House

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This truly was a harrowing episode, from the shock suicide of Kutner, to the eerie tone and lighting of the whole episode.



I loved Kutner's character- he was originally one of my favourites of the newbies, and I was sad to see him go. Good luck to the actor Kal Penn, who is now working for President Obamma.



The need for House to solve the puzzle also seemed obsessive, which is why I think he tried to believe Kutner was murdered- he couldn't accept not knowing why Kutner did what he did. Its also interesting how it effects the rest of the team; Taub seemingly uncaring (until the end of the episode), and Foreman shutting out Thirteen to try and deal with it alone.



The patient of the week had quite an interesting story as well, but it nevertheless didn't seem as important to the rest of the episode and Kutners suicide.



The funeral scene was moving, especially how Taub broke down at the end, and House seeing a picture of a sad Kutner. The song, "Lose You" by Pete Yorn, is also very beautiful.



Overall, a difficult to watch but amazingly written episode. It certainly gives a lot of options of whats going to happen as the Season approaches it finale.

I can't believe they killed off the best out of the newbies! He was the happy-go-lucky character but I think thats what made it more unbelievable. It was truly shocking that he shot himself and seeing Foreteen try and revive him, sliding in a pool of his blood was horrifying. The mood and tone of this scene and the rest of the episode which is emphasised by the eerie lighting throughout. But from then the POTW and the aftermath of Kutner's death is constantly fighting for the crown of "Plot A".



The writers trying to deal with both in 45 minutes is virtually impossible and they struggled to do that hence the 9.1 score. Although the funeral scene was moving and Taub finally breakng down was touching, I feel if Foreteen had discovered him towards the end and made it continue onto another episode therefore creating "Simple Explanation, Part 2" it would have been more shocking. Like in Season 2 when Foreman got sick and last season when Amber got sick, they were two parters. Sow why doesnt Kutner deserve a two parter. Plus the POTW would have meant more to us as it had the potential. House's harsh words about the reason for Kutner's death towards his parents was typical House. The need to solve every puzzle is mandatory for him hence why he thinks Kutner was murdered. I think the end where we see a gloomy photograph of Kutner is satisfying for now but I will need to know the real reason behind his suicide!

I started watching this episode as any House's, I was thrilled about it, even, at a first glance, it seemed to be some funny problem regarding Kutner about his absence on his job that day, but, was very shocking and/or suprising what 13 found, not even surprising enough to found Kutner, but, found him completely dead, there weren't no chance for CPR or anything...... bigger yet, found to be a suicide success for Kutner.... now, as a viewer and fan of this great show, pumped out a question regarding the reason why producer and writers killed Kutner so fast and so dramatic, because, even if I missed any kind of clue on the previous episode regarding mental state for Kutner, I think (first that they never needed to kill Kutner) they should make that death more House's likeable, like, they should make him ill with an rare illness, or something like that, but I think the writers make a huge mistake on this episode, by its results

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. The Cutner death came out of left field and I found myself not caring for the characters. The actors did what they could, but it just didn't seem as powerful of a death to me as it would have been if it were Cameron / Chase. The scene with Thirteen and Foreman going to check on him at his apartment wasn't bad, but the House scene at hiw parents house was poorly done and I didnt like the writing for most of that scene.



The cases now (five seasons in) need to "wow" me in order to get a high score and I don't think a case has been amazing for a very very long time.

Of all the episodes of House I think that this one caught me the most off guard. Even before the episode aired I had read spoilers that a main character was going to die. Of course I formulated my opinion of I though it would be, and let me tell you I was dead wrong. The medical case in this episode is also interesting and brings its own twist to the episode. One of the things that I like most about this episode is that it portrays House and the other characters in a very different light, one that we haven't seen very much. As sad as I was watching this, I would have to say that I think it was an incredible episode.

The medical case is not the best one I've seen, but to be honest, this episode was clearly not intended to be a mind boggling medical challenge.



I have not read all reviews made thus far, and I'm sure the details were well covered. I will not go into the details here.



The death of Kutner took me by surprise. My first reaction was to believe that the actor, Kal Penn, had passed. During the whole episode, I could not think of any other reason why the character would be killed-off. I enjoyed, though brief it was, Kal's contribution to the show. Finding out now that he is changing career altogether was saddening. I certainly wish him the best in his new endeavor. The decision to kill off the character aside, another reviewer did mention this episode was " perhaps the most realistic depiction of the consequences of suicide that I have ever seen on television", and I would have to agree. The writers pulled all the stops. However we might think that House hit a new low by blaming the parents for Kutner's death, ultimately someone will more than likely blame them, and no one else could have done it better. When a suicide happens, there is enough blame to go around, and too often the parents get the blunt of it. But with respect to "blame", it also made me think twice about "knee jerk reactions" to events or situations. Without all the facts, which you can harldy ever hope to get them in the aftermath of a discovered suicide, it was premature - if not totally out of line - to direct blame in this case. As a character, IMHO, yes - Gregory House hit a new low. Writers did a great job, though I half expected the return of David Morse as a police officer to show up on the scene during one of the few of House's unauthorized visits to Kutner's apartment.

