Belief in God is an oft-revisited theme for House, M.D. and its atheist anti-hero (played with grace and depth by Hugh Laurie). From nuns and disillusioned priests to faith healers and the nature of miracles, the series has skewered religious hypocrisy and ritual, but has also asked some interesting questions about the nature of God and belief along the way.
“Small Sacrifices” features a fairly straightforward medical case to frame the real story of the episode, which explores the
nature of relationships: mortal and divine. What’s required to make a relationship work—and what’s not? One of those relationships is with God.
This week’s patient Ramon Silva (Kuno Becker) had long ago made a deal with God. He prayed that if his daughter, afflicted with glioblastoma—a terminal cancer, would be spared, he would each year pay for her life by nailing himself to the cross (literally) in homage. It’s a gruesome price to pay (and would God, if God exists, require such a harsh payment?).
But now Silva is dying and the only thing, seemingly, that will cure his condition is by using embryonic stem cells, something our patient believes would violate God’s laws. “Accepting this treatment will be affront to God,” he insists.
I have always been taught that we as human (and even more so as parents) are God’s partners here on earth. So the patient believes God would want him to leave his child without a father (after she has already suffered so much) rather than undergo a stem cell transplant to save his (and possibly her) life strikes me as an essential misunderstanding of God, so often at the core of religious extremism. And, as his daughter says, who would want to believe in such a cruel God who requires annual punishment and even the life of a father as payment for saving the life of his child?
Compare Silva, for example, to the season four patient Roz in “Don’t Ever Change.” Roz and her husband are deeply religious people steeped in tradition and ritual. Yet, they are not extremists. Life is sacred, and even violating God’s critical command regarding Sabbath (something very important to the patient and her husband) is trumped if it means saving Roz’s life.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - New fan
Personally, this was one of the worst episodes of House I've ever watched. There was no chemistry between any of the characters and the medical mystery was not interesting. After last week's exciting episode, I was really disappointed. I hope they can do better next time.
2 - Janine
After the whole Amazon fiasco, I read a lot of comments about the episode and was suprised to see that so many people loathed this episode. Thus, when I went into the viewing, I had very low expectations, but I really liked this episode a lot. I love when House takes on religion and thought the way things happened between House and Cuddy was perfect in a Housian way. I even liked the Taub story (which I usually don't) perhaps because it was woven so well into the other stories. I wonder how the dynamic is going to chang now that House is in a relationship and Wilson is not? I just wish we didn't have to wait until January for the next episode (although there is a sneak peak up on spoilertv.com already!)
3 - Zay
I'm astonished. People didn't like this episode? I left it whooping, excited that we finally got an episode I could watch three times and not get tired of. But that's just me.
Sadly, I have little additional analysis to offer. I enjoyed the interwoven themes - Barbara, you either steal the words out of my mouth or make the ones in my head sound better than they would out of my mouth - and was hooked from beginning to end. Desperately going to miss the show while it's on hiatus, but this was a good place to pause, reevaluate.
So...yay House! :)
4 - Andrea
Watching the episode, I had to wonder if they were setting up the big break-up scene between House and Cuddy for sometime next spring. House lied to Cuddy that he wouldn't lie again and in a few more episodes he'll inevitably lie to her again, probably about something personal, and everything could hit the fan. The general atmosphere of this episode was pretty cynical and acid. The music playing: "Shark in the Water" and "Love Rollercoaster" and Jude's "I Know" add to that atmosphere. I looked up the lyrics to "I Know," the song playing at the end of the episode and you could probably read it different ways. The verse playing while House is waiting for Cuddy: "I know there's nowhere you can hide it/I know the feeling of alone/Trust me and don't keep that on the inside/Soon you'll be locked out on your own." So House will be locked out on his own and it will be of his own doing because he can't trust? The whole song is a meditation on trust issues with lines like "Your best friend is life, not your mirror" and assurances that the man in the song isn't alone.
I think House spent most of the episode trying to make Cuddy see how unpalatable she'd find the unvarnished truth, which wasn't working for him. The white lie was probably the best way to end it. He's not sorry for the original lie but he ought to be sorry for having hurt her and I think he was when he saw her reaction to his unearthing her six day marriage. But, as always this season, their problem is communication. If I were writing it, I think it could be made to work, but I wonder if the writers have it in their heads that the relationship must inevitably fail.
