"Big Baby" was an improvement over last week, although not as much as I'd hoped. At least this week there was good dialogue, even if the various plots still didn't tie together as much as usual.

The Patient of the Week was a bit of an afterthought this week. Her diagnosis took a lot of time, but we learned nothing about her except that she's very earnest. However, I adored the first scene with her talking to Kutner and Thirteen. "I just went to my happy place," the PotW said, and Thirteen muttered, "We cannot let House anywhere near this woman." And then a few moments later, Kutner's comment cracked me up: "If you ever meet our boss, just yes or no answers, okay?"

(Hey, is it just me, or have we had a lot of collapsing teacher episodes? And don't they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time sawing off the top of patients' skulls? Okay, maybe it's just me.)

Once again, I thought the best parts of the episode were the Cuddy scenes. I can tell you from personal experience that what she felt and went through was completely normal. I loved the way she came to work and didn't want to leave, because I did exactly the same thing when my daughter was a few months old. I didn't say "I don't want to go home....I feel like I’m in prison at home. I feel free here." But that's only because I didn't think of it.

I thought it was a very nice portrayal of the depression that can occur when you have a new baby, whether or not you're the person who actually gave birth. (Dads can get postpartum depression. Trufax.) I think my only quibble is that I'd have liked them to articulate what was going on a little better, because that might have been a public service. Wilson kept edging around it, but never quite got there.

I was interested by House's behavior toward Cuddy. (Why the hell Wilson told House what Cuddy had said is a question I'll leave for another day...) But inquiring minds want to know: When he interrupted Cameron and Cuddy and gave that obnoxious speech about giving up, was he actually trying to make her give the baby up? That was my first instinct, but part of me hopes that he was trying to prod her into defending the baby, thus creating an emotional response to the baby. What do you folks think? Help or hurt?

Wilson was sweet, but not especially helpful. If I'd been Cuddy, I would have smacked him during his speech about how you just have to get through the difficult baby part. Again from personal experience, I can tell you that it's one of the most annoying things a well-meaning person can tell a mother. Trust me...don't do it.

Of course, Wilson's not a parent, so it's entirely likely he simply couldn't empathize sufficiently to say the right things. Unfortunately, the show doesn't have any parents she could talk to. This subplot might have worked even better during an episode featuring parents (many do, after all), because I would have liked Cuddy's revelation and change of heart to be prompted by other parents, rather than coincidence.

However, I really loved the final Cuddy and House scene, where she hands him the baby. If House is sexy, House plus baby is sexy to the max. (Maybe that's just me...) The expression on his face was priceless, as was the baby spitting up on him. On a serious note, I loved the way Hugh Laurie managed to convey House's continuing mixed feelings about Cuddy and the baby. Has he ever imagined himself as a father? Perhaps during the period when Cuddy was trying infertility treatments? One has to wonder...

Going from my favorite to my least favorite part of "Big Baby," I was bothered by Foreman's ethical dilemma, which would have been avoided had the study designer or the nurse had a clue how to do their jobs. Puh-leaze. I'm glad to see that at least next week there will be some kind of consequences for his incredibly unethical behavior in changing her from the control to the study drug. And hooray for Chase for telling Foreman in no uncertain terms what he thought about the idea: "You've got a point. Too bad it's a load of crap." (But let me join the chorus of people I've seen begging Chase to go get a decent haircut. You're a doctor, not a rock star, okay, honey?)