HOUSE “Small Sacrifices” Review

House (FOX) Small Sacrifices

HOUSE “Small Sacrifices” Season 7 Episode 8 – The existence of God and the value of honesty are debated once again while some chickens come home to roost and others fly the coop in the “Small Sacrifices” episode of HOUSE.

The crucifixion reenactment is quite creepy. It’s odd that I can watch Kill Bill without blinking an eye, but that makes me shudder. This isn’t exactly our first time watching House go up against someone devout, and it also isn’t the best–it is much too shallow a treatment tonight, but the patient does get a few good jabs in, and someone willing to be nailed to a cross every year certainly is original. “You‘re either crazy or you’re atoning and crazy.” I think it was too obvious early on that House would eventually save the patient by lying to him and the X-ray show at the end falls flat.

Martha Masters fades into th background this week, though she does get a reality check about how her honesty could have killed the patient. I hope the writers keep Masters drama-free for a while yet because there’s enough going on around her.

This is a rough night on the romantic front–well, unless you’re named Chase. Foreman is hilariously alone with his champagne, and he’s probably counting his blessings. I wasn’t expecting the Wilson-Sam break-up, especially not such a random and clumsy one. Last week we’re teased with the image of little Wilsons running around and now-poof!–they’re done? Was it really over the sudden trust issue or was Sam scared and looking to escape? I can’t decide.

Chase has a point that a support group for adultery victims is pretty much a dating service waiting to happen. “I’ve heard of that group. it’s called irony.” I should probably muster up some sympathy for Taub because Rachel is clearly emotionally involved with Mr. Oregon, and at least subconsciously punishing him, but I’ve got nothing. On the up side, he can use this as an excuse for his next affair. Yes, I’m kidding. These two should probably just call it a day.

House’s games with Cuddy are exhausting. How could he not remember a single time Cuddy lied to him? Has he chosen to forget Cuddy’s relationship with Lucas? There was a whole lot of lying going on then, as I recall. Cuddy’s insistence that they keep work and personal is laughable given the root of their fight, and I’m shocked that Cuddy believed that ridiculous apology. Shocked to the point that I wonder if she’s trying to play him because earlier in the episode Cuddy clearly knew exactly what House was up to and then she falls for House talking about a leap of faith? My mind is boggled and I don’t like how House, Cuddy, or Huddy are handled here. Oh, and am I wrong, or have we been given different ages for Cuddy before?

Favorite funny lines: “What do you have against chickens? One got choked last night because of you,” “Another hole in him should really make God’s day,” “You don’t need to buy her a new ring. Isn’t the first one good for all you can marry?,” “I’m sure your wife’s just seeing a dude.” “Either you’re naïve or you have scruples. I’m not sure which is worse.”

This is a bleak and disappointing episode of House. The entire episode feels off to me and I’m bewildered by the full-scale massacre of relationships here. I’m especially disappointed because I enjoyed the last two episodes so much, but here’s hoping this is just a blip. Of course, you may have loved the episode, in which case you can tell me why I’m completely wrong-headed in the comments.

On that note–what did you think of the episode? Do you think Cuddy believed House’s apology? Let me know in the comments.

Follow me on Twitter @michstjame

By Michelle | November 22, 2010 | 2 Comments

Find out more about House, by selecting one of the following options.

Print This Page

Comments Comment Policy

Please make sure to read our comment policy before posting a comment.

Kevin

I feel kind of awkward replying because I both agree and reject your assessment of this episode (which at the same time parallels the theme of this episode). I will concede that Cuddy’s acceptance of House’s ending lie is completely unbelievable after the deductive reasoning she used previously when House tries to “trap” her into lying about his attire, although I will say that House is hiding a personal conflict this season. During this season we have seen House fight against his normal instincts (I would site specific instances but I hardly feel it necessary with the plethora of instances of which others can cite). I contest that this is a foreshadowing of a larger “conflict of-” what lets call “-faith” for the lack of a better term in regards to this character. The eventual “Dr. Masters” (of which she is not because she is according to the show is still only a student) represents a legitimate and unbiased way of reaching a conclusion/diagnosis, Masters comes to these conclusions through “faith” in people telling the truth (even if the truth they tell is only from their own perspective or requires her to tell the truth in a given situation). House has to reverse Masters arguments against faith so he can continue his misanthropic views and feel content in his lying to Cuddy for what he believes to be for a greater good (I think I just understood that, you?). Like many of us we fight, sometimes fruitless battles, to prove we’re right despite obvious evidence to the contrary. Why do we do this? Why would anyone do this? I think it’s because it would absolve us of some complacence in an act we had no control over or inability to fix something we know is wrong (House would like to conclude that a patients has a curable disease as opposed to a terminal one in several cases). You might then start to ask yourself “Then why doesn’t House just go along all the time and save himself the trouble?” and true it has seemed to work in the past where a less drastic and all be it simple solution was the key but you have to ask yourself if after just one time someone under your care died and you knew after the fact that you could have saved their life by lying to them, would you have done so? I don’t know if I have made any sense in this long drawn out sentence but I hope I have shown one person that faith lies some where between the heart and the head and no one of them should claim rule over or blame on faith.

http://www.daemonstv.com/author/michelle/ Michelle

First off, don’t ever feel awkward about commenting. Secondly, you make several good points, and I hope you’re right about the longer, deeper arc of House this season because it would make me feel much better about this episode which felt haphazard to me.

I agree that Masters is the embodiment of that which House must fight to justify his views and I like their conflict. I think Masters might find the grey area before House does, though, because there is a moment nearthe end of the episode where she seems to already be re-thinking her absolutist position.

I actually don’t have a problem with House tormenting Cuddy the way he did because that is in character for him–I just didn’t like the execution. Cuddy has lied to House before. That the episode skipped over that during the elaborate let’s trap Cuddy game is a problem for me and I probably got too hung up on it, to be honest.

I very much like your assessment of House as a character and I hope we see this arc play out as you suggest. That said, I don’t want to see the character of Cuddy changed (other than her age, of course, which seems to change every season) to fit that arc. I still think her believing House’s apology was out of character. Yes, it can be seen as her leap of faith, but it just doesn’t ring true for me.