The night before last, on the popular television series House, one of the main characters, Kutner, didn't come to work. Two of his co-workers went to his home - and found his body. It was a shocking and unexpected twist. It was immediately determined that he committed suicide. House wanted to believe he was murdered, so that he could have a puzzle to figure out, but there was no evidence to support his theory. Kutner's co-workers asked each other if anyone saw any signs that he was suicidal or depressed, but no one did.
At the close of the episode ended, there was a flash of white text on the screen with the logo, URL, and phone number for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), urging people to get help if they needed it or thought a loved one did.
1-800-950-NAMI (1-800-950-6264)
http://www.nami.org
Interestingly enough, the actor who portrayed Kