John…Watched “House” Tuesday night also and was well-pleased with the storytelling of the screenwriters and director as well as with the acting. The show has interested me all season, but tonight was an incredible episode.

We’ll just have to see if they can top it next week with the finale. I’m not so sure they can.

Yeah, Mr. Smarty — what tipped you off? When, exactly, did you see “a crucial plot twist coming”? I thought the writing pretty transparent, although it differed from all the other oh, so very predictable episodes. I had it down by the third one, kept watching in fascination at how such an unattractive men playing an unattractive role, a man emotionally frozen in anger and unpleasant to be around, could last the whole season. Maybe they had nothing else to run in that time slot!

I didn’t want to get into specifics yet, because my brother and sister-in-law in California (who are also big fans) TiVo the show and sometimes don’t watch it until the weekend. I figured out the true identity of one of the case studies about two minutes before the other characters figured it out. Maybe you’re right; maybe the writing was transparent, and I have nothing to crow about.

Yes, he is “unpleasant to be around,” and I doubt I’d like having to be one of his underlings in real life. But as a fictional character, I think he’s fascinating. I think they’ve done a great job at giving him moments of vulnerability, at hinting about what lies beneath his crusty exterior without the cliche of making him a curmudgeon with a heart of gold. They must surely have been tempted to soften him up a bit for the mass audience, but they’ve resisted. Good for them.

For that matter, I think Sherlock Holmes would have been unpleasant to be around — but that in no way decreases his appeal as a fictional character!