Here’s the rundown from last night.
Spoilers...
House – “The Dig” (A-)
It’s so great to see Olivia Wilde back on House. She’s been gone so long I almost didn’t think she was coming back. But she did come back, and luckily for us it produced probably the best episode of House this season.
After 7 seasons (and exactly 150 episodes after this episode) any time we can get any sort of organic storyline outside of the normal patient of the week it’s exciting. This episode had me hooked right from the opening scene, as House picked up Thirteen from prison. A quick martini later and they were on their way to a Chilli cook-off and potato gun competition.
I loved everything about this storyline. The conversations between House and Thirteen were just awesome to watch. At times funny, at times emotional, but always compelling. The eventual unravelling of the true reason behind Thirteen’s incarceration was far more interesting than any patient of the week could ever be.
Thirteen’s tearful confession to House about euthanizing her brother had to be the scene of the episode. No wait, scratch that – scene of the season. Olivia Wilde played it to perfection. I didn’t realize how much I missed her presence on this show until I saw her in that scene.
Normally I would hate this kind of information dump where a character reveals background information about themselves that has somehow eluded the audience all this time, but with Thirteen I didn’t mind. House was right when he said she has one of the best game faces around. That’s not just the writers covering themselves either, it’s true. It’s not at all out of character for Thirteen to hide information about herself. The fact that she had a brother she wasn’t telling us about didn’t faze me in the slightest.
And along those lines I can’t say I was all that surprised by House offering to kill Thirteen when her own time came, but it was certainly the perfect way to cap off the episode. As morbid as it sounds it was actually a very touching gesture by House. These are two broken people, so it was nice to see them find some comfort in each other.
The rest of the episode was fairly uninspired. The patient of the week story rightly took a back seat to House and Thirteen’s escapades, and really didn’t add anything new to the formula. It just goes to show how much more interesting House can be when the writers break from convention.
Taub’s subplot with his wife wasn’t all that interesting either, and I’m a little pissed off they didn’t follow up on Masters’ serial killer plotline from last episode. I understand it would have been too much for one episode, but for the second time (the first being when House blackmailed her to save Cuddy’s mom) she looked completely unaffected by a major event in the previous episode. The lack of continuity bugs me a bit.
Yet with Thirteen’s return I have high hopes for the rest of this season. She’s the breath of fresh air this show has needed of late (a little ironic considering she’s one of the main characters) and if the writers play their cards right her return should be able to kick start a few more interesting stories before the season is out.
How I Met Your Mother – “The Exploding Meatball Sub” (B)
Ah the old graduation goggles. Thank god someone finally went ahead and coined a term for the phenomena. Sarah McLachlan was a great pick for the music. The only other appropriate choice would have been Vitamin C’s “Graduation”.
I also enjoyed Ted’s couples rivalry with Marshall and Lily (more Lily than Marshall). It was fun watching Ted try to rationalize how his constant bickering with Zoey was actually just healthy discourse. I was actually a little surprised they ended up back together at the end of the episode. It seemed like a natural place to end the relationship. My guess is something big is going to happen between these two before we see the end of Zoey, probably something to do with Ted’s building.
Barney’s arc was probably the funniest of the episode. If they weren’t going to go straight back into his father storyline than this was the way to play it. His bizarre grudge against Marshall was good for a few laughs. I also loved the reveal of Robin after he trashed his office, and the fact that he seemingly has no idea what Spain is.
The one thing I will say though is this show needs to be careful when they jump forward. The little after credits tag was funny, but with the way the fans of this show theorize about the future of these characters, any little glimpse forward ends up having major story implications. I’ll admit when I watching my Lost background started kicking in. Is Barney still single 10 years from now? Does this mean he and Robin never get back together again (not that they have to, I just thought it was still a possibility)? I don’t think the segment’s intent was to bring up any of these questions, yet in the back of my mind they were pretty much all I could think about.
Some of my other favourite moments:
- “You can’t quit tomorrow. The lady with the big nipples is coming back to give another sexual harassment seminar and I bribed one of the maintenance guys to keep the room at a brisk 55 degrees.”
- Zoey and Ted’s argument over who should hang up first, and their philosophical argument over Tommy Boy.
- Scooby’s return – “He was a good boy.”
- Barney’s description of Herschel – “He is so awesome, and funny, and tall – taller than Marshall – and he knows way more laws.”
- “Oh my god, is that how support feels? It’s so warm and wonderful!”
- Lily’s explosive metaphors in front of airport security.
- Barney’s imitation of his shrink – “Barney we have to talk about your father. Barney, I’m not gonna teach you how to hypnotize people, you’ll only use it for evil. Barney, I am not going to conduct a couples session between you and this woman, she’s obviously a prostitute. I don’t need this!”
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