Damned If You Do

Elizabeth Mitchell ("Lost", 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, The Santa Clause 2) plays Sister Mary Augustine, who came in with what looked like a simple allergic reaction.

The whole issue of nuns, belief in God, and belief that House may make mistakes comes up at various times.

What was interesting was the fact that the solution came in the patient's past life. The initial story was not the whole truth as it usually isn't Everybody lies, as House always says. Once the lie is exposed, then a solution is found.

Faith may be a wonderful thing, but reality is what gets us through life.

At some point, religion ends up being being discussed in most hospital shows, usually through a minor character (James Cromwell's priest in ER, the religious nurse in Scrubs). House is no exception, only this time the subject is closely linked to the medical science, a contradiction that makes for an utterly fascinating watch.

The diagnostic case is that of a nun (Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell) seemingly suffering from an allergy of some kind. When she doesn't respond to treatments, but instead gets worse as time passes, the enigma becomes a direct confrontation between the nun's spirituality and House's belief that he has a better chance of saving her life than any higher power that might be.

The topic of faith provides interesting insight into the character of House, who has his own set of beliefs - chiefly the "everyone lies" mantra, which plays an important part in the episode's outcome - and comes off as a very complex man beneath the misanthropic mask he wears at work. Mitchell is a nice contrast to that attitude, and their interactions are the emotional and philosophical core of a story that manages to go beyond its formulaic plotting to tackle something deeper, and does so with great care.

Every time a nun gets a rash they think its stigmata. Like a moth to a burning bush.

This episode is a taste of House's ongoing battle with religion. As a man of science, he believe in only the empirical evidence of life's cruel nature. However, many of his patients (and coworkers) generally believe in a higher power if not a guiding grace. This makes a lot of sense when you're in a hospital and death pollutes the air while the living are made to grapple with the seemingly random suffering of others. Not to House. So he goes out of his way to not just battle religion undermining science but to just demonize the whole thing.

Again its early days for the show and they haven't had House launch a full on offensive against Christ yet. You get a fun mystery surrounding some nice fake-outs that ends in a Nun suffering for her past.

House Quote: "Pretty much all the drugs I prescribe are addictive and dangerous. The difference with this one (cigarettes) is that it's completely legal."

I watched this episode not knowing that in the weirdest way this would be a Christmas episode of sorts. Now, I know it hardly touches the subject, but there is some Christmas aspects about it in a House sort of way. Well, with or without this being about Christmas, this episode has become one of my favorites because I like the way the show talks about faith and spirituality.

Do you wanna see an addict doctor tell a nun she is looking at him with lust? Do you wanna hear jokes about people hating nuns? Do you wanna hear a doctor call a nun a liar? Do you wanna see a nun looking at a couple at the beach like she is enjoing seeing people with beach clothes? Well i dont like to see my faith beeing mocked by some moronic show from those creeps from hollywood. I was disliking the show already and now im disgusted. I bet a show mocking muhammed wasnt made right? I guess Our Lord Jesus Christ line at the Cross fits here:FATHER FORGIVE THEM,CAUSE THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.