with the hunt for 3 new doctors. I think we are exhausting the medical mysteries and will now concentrate more on House and his foibiles which needs a host of new characters for him to abuse. The old gang already has his number.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
NPR has left no doubt that it thinks House has jumped the shark this time, leaving itself no good options to pursue. We’re left with Thirteen, who continues to stare into the camera lens like a doe in the headlights; Taub who has become the embittered House “Mini-Me”; Foreman who has settled into Grumpy Old Manhood; Chase and Cameron who check in for cameos while awaiting release from their contracts; Wilson who has washed his hands of a terminal case; and Cuddy who keeps forcing her A-cups into push-up bras in the vain hope of attracting notice.
My theory of Kutner’s motive is that he was tormented by early memories of being sold into child prostitution by the man who murdered his parents. After enduring abominable violations of his body and mind, he was belatedly rescued by Mother Teresa’s nuns and ultimately adopted by the American couple who raised him and put him through medical school.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
If it really was suicide, I would have hoped it would have earned at least a nitpick. Wouldn’t a doctor have shot himself in the *back* of the head to take out the medulla oblongata?
April 7th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
When Cameron approached Eddie about the liver transplant, suggesting that he would die but his wife would live… I was just waiting for the line:
“I would do anything for love. But I won’t do that!”
April 7th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
lol at the meat loaf crack! Couldn’t have said it better. I am a fan of his and yours.
April 7th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Although it really did seem a shame that the medicine was pushed to one side this week, contrary to a lot of the posts here I think the suicide issue was handled very well. I think the sudden, off camera, death was designed to allow the viewers to experience some of the shock the actors were supposed to be feeling. Sadly a lot of completed suicides come suddenly without warning, depression is a complicated disorder and there often isn’t a simple cause. I thought the character’s reactions were also fairly realistic, typical reactions to such tragic events include anger and searching for an explanation. I sincerely hope the writers don’t concoct some ridiculous murder ploy to try and boost ratings, or come up with one simple justification to solve the mystery, puzzles involving the human psyche rarely have simple explanations. Finally a few people have commented that it seemed inconsistent for Kutner to be afraid of the death cat earlier in the series, but just because the man has been depressed doesn’t mean he decided to die weeks ago, nor does it mean he is suddenly unafraid of death, there is no reason why he wouldn’t have been afraid.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
lmao, joebeets. I thought for a quick second when House went to Kutner’s place that this episode would be a spin-off for CSI: House. Or Law & Order: House MD.
If y’all had to get rid of Kutner’s character, How would you have done it? I think a death other than suidcide would have been a lot better (but still as emotional). I’d do something not seen before on the show… like PRIONS (so, following the show’s format: diagnosed sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a treatment which nearly kills him, then in the end they realize it was diffuse metastatic carcinomatous meningitis at autopsy)….
-Pharmacy Student
April 7th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
jesus, what was going on with Cuddy’s skirt ?? please, Fox, give the woman some dignity !
And someone know why Wilson was so cold to House ? I thought it might be that Kutner’s death reminded him of Amber’s death, but just a couple episodes ago he summoned his dead girlsfriend’s name just to play with House and now his all “oh, I can’t deal with this right now”. Grow some backbone Wilon !
And the little Carmen Miranda is oficially on my list of favorites clinic patients of all times !
“Gotta be perfect!”
“You forgot to spill it out?”
“Mommy doesn’t” =OOO
I somehow connect this to Kutner’s death and that episode with the chinese girl and the pins in her head(Birthmarks i think); We’re all screwed up by our parents.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
@taiki: Forced entry is not required for murder!!
This episode has caused so much interest here that it’s crashed the site for most of the day. ;)
Taub was probably just trying to be a soldier. It didn’t work. That doesn’t mean he didn’t feel awful about it (as was seen at the end). He gave him the short stick last episode and now regrets it.
I do agree though with the above posters who think that this is the beginning of the end for the scabs. 13 could be fired any day for any reason. Taub is already on the edge of quitting.
Instead of messing further with the show’s formula, they could instead turn to the vast untapped reserve within the show for additional supporting characters: the nurses and technicians. Can we give at least a couple of them some names? Develop their characters one by one and eventually you will have plenty of options for story-telling.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
I was also curious about how 13 had his keys.
Other than that, I thought the episode was a bust. Not enough time for the patient, and the whole soap opera seemed completely forced. It was like… “well, time to do the requisite dramatic episode” and they were pressed for time. The Amber episodes were much, much better.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
13 might have had Kutner’s keys because of all of House’s spares.
Remember, this is episode 20 – I think we’ve got a long way to go before we can judge this story arc for sure.
I thought it was well done – I’m sure the writers have more in store for us to justify the short nature of the episode.
Too bad Kutner didn’t leave his job as a doctor to become a public affairs liaison at the White Hou.. oh. Wait.