I don't know why they killed kutner but it seems like this has also sort of opened a place for a new person to join the team.



This episode has shown a different side of house for me because I would think he would react like Taub. But he was genuinely sad for Kutner. And not in the sense that he just wanted an answer because he didn't saw it coming but also because he did feel sad.



I want cameron and chase to come back! And please make foreman go away. I don't mind him but foreman and thirteen's relationship doesn't make any sense to me! :(

thank god for my wonderfull spectacular DVR! i absolutely love this episode. i usually watch house just to see hugh laurie, but he's not as appealing in this episode so i deffinately watch this to get a good cry out. the song lose you by pete yorn gets me every time! i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i love House! :]

I was very impressed with this episode of the show--ranking right up there with One Day, One Room for me in terms of the human element. It was a realistic range of reactions to a tragic event; the one thing I wish is that we'd seen more of Remy's (Thirteen) and Foreman's thoughts and feelings. You could tell that House was taking it badly, and very few of the people around him seemed to notice. Interesting. I hope that they find out the why of the suicide at some point and tell us about it; that would be intriguing indeed.



This episode was designed to cause a visceral emotional reaction, both in terms of the case being worked by the team and the tragedy that they had to deal with. I think that they succeeded well in both elements. The twinned scenarios blended together smoothly to give us something truly gut-wrenching. Well played.



My mother has an online friend that works for MSNBC. Apparently the actor that plays Kutner has a bit of a reputation for playing the prima donna and causing problems on the set. That might be part of the reason that this played out the way it did.



Overall, this episode definitely makes the top five for this series.

I have never known anyone who killed themselves ... but one of my ex-girlfriends lost her brother to a suicide.



It was much like this, no note, no indication of anything being wrong, it just happened straight out of the blue.



Her family was desperate for answers ... which they have never found.



This of course brings us to House. We weren't given any preamble to Kutner's suicide. We weren't given any clues that he might be about to kill himself. He just seemed like a pretty normal and likable kind of guy. The sort of person you probably work with ... and then he was dead.



Like House I was looking for answers ... I was thinking that something would be revealed, a clue ... anything that would give us some sort of closure.



Of course that never happened ... all we were left with was a sense of loss and confusion.



House avoided trying to tie up loose ends and for that some people will feel cheated ... but for me it was a brave decision by the writers to put us all in the same position as the actors. Not knowing why ... and perhaps never knowing why Kutner made the decision he did.

Why? Why did they need to kill a great character like Kutner this way? Suicide? I didn't see it coming at all. I didn't watch the promo and I didn't read spoilers so when I watch the episode I was pretty shocked by this tragic event.

The medical case is not interesting. But anyway it becomes better in the end, when the husband has to decide if die or not in order to say his wife. Of course the main story had to be Kutner's death. But the fact is that I didn't like that neither. No one was expecting his suicide and the way the other characters deal with their collegue's death is not just right in my point of view. I didn't like House trying to find so hardly an explanation insulting and blaming Kutner's parents. The only thing I appreciated has been Taub's grief.

Kutner was my favourite on the new team and he could leave the show in a better way, definitely. After all it would have been much more interesting and rational if it turned out his death was actually an homicide, as House thinked at first.

Kutner, DEAD?! I mean, come on! I bet all of you wanted it to be Taub or Foreman. They never brought up a decent enough storyline for Kutner and the best one they've got is his death? Seriously? I've enjoyed his funny personality from the get go and it is disappointing to see him die. His death was sudden and quite random. I loved how House was trying to prove that his death was a murder. I was kind of expecting some twist where the team actually ended up treating Kutner's murderer or something. The patient storyline was okay so I guess I enjoyed it. I found the darker lighting to be settling so thumbs up for Simple Explanation!

This episode was bittersweet for me. It had a lot of the things that has kept me watching house, but I also think that it was not the most clever way to pull Penn's character from the show. The end of last season where CTB dies was excellently constructed, and I just didn't see things the same way this time, since it was out of nowhere and for no apparent reason at all. I find myself quite upset at Penn for leaving the show although it is not my place to make light of his decisions. I really hope that they will clear things up about what happened in this episode next week instead of just leaving it at the fact that he killed himself.

The emotions running through the characters brings this episode to a head. Starting with Thirteen and Foreman's desperate attempts to resuscitate Kutner's body, ending in Taub's release of pent-up emotions and House's reflection on Kutner's invisible depression. I've got to say that Taub's hallway scene is the strongest I've seen on this show. What many fail to remember is that Kutner and Taub had a suicide conversation earlier this season when Taub admitted to an attempted pill overdose. Imagine the guilt he's going through thinking he could have prevented it all along. The most unexpected end to an uncanny character.

