It occurs to me during episodes of House like this week's that the show is something of a balancing act. Every character in the main cast is interesting, so it always seems like a waste when we don't spend much time on any given episode letting each one do what they do best. This, of course, puts the guest stars in a precarious position, as an hour-long show with a six-actor-deep ensemble threatens to take up the entire run without allowing the patient to shine. "The Down Low" was a fine example of how a regular episode of House ought to be structured. It highlighted the strong points of every member of the cast while giving ample screen time to the patient of the week, all while juggling three stories in an order that gave them just as much focus as they deserved.

The patient this week is a cocaine dealer played by Ethan Embry, an actor whose early association with MTV movies probably tanked his career. I think of Embry the same way I think of Matthew Lillard. He's a talented actor who never quite made the transition from fun "Hollywood in my 20's" roles to more serious fare, overshadowed by luckier, prettier contemporaries after his heyday in the 1990's. Embry does a decent job as a very sick guy with a lot of stressful layers that keep his character interesting without being too predictable. In short order, his secrets are as follows: He's an active drug dealer with a big score on the horizon, he's taking beta blockers to deal with recent stress issues, and finally he's a deep-cover cop who has been on the case for over a year trying to put away one of the biggest drug rings on the eastern seaboard.

The many concurrent lies the patient has to tell makes the diagnostics team seek out a mess of roundabout ways to treat him, including bugging his room, having veiled conversations about the drug trade with his murderous partner and even tailing him during an early release. As such, his illness isn't really center-stage, but it does provide an extra element to the crime drama that keeps him interesting and the episode's main focus.

In side story land, both the team as well as House and Wilson get their own tertiary plots, both of which obliquely refer to the themes in the patient's story. This episode was all about people pretending to be something that they're not so they can get something they want. House and Wilson both try to romance one of their new neighbors in an increasingly silly case of mistaken identity. She thinks they're gay lovers, which House plays up in a bid to get closer to her. Were it not for Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard's proven comic chemistry this story would probably have been stupid, but I think they sold it with just the right mix of mugging and hard-earned friendship.

As for the team, Chase, 13 and Taub decide to mess with Foreman by making him think they all make more money than he does. After some maneuvering that thankfully took up a bare minimum of the episode, it's revealed that Foreman turned the tables on his collegues to get himself a raise and prove to them that after several years under House's tutelage he's not so easy to fool.

By the end of the episode all the secrets are out on the table, but so is the patient. He ends up having an incurable autoimmune disease that takes his life on the same night that the police raid the giant drug deal he spent a year putting together. His victory rings hollow, as per the cynical core of this show. Still, it was great seeing all of the main characters filling their roles aptly in the process.

Best Moment: The scene in which the team discovers the patient has bugged his own room was really excellently staged. Everyone was in just the right position to make the world of House seem detailed and lively.

Notes: I appreciate that Chase's new haircut couldn't get away without some ridicule. I hate it when shows change major character elements and pretend that nothing's happened.

Episode Rating: 4/5- Nothing spectacular, but a thoroughly enjoyable episode that leaned on everything that has turned House from the compelling show of its early seasons into the weekly comfort food it aspires to be today.