As for Wilson and Sam ... I think Sam was Wilson's rebound relationship after Amber and he fell back into old patterns. Sam is apparently just a really lousy radiologist who didn't realize she'd made all those dosing errors. Wilson assumed she was smarter than she really was and as willing to bend the rules as he is. Maybe she was getting fired from the hospital for incompetence and decided it would be a good time to end a relationship that wasn't working too. Wilson is more angry and frustrated than devastated, his usual pattern after one of his wives has left him. I don't think his feelings ran that deep or vice versa or he'd be a lot more destroyed by it all. I also think it's time the Taubs headed for divorce court. Their marriage is now more about spying on each other and punishing each other than loving one another.
The patient of the week was unbalanced and his bodily mortifications excessive, as most Catholic priests would tell him. On the other hand, it's House's fault he was treated with stem cells, not the patient's, since the patient didn't know or choose the immoral treatment. House took it out of his hands. It's interesting here that POTW equates House with the devil who tempted him.
5 - Janine
@Zay
yea a lot of people hatedthe ep and hated that it ended in a bittersweet way insted of with House and Cuddy "in love" and all over each other. A lot of people also harped on the "Cuddy was married" thing but I really didn't see that as a big deal. The way they were talking about it, you would think that was what the whole episode was about. Agree good place to pause for a break, although I would rather they never pause at all :)
6 - 54
In all of the House episodes that dealt with religion/faith, I thought this was the weakest one. Personally, I think "Unfaithful" in Season 5 is an absolutely fantastic episode.
While I like the subtle, naturalness of House and Cuddy's interactions and was fine with how the writers handled the whole trust/promise issue between them (thank goodness...can we move on now and let that be an underlying theme instead of bludgeoning us with it?) I was bothered by a "cookie-cutter" sense of the whole episode.
Okay. The show is about trust in relationships. Let's examine the relationships of all the coupled pairings in the show.
Okay. It's a House world view vs. religious view case. Let's obviously state emphatically what House believes versus what a religious person believes without approaching the issue in a way that has not been approached on the show before. The whole set-up seemed too boxed-in to me.
Other than that, though, I thought the writers did a good job with developing the characters' personalities on the show (Foreman, Taub, Chase, Rachel were great.), and it was definitely teasingly interesting to see how House and Cuddy interact with each other as a couple during a disagreement.
I love the show so much so I hate to end on a negative note, but the whole Wilson-Sam thing just made no sense! Unexpected turns on the show have always been surprising but so interesting because they somehow made sense, but IMO the suddenness of the Wilson-Sam thing doesn't make sense to me at all.
7 - hwl40
Jeez, Louise, Barbara, thanks for that review. Prior to reading it, I had no clue about that episode and was, as ignorant folks sometimes are, mightily disappointed. Now I can't wait to see it again. You are such a gift!
8 - 54
On an additional note, I must say House looked absolutely gorgeous throughout the whole episode, and Cuddy was really stunning in that dress!
I also noticed that, in the latter half of the episode, House didn't wear a t-shirt under his dress shirts like he normally does. That was also good :) Could this wardrobe change symbolize anything or am I just overnanalyzing? Maybe they're just looking for more awesome t-shirts? ;)
9 - lynn d
This episode was hated? Really? I thought it was fabulous! These terrific debates once again added to the study of these wonderful characters in a compelling and entertaining way. It's a thinking person's episode as it's a thinking person's show.
Barbara: In a totally 'Housian' way, I saw House's efforts to challenge Cuddy's argument as a commitment he has to his relationship with her; it's important to him and he is serious about it. With regard to House's exchange with Wilson and why he was late, I always enjoy when House reveals the extent to which he studies Wilson and Cuddy. This is not just his extraordinary observational skills at work- it's a passionate study (at times somewhat creepy) - but a commitment of friendship that is important to him and his compulsive study of them is House's version of caring and looking out for them. What do you think, Barbara, am I reading too much into this?