April 7th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
1) I liked Kutner.
2) Death, out of the blue much?
3) Those two facts are completely unrelated.
4) What.
5) What.
6) What.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
For the curious, there’s an interview with Kal Penn, David Shore and co-executive producer Katie Jacobs on Yahoo!:
http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/house-the-truth-behind-the-shocking-surprise–229
What surprised me the most: Kal Penn says that really was him lying on the floor in Kutner’s bedroom.
When asked flat out whether Kutner’s suicide really was a suicide, the producers a) said yes, b) said no or c) wouldn’t say. (If you don’t want the answer, don’t read the article.)
April 7th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Taub probably felt a ton of guilt for not seeing it. They were buddies (even if not by choice) and Kutner recently said that even though they don’t spend much time together outside of work he considered Taub a friend.
What about the sick dog that Taub mentioned? Maybe it died and Kutner, already lonely to begin with, may have felt that there was really no reason to continue. Life can go on without him. Didn’t House also rib him about all his “friends” in cyberspace with whom he plays online games? That was alluded to in Hadley’s remarks when she entered his apartment. It doesn’t have to be any reason but if one is depressed and lonely enough, the mind probably isn’t weighing things appropriately; good judgment is not one of the available faculties. Maybe he was in a particularly low funk.
As for Kalpen, I hope the tradeoff is worth it and that he lasts long in DC. Politics is a nasty, ruthless animal, especially when you have to tangle with Chicago goons. A good, brilliant classmate of mine also helped in the campaign and even his long personal friendship with BO couldn’t protect him from all that viciousness. He said he loved coming to work at the show. Let’s hope he can say the same about his new job.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
To the people complaining about Kutner’s suicide being pointless: Don’t you think suicides in real life are pointless? People like Kutner are pretty much the last ones you’d expect committing suicide, which is why his death felt awkward to everyone.
When a character is written out of a show, it’s pretty much always done in a hurry and in an awkward sense. House MD is no exception to this rule, but I still think they came up with a very original cause of death. As I said; people like Kutner are the ones you won’t expect committing suicide, but this stuff happens in real life every day. Someone who seems to be outgoing and happy are actually very depressed but tries to shrug it off until they suddenly just end themselves out of misery.
I liked how everyone stayed in character. Foreman isolates himself, 13 gets a heads-up, Taub tries to ignore it and House tries to find out why. This is exactly how I’d expect them to react and it proves that the writers of this show aren’t completely incompetent yet.
April 7th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I find it interesting that several people are saying how this episode felt forced and referencing last season’s Amber episodes as better. For me, it is the exact opposite. I never bought the Amber/Wilson forced dating connection (what was it like 2 episodes they dated?) and those episodes with her dying felt so contrived. I was constantly asking myself why I was supposed to care. Not to mention the whole idea of her being frozen solid hibernating like a bear for days and then just waking up seemed utterly preposterous.
Kutner’s suicide on the other hand I found much more realistic and emotional, if only for its spontaneity and chaotic nature. I loved the still camera in the scene where Kutner’s body is found. The camera staying in one spot and slowly zooming in gives the scene a much greater sense of realism and more profound impact. I actually found it very unsettling, in fact. And of course the final montage with the music was brilliant, where everyone is dealing with his death in their own way. My favorite was Taub, acting like a hardass the whole episode, rationalizing, and staying involved in the case, then finally breaking down at the end, crying on the bench.
Good stuff. Here’s hoping they don’t ruin it next week.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:42 am
The fact that Kutner committed suicide and it was entirely unexpected are necessary elements of the storyline. If he’d left for another job or died unexpectedly by accident, there would be no reason for House to obsess over why he didn’t see it coming. And House most certainly will obsess over this, leading to the major crisis that Hugh Laurie as well as the show’s producers have already confirmed is coming.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:44 am
What in the sam hill was Chase doing during the surgery?!?! It looked like he was digging around in a duffel bag for a lost pair of socks! And the sounds they added to accompany his rumaging in her torso just seemed over the top.
Are doctors able to really be that rough when searching around in the body’s interior, especially around the intestine???
April 8th, 2009 at 2:15 am
I’ve read the spoilers so I wasn’t shocked by Kutners suicide. I was, however, surprised that Houses team didn’t stop him from seeing Kutners parents. It was so obvious he was going to blame them for their son’s death. Shouldn’t they know him by now?
All in all, the portrayal was pretty realistic. I like how unreal it felt – even though from the moment Kutner didn’t come to work onward I wasn’t surprised. When something as unexpected happens in real life it has this unreal quality to it that some people have (in my opinion mistakenly) described as “flat”.
And to those who think Taub killed Kutner: Seriously?!
