"Massage Therapy" offered little depth to a show that typically dives deep. The themes for tonight's episode have been done before and it would have been refreshing to see something other than the "you have to make sacrifices to make relationships work" overall theme. This theme has cropped up in other episodes: season 6's "Moving the Chains" and "Ignorance is Bliss" and season 2's "Need to Know" just to name a few. So why is this one special? Or is it? To be fair, this theme has popped up and House has never been able to fully apply it to his own life. In "Massage Therapy," he's able to use what he learns from his patient and move forward. However, this is now two weeks in a row where something in the episode hasn't thrilled me. It has nothing to do with the acting, which is consistently stellar, but this week's POTW storyline in conjunction with House and Cuddy's scenes just didn't tie together in as cohesive of a way as this series is capable of, and that's where the episode lost me. 

POTW 

Last week's POTW was different and interesting. This week's bored me. Really?  Schizophrenia? And House and his team couldn't have figured that out? I had a hard time believing that a diagnosis like that would fly right under the radar. Brings to mind the theme of "Occam's Razor," (an episode of the show from the first season): The simplest explanation is usually the right one. And while the idea of coincidence typically is ignored, wouldn't a simple test have done the trick at the beginning of the diagnostic process? Maybe I'm being too hard on the episode, but really, truly, I have the highest standards when it comes to this show, so if they are not met, a rather negative review is born. Jenny, Margaret, whatever her name was would have been more compelling if I had some sympathy for her. Last week's teaser gave us some insight into Alice Tanner's life, so we immediately felt for her. This week, it was a struggle to empathize with what's-her-name.

Chase's Clooney Syndrome

The main thing that's interesting about Chase's hiring of the pretty fellow is that he is in denial about wanting to sleep with her. Well, not denial, but he continues trying to convince everyone else that he doesn't want to sleep with her. Nice parallel to House's reason for hiring Cameron in the pilot: "You look good." Chase and Foreman's stairwell exchange was interesting, but only on Chase's end. If the writers don't give Boreman an interesting storyline soon, he's as good as useless on the show, minus his eye-candy status. Granted, the whole idea of Foreman being boring is in character, but how interesting is that for us after seven seasons?  Turn Foreman up to 11 and get him to do something other than act arrogantly. I'm with House -- why hire someone and then sleep with her? So he can make a connection that feels more real than a one-night stand with someone who loves his Aussie accent.

Relationships

House wakes up, smiles and puts his hand down on the other side of the bed to feel for Cuddy. Surprise, she's gone! Back in August, I predicted that they would parallel House's feel for Cuddy in bed during season 5's finale "Both Sides Now." It didn't happen in the premiere, but twice during "Massage Therapy" did House reach for Cuddy only to find an empty spot on the bed next to him. The main enjoyment I got out of this episode were the House and Cuddy interactions. The two of them are working on themselves and growing. It's a process and both of them have a long way to go in order to trust each other. Their conversation in House's office and in Cuddy's demonstrated that both of them desperately want this to work. Their checking in with one another and realization that their relationship is going from casual to serious is a big step, and they're taking it together. House and Cuddy's honesty with one another has been mature, albeit a bit unnerving as a House fan. Granted, House has worked his way to this level of honesty, but the fact that he's not deflecting is going against the tradition of the show and does take some getting used to.

The Funny

While the POTW was lacking for me this week, the humor wasn't. Of course House's masseuse would be a hooker, and House would be her former client. The one-liners in this episode were strong and definitely got a few laughs from me in between my harsh judgment of the predictably schizophrenic patient and equally harsh judgment of a rather random bike-buying Hilson scene. House's exposure of Chase and his Oedipus complex were good, but seriously dulled by the unmemorable quality of another what's-her-face. Kelly something?  Shameron? That girl that smoked a cigarette? All these non-fellows better be setting up a much more worthy Amber Tamblyn.