10 - ruthinor
I got the feeling that the Wilson-Sam relationship didn't break up over the medical charts. I think Sam was spooked by the proposal and having married him once and failed, she just wanted to sail along w/o commitment for a while (perhaps forever). And Wilson didn't seem all that distraught with her leaving. Frankly, neither was I. I preferred the Wilson-Amber duo. He really met his match there and I miss her presence.
I agree with Barbara that there's no way Cuddy actually believes that he'll never lie to her again. She knows he will lie, the question is, about what? Some things are more important than others. If he lies about a patient but then confesses to her later, she's OK with that. If she catches him in a lie and he won't fess up, or if it's about a personal issue, she will have more problems with that.
I agree with 54 that "Unfaithful" was much better from the religion point of view. I think that was because the priest in that episode was so intelligent that House respected him in spite of his religious views. He was also a better actor than the POW in "Small Sacrifices", who was portrayed as an idiot extremist, at least IMO.
One question...If Cuddy was married in 1987, she would have been 19-20 yrs old and still presumably a student at Michigan. Does she still retain her residential status in NJ although she lives in Michigan?
11 - CarolynP
Barbara of all your reviews (I have read) this one is my personal favourite, I think you absolutely nailed it : )
Short comment as i don't have time but I personally really enjoyed the episode, loved how the theme played between each of the characters throughout and even though we all know House will lie to Cuddy again, I think he showed real emotional growth of character by swallowing his pride and apologising to her and i think he will think long and hard before he does it again.
I think Cuddy would have been satisfied with just the apology because she knows lying is a part of who he is and he will lie to her in the future (for the greater good.
Her sincere thank you after his speech about trust and taking a "leap of faith" was not her buying into his "I will never lie to you again" (she knows him too well to know he won't) it was her being proud that he had acknowledged that he had hurt her and is at least trying to change for her.
12 - lynn d
One more thought. Barbara, I love your examples of House and Cuddy as a 'long married couple'. I have argued the same thing with friends who worry their relationship will ruin the show. Nonsense! They've been a couple for years! That's a huge part of what makes this show so much fun to watch...and addictive...how am I going to last until January? Barbara, thank you in advance for the articles to keep us occupied throughout the hiatus! :)
13 - Jerome Wetzel
Excellent article, as always! I should have known better than to tackle the same one, especially publishing the same night. :)
Additionally, I had an idea for an article you might write during the hiatus. You articles are extremely well thought out and detailed, with lots of supporting evidence for the points you make. Keeping it so clinical, your own opinion of what you like or don't like doesn't always come through.
I respect very much the way you write, and am not suggesting you change it. However, since there's so much time before your next review, would you consider doing an opinion piece outlining the season so far, what you personally loved, didn't like so much, would have liked to have seen different, and what you think / hope might be next for the characters? I think your fans would love that kind of insight as much as they enjoy your awesome reviews.
14 - Jerome Wetzel
And when I say "your fans", I am of course including myself, and suggesting something I am interested in seeing. :)
15 - barbara barnett
Jerome--Have you been reading my mind? Exactly what I plan on doing in the next several weeks. I plan on watching the season again and doing strictly an opinion piece. What I like; what I don't and what I see for each of the characters in the coming months.
I totally enjoyed your take as well!
16 - New Fan
I felt there were too many side stories going and none of them were developed very well. I understand that House isn't religious however do they have to do a religious themed episode every season? The POW wasn't convincing in that he really believed all that he said and so I was waiting on him to cave and take the treatment.
I didn't like the Sam/Wilson relationship however I think the writers ended it badly. In addition, it seems like the end of the House/Cuddy relationship is being introduced with all this trust issues.
17 - lynn d
“I thought she’d forgive me…all those hurt feelings never went away.”
Maybe Taub's statement made House realize that an apology to Cuddy was long overdue. Maybe that is what House was apologizing for???
18 - RobF
Well. Men are stupid, I must say. Even the smart ones do some jaw-droppingly stupid things. In this episode, House seems to think that catching Cuddy hiding something profoundly painful would balance out his self-serving lie. And Wilson seemed to think that Sam would be thrilled if he caught her lying about something and then magnanimously forgave her for it -- despite the fact that she had left him because of his desire to be the perfect martyr, forgiving her for everything.
