"Office Politics" Disappoints House Fans

Fans are upset by the contrived plot between Cuddy and House. Why work so hard to put two people together if you are just going to yank them apart? I don't even know where to start on the saddened plot.

In this episode Joe Dugan, political consultant, has unexplained liver failure in the heat of an election. Cuddy forces House to hire Masters, a new fem doc. The episode is trying to capture the behind the scenes moving and shaking of winning an election by use of negative political advertising tactics. This is a topic that has already been overdone in the real world. Senator Hal Anderson objected to the ads being aired about his opponent, Moreno, being pro-immigration.

Cuddy lays down the law and hires Martha M. Meadows as a new team member. She's a med student who at age 15 completed high school. This is the only writing angle on the show that has not been tried yet. Meadows plays an ethical team member who believes in full patient disclosure and will not lie to a patient. It is a refreshing attempt to the team who jumps when House says how high.

The episode lends a serious question as to how often do doctors intentionally narrow a patient's treatment choices to get them to pick what the doctor wants. Meadows refuses to coerce Joe Dugan into radiation treatment and explains that he could try steroids. House is upset because he wanted Dugan to choose radiation to get a fast answer on the theory to his illness.

The episode gets annoying with House hiring and firing Meadows over her ethics. House tries to indoctrinate her that lying to the patient is good. She refuses to get on board. There is also a comedic attempt in this where, Foreman and Taub play basketball that adds evidence that short white men can jump. I'm certainly glad they solved that mystery.

The medical case involving how they solved Joe Dugan's condition wasn't that creative. They tried to lure us into thinking the origin of Dugan's illness could be a result of something exotic. House sends Chase, Foreman, and Taub to break into Dugan's home and check out his tropical fish tank. They are caught by security and sent to stew in jail. An ever so grateful House lets them sit in jail while he again questions Masters to solve what is killing Dugan.

Fans are annoyed because we endured several episodes where Cuddy and House get evocative interaction time where they discover what they need to do to make the relationship work. We even saw how they agreed to disagree on their innate peeves that they could not fix in each other. Couldn't the writers come up with a better ploy to get them out on break-up bridge than House faking a medical test? The audience cannot understand why he would fake a test and not have any scenes written in about having any concerns about his future with Cuddy.

So much has been invested in trying to bring these two people together. We don't mind a bit or arguing here and there. Just do not make the interaction between them look mandatory. If future episodes lead to their break up, most fans will be disappointed.

Fans expect that this show will not veer too much off course. The writers should stick to what has made the show work.