House Looks at Faith
By Chris Glazier

Fans of the medical drama House know that cynical, selfish and hilarious lead character, Gregory House, is no friend to Christianity. To call Hugh Laurie’s overbearing doctor an outspoken atheist would a ridiculous understatement—like calling Hugh Jackman a bad Oscars host. Anyone who expresses even a modicum of belief in something other than science is immediately labeled an “idiot,” to put it lightly.

So it’s interesting that in a couple of recent episodes this season the show has taken a look at the issue of faith, or at least something in the realm of faith. A February episode titled “Unfaithful” focused on a Catholic priest who had lost his faith because of an unfounded accusation that he sexually assaulted a child. Throughout the issue the various characters debate issues of faith, trust and why bad things happen. Of course, they do it in the show’s fast-paced, glib, overanalyzing manner, but the topic comes up over and over again.

While the issue dealt with the subject of faith in God in a typical Hollywood manner, never actually answering the question or getting into specifics, it was enjoyable to see a major TV show talk about the subject for an entire episode, and in a moderately intelligent fashion. It was particularly refreshing to see the priest gain his faith back in the end, and even more enjoyable for him to accuse House of being a closet believer, as well. Of course, the show leaves the interpretation up to the viewer about whether or not it was science or God who caused all these good things to happen to save the priest in the end, but on the whole they handled the topic well, and with TV these days I’ll take what I can get.

Another episode that touches on a similar subject aired on Monday night and was titled “Here Kitty,” (a fantastic play on words for those who remember guest star Judy Greer’s classic performance as the character Kitty on Arrested Development.) This episode looked at a superstitious patient named Morgan who believed a cat could predict people’s deaths. Unfortunately, “Here Kitty” failed to handle its subject matter as impressively as “Unfaithful.” The writers awkwardly mixed together elements of Morgan’s superstition with faith, saying generic phrases like, “Everything happens for a reason,” and “There are powers beyond what we understand.” This clumsy mix of theology and superstition fails miserably and makes the characters, particularly Kutner, come off as unusually stupid when they try to compare belief in walking under ladders to belief in God. They even tried to use the same ending featured in “Unfaithful,” but this time it just didn’t ring true.

On the whole, I enjoy House for the humor, the witty writing and the fascinating lead character. I find the concepts the show explores to be genuinely hit-or-miss, and their recent forays into the “faith” topic show that. But it is nice to see a show at least tackle the topic, something you don’t see often nowadays, although I’m still praying for a show to give us a normal Christian as a regular character, preferably one who isn’t immoral, dumb or legalistic. But I guess I’ll have to keep praying.