April 8th, 2009 at 4:21 am
First time poster, but there is a reason to get involved… Always been a fan of the medical mystery but what really drew me to this show were the allusions to Sherlock Holmes and being an English teacher I can’t help but note the following:
House/Holmes(Home)
John Watson/James Wilson
Address: 221b Baker Street
Esther Doyle (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Moriarty (No Reason)
House=Vicodin/Holmes=Cocaine
Both are musicians
The book House gets as a gift from Wilson is by Dr. James Bell… the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes… and for the double whammy – Inspiration for Holmes was a doctor and now we have a doctor which is now being considered as having been inspired by Holmes.
Deduction (a given)
In the same episode as the Dr. James Bell reference is a reference to ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ where-by Wilson alludes to “The one that got away… the woman”
And so on and so forth…
Getting to the point: The murder angle intrigues me as House loves a puzzle and what better one than murder? He investigated the scene. Heck, he was the one reveal the scene by having his gang go into Cutner’s apartment (and let us pause on this for a moment… if House’s team could aquire access into Kutner’s place who else could have?). Kutner does have a possible revenge motive if we recall how he was once a bully though I’m not one to rule out the suicide angle as there were signs… Taub and Kutner’s discussion of the subject earlier in the season for example.
I could go on, but it would get a bit repetitive and I’m sure there are others who have similar thoughts or theories, but let us assume for a moment that it was murder and House does solve the case. Would he leave medicine for crime detection? Of course not. People intrigue him and yet I suspect that he would grow tired of finding motives for crimes when he has the more cold and calculating (and un-motivated) medical malady to address. But… would it be the worst thing in the world if he indulged all those Holmes lovers out there by giving into our delusions and taking on a crime for just one time and one time only? Hugh Laurie could quite possibly give Jeremy Brett a run for his money as Holmes, but then again I am using a misnomer.
Just sharing some thoughts that have been bubbling up for a while and this episode provided the catalyst of bringing it out and sharing. Thanks for providing a forum to do so.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:51 am
I liked the episodes. It also shocked me – and itstrue, sometimes upbeat people commit suicide.
Didnt Kuttner and Taub talk about suicide a few episodes back (”Painless” I think)?
April 8th, 2009 at 5:58 am
I thought the show went fine up until the end. I know that shows like House and CSI are always trying to be cool with the music they use, but the completely forgettable drum-machiney music which played over the funeral scene and afterwards was just tacky. I felt silence, or something much more subtle would have been more appropriate and emotionally powerful.
I’m glad to see Kal Penn is changing careers to something rewarding for him. I really respect that kind of behavior, especially when it means a cut in pay and notoriety!
Finally, suicide does happen like this sometimes, where people hide it, and while I know the writers are going for the biggest impact here, I can’t argue that what happened isn’t plausible in some cases. I can’t help but feel some of the dialog in past episodes sort of foreshadowed this (Kutner always seemed to me to be the most pragmatic of the bunch). In any event, there is good potential for exciting new episodes such as the aforementioned story arc and what I would imagine a search for a replacement for Kutner. It does seem like the medicine is of secondary importance anymore – I hope they don’t stray too far from really exciting medical mysteries as that is what drew me to the show in the first place.
April 8th, 2009 at 8:38 am
I’m constantly impressed by Hugh Laurie’s excellent U.S. accent, especially in pronouncing medical terms. However, some more familiar chemical names can be pitfalls if one assumes that the British pronunciation is the same as we use here. Someone pointed out that in an earlier episode House said /am mo ni a/ instead of /am mo nya/. In this episode, he said /an ‘tim o ny/ insted of /’an ti mo ny/. I wonder if Bertrand Russell ever mispronounced it.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:20 am
I thought is was a strong episode. The patients presented interesting ethical questions, and Kuttner’s suicide was handled pretty well; I found all the reactions to be realistic.
Taub is in an impossible position now. He’s all alone and I can’t see him lasting unless the team is changed yet further.
April 8th, 2009 at 9:56 am
It came out of left field, and that’s how suicide is like sometimes. The point of it was to evoke emotion and the outrage expressed by some (”It jumped the shark!”) obviously means it worked. That final scene with Kutner’s picture was hauntingly well done, with varioud pictures showing him in a happy life, then one, single picture shattering that illusion, painting a troubled mind underneath a mask of optimism.
My heart broke when I saw this episode. Not because I like Kutner (which I do – he was my favorite of the new fellows), but because it was so sudden it was like a wall of bricks smashing into me at full speed. The suicide itself and its aftereffects were done with an amazing taste and realism. Especially House, blaming anyone and everyone he can – his team, Kutner’s foster parents, even the murderer – makes me think he actually was impacted on an emotional level this time.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
@me: I almost forgot about the clinic patient! Clearly that tarted-up little hooker was intended as a parody of Jean Benet Ramsey (may she rest in peace). As Meat Loaf would say: “Hot Patootie…Bless my soul! I rally love that rock and roll!”
