Olivia Wilde's extended departure from the show may prove to be positive in the short run. "Office Politics" introduces Martha Masters, played by the likable Amber Tamblyn. She's gawky, brilliant, but also very, very principled.
Her refusal to lie and do anything unethical leads to a lot of funny exchanges with House where she brushes his comments aside. Martha is also caught in between House and Cuddy, who wants to keep her in the position permanently, and eventually rises to the role without compromising her morals. For House, however, he perfectly fine lying, and fakes a test to cure the patient. And there may be trouble in paradise as Cuddy finds out.
Along the way, there's a pointless basketball game along the lines of the go-cart race earlier in the season, because Taub wants to prove he's not insecure about his age. As it turns out, his big thing against Martha is that he interviewed her for hours for Hopkins, but she didn't recognize him.
Overall, "Office Politics" was a fun episode with shades of grey and a decent patient this time around, and didn't have anything overtly annoying.
Score: 8.7/10