Neither Cuddy nor Sam was willing to settle for anything less than an adult relationship between equals. Cuddy was not going to accept House treating her like mean mommy who must be lied to by a little boy if he wants to get away with something. Sam is not going to tolerate being treated like a wayward child whose many weaknesses and transgressions require a strong and tolerant father.
As for the religious plotline, I thought it was really well done. We've gotten used to seeing House berate the religious, so it was good they got that out of the way as quickly as possible. Coming only a few days after Eid al-Adha (the festival commemorating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son's life, as well as his son's willingness to die, in order to obey God's word), we see a man who is willing to sacrifice his body and then his own life to follow God. In the end, House tricks him into thinking God has failed him, and he (like Jesus on the cross) has a moment of weakness, believing himself forsaken.
The really interesting twist was the way House reacted to this man's faith. We have always seen House's point-of-view presented as reason in contrast to ignorant superstition. But there's another way to look at faith, which is where they went with this one. Kierkegaard described reason as being the second step in a person's development, but then described how a man of reason can find himself at the boundary of reason, unable to go any further without leaving reason behind and embracing something beyond reason. This concept is usually termed "a leap of faith", which is what House says he is doing by deciding to trust Cuddy. He can't reason himself into trusting her, but he knows he needs to do so. All that's left for him is to make a leap of faith.
He tells Wilson he was lying, but the reality is somewhere in between. House will know that he has greatly raised the stakes by promising not to lie, and the relationship probably depends on him choosing to trust Cuddy even when he thinks he can get away with a lie. He must know that, if he betrays her, Cuddy won't be any more able to forgive him than Rachel could forgive Taub.
19 - rrennie
Hi, everyone! I am hoping someone can help me wrap my head around something - basically, the relationship arc of the last three episodes. Barbara explains, "[Cuddy] is upset because had been dishonest with her about the lie. Convoluted? Perhaps. Yet, it makes some sense. The fact that House assured her that he was being honest when he wasn’t shows her personal disrespect. There is no medical reason for the lie; no life to be saved. The nature of it hurts her in a way that his usual lying never would. House does not understand this completely irrational, yet completely believable truthiness dichotomy Cuddy has staked out."
I have been trying and trying, but I cannot understand some nuance of this. How was House supposed to tell Cudy he was lying as he was getting her approval with the lie? It seems impossible! Was he supposed to tell her later? What is it, exactly, that Cuddy wanted? It feels like such an unclear issue to take such a long stand about.
20 - Janine
@Ruthinor
Yea its totally possible that even thought Cuddy was at college she could have maintained her NJ residential status. We also don't know what time of year she was married, so it could have been a vacation or something and she could have been married in NJ. Also, she may have simply filed for divorce in NJ because that is where her (or her parents?) lawyers were.
@rrennie
Cuddy would have wanted House to admit to the lie after the patient had been cured rather than go along with her when she said he had made improvements.
21 - lynn d
RobF I always enjoy reading your comments and this one was a delight! If Kierkegaard
described reason as the second step of a person's development, what is the first step? Could you explain further so I can better understand the comparison you're drawing. I loved reading your analysis.
22 - CarolynP
rrennie!
In "Office politics" i was team House because i couldn't believe she would be so naive to think he wouldn't lie to save his patient when she knows he would do anything to do so and i couldn't understand her anger/annoyance that he had done that since she knows him so well.
In "A pox on our House" I'm still thinking he is in the right and only did it to save his patient so what does Cuddy want from him?. It is established in the episode that she wants an apology, not for him lying to save the patient but that he lied to her after he had done so why do it then when the case is already solved. House cannot understand that yet and thinks it is still about her being angry about him lying to save the patient.
In "Small Sacrifices" in their first scene he cannot understand that she is still pissed and demanding an apology when he believes what he did was right, he was right. As the episode continues however in him trying to prove she lies, he hits a raw nerve with her (her early wedding)and he realises he has gone too far and finally apologises to her. The apology was all she asked for, she didn't ask for the taking the leap of faith thing and the i will never lie to you again (which i am sure she doesn't believe anyway) she got what she asked for from him and that was the apology though i think she was impressed with him opening up a little with the other stuff as it proved to her that he is trying.
