For me personally, one of the worst side effects of the writers’ strike has been the lack of fresh “House’ episodes. No other series is so consistently smart, witty, and thought-provoking. On tonight’s episode, I will once again able to revel in the sharp barbs of Gregory House as—in typical House fashion—hislatest medical mystery centers around the unusual premise of someone being too nice. Only the acerbic House could consider being too nice a warning sign of a serious medical disorder, but undoubtedly he will be found correct before the episode is over.

Which is exactly what continues to make him the perfect Doubting Thomas for a postmodern age. For all of his atheistic murmurings, House still never stops making the connection between the body and the spirit when it comes to illness and suffering, even as he continues to wrestle with his own physical and emotional demons. All of which provides the audience a much-needed catharsis of epically tragic Greek proportions.