April 8th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Getting back to the medicine, am I the only one who’s annoyed by the precisions of, “she has 48 hours to live”? AIUI, doctors aren’t generally that confident about such things.
wg
April 8th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I started bawling immediately when 13 and Foreman found Kutner’s body, managed to pull myself together for most of the middle, started sniffling when Charlotte died, and then completely lost it when Taub finally broke down.
I identified with Taub most of all, as cold as he seemed. My mother attempted suicide several years ago, and while I was there for her 100% during her recovery, a part of me was very, very angry with her. This episode was so hard to watch.
I’m certainly going to miss the character, but I wish Kal Penn success in his new career.
April 8th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
By the way, did anyone know that there’s a memorial to Kutner on fox.com? Rest in fictional peace!
April 8th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
If people may not notice, the list of characters in the title score doesn’t include olivia wilde and peter jacobson. That means, there’s a possibility of House’s original diagnostic team being back together on the 6th season. It seems that the producers are now trying to get rid of Taub, Kutner and Thirteen. In the”simple explanation” episode, they got rid of Kutner.
April 8th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I didn’t even think of the whole Taub-did-it thing, although I did think “murder” before “suicide”. I think that having Kutner be killed by another member of the team would be a little too overly-dramatic-soap-opera for me. Still, if anyone on the team committed suicide, I would expect it to be 13. I really hope that we get more of House trying to solve the puzzle, whether he finds anything or not.
April 8th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I actually I am very depressed, I am easily fall into depression and often I think about suicide. I believe that life is meaningless, has no sense at all, and that there is no ulterior purpose of our physical existence.
Most of my time when I’m socializing, I try to be as active, crazy, funny as I can be. Nobody can even imagine I have such darkness inside, only my nuclear family and a few selected friends (only two friends) know something about my dark personality, but even they don’t imagine my suicidal thoughts. In appearance for some I seem to be a superficial, crazy, courageous, daring, self-confident, funny, a little cocky and slightly pervert: full of life.
Since I know myself and know people like me, I can spot depressed people much easier than most people do. I am much more perceptive and I can spot their personalities much easier and with a greater precision than average.
It is obvious that Kutner spontaneously grabbed a gun and decided to kill himself in a sunny random day. But I wanted to say this: for the people who think it is a writer mistake because it is improbable that a charming guy can end his life, let me tell you it is more than probable.
It is of course highly improbable that someone REALLY full of life and with high self-esteem decides to die the next day with no reason at all.
But someone you PERCEIVED as stable and outgoing, etc.. even for a very long time, doesn’t mean that he was showing what he really was, or what he really was feeling.
The most usual reasons are that you feel that there is absolutely no escape to what they consider to be very serious problems (debts, suffering, huge disappointment, huge embarrassment, exposure, no future, etc… choose your favorite flavor) or/and find no meaning of your life (a deep existential crisis) or to send a message (what an idiotic way to communicate, most times the reasons are obvious since deliberately they leave clues behind, showy or are in public, sometimes they come back to life since depending on the case those are less lethal).
(as you can see I am very analytic and very introspective, as well as being very depressed)
Kutner’s death was very realistic and shocking for me, especially because there is no real obvious reason for his death, I love that realistic touch. It touched me.
For the people who may want to ask why I didn’t finish my life, I can say to you that ironically I like helping people with depression, it is something like a natural skill to identify and give them a reason to live, and something that I hate more than life is to be incoherent, I don’t want to kill myself while helping people to live (sometimes I end believing in the things I say to them or at least makes me think about it). In a broader picture everything I said in this last paragraph is quite ironic and incoherent, right? In my fuzzy mind it somehow makes sense and somehow it is what makes me stay awake in this world.
April 8th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
@Jay: “That being said, I’m curious to know what the average suicide rates are for physicians. I’m presuming (hoping) that it’s lower than the population average.”
Sadly, no. The overall physician suicide rate cited by most studies has been between 28 and 40 per 100,000, compared with the overall rate in the general population of 12.3 per 100,000.[1] Overall, then, physicians are more than twice as likely as the general population to kill themselves. Each year, it would take the equivalent of 1 to 2 average-sized graduating classes of medical school to replace the number of physicians who kill themselves.
Check out: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/410643_2
My contribution to the “Taub killed Kutner” conspiracy theory? Only Taub had an excuse for Kutner’s absence that morning. Surely House would have sent 13 and Foreman to Kutner’s place earlier if he hadn’t been given that flimsy excuse Taub came up with….
April 8th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
“amedia
April 7th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
If it really was suicide, I would have hoped it would have earned at least a nitpick. Wouldn’t a doctor have shot himself in the *back* of the head to take out the medulla oblongata?”
Good point! I’m not a medical person, but you all who are… wouldn’t a doctor know too much about how easily that method can go wrong? Aren’t there heavy odds one survives, but horribly disfigured and disabled?
