(S06E16) "I'm going to be dead in a few hours. Your secrets couldn't be safer, unless you're keeping them from yourself." - Nash to House

'House' entered into one of television's most overused cliches last night: the "randomly stuck together somewhere plot line." It's happened so many times that attempting to count all of them would require a NASA scientist, a team of fact checkers and one of those slick-looking slide rules that only a handful of people left in the universe know how to use.

This time, the team gets separated into different parts of the hospital during a lock down. Each has their own interesting stories to tell as they whittle away the hours, and each have varying degrees of success.

(S06E15) I couldn't find a really good quote to transcribe or even characterize this week's episode, because the whole turn of events are a jumbled lump of clay in my head.

Normally, a show that goes by so fast that I need a drag chute just to figure out what's going on would turn me away from it, but the dramatic tension that 'House' creates kept me velcroed in front of it all the way to the end.

Sure my head still hurts from trying to understand the science of it all, but the dramatic and even comedic angles makes for some fine-tasting Advil.

Interfering in a colleague's life? Check. Sending dirty text messages to colleague's wife? Check. Telling colleague to trust him? Check.

That's pretty much how it went down tonight on 'House' (Mon., 8PM ET on Fox), when House confiscated Taub's phone and sexted his wife with it. If it has to do with being seedy and underhanded, you can bet Dr. House is onboard.

"Trust me, this is gonna help," House tells a frustrated Taub, who's trying to grab the phone away from him. We're pretty sure Taub knows just as well as we do that trusting House is the last thing he should do. Especially since House has had soooo much success in his own personal life.

Watch the video after the jump.

(S06E07) "I'm living my life. For the first time, I'm not going to change that because of how it might affect him -- or you." -- Cuddy to Wilson, who asked her what she sees in Lucas

I just want to shove House and Cuddy into a room together and let them figure out their relationship. It's clear that even though she's trying to be happy in her current relationship, she just can't get House out of her head, no matter how much she declares that she has or is going to.

I feel for her, because once they end up getting together -- if they don't by the time the series ends, I'll be ticked -- she'll have a long road ahead of her. Or not. People change. There's a good heart beating inside House's damaged psyche. It could work.

(S5E13) "What's going on with everyone today?" -Kutner
"It involves House, Foreman and Thirteen which means it's either dumb, dangerous or tragic..."-Taub

Is House actually becoming a nice guy? One of the most interesting things about this episode was the absence of his trademark jerkiness. Whether he was dealing with an upset Cuddy or trying his best to counsel a disbelieving Foreman, House not only seemed sympathetic, but empathetic as well. I was surprised by the genuine concern he showed for Thirteen and Foreman during the blindness scare and his willingness to be Cuddy's whipping boy.

Again, the patient of the week wasn't very memorable to me. I find myself not even really caring about them aside from how their illness will reflect the doctor's personal problems. That conceit has gotten so obvious it's hard too look past it and see the patient's as real people who are suffering. Is anyone else having this problem?

(S05E12) Last spring, I went to hear Ira Glass give a talk about his popular NPR radio (and now TV) show This American Life. He outlined the formula for the show's success, and he also talked about House. Websites have documented the formula for every episode: Every episode is essentially the same. So, why does it work every time? Last night, I was hooked by Emmy the trainer rolling down stairs, and I was then hooked by the discovery of her surgery. I know that every single diagnosis and test and treatment is going to be bunk until the big, strange reveal at the end. However, it's almost like I am the same as House with my need to know what that weird reveal is going to be.

(S04E16) "Her heart won't stop racing. No idea what's causing it." Doctor in inferior hospital.
"Are you sure it wasn't the bus that landed on her?" House.

The season finale of House packed a wallop. I let my Tivo get ahead of my watching it so I wouldn't have to see the commercials, and I had barely begun the episode when my next-door neighbor burst into my living room exclaiming, "Have you seen House???" We barely had time to hit the pause button while yelling at her to leave and leave quickly without saying anything. But that is the kind of impact this kind of episode has. The season finale, which started last week, covered a bus-load of big themes: fear, wish-fulfillment, anger, risk-taking, the nature of friendship, remorse, and love. The episode was written by four writers, including producer David Foster: that was one of my first clues that this episode was going to be significant. They called in the big guns.

Three out, five in. With the resignations of Doctors Eric Foreman and Alison Cameron and the firing of Doctor Robert Chase during the third season finale of House there isn't really anyone that Gregory House can abuse anymore. Don't despair, though, because five new actors are joining the cast of the FOX medical procedural for House to play with like a puppy's chew toy mold into fine healers.

Being added for the fourth season (which begins on September 25th) are Olivia Wilde (The Black Donnellys), Kal Penn (24, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle), Peter Jacobson (The Starter Wife, Transformers), Anne Dudek (Big Day, Bones) and Edi Gathegi (Lincoln Heights). They will all be in recurring roles for a undetermined amount of episodes; however, I have a feeling if one of their characters clicks with the viewing public they may be promoted to full-time status.