Simple Explanation

Season 5, Episode 20, Aired
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Episode Summary

The team deals with an older woman who has been tending to her dying husband but is stricken down with an unknown disease that threatens to kill her before her husband. However, they must overcome their own emotions when a tragedy strikes one of their members.
8.6
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Fan Episode Reviews (54)

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  • Great episode. In every possible way.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By nameless1822, Jan 07, 2011 Report Abuse
    I'm a big fan of House. I've watched it since the beginning but I've never seen such a surprising, shocking and moving episode. One big factor is Kutner's suicide, obviously. Many people criticise it because it is seemingly random and pointless. Sure, Kal Penn has gone to work at the white house, but the writers planned his exit very neatly: if you look closely at the episodes preceding this one ("The Social Contract", "Here Kitty", "Locked In"), even since the beginning of the season, you can see Kutner gradually getting more isolated, without any of the other doctors noticing. This makes it a perfectly believable death.

    The patient is also very interesting, and it goes well with the sad storyline and lighting the episode is based on. I thought the last scene (funeral) was the best House episode ending EVER. The music is sad and beautiful, the reactions of the other characters to the death are very moving: Wilson, Cuddy, Cameron and Chase are devastated and don't say a word, Thirteen and Foreman's relationship is threatened, but the most dramatic reaction is Taub, who seemingly doesn't care, but breaks down at the end and sobs violently in a tearjerking scene. House's fascination for the suicide is also intriguing and very House-ish. And in the very last image where he finds out, with the sad picture of Kutner, that Lawrence Kutner was as miserable as him, but that everyone was too busy with their own problems to notice, and that their lack of help cost him his life. This is one of the best House episodes ever. It made me have tears in my eyes, which I never have in front of movies, even less in front of TV shows.

    Wow, simply wow. And Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard's performances in this episode are staggering. WOW.moreless

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    2 0

  • I'm getting ready to bail on this show (spoiler below)

    4.0
    "Poor"
    By alexthecatt, May 31, 2010 Report Abuse
    What a lame and lazy way to write Kutner off the show, by having him commit suicide for no apparent reason. When it was over, my wife said, "Well, he must have wanted off the show"... and she was right. Now it is well known he is going to work for Obama.

    Well, good for him, but think of a more creative way for him to leave. Anyone else on the show would have a reason for suicide, but not him. And, I get their point; sometimes you never know.

    The reality is, of the new crop of doctors, Kutner was the only likable one, and the only good actor of the bunch. This show was much stronger (and better) with the original doctors, two of which pop up in cameos every so often. Now we're stuck with Foreman, 13, and Taub full-time.

    Still, it would have been much better if it turned out to be a homicide, as House suspected.moreless

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    14 10

  • Sloppy, disappointed, how ever you look at it this episode was a let down to its own standards.

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    By KITTvsKARR, May 31, 2010 Report Abuse
    In this episode a member of the medical staff commits suicide, and I assure you there is no big build up to it. Kutner commits suicide and house is avoiding the whole mess by thinking it was a murder. Now this episode could have gone an easy route with Kal Penn's leaving of the show and not have done this suicide route. It was absolutely sloppy, there had bin no build up past or present on the show to lead you up to this so there is no emotion connection to drag you in. Plus there was a case of love or death in this mess, which I did not catch since I was all tangled up with what had happened in the beginning. I was hoping for Kutner's death to be in the end of the episode to make you sit there and ask yourself what next what will the team feel. Sadly they did not do that and failed at all levels to grasps the real picture of suicide. I have committed an hour of my life to this show and I am quit disappointed at this, I was hoping for much much much better script writing and was let down.moreless

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    5 12

  • Goodbye Kutner, R.I.P

    10
    "Perfect"
    By seriesguy3998, Jan 06, 2010 Report Abuse
    House M.D
    Season 5
    Episode 20: Simple Explanation
    The team treat an elder woman who gets ill while her husband is dying. Thirteen and Foreman go to Kutner's place and find him dead with a gun shot on his head by his own hand. House suspects it was murder.

