I was trying to spare you guys from the spoilers, but it’s basically all over the Internet today, so I’ll just go ahead and tell you: Last night, House killed off a main character, Dr. Lawrence Kutner, with a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. Why would they do something like that to such a beloved character?
The actor, Kal Penn — yeah, you know him from the Harold & Kumar flicks — asked to be released from his contract so he could move to D.C. and work for the Obama administration.
He “got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there, so I’m going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They’re basically the front door of the White House.”
He’ll be working in the Old Executive Office building and isn’t sure at this point how long the job will last. But it’s safe to say he’s taking a pay cut, notes Ausiello. “Oh, yeah. There’s not a lot of financial reward in these jobs,” says Penn. “But, obviously, the opportunity to serve in a capacity like this is an incredible honor.
This is a fantastic and brave choice for Kal, but there are a LOT of ways to let someone out of their contract. House just seems to be in the habit of killing them off. Their decision to give Kutner a suicide storyline is especially interesting — as the other characters mentioned, there was no outward sign that Kutner was particularly unhappy. It just came out of the blue — as suicides often do, I suppose.
We’ve got a thread going on about it here if you want to chime in.
I met Kal Lenn back in the fall when he came to our school and he was helping us campaign for Obama. He was really passionate about the work we did and I’m glad he gets to be a part of the Obama administration! Though I will miss his character on the show :(
whoops…Kal PENN
my bad
oh i LOVE him! and i loved his character on the show!
The suicide was a weak way to write him off. They killed off “Cutthroat Bitch”, probably because she was going to be doing Big Love, but to use death as a way to break yet another contract is just lame. It’s a creative show with talented writers. I truly believe they could have come up with something more interesting than this.
I really think it’s gonna end up as a murder. It’ll be a nice twist. If not murder, I think it will be better explained in later shows. I don’t see this being the end.
I literally just started watching House about two weeks ago… and it wasn’t even the regularly-scheduled ones. I watch the ones on USA. I’m always like three years late catching up to shit, and then they go and do this. But right on for Kal. What an amazing ambition to have actually panned out. *JEALOUS*
Well, he wasn’t going to be hanging around to do a gradual leave-taking so it had to sudden and with no more appearances of him at all. There’s only a handful of plausible mechanics for this. One is death and the other is getting on a bus(or plane or car, whatever) and leaving in the middle of the night for no reason.
Ha ha, I giggle when I think of ‘Taj’ declaring his need for some vaginny in the Van Wilder movie. Now he’s at the White House?
I’m excited. I think he’ll be amazing. And he’s got some nice credentials to back him up so Huzzah! To all those who are thinking about jumping on the hater-express.
If this is a real spoiler you really fucking pissed me off.
Even the fucking title ruined it for me.
Thanks a fucking lot.
I cried so hard watching that episode! I was caught completely off gaurd. I didn’t understand why they would do something like that. I absolutely LOVE Kal Penn and that character was a great one. But I’m happy that he is going on to do something that he is passionate about. Good for him! You go Kal!
I will definitely miss Kal Penn! It won’t be that enjoyable without him.
Maybe he left because he wanted to do something that meant something, rather than staying on a show with the same ridiculous plot line week after week. There are only so many mysterious illnesses that appear into hospitals on a yearly basis, and it’s entirely unrealistic for five doctors to devote so much time to a single case in today’s health care system.
oh Hi KiKi its not like its a show or anything ….. OBVIOUSly its not going to be completely realistic – your seriously going to compare it to real life healthcare systems? really? your ridiculous. house is a good show regardless. its been on for many years now sooo I think its doing alright. And good for Kumar. Its awesome hes doing this but I will also miss him.
oh and also DONKEYpunch… why the hell are you looking at this website or searching around about this if you havent seen it yet! get mad at gossip site……youre an idiot.
Oh, don’t mind him. He’s always here.
What’s interesting is that there were signs… perhaps not intentional, but it’s possible to read anything into anything. Having watched this season’s episodes pretty much back to back on iTunes, I saw Penn trying to reach out to Taub. He made several comments about how they were friends – he even pressed him on it. Taub didn’t really respond and it made me feel really bad for Kutner. After seeing him on the floor like that – and I hadn’t heard about this beforehand, I immediately flashed to those moments. Whether they were there intentionally or not, there were moments in the show that hinted at some sadness but could be easily missed just as with any real life suicide. I felt the episode handled this exit pretty well.
And, to add, because I saw something in those scenes with Taub, I found it fascinating that Taub was the one so willful in his denial about his feelings of guilt for not having seen something. That added to the brilliance, in my opinion.
Definitely BRendan… atleast someone is paying attention… why would it be that taub finally broke down in the end you know? when the wife and husband reached out to each other, he kisses her and she passes… the next scene after the funeral, taub is sitting, and just pores himself out… he realized what he had missed in my opinion
I just watched this episode last night, and although I knew what was going to happen, I cried my eyes out. I’m STILL sad! Kutner was a great character, and the dynamic he added to the show will be missed, hardcore. I agree with some of the earlier posts though, I hope this plotline with the suicide doesn’t end here; it seems they left it a bit open-ended. I don’t think it will end up being a murder though.
I just hope it doesn’t hurt the show…next week’s episode looks a bit crazy.
Actually, when I first saw this episode, all throughout when House was thinking it was murder, not suicide, I was actually suspecting Taub of commiting the murder. It was based on his reaction, or lack thereof, for much of the episode, as well as prior episodes where he was having his own job issues and being threatened with being fired only to have kutner show him up. When he broke down crying at the end, I suspected him less, but still wondered … was he crying in grief … or guilt?
seriously dude? ahahahha this HAS to be a joke. that’s the most ridiculously thing i’ve ever heard on one of these thread websites… and I’ve heard a lot
*most ridiculous thing
*ever read
I was so thrown off by what you read I made a million typos.. seriously ridiculous.
Honestly, I was sort of tired of the Kutner character. He acted a lot like House, but just not as cynical or mean. He always took a lot of chances, but a lot of times he would be wrong. And EVERY diagnoses started with a metaphor like House, but when Kutner did it, it just annoyed me. And I think Kal Penn is a good actor, so the fact that his character on this show annoyed me annoyed me even more. :) So, I’m sort of glad to see him go, even though it means he probably won’t be in any more movies or t.v. shows for a while. But at least he’ll be free to do other characters if he ever does go back to show business. Yea!
It seems interesting !
I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY DID THAT TO HIM!!!!!!!!! I know Im like a couple years late but, I just downloaded every season so far on my laptop and was doing a marathon. Any who… I always thought they would kill off 13 considering all the shit she had been through. They cant kill off Cuddi, House, or Wilson because that is what makes the show so great.
Thanks a LOT for posting this spoiler!! I know I’m years behind, but STILL!! :-(