A number of characters were killed off over the course of House MD's eight seasons, but the most abrupt and shocking death of all came when Dr. Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn) committed suicide in season 5, episode 20, "Simple Explanation." Kutner had been introduced in season 4 as one of a large pool of applicants whom House (Hugh Laurie) forced to compete for a limited number of consultant positions.
Though he was fired and rehired numerous times throughout the competition, Kutner ultimately made the final cut alongside Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley (Olivia Wilde) and Dr. Chris Taub (Peter Jacobson). Kutner was smart and passionate about his work, showing no outward signs of depression. In "Simple Explanation," after he fails to show up for work, Thirteen and Foreman (Omar Epps) go to his apartment and find him dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Kutner's coworkers are stunned by his suicide - none more so than Dr. House, who first lashes out at his consultants and blames them for missing the signs, and then thinks that Kutner must have been murdered. Ultimately, however, he has to accept that Kutner committed suicide and there may never be a real explanation for it. Off-screen, there actually was a simple explanation for why Penn left the show.
Actor Kal Penn left House MD for a different kind of house - the White House. Speaking in an interview with NPR, Penn recalled that his co-star Olivia Wilde invited him to a Barack Obama event during the 2007 Democratic primaries. At the time Penn had read Obama's book but wasn't interested in getting involved in politics. Attending the event, however, changed his mind:
"I went to this event with [Wilde], really actually liked it...[and] was enamored enough by his campaign. So I'll do three days in Iowa before the caucuses... And then he won! And there was an opportunity to serve in the White House, and... you know, what are you gonna say, 'No Mr. President, I have another stoner movie to make?'"
Penn was offered a position as associate director in the White House office of public engagement in early 2009. The job offer meant that he couldn't continue with his role on House MD, which led to a difficult conversation with the showrunners. Speaking in an interview with EW, Penn recalled:
"We had a very long discussion. And I remember David [Shore] saying, 'Are you telling me that you're unhappy with the show and that you want to leave so you can go off and do a different show?' And I was like, 'Not at all. I'm actually saying the exact opposite, which is I'm having an incredible time, but there's something aching in me to do something completely different and take a break from the acting thing for a while.' And with their blessing, we were able to work it out."
After serving two years in the White House, Penn left in 2011 and joined How I Met Your Mother in a recurring role. He did eventually return to House MD for a guest role in the series finale, "Everybody Dies," in 2012 - appearing as one of Dr. House's hallucinations..
Though Kutner's death was far from the first time that a major character in a TV show has committed suicide, it was unique in that there was never an explanation given for why he did it. Kutner did not leave a series of tapes detailing the thirteen reasons why he took his own life; he was simply showing up to work like normal in one episode, and gone in the next. When asked in the EW interview why they didn't simply have Kutner take a job at another hospital, Shore explained, "The suicide was essential to [the story]. The lack of reason behind it - the lack of answers - was what I responded to and is what I got excited about."
House not seeing Kutner's suicide coming was a key part of the story, since House is the man who's supposed to see everything. Shore elaborated:
"We wanted it to be a character who didn't make sense - or didn't superficially make sense. Obviously, there are reasons, but the notion that the reasons are too complicated for even House to figure out is what was drawing us to it. I like the fact that Kutner is almost the least likely guy to do this. And it gets down to the issue of, 'Do we know anybody? You work with somebody for two years, but do you really know them?'"
Had Penn not received the job offer that he did and made the decision to leave, Kutner might just as easily have continued to be a major part of the House MD cast for years afterwards. As it was, though, his departure made way for one of the most memorable and thought-provoking deaths in the show.
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