House: Larger Than Life Review (4/5)

A somewhat nostalgic turn for some film fans this week in House as Matthew Lillard, aka Shaggy in the live-action Scooby Doo movies, was admitted to Princeton Plainsboro hospital in the guise of a supposed hero who saved another person's life at a train station. This gave the show's writers the chance to examine what we consider to be a stereotypical 'hero' in a modern sense, and as ever Hugh Laurie's cynical doctor used it to his advantage to ruthlessly ridicule Lillard's character and bring everyone in awe of his actions back to reality. As with many other episodes of House, the patient's dilemma in Larger Than Life took a back-seat to the numerous plot arcs developing this season, whereby House was invited to have dinner with Cuddy and her mother, only to end up drugging the latter when she gets on his nerves, while Taub made the realisation that his wife was unknowingly having an affair after being betrayed by him so many times before. Larger Than Life was a relatively successful venture for House, although it would certainly have been nice to go further into why Dr Gregory holds 'heroes' in so low regard (is it just his negative attitude, or something else? Maybe we'll find out in the future) and the story of Lillard's character and his wife could have been expanded on, but still there was a lot to like. A good, if not great comeback from the show's mid-season break.