Any fan of House (and subsequently, Hugh Laurie) should be either thoroughly upset right now or deeply proud of what happened on the show last night, and if you don’t know or haven’t seen it yet and are a stickler for spoilers, you should probably go to a different website.
For five years, House MD has been a mixture of drama, humour, and medicine. The title character is a lonely curmudgeon who won’t admit he’s lonely and makes others miserable with his misery. Thankfully he saves hundreds of lives otherwise he’d be kicked to the curb already, he and his vicodin addiction. He always finds a way to change everyone’s mind about him in the end, he always figures out the one thing about a patient that can save their life or knows how to press the right buttons to get them to confess something that could change their lives as well as save it.
Some people are tired of this equation and just want him to suck it up and accept happiness for a change and be a human being. Not me. I like the grumpy doctor and all his quirks and idiosyncracies, and I like what he brings out in his employees and co-workers. He not only makes them realize what it is to be a good doctor and be dedicated to your patients, but he makes them think about themselves. He pushes their buttons, sometimes too far, but it forces them out of their comfort zone and sometimes it actually helps. There’s no denying that House’s ability to detect even the smallest change in clothing or demeanor and be able to interpret it is uncanny.
Last night’s episode, “Simple Explanation”, threw everyone at Princeton Plainsboro a curve-ball. The absence of Dr. Kutner during the first half of the episode was very unsettling, especially if you heard the rumours about a major character being killed off. A few weeks ago I heard about the possibility of Kutner committing suicide and had to just laugh it off. No way would he do that, he’s way to easy going and carefree to do something so irrational and pointless. Right? Right‽
Wrong.
No one knows why he did it, there was no note and no apparent signs that he was going to or was even thinking about it. House, 13, Foreman and Taub worked with him every day and he was just as geeky and optimistic as ever, every episode. Not even an inkling of doubt or trepidation seemed to cross his face in front of his colleagues and certainly not his adopted parents. And yet, as soon as Foreteen walked into his apartment you knew… you just knew, and you didn’t want it to be true.
Lawrence Kutner had something dark brooding inside of him, bubbling and churning, ever since he saw his parents murdered in front of him at a young age. And I’m sure he briefly thought about doing a Bruce Wayne and fighting the kind of bad guys that kill innocent people, but luckily he decided on becoming a doctor, probably inspired by a chemistry set his adopted parents gave him as a kid. He hid it well, like most people who have suffered a tragedy, and he tricked his friends and colleagues, and perhaps for a little while even himself, that he was just fine.
It was very sad and very upsetting. Why Kutner? Why did he have to go? Why not Taub, the adulterer? Why not 13, the Huntington’s sufferer? Hell, why not even Wilson, still mourning the loss of his girlfriend Amber (aka Cut-throat Bitch) a year later? None of it makes sense, and that bothers Dr. Gregory House. And that’s why is had to be Kutner.
Though he will always be known as Kumar to me, Kal Penn had a very, very good reason for wanting to end his tenure on the set of House, though he didn’t know they were going to kill his character he does agree it seemed like the right thing to do. His acting career will be put on hold indefinitely, while he pursues one of the interests that has stuck with him since he was a teenager. So even though this may mean no more “Harold & Kumar” movies, it does mean something else: Kal Penn is an Obama fanboy.
Currently there is a memorial up on the Fox website for Dr. Kutner, with a video of Kutner moments that make you laugh, and some very touching memos from each of his fellow doctors written on personalized memo pads. Try not to sniffle too much, and let’s hope the next episode will be able to bring us all some answers and perhaps some resolve, and if we’re lucky, some laughs.