April 8th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Getting visceral leishmaniosis on a single trip to a big city in which such disease is not endemic? right…
if only she had been to the countryside of Rio state, but as a tourist herself, wanting to see the carnival from a balcony of a fancy hotel….in a very urbanized area… seriously???
April 9th, 2009 at 12:04 am
First time poster, here. This is an incredible site, and Scott, I appreciate your faithfulness to every episode.
Speaking as someone whose father died suddenly and unexpectedly under eerily similar circumstances (police ruled suicide, no note) – thirty years ago, when I was a teen – the resonance I experienced throughout this episode was personally riveting.
I was right there with House during this episode, desperately trying to find clues to a murder, rather than accept the possibility of suicide. Talk about cathartic!
April 9th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Here’s a question about Kal Penn that just occurred to me. The newspapers have just covered his job at the White House, and I assume he is just now starting. Don’t they shoot House well in advance? Haven’t they finished shooting the whole season (only 4 more episodes)? That means we might see him again in future episodes, perhaps some flashbacks as they resolve the mystery of his death.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:25 am
To amedia and garberpog: Have you ever tried to point a revolver at the back of your own head? It “taint easy, McGee”. Most people who are serious about succeeding open their mouths and aim through the back of their throats.
To daniel: I, too am a depressive, and I too am better able to recognise fellow sufferers and help them if they wish it. Depression makes us more aware of others’ pain and less callous to it than shallow gladhanding extraverts who leach on others’ emotions like parasites.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Continuity error I just noticed rewatching the show. When Foreman calls 911 after finding Kutner’s body he refers to him as a “28 year old male”, yet the memorial on Fox’s site shows his life span as 1975-2009.
It’s hilarious how this stuff manages to slip through. Reminds me of how Chase was 26 in season 1 then 30 in season 2.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:28 am
In the world of HOUSE, things are often not as they seem. Everyone is hell bent on it being suicide, which it might very well have been. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some twist to all this. Yes, I know that suicide can be abrupt, happen without warning, to seemingly well-adjusted people, etc, etc, etc, but this is HOUSE, a fictional TV show with lots of drama and surprising twists – NOT real life.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I’m surprised no one has pointed out the obvious:
Kutner killed himself out of frustration that his boss refused to let him wear eye protection during medical procedures.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Denim21 – I don’t joke around about suicide, but THAT is funny.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I really will miss Kutner, I liked him since when he was just a mere candidate of the new team selection, the episode when he managed to sneak in back after being fired by House by changing his number was when he won me. He was always funny, goofy and nice to the patients. He always tried to help them in the emotional side, he was never cold and I expected a better end in the show for him, like running away with an exotic girlfriend to a far away land, but not ending the show as a miserable suicidal man. It was really sad. I hope the writers are going to use his death for a better final explanation, besides making “Almighty-know-all-the-answers- House” intrigued.
I never dropped a tear for Amber, she was a bitch, always trying to be noticed at any costs, stepping on other’s heads, or has anyone forgotten the bitch that she was when she was competing for the position in House’s new team? I also never bought Wilson x Amber story, i just felt sorry for the guy cos he is just a very solitary and sensitive poor guy ( I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to commit suicide!). But for Kutner I really had tears, gonna miss him. I can only wish him luck in his new career.
April 9th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
@epthorn :: 13 got the set keys that House has Lucas make for him.
Also, crazy how in last epi House played w/laserpointer at Kutner’s feet joking, “omigod, DeathCat is at your feet… You’re gonna die!!” Right?!?
April 9th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
It’s interesting how Kuttner’s suicide seems to have affected viewers much as a suicide of a casual acquaintance or coworker whom you didn’t know outside of the job would in reality. Sudden, inexplicable, nothing romantic about it: those old tennis shoes and blue jeans, stiff legs sprawled in the cluttered, shadowy apartment . It seems flat at first, because it wasn’t preceded by drama, pathos and scenery-gnashing.
But it leaves a hook of mental discomfort in you, a stunned puzzlement, that is ultimately much more dramatically effective, than if, say, they had shown his face magically unmessed by the bullet with Thirteen giving mouth-to-mouth. Or if they had preceded with episodes of Kuttner moping about. Unnecessary death in the young is an ugly business. Kuttner’s suicide, in prosaic surroundings, unglamorized, done alone in some unrecognized despair surrounded by nerd collector toys, is much more chilling than the portrayal of Amber’s demise.
Hats off to the writers for the courage to write it this way, knowing that many viewers would feel cheated of a big dramatic story-arc build up to the suicide. And good luck to Kal Penn: yes you can!
April 9th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I definitely made the “he’ll do anything for love, but he won’t do THAT” in regards to his liver transplant — but then he decided to do the liver transplant, so my joke didn’t even work anymore. Oh, Meatloaf, I love you.
