So by "three new episodes," it's tonight, Sunday and next Tuesday? Or does the Superbowl one not count?

A guess, based on the vertiginous opening shot: This episode is about odd points of view; you think you're looking at something but it's something else, or you can't tell what you're looking at at all.

Observation: That kid is tiny.

Bets on whether the kid's muscle cramp is related to the mom's electricity problems? ETA: Nope, lost that one.

I'd love it if fellows redux are not in fact fellows redux but instead three people in their own right. Still, I can't help noticing connections and echoes. In the pre-Secret Santa scene, we have more Kutner = Chase with the candy cane molestation oral fixation (also, yum, minty hot drink) and Taub = Wilson with the paraneoplastic theory. Everybody says Thirteen is the new Cameron (so it must be true!), but the connection isn't jumping out at me. Is it because she's so sure she's right (that there's a person who doesn't lie) and House is wrong and she can prove that humanity is good and soft and squishy and full of love? But no, because later in the elevator she tells Kutner she doesn't necessarily believe it, she just thinks it'll be interesting if she turns out to be right and overturns House's entire worldview. Cameron would have wanted to believe it.

"I have almost no knowledge of alien physiology." Please to be noting the almost. Classic.

Cafeteria scene:
- Wilson! Lookin' good. Hair's nicely cut and styled, whatever makeup did is flattering, and I don't care about the tie. I like the hideous ties.
- Did House just pay?! If so, congratulations to Wilson for extorting lunch out of him in exchange for spontaneous consults in poor lighting.
- Hee, House said "Boyish good looks." It's so true. Even though the comment came after an unflattering double-chin shot.

So, kids, today's theme is: lying. House neatly lays them out for us: in addition to regular lies, there are white lies ("to make other people feel better"), rationalizations ("to make ourselves feel better") and lies of omission. All of which he is intimately familiar with in his personal life and his line of work.

Previously, on Tonight's Theme: House claims that telling the truth and nothing but the truth to your kids constitutes abuse. Just say no to truth, kids.

More on the theme: Wilson asking, "Am I taking the 'truth is good' side?" It's nice to see his sarcasm make a comeback for more than one line an episode. And spare a nudge-wink for the RSL-is-a-theater-actor "did I miss the rehearsal" line.

A step further: House says, "They're better liars. More likely to get at the truth." So lying obscures the truth and lying is the only way to circumvent the other lies. How convenient for House's philosophy. And since the show is House's philosophy, the tactic works when Kutner and Foreman visit the one night stand's house.

Secret Santa distribution. The requisite Jew joke, Taub caves, House reads Kutner and Thirteen like a book, and Foreman knows better; just puts that slip right in his pocket. I guess that's why the old fellows had to go: they were developing immunity to House's tricks. Except House is getting agitated because the new crew's already showing the signs. Hence the attempt to stir up dissention.

The theme continues: "She's not lying. Her brain is lying." It took them a little too long to reach that conclusion; blindness + healthy eyes = neurological problem if you ask me, Foreman…

Yeah. A woman who sleeps with a few men = promiscuous = hysterical. Good thing it's too early for it to be the right diagnosis.

Reappearance of the white lies theme: House wants the daughter to lie to the mother for her own good, and she won't. He must be feeling all turned around; usually he's trying to get the people to stop lying.

Aw. Wilson's off doing – his own work? – and being a bit more standoffish than usual when House accosts him, and now House has to play (foosball) with himself. And loses. He needs his buddy.

*wince* Wilson gave Julie money for their anniversary? I'm not sure whether to pity him for not knowing her well enough or being in too frosty a situation to buy her a gift she'd like, or add another item to the "Wilson's a bastard" list because, seriously, money for an anniversary? And only enough for a sweater?

Foursome foosball scene:
Daughter: "He wants presents. It's sad."
Thirteen: "It's pathetic."
Kutner: "I'm still buying him a present."
It is sad. House does want presents, and he has very few friends who'll get him something. Wilson isn't even looking much like he's in a gift-giving mood today. (He totally still will, though, even as he presses his lips together in disapproval and a little self-hatred.) He's doing this all ostentatiously to hide that fact. After all, there were other ways he could've triggered infighting.
And note well, fellows: Kutner did warn you he'd do it.

