House Season 8 Episode 9 Better Half – Review

I realize we’re well into January, but it’s only right I mention of my House New Year’s resolutions: I must be kinder to the series that I was once very much in love with. Instead of writing reviews in hopes that the episodes I watch will be like the old ones I treasured, I will try and watch the series as though the past doesn’t exist. I will not compare the new characters to former ones who I believe have more depth. And lastly, I will attempt serenity when the series may not measure up to my expectations.

After a two month hiatus, House returned tonight with “Better Half,” an episode dealing with a theme the series has delved into a number of times: sacrifice. Luckily, it’s a theme House almost always manages to explore well, and the show returned tonight on the right foot. Let’s start with the patient of the week: a man is his forties who has Alzheimer’s and a wife (Natalie) willing to stick by him through the most debilitating part of his disease: the forgetfulness, the mood swings, all of it. So what if she’s giving up rest, her sex life, and her career. Or is she?

Enter Alzheimer’s hot best friend who Natalie is clearly sleeping with. The show didn’t try to make it much of a mystery, which felt appropriate. Rather than attempting to trick us with a predictable outcome, we basically knew from the get-go that Natalie was sleeping with him. But the real question is if she’s in the wrong for doing it. Adams is offended, confirming that she is as straight-laced as she seems, but also clearly scarred from her husband’s infidelity. Chase appears more realistic, or cynical–take your pick–about Natalie’s situation. She’s sacrificing enough, says the Chase school of thought. But Adams believes that “Commitment is not conditional.”