I'm disgusted. Kutner was really the only likable character on the show. I've always had a love/hate relationship with "House," and last night my hate was made complete. Not even sure I'll keep watching. House's irreverance is wearing thin, and the Cuddy unrequited thing was getting irritating, but then they killed Kutner! BOO House writers! Stop being lazy and come up with some real stories, please. There are better ways to develop main characters outside your formula than killing the only likeable person on the show. I get why he had to leave, and good luck in the new assignment. But I'm totally with you on calling BS on the writers for this stupid attention whoring move.

The only way I could make this logical in my head is if the writers planned to off or fire everyone on House's current team and go back to the original cottages. Even then, I still cried for 45 minutes after the ending. *sniff* Loved me some Kumar.

Yeah, definite bullshit. Best of luck to Kal Penn on the next chapter of his life.

I watched House originally because of HOUSE. As in, you know, the main character for whom this show was named? It was fun watching him abuse his clinic patients and Cuddy for the first two seasons or so, but then the snark kinda wore thin. I must admit that I was one of pathetic House/Cameron shippers back in Season 1, but then the pairing lost its appeal as Cameron became blonder and blonder, and started doing drugs and Chase (at the same time).

The friendship between House and Wilson was another aspect that drew me into the show. However, even said friendship lost its initial attraction after Freud replaced Robert Sean Leonard.

Sadly, it seems that the House writers have truly run out of interesting plotlines and "twists" that they have to resort to the suicide of a major character (with absolutely NO indications depression/other suicidal tendencies on the character's part beforehand) in order to continue to sell this show.

So, I believe that House as jumped the shark...again.

The reason it came out of left field and House didn't see it coming is because the writers are screwing with him. This is exactly like having a cop develop an insane fixation and break every law just to mess with House - they do it because they can and because they can't think of anything better. This being the reason I don't watch House anymore.

Best of luck to Mr. Penn. I'm especially glad he's decided to actually go work in politics rather than pretend to be an actor while politicking constantly. I might actually listen to him as a result. Alec Baldwin take note.

It was good to know the real reason why Kal Penn left the show. Not because of writers, etc but for his personal interests in another job.

That being said, while this was probably the a good episode in terms of doing the unexpected and then finally having something that House couldn't even fix beforehand, I found that a line was crossed. From being a drama, to going down the path of being disturbing. I am not afraid to bash the creators of this show on this. So many times they have made fun of killing (or the attempt) a character. Particularly so many false starts in 13 this season. Then comes the black cat episode. And now this. I'm sorry. I get the creative issues in regards to this character. Maybe if they didn't focus so much 13's plight and relationships and actually written the character...I would have been more inclined about his "death". And they permanently axed him. I think that his exit should have been handled better. Not like this. And in a way, maybe this is a sign that I should stop watching the show.

So, I guess Obama PAYS more than a TV show!!!!!

To b (not in capitals):

I think that its fair to find the things that connect Kumar with his possible suicide and ignore the intention of the producers because, really, the canon is the story not the people who write it. Think it as the death of Sherlock Holmes by Doyle, he had to bring him back, to me story owns the creator wishes.

So I think that Kumar alone eating cereal, talking to Taub to get "close", becoming quickly friends with mormon guy and going to apologize to a guy he hasn't seen since highschool; all those sound to me like suicide clues and I like it because it makes the character more consistent. Maybe its a coincidence, but there are still many moments (written by several different writers) that should be accounted for. In creation not everything is intention.

He couldn't have "accidentally" taken Thirteen out with the same shot, huh? I'll miss Kutner, I thought he was funny and one of the better characters.

I really enjoyed the episode, and can't help but think that the issue is more that people are upset about a very likable character leaving the show than there being anything creatively wrong with the story.

While I really enjoyed Kutner as a character, I think the suicide worked very well dramatically, and wasn't at all "cheap." Shocking, yes, but not cheap. We only saw Kutner at work. Who hasn't put on a cheery face at work, even when things in their personal life were bad? Unlike the other Cottages--Taub is married, and 13 and Foreman are together--Kutner has, from what we've seen, no intimate ties. His adoptive parents said that his coworkers knew him better than anybody. That he might have been extremely depressed but hid it at work seems totally reasonable to me. While I've never been depressed, I have suffered with an anxiety disorder, and nobody I worked with or was casually acquainted with knew. In fact, they generally thought I was a very calm, cheerful, and happy person. Often, the worse I felt, the more outwardly calm and happy I'd appear, either because it was easier to put on an "act" or because I genuinely did feel better when I was around others.

I've known people who attempted suicide and nobody had any idea why. I've known relationships that seemed to be the happiest I'd known, where one partner suddenly walks out after many years and nobody knows why. We all have heard stories recently about men who go on murder sprees, who seemed like normal, kind, non-violent people to everybody who knew them. Sometimes people's behavior doesn't make sense based on the behavior that came before, since we aren't inside their heads. I just have a hard time seeing this as lazy storytelling or some sort of cheap trick on the audience.

The problem is that there wasn't any foreshadowing, which is a huge writer's no-no. The writers handwaved Kutner's suicide, which is hugely frustrating for viewers. We may be looking at the jump the shark moment for this show, if we haven't had it already.

Best wishes in the new job, Kal Penn.