SPOILERS FOR HOUSE M.D. SEASON 5
Trigger warning: Mentions of suicide
Lawrence Kutner, a character in the television show “House,” was introduced in season four as a member of the 40 applicants to work under Dr. House as a fellow. He was quickly established as a young and excited doctor who was truly engaged with his work. His character was very interesting, as one of the few (perhaps only) main characters without major issues that are constantly interfering with their work and personal lives. Kutner came to work with a smile on his face, prepared to do what had to be done to save patients. So, it was a surprise to viewers when Kutner was found dead after a successful suicide attempt.
This decision, as many fans know, was due to a job offer Kutner’s actor, Kal Penn, received from then-President Obama. Due to this job offer, Penn had to cut his character’s story short, leading to the decision to kill him off via suicide. In my experience, the fandom is split pretty evenly down the middle, with half the fans hating this resolution and the other half appreciating it, despite being crushed by the loss of a beloved character. I stand with the latter half. Kutner is one of my favorite characters, and I was devastated to see him go before the viewers had the chance to see more of him; however, I loved the way they handled his character.
Kutner is an interesting character because we’re introduced to him as being a happy guy. As the show progresses, however, we learn a bit about his past and current life; Kutner’s parents were killed in front of him when he was six years old, and he was subsequently adopted by an American family. He bullied at least one peer in his youth, and his current life consists of working at the hospital and playing video games in his room alone. The viewers recognize the hardships he’s faced, but he seems fine in the present, so it’s not on anybody’s radar that he may be struggling with mental health. Even House, who notices everything, didn’t know that Kutner was struggling.
The series dropped subtle hints towards the direction that Kutner was heading. He’s shown to be lonely, with him being seen outside of the hospital by himself. In an episode prior to his suicide, we see him trying to bond with Dr. Chris Taub, one of his colleagues, stating that he considered them close friends despite not hanging out much outside of work. Taub jumped to responding that Kutner is not a close friend of his, though he felt bad about it after. We also see Kutner asking Taub if he tried to commit suicide after Taub told a story about his suicidal “friend,” setting up Kutner’s eventual path.
Kutner’s suicide was done very realistically, even if that only happened because of real-life decisions. Oftentimes, there are little-to-no signs that someone is suicidal. They don’t seek help, they don’t talk about it and they may not seem depressed at all. In most representations of suicide in film, it is made very clear that the person is struggling and they have a variety of hardships in their present life that lead to them ending it. With Kutner, they didn’t feel the need to try to perfectly explain why he did what he did. One could speculate that it was because of the trauma of his parents’ deaths or being adopted and feeling as though he didn’t belong. One could think of any number of other reasons, but the showrunners didn’t give us an answer, because there usually isn’t just one thing to point to.
Kutner’s death didn’t come out of left field in the sense that it was unbelievable, as the show did leave various hints leading up to it, but it was unexpected. Kutner was a very well-done character, and while I understand why some people dislike how his character was handled, I believe it was in-character and realistic.