I miss Kutner already :(
April 9th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Pardon my ignorance, but what does House mean when he says “tomato, tomato”? It’s not the first time I hear him using that expresion…
April 9th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
It means the same thing as the expressions “same difference” or “what’s the difference?”
April 9th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Kim – Great post, articulated well. I agree completely. Amber’s death I rolled my eyes during both of those episodes. This one has been in my head all week.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
This is exactly why this show is brilliant.
It came out of nowhere. The fixed camera shot of 13’s and Foreman’s reaction were profound. I felt the entire episode was class. I think every viewer enjoyed the Kutner character and felt some sort of grief and disbelief at the events unfolding.
I cant believe teh posts which say that Amber’s death was more emotional and realistic. Those episodes were completely forced and contrived. Wilson was supposed to be feeling this jaw numbing loss and depression after dating her for 2 episodes?? I was bored when Amber died.
I cant imagine how another show would have dealt with kal quiting the show. Probably some corny soap opera nonsense. This was perfect. The death was like a hammerblow and i think the aftereffects make for some very intresting episodes. Will truely miss Kutner but atleast he went out with a bang(no pun intented)
April 10th, 2009 at 12:05 am
I am really disappointed with this episode.
The switching between Meatloaf and Kutner was jarring. Overall the Meatloaf story could have been interesting but was overshadowed by the suicide. Or the suicide could have been better without the distraction.
I know many people are claiming that it is a realistic death, I have to strongly disagree. Yes seemingly happy people kill themselves, I get that. The method is what bothers me so much. Kutner is a doctor. He knows every possible way a human can die. He has access to any type of drug in that hospital.
If for some reason he wanted to die by gunshot (maybe some connection to his parents death?) why didn’t he put the gun in his mouth as mentioned in an above post?
In real life the signs of depression might not be noticeable, but the great thing about TV is we get to see characters at their most intimate. I wouldn’t want to see a mopey Kutner crying himself to sleep, but when a character does something completely unexpected for no apparent reason, it is bad writing.
The main thing that bothers me is that I don’t really care that he is gone. I liked Kutner, and I like Kal Penn, but he never got enough screen time to develop any real emotional depth. Such a wasted opportunity.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:41 am
I have already solved Kutner’s murder and will appear on House to solve it after my show ends this season.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:00 am
When House said “maybe I’m not finding any reasons because there aren’t any”, it made me think…
1. this is a medical mystery show
2. as Taub said, “a logical person suddenly became illogical” for no clear reason
3. House immediately finds medical reasons for all kinds of different behavior
I was very surprised that House brought up murder, but did not consider that Kutner may have had a medical issue that caused sudden depression and suicidal thoughts.
I have to assume that he will do this in the next show and that storyline will be contained within the next episode… it would be EXTREMELY out of character for House to move on without investigating this further, especially with medical reasons being a possible answer.
April 10th, 2009 at 11:07 am
luc69: When someone says “to-may-to, to-mah-to” it means “we’re using different words, but we mean the same thing”.
I forget the details, but it went something like this-
House: “I need you to go to Kutner’s place and find out what’s going on”
Thirteen: “You mean illegally break into his home and invade his privacy?”
House then implies that there’s no difference between the two.
April 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I agree with those saying that Amber’s death was NOT better handled and more realistic. I also never got the sense of any love connection between Wilson and Amber. For me, that just came out of left field.
I do think the reactions to Kutner’s death were more realistic. And I also know that a lot of times, the last person you would expect to commit suicide would commit suicide.
However, having Kutner commit suicide still bothers me. I understand the need to write Kal Penn out. I even understand the need for death.
However, just to have a suicide because it’s a mystery that House can’t solve makes me mad (and that stupid memorial web page REALLY cheapens everything!) Instead of being genuine, it feels like just another thing that “supposed to change House fundamentally,” and it usually doesn’t work. Amber’s death was supposed to do that. So was having his entire team either quit or get fired. Getting shot himself didn’t change him.
Kat
April 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I have absolutely no words for what happened in this ep.
1. I´m sorry to lose a character I finnaly got kinda used to. I didn´t know much about Kutner, but I´ll sure miss him.
2. Well, finally we got a House-worth patient (actually a couple of patients) and they stay in the shadow of Kutner´s suicide??
3. Yes, right, doctors commit suicides more often than the general population, probably because they´re scared to seek help.
4. Severe fungal infections are almost exclusively treated with ampho-B, so what were they trying to do with the itraconazole? Maybe it could be boring for the watchers if they use the same drug all the time…
5. I also was wondering if they could have written Kutner out in some other way. Quitting isn´t so shocking, car crash is sort of standard, bus crash is what killed Amber, murder would make even less sense than suicide.
6. I think the clinic patients in the last three seasons were almost all silly. Remember that in the first season most of the patients were kinda typical people (in case of health problems many people act silly) and all the fun was House treating them like crap (they´re wasting his time cause having a cold isn´t a real mystery). Yes, of course, the guy with MP3 in his anus;-)
April 10th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Great episode!!!