A few feelings....



This episode seems to remind us--as does much of the writing on House--just how fragile we and those around us are, and how much of an impact people have in and on our lives.



Kutner's suicide, more so than Amber's death has the potential to get through to House - to break down his defences. Amber died reaching out to House (for Wilson), but Kutner's death was--we are led to presume--the ultimate result of turning away from everyone - a reaction that has not yet had time or chance to fully develop in House. Not only was House left without a "why?", but (in my mind--and I am "in" my mind) he is suddenly confronted by the results of his actions, the silence of his pain. He is perhaps troubled for the first time by his choice to push and pull away from those that love him and try to love him. Perhaps if House had acted differently, perhaps if he hadn't built this wall around himself, perhaps then he would have noticed something or Kutner would have reached out to him. Perhaps we can see the portent of Kutner's suicide in "Wilson's Heart". Towards the end of this episode Kutner is the only character who is/has not drawn closer to someone by Amber's death (even "Thirteen" has drawn closer to the memory of her mother by testing herself for Huntingtons). He remains alone, watching tv. Perhaps his empathy for the suicide-attempt patient they later diagnose is yet another portent. Ultimately we are left with perhaps.... ultimately life goes on and House has to decide whether something is indeed better than nothing and if so, even if it only marginally so - to live resolutely with and in that knowlege and to let those around him into his life. Powerful stuff -especially in looking back.

We all have been reading that a character would die on House very soon, commit suicide. So many went on that it would be 13 or Taub, but went when reports started to come down that it would NOT be someone obvious, I figured it had to be Kutner.



This show was sad, strange, and unusual in many forms. There was no lead up to Kutner's death, so everyone is now at a lost. This should give the writers alot to play with over the last few episodes.



I wish they spent a little more time with Eddie (Meatloaf). I have always loved him as a entertainer.



Most of all, despite what House might say, this death has left him for a lost. Not only did he not see it coming, but now, he cannot figure it out. That alone made it a awesome show.

Great show, never saw this coming.

Did the actor want to leave the program?

They have changed House's students so much, what are they going to do about replacing this character?

Need to add a little more juice in the upcoming episodes and enhance some of the characters that they already have on this program.

House is a great actor, especially hiding his english accent and will he ever get his addiction to pain pills solved?

I know they did a episode where he went into withdrawal but a Dr. constantly taking pain pills is scary because it can be so true in real life.

This episode comes with a shock as promised. It was a shock for sure, but I guess one that is not really welcome. The producers/writers have killed off the one character left in House's team who is remotely watchable. It is a shame that we couldn't see the demise of the other ridiculously uncharismatic memebers of the show. My favourite would have been 13, or Foreman, or Taub, or best still all three of them. So in the end House loses his best doctor and the show loses its last ounce of dramatic credibility.

Oh, yeah and there was a patient with an obscure medical problem in between. But, as you know that was resolved without any complications.

I don't really know where the show is headed...maybe there is an uncertain future for this now formulaic show???

If you could rank 'Death' episode - this would be the 'creme de la creme'. It was special. Especially since I did not know Kal Penn was leaving the show but I could tell by the tone of the show that something was up. When they found him, when they gave up, I was shocked. I was like House trying to find meaning in his death - I even thought he was just Kutner and accidently blew his brains out. I loved this episode for a zillion reasons. It's the anti-killed off story. Suicide is really meaningless and that was the point of the episode. People can fight to live and feel pain and hurt forever or the take their life and their family and friends feel that pain and hurt forever.



The only suicide to have had this much impact on me was Dee's death in Battlestar Galactica. That was just weird. Understandable given the circumstances.



Kutner's death made no sense - which was perfect.

First off, I was quite touched by the actual case. The man willing to die for his wife. It was quite cool. And Meat Loaf... I was so excited to see him. I really love his songs and I was looking forward to seeing him acting. As to the death of Kutner... well, I knew he was gonna die because stupid me read the reviews before I saw the episode.

Still, it was mwah. No indication whatsoever, which is possible of course, but in a way not quite likely. I was more touched by the way House was acting. He was quite obviously hurt and in pain, and for some reason I 'enjoyed' seeing him as a human, half-decent guy. Still, to me, it was quite similar to Amber's death. Then, it was Wilson who was most affected and that's different. But it was another person 'close' to House and his team. It was at the end of a season, too. I was pretty touched by the way Taub acted, too. He seems to want to avoid the pain, because I think of all of them he was the closest to Kutner. He only let go in the end, when no one he knew was around him. Also liked the little extra touch of having Kutner cremated. It's an Indian ritual, so it's a nice way of going back to his roots, especially after being adopted and all.