House/Wilson/pizza OT3. Is this delayed from last season when House laughed in his face when Wilson wanted to hang out? Magical summer hiatus heals all pizza-shunning wounds?

YESSSSSSSSSS House/Cuddy bondage joke!

He's a Druid? Thought he was a Wiccan.

"The gift could be from Wilson."
"It's House."
How is that an answer? Okay, because House clearly did give it to himself, but still, Kutner, who walked in on the big House/Wilson fight a few weeks ago (or whenever it was in House time), sees that they're close enough that Wilson would get him a nice gift.

*looks up "donkey show"*
…Huh. That's… Huh.

"That's the kind of thing that happens when you mess with people's heads."
Oh, Wilson. Bitter much?

Wait—what?
"Where're we going?"
"Nowhere, I just know it hurts you."
WHAT? I was all set to point out that Wilson just gave House a bizarre once-over, and then he came out with that. Whoa. Something definitely happened; Wilson's not just sarcastic, he's sadistic today. I am intrigued, glad to see him getting a dig in for a change, a little disturbed, and a little turned on.

Wow, speaking of creepy: the patient makes an awesome Tragedy sad face. Look at the shape of her mouth there. Wow.

The girl wouldn't let her mom off the hook even when she was dying. I can just see Katie Jacobs and David Shore clapping each other's shoulders on their cleverness here, like with House not-hugging Andie in "Autopsy"; can just hear their DVD commentary now: "See, you think that finally the girl is going to cave and lie to her mom, but she doesn't! And House doesn't know what to do with that!"

House got a volume of Conan Doyle. And he is not altogether pleased. Ha. Ha. Ha.

OMG THE ANTLERS MADE IT INTO THE EPISODE YAY
"IT'S CHRISTMAS. IT'S A REINDEER." "IT'S A MOOSE. ON A JEW."
OMG THE WAGGLING IS EVEN MORE SUGGESTIVE IN MOTION
NO WORDS. MAKING "HEEEEEE" NOISES.

You know Wilson puts dreidels on his Christmas tree. I mean, on the Christmas tree in the lobby and in the Oncology ward.

Tying together of the lies/truth theme: It's a Christmas miracle; House saw the truth, and was awed by it.

"She did it even though she cared. She did it because she cared." While I suspect that careful thought will turn up previous episodes in which this very thing happened, it's still interesting to watch him work this through; anything that makes House question himself is interesting, especially when there's a chance it may make a difference, and especially (cue Sideshow Bob voice) when it's not something they've done a thousand times before, such as Is There An Afterlife And/Or Meaning To It All.

"Things don't care." Close enough to "things don't lie" to count as part of the theme?

THE BELLS OF CHRISTMAS EPIPHANY

And paraneoplastic wins the day again. What would this show do without it? More lupus and vasculitis, I guess. This way they can cut off Kutner just as he's suggesting the former.

Parallels revisited at the Christmas party:
- Chase talking to Kutner.
- Cameron talking to Thirteen.
- …Taub and Foreman? Hm.

House's singing voice isn't bad. HL's is lovely, but it seems he's having a little trouble letting go, probably because of the accent, or he's purposely holding himself back because he thinks it's right for the character.

Oh, the irony of House calling someone else "Scrooge." After tearing down all the decorations and rigging the Secret Santa. Yet even he with his best efforts could not dim the smiles of Cindy Lou Kutner his team.

Huh. House went to church. I guess this is about the meaning of life, God, the universe and everything after all. Could it be that he was moved enough by the girl's dedication to the truth despite pain that he's willing to give this a try again?

Oh. House went to church to see a prostitute. Oh, show.

Yet there is room left for ambiguity. He did go to church voluntarily; he didn't have to see the cute/creepy woman's nativity play, and I do think what happened convinced him to go, with her show as an excuse.

In conclusion: Donkey show. *facepalm*

In real conclusion: A pretty good episode; solid, consistently interesting, an engaging patient story, the old favorite "everybody lies" theme made a welcome reappearance, the new fellows got to develop a little bit more, everybody got to be competent, nobody was set on fire, and there were antlers. I can see why they decided to wait to air this until after the hiatus, hook people back in for what's left.


Oh, look, next week it's "the toughest case House has faced in his entire career." Again.