Published at 10:04 PM on September 28, 2009

House Review:
"Epic Fail" (Episode 6.02)

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After last week's anomalous episode set in a mental hospital, House and House are both back at Princeton, with well-known, regular characters and new medical cases. 

Except that within a few minutes of the start of the episode, House quits. Unlike his threats to quit in past seasons, this time he allows himself to follow through. The rest of the episode alternates between the newly promoted Foreman leading Thirteen and Taub in solving a diagnostic mystery, and scenes of House staying at Wilson's (like the resurrected Oscar and Felix they truly are), learning to cook in order to try to forget about his worsening leg pain.


Though some elements of the old, House-ian formula still exist, like the inclusion of several diagnostic wrong turns and the familiar pacing of the unfolding medical mystery, with House out of the hospital and Foreman in charge of the team, the show is fundamentally changed.

And yet, despite its lacking these key components, this episode is House back to full fighting form. It is funny and smart; but more than that it is gleeful. Hugh Laurie is enjoying himself, sure of his footing, relishing his return to a less sad House who is back to mirthfully tricking Wilson and torturing Cuddy. Meanwhile, Foreman's cataclysmic selfishness and arrogance continues to be a surprise. And Cuddy and House's shy, honest sexual chemistry is sweetly touching.

Overall, the episode shows that problematic but intriguing characters alongside a juicy medical mystery -- everything that makes House great -- will return again. And when House closes the episode by revealing his plan to return to being a diagnostician at the hospital, it seems like the rightful progression of the show's return to full strength.

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