23 - Sera G
Bravo, Barbara, again!
You amaze me with your insights, articulate writing and ability to find just the right notes to pull from each episode.
Others commented so profoundly, I will be purely superficial:
* I am glad the arguement between House/Cuddy is settled. She does not expect him to never lie in service to a patient, that is him. She expects that he will tell her about it later. I was quite proud of House. That showed so much growth. Even if he lied when saying he wouldn't lie; House realized that he truly hurt Cuddy and the small sacrifice of his apology was worth it.
* I loved the dress zipping scene. So right, Barbara; domestic and natural.
I also loved that he is still capitvated by her physically.
*Lisa E. is gorgeous and she looked amazing in that red dress.
*The four disappointed men at the bar was hilarious. None of them had the evening they expected.
*I must agree with those who felt the Wilson/Sam breakup seemed to come out of no-where. (It reminded me of Chase/Cameron) Are people really willing to walk away from someone they love with no attempts to talk it out, scream about it if necessary and at least show some sorrow that it is ending? Is this so that Wilson will now be the lonely guy who intrudes and looks to the now 'happy' House for companionship? That might be amusing, if they do not drag it on forever.
Wilson is an adapter. I can't see him alone for along. Amber's death really devasted him beacause, imo, she is the only woman her really respected and loved.
*One quibble, if House knew Cuddy her first week at school, wouldn't he know how old she is? Unless he assumed she was older, as her classes were more advanced, or she lied about her age to him. What do you think? I know that is trivial and they have always played freely with time and her age. (Cuddy tells Stacy she was 32 when appointed Dean, Vogler says House has worked for her for 8 years(S1). That would make her 47 now! I just think it is silly that they fluctuate on that detail.
*I enjoyed this episode, sorry to hear that there was discontent 'out there.'
*Looking forward to Barbara's columns as I need something besides repeated viewings of Season 7 to get me through. I think this has been a very strong season so far.
TPTB are doing a fine, fine job with the House/Cuddy relationship IMO.
24 - rrennie
Thank @Janine. I mean I understand that, literally. My questions were more, philosphical I guess. It seems like a ludicrous expectation on Cuddy's part to me and I feel like most people don't think so, so I am having trouble understand that POV. But I guess I am out to lunch on this one because it has been pestering me for three weeks, but noone else. I just think Cuddy made a mountain out of a molehill.
25 - Heather
A few thoughts/points:
1) I didn't understand the nature of the POTW's dilemma. So she has an incurable cancer that House "proves" never left the patient's daughter, but she is having no symptoms from it? Sounds like a miracle to me! Instead, he takes it as proof that God reneged on the deal. She appears completely unaffected by the "cancer" that previously doctors said would kill her in a matter of months...so why does this shake his faith to its foundations? It doesn't make much sense to me (I was shouting at the TV as House's lie was being spun.)
2) House seems WAY too emotionally invested in proving patients who believe in God wrong for me to treat him credibly as an atheist. The opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference (or so wiser people than me have said.) He doesn't just seek to get them to put aside their faith to get the medical treatment they need, he gleefully seeks to show them just how illogical/irrational their faith is. If you're that emotionally invested in proving that God doesn't exist, that raises the question as to why you might be doing so. Personally, I think he actually hopes that someone will make him an argument that he "buys" (similar to how I think he argues so vociferously with Masters and her code of ethics not because he disagrees with it, but because he hopes she makes an argument he can't disagree with.) Perhaps I have made that point clumsily, but I think House seems to be an idealist/believer who got burned and thus turned to his jaded, logic driven ennui not out of true belief but out of pain.
3) Half baked idea alert, but maybe the reason Wilson didn't press harder for his relationship with Sam's continuance....confronted by evidence that she was not a selfless maverick who broke the rules to try to save terminal patients, but instead an incompetent doctor, he realized he couldn't respect her. He thought she was one thing, worthy of his respect, but instead she was another, worthy of his disdain. If she was in fact the latter, was that relationship worth saving? I say no, and I say he realized that.