Will miss Kutner,sob sob(Star Wars fans forever man!! woot!).However I think the story arc will be more on how the other people cope with the grief of the loss rather than on how he died.Also interesting will be to see if the spin-off that was planned to happen after this season involving one of the main characters will still take place…BTW,can you really get drunk on mouthwash?Just curious as to paraphrase the great Dr.Scott,IANAD(I Am Not A Doctor)
April 10th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
One more: I don´t think that was serious about Kutner´s sick dog. Taub was just trying to excuse his absence, so he made it all up.
April 10th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Chocobo and luc69: The reference is to an old song from the 50’s:
You say to-may-to and I say to-mah-to…
You say po-tay-to and I say po-tah-to…
To-may-to, to-mah-to, po-tay-to, po-tah-to…
Let’s call the whole thing off!
April 10th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I actually have serious medical reservations with this episode. Visceral Leishmaniasis is extremely uncommon in South America. Its caused by an entirely different species, Leishmania donovani, which is found in south Asia and the Middle East. The New World Leishmania species rarely infect the organs, but cause some nasty cutaneous lesions. Also, all Leishmania are transmitted by sandfly bites, which while can happen in urban settings, is unlikely in tourist areas. Typically, this show never gets the parasites quite right. Makes me wonder what else they botch that I am not qualified to critique. But then again, I don’t watch it for the medicine……
April 10th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I don’t think anyone mentioned this yet but I liked the artistic aspect of keeping the sets at low light throughout the episode. It lent a gloomy air to the whole thing that would have been lost if they’d used the usual bright lighting they normally use.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Why does everyone so firmly accept it’s suicide? Why? It doesn’t fit with the character of Kutner, and House is the only one suspicious?
I think Taub is covering something up, he made up excuse for Taub, he refused to show emotion for Taub’s suicide and insisted that House should move onto their patient on multiple occasions. He criticized House’ obsession with Kutner’s death “You don’t know what’s wrong?” He refused to go for the funeral but instead sobbed in the hallway. Something is going on there.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Gal – I think you missed the whole point. There are plenty of responses that have explained it and done so better than I can, but if you need a quick and easy answer, the suicide hotline at the end of the episode is proof enough.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Or you could take the word of the creators re: suicide vs. murder:
Q: Are you going to leave it out there, the question of whether it was in fact a suicide, or is that going to be dropped from here on?
K. Jacobs: It was a suicide. It was a suicide.
Q: So, anybody out there super-analyzing the scene and looking for contradictory evidence, that’s just not going to go anywhere.
D. Shore: They’re being like “House”. They’re looking for more answers where they may not be more answers.
http://www.houseisright.com/2009/04/09/full-interview-kal-penn-david-shore-katie-jacobs-part-2/
April 11th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I love that everyone gets so involved in the meanings and underlying threads of what is going on. “Kutner wouldn’t commit suicide”, “perfect that he commited suicide since seemingly happy people hide their pain”, blah, blah, blah. People this is a TV show. Kutner isn’t real and although he has a fleshed out back story, he is still just a character. Bottom line: Kal Penn decided to leave the show, the writers (WRITERS) decided having him commit suicide would be poignant/emotional/clever/fill-in-the-blank to the arch of the characters and give them something to focus on. Nothing else matters. You can argue whether deciding to have him commit suicide is true to the character they created, true to the story line, boring, too abrupt, whatever, but in the end I think they thought this was the best way to write off a character AND get people talking!! Look how well it worked. The “memorial page” confirms the “gimmickiness” of it all!
BTW, I personally thought it was brilliant. What a way to make an exit and get people talking, and involve the other characters. At least they didn’t have him get crushed by a helicopter – lamest over dramatic character exit ever!!
April 11th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
One final note – Hugh Laurie has had issues with depression himself, although he rarely discusses it. This might have also been another reason they chose to end Kutner’s character with suicide. Check out the website housecharitees.com to order a “normal’s overrated” tee shirt and donate to a good cause.
April 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Rockethound – if there’s anything you should have learned from watching 5 seasons of House, it’s that you can’t trust people and take them at their word. They lie.
April 11th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Eh, I thought it had too much fake drama. I didn’t really like Kutner’s character anyway; they tried too hard to make him colorful and funny, but I just found him annoying and not really the right actor for a doctor.
And it seems a little odd how much everyone cared. Nobody there really knew him that well. And it certainly doesn’t seem like House to go all quiet and “crying on the inside” on us.
I wouldn’t mind if they killed of 13 while they’re at it. I was interested for the first few episodes, but her character just turned out to be very one-dimensional and boring.
I guess the non-medical stuff that could hook you so well from the first 3 seasons aren’t coming back.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Last episode house pulled out a recorder from mos def”s pillow to spy on the team…maybe it has some clue ?
April 12th, 2009 at 3:11 am
Before this thread gets out of hand, here’s something that might entertain you:
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/house/house_most_ridiculous_patients.php
April 12th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Interesting conversation between Taub and Kutner about Suicide in the episode ‘Painless’.
April 13th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
In these cases forensics take swaps from victim’s hand and analyse for antimony if there is a shot there should be antimony in his hands. The first thing is swap taking and murder or suicide should be clear in the beginning of episode.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
in real life I think that the actress who played Charlotte is suffering from Cushing syndrome as she is having a buffalo hump
& while she was holding hands with her husband I can see that she is having a clubbing fingernails which is a sign of heart or lungs problem.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
are there any medical professionals here that know if “house” is always medically correct? i think i’ve heard that all medical shows hire a medical expert to see the writing of the script.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
sorry….to oversee the writing of the script.
thanks
April 13th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
i like how they portrayed Kutner’s death. It seemed senseless, but i think that was the entire point of his suicide. It had none.
Another thing, pulling a trigger at the type of angle necessary to hit your right temple is difficult, assuming that the weapon has a hair trigger and he did not cock the hammer, which is not commonly done on semiautomatic magazine loading pistols like Kutner’s.
Loved the clinic patient
April 13th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Obama, this is not the change we asked for!
April 13th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I don’t have time to read all this but I’ll just put it out there that I think Taub killed Kutner.
April 14th, 2009 at 3:45 am
Perhaps you should read it all ;) There are a few links to interviews where the producers specifically say that it was a suicide.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Moriarty did it. Writers, play with that idea.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Zoltar & the naysayers: Ye of little faith. Of course the writers don’t know what they’re doing. That’s why you’ve been watching House for 5 years; you like watching hackneyed, poorly written dramas.
If you’re a writer, you’re lazy, and you have to suddenly change your story arc to kill off a character, of course you’re going to embark on a hard to make believable storyline. No, you’d likely create a quickie, potentially whirlwind story to ease the character out. Say, lost love shows up (They were barely than seventeen, and barely dressed…), Kutner never forgot his vow to her, and they drive off to join Doctors Without Borders. Or Kutner dies in a car accident or mugging (bus was done last season; that option should be out).
No, the laziness kicks in where you already have a planned story arc where you’re going to get rid of Kutner, and then Kal Penn pops in to say I can’t finish the season. Then you have to figure out a way to get rid of him, and rewrite all his sequences for the episodes that are left. My guess is if the suicide is a poor kludge choice, its because the writers wanted to preserve dialogue in subsequent episodes.
For the record, I don’t think suicide was a poor kludge. The incongruous suicide is TOTALLY plausible. There are people without outward signs of suicide that do kill themselves. Doctors have a higher rate of suicide. The writers chose it to drive future House storylines; you can already see House obsessing.
More interesting was when Wilson and Cuddy first talk. Perhaps I missed something or misunderstood it, but didn’t Wilson say he was going through some sort of problem and couldn’t hold House’s hand? Wilson had no reason to be “devastated” by Kutner’s suicide. And the last episode, Wilson seemed to be dating someone on of his brother’s caretaking staff. Perhaps House made a wrong call, and Wilson was handling something else?
The other interesting thing was when House gave Kutner the “attaboy” at the end of the previous episode. That’s not House’s style (even though it gave a rationale to keep Taub). Perhaps it was an in-show salute before the death to come?
April 19th, 2009 at 3:04 am
“Wilson had no reason to be “devastated” by Kutner’s suicide. ”
I think Wilson is easily devastated by death in general, even if he wasn’t that close to Kutner in particular. Look at how torn up he got over Amber, and now barely any time at all has passed and one of the team decided to die, too. I’m sure he’d be shaken no matter which doctor it was.
April 25th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
HEY FELLAS!
i really love all the reviews done and all the feedbacks.
although it is a bit late, and i am not sure whether anyone has mentioned about it, but apparently the suicide rate among medical practitioner in US is much higher than the general population. It is the highest second only to japan, i think.
the writers should do well to exploit this and send a message to everyone and especially medical practitioners
May 19th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Watching some re-runs, it just occurred to me that the Mirror Syndrome patient of episode 4-05 completely missed any depression in Kutner.
June 30th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
It was really obvious this was last minute since they make sure he can’t be seen. How can House just scamper in to his apartment, which could be considered a crime scene, whenever he feels like?
What was with the gray-out the entire episode? Don’t doctors need light to work or did they decide to leave them all off for ambience sake.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Antimony for leishmaniasis? Boy, they really wanted to kill her off… for someone with liver failure, that’s as good as rat poison.
One think they would suggest some lipid formulation of Amphotericin B… but wait, you don’t have a health system over there. Too expensive, I see.