Olivia Wilde‘s character, Thirteen, on House has taken a lot of heat for being bisexual. She’s among a pack of male colleagues whose statements toward her often resemble that of frat boys. Dr. House is definitely the ringleader of the bros, but Thirteen always skillfully maneuvers past the obnoxious comments, maintaining her queer dignity. On Monday’s episode “Lockdown,” however, Thirteen tackled an ignorant comment head-on, and ended up making Wilson look like an idiot.
In “Lockdown,” after a patient named Sarah’s baby disappears, the whole hospital, is locked down in order to find the missing tot. If you did a double-take at Sarah, then yes, you’re right – she’s played by Riki Lindhome a.k.a. “f—–g LouAnne” from Girltrash.
Wilson and Thirteen are stuck in the cafeteria, and since they are prohibited from relocating, they do what any distinguished, highly accomplished doctors would: Truth or Dare. Thirteen warns Wilson not to mess with her as she is truth or dare queen, but they proceed. Wilson, of course, asks Thirteen if she’s ever had a threesome. The conversation goes something like this:
Wilson: Have you ever had a threesome?Thirteen: Nope.
Wilson: You haven’t?
Thirteen: Just because I’m bisexual?
Wilson: Well – yeah.
Thirteen: Do you understand what “bisexual” means? It doesn’t mean you have sex with two people at once.
Wilson realizes he’s a d-bag and concedes. Plus, she dares him to steal a dollar from the cashier and he gets caught. Double d-bag. We also learn that Thirteen has yet to tell her roommate father about her girl-loving tendencies (in addition to having Huntington’s, but that’s a different story) because “he’s been through enough.”
Though many viewers were highly disappointed with House‘s sensationalist, sweeps-y episode of girl-on-girl action between Thirteen and a patient (played byAngela Gots), it is refreshing that the writers took the time to address and debunk the misinformed perceptions people have of bisexuality. Granted, shows like A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila help to fuel such ignorant views, but Thirteen’s perfunctory explanation was sufficient to quashing the stereotype of only promiscuous, sexually greedy bisexuals (but not that there is anything wrong with being promiscuous or greedy). I applaud the show for never shying away from discussing anything. However, it’d be nice if they weren’t so shy about showing Thirteen doing a little more of this:
Or this:
What do you think about Thirteen’s defense of her bisexuality?