I have got to say, I haven't still found the guts to write a review for the show itself, as it is my favorite show of all time and thus the review should be perfect. But interestingly, I just wasn't able not to say anything.

It is safe to say this is one of the greatest episodes of House. The story is just perfect. Although I have read somewhere that Kal Penn (Kutner's actor) requested to leave the show, the idea of his character committing suicide is simply phenomenal. The viewer could never see this coming as the characters of the show couldn't as well. Besides, how they managed to lead the story to Kutner's death was very clever. They showed a typical day at the hospital, (House treating clinic patients) and out of nowhere, Kutner's dead. In addition, it was very interesting to see how House deals with this situation and finally deciding this was not a suicide (which I really hope isn't, as it would make House also a detective!).

Another thing that makes this episode fantastic is the directing. The camera angles, the contrast are just spectacular. They didn't show the usual CPR on screen; instead they showed just the legs from the corner of the room which made the whole thing faceless, tragic and more real. On the other hand, just before Kutner dies, the contrast is like the usual, but after it we see a close-up of Hugh Laurie (focusing on his eyes with the room behind, blurred) with a very gray and dark contrast and then showing the individual faces of the team members (which the actors did good) and thus it made the experience more effective a hundred times.

In conclusion, I should say, this episode was one to move me and I can see a lot of good follow-up storylines that could happen.

I never really cared all that much about Kutner, at first I thought he was a one-dimensional character with no depth but he did have some good moments this season (peeing on House's chair, being superstitious and I thought it was kind of touching the way he told Taub they were friends).

If this show is good at anything is killing off characters. I loved how everything went dark right after they found the body and I loved the way House dealt with the tragedy (trying to distance himself by saying it wasn't his loss, pointing fingers, treating the death like a puzzle). He was so transparent.

As to why he killed himself I'm thinking he didn't feel the people around him valued his intelligence or him as a person (Foreman telling him House is always smarter than him, House telling him the same about 13 and Foreman), but maybe I'm just projecting.

Kutner killed himself because Penn wanted to leave the show, that's the simple explanation.

I had missed the fact that Kal Penn had already been signed up by Obahma, I had heard that someone was 'for the chop' but I ignored it so that it wouldn't spoil the surprise but when it eventually came - Kutner?, seriously?



It could have been almost anyone else - think about it - we could loose any of the other characters and the show would go on ( just as it will without Kutner ) but I am sorry to see such a nice man leave this 'family' of characters, we will miss him.



And as for Meatloaf - the least they could do is give him another slot next season, he deserves it !

Well pretty much this episode left me breathless. It had so much powerful scenes. I was shocked. The promo definitely lived up to it's promotional features? An episode that comes along and changes everything. Did Kutner commit suicide or did someone murder him? That's right. Kutner dies, it is so unexpected. I liked how Thirteen shows how much she cares. the big powerful scene when she was trying to save Kutner, there was blood all over her face. You know who really should be killed off or should get fired. That's TAUB. He is so freaking annoying. I want to literally get a pistol and shoot myself every time his scene goes on. he is such a jerk. He cheats on his wife. And doesn't care about Kutner's death. Ouch.

Cutner to be killed off like this, it was so shocking and unexpected! There were the rumours around of a character being killed off but I never expected it to be Cutner. And suicide? For no apparent reason... Perhaps House is right and in the next episodes it turns out to be murder. Or perhaps it was just House reverting to his only method of enduring and understanding things, scientific, logical analysis. Perhaps the pain and guilt he feels are too great and he knows he can't deal with it, so he doesn't give in to the emotions, in order not to fall into that bottomless pit. Either way I'm gonna miss Cutner very much, he was so amazing! In my opinion it was a complete and total mistake to kill him off.



My disagreeing with the fact doesn't deduct from this being one of the best epis in the series, overly emotional for sure, the tears coming in freely and especially towards the end where the funeral takes place, the emotions are just overwhelming and you can't help but cry. Wilson, Cuddy, the team, Cameron and Chase, noone can follow House in his lonely, painful crusade to discover the truth behind appearances. However good friends they are to him when he presents the murder theory everyone leaves him out to dry, treating him as someone in denial of his own grief. Are they right or are they being unfair to House, not giving him the benefit of a doubt? I would say the latter, I believe House has chosen this method to go through life not simply because he is afraid to display his emotions (though that may certainly be a factor), but mainly because he doesn't want to see things through illusions, and needs to get the real picture for everything. But that is just my opinion and apart from it, House is certainly full of guilt for Cutner's death, and is once again trapped in his inability to communicate his emotions to other people. I just don't think that's the reason why he investigates the case.



Love, lies, self-sacrifice, understanding, betrayal, companionship, loneliness... All these things come to the surface and each character depicts a different attitude towards pain. Wow, what an episode...!