    Excellent episode. So full of drama, strong writting. House suspects murder, he thinks he missed something, but Wilson thinks that House doesnt want to know what he missed but why he missed it. Taub, the one that seems the least shaken by Kutner's death, at the end appearrs crying. Kutner had said that he considered Taub a good friend. Thirteen seemed pretty shaken. Foreman took some days off. House's old team, Cuddy and Wilson seem shaken too. House didnt seem to be affected, but at the end he appeared to me that he was. Excellent episode.moreless

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    2 0

  • Goodbye to one member of the team.......

    10
    "Perfect"
    By vicky24c, Dec 06, 2009 Report Abuse
    In this episode of House, the following happens. We open with a man dying, and as he says his last goodbyes to his wife, her airways close up and there is no one around to help her. When Kutner doesn't turn up for work, 13 and Foreman got o his apartment. When they get there, they discover his body lying on the floor with a gun next to him. Kutner has killed himself, and it's too late to save him. While still working on the patient, 13, Foreman and House go to see Kutner's adoptive parents, to pass on their respects. But of course House says the wrong thing and leaves, to return to the hospital. Soon after visiting Kutner's apartment, House believes that he did not commit suicide, but was in fact murdered. Soon the patient takes some drugs in order to kill herself, which results in her failing liver, becoming worse and therefore she needs a transplant in 24 hours or she will die. So the only thing that will work is her husband's liver, but he will have to die on the table for it to work. Cameron goes to see the husband, and she manages to talk him into it. But she soon thinks that there maybe something else wrong with him and that he may not have cancer. Soon house runs a test on him, and we learn that he does not have cancer, but a mould infection, which they can treat. But says he doesn't want treatment, he would rather save his wife instead. Soon the team learn that she lied about where she went on vacation and that was the key to her true condition. But it comes too late and she now has less than a few hours to live. Everyone heads to Kutner's funeral. We then see that everyone is there at the funeral, to say their last goodbyes to Kutner, but of course House isn't there, and nor is Talb (who is still with the dying patient and her husband). At the end of the episode we see Talb crying in the hospital, and House holding a picture of Kutner, in which Kutner looks upset. This is where House finally begins to believe that Kutner did in fact kill himself.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • As per information at Kutner's Fox web page, Kutner is 33 during the events of this episode. However, when Foreman was calling the EMTs from Kutner's apartment, he said, "Male, 28 year-old." Edit
    • Trivia: Per the Fox web site, the events of this episode begin on or about April 2, 2009. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Kal Penn asked to be written out of the show because he accepted a job at the White House. Edit
    • International Airdates: Australia: April 22, 2009 on Network TEN Latin America: May 14, 2009 on Universal Channel Denmark: August 15, 2009 on Kanal 4 Poland: November 5, 2009 on TVP2 The Netherlands: November 5, 2009 on SBS6 Germany: November 17, 2009 on RTL Slovakia: December 3, 2009 on STV1 Czech Republic: March 31, 2010 on TV Nova Sweden: September 21, 2010 on TV4 Edit
    • The episode ends with a message from www.nami.org (the National Alliance on Mental Illness), and a phone number (1-800-273-TALK) to call if someone is in crisis and thinking about suicide. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Thirteen: She claims he got stronger as soon as she stopped breathing. Taub: The mind can heal the body. Seeing his wife in distress might actually have slowed down his death. House: Or he just had an adrenaline surge when he saw his chance to hit the singles' market. Edit
    • Dr. Foreman: His parents were shot right in front of him. House: Parents are ancient history. Dr. Foreman: Not to someone who actually cares. Edit
    • Dr. Cuddy: I'm sorry. I've hired a grief counselor, whom I'm sure none of you will see. And I'm offering time off, which I'm sure none of you will take, but just know it's available. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • House: Did you deduce that by taking off your sunglasses to the strains of a Who song. This is a reference to a common plot device seen on the CBS series CSI: Miami in which the character Horatio Caine (portrayed by David Caruso) deduces something about a crime and removes or puts on his sunglasses as the main title theme Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who begins. Edit

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Season 5 Episodes

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Ep 24
Both Sides Now
Ep 23
Under My Skin
Ep 22
House Divided
Ep 21
Saviors
Ep 20
Simple Explanation
Ep 19
Locked In
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Here Kitty
Ep 17
The Social Contract
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The Softer Side
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Unfaithful
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The Greater Good
Ep 13
Big Baby
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Painless
Ep 11
Joy to the World
Ep 10
Let Them Eat Cake
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Last Resort
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