House: “Is That The Statutory Period For Soul-sucking?”
April 21, 2010 by Cameron Cubbison
Filed under Feature, Television
That’s the question that House asks Samantha in response to her defensive statement that it has been ten years since she broke Wilson’s heart. Samantha is one of Wilson’s fabled ex-wives, and now, thanks to the bastard…er, ah, I mean magic…that is social networking sites online, the two have reconnected and are dating again. House is determined to stop this train- wreck-waiting-to-happen before it derails. This is his main concern this week, and he fishes deep into his bag of tricks.
His other concern is a patient named William who, along with a group of people with far too much time on their hands, spends his weekends pretending to be a knight. Basically, this group’s whole life is a Renaissance Fair. William is in love with the king’s maiden Shannon, and after fighting a dude in black armor for her honor, he took a tumble and his eyes turned demon red. Uh oh. William won’t make a play for Shannon because he claims to follow the knight’s chivalric code and won’t betray the king. But she sits by his hospital bedside nonstop, and the king never shows. There’s clearly a mutual thing between these two, though William won’t do anything about it. Plus now he’s too busy dying anyway. The highlight of the case is seeing House and Thirteen don Elizabethan garb and investigate the fairgrounds for environmental toxins. House also plays with a sword.
As for the thing with Samantha, House does everything in his power to get her out of the picture. When invited by Wilson to go to dinner with him and Samantha, House brings a date: a transvestite hooker. In his own perverse way, House is being selfless here; he’s sticking up for his friend in the only way he knows how. He means well, even if his efforts are misguided. But I think he may be right about Samantha. She’s played by Cynthia Watros, who plays Libby on Lost. She’s creepy on that show, and I don’t trust her here either.
The best scene in the episode is when House cooks dinner for Wilson and Samantha, purporting the effort to be an olive branch. But as soon as Wilson leaves to go to the bathroom, he turns on a dime and throws down the gauntlet. He tells Samantha that he will outlast her, and basically threatens to kick her ass if she steps out of line. Laurie nails it—House’s almost pathological, devious mind, his unrivaled ability to manipulate and turn on a dime.
That’s about it. None of the other characters do anything of note. It’s an entertaining but more or less unremarkable episode.
For another take on this week’s episode, check out A Knight’s Tale by Stephanie Jaar.
Season 6, Episode 17: Knight Fall (originally aired April 19, 2010)
For more on House, click here.
Mondays 8/7c on FOX
Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and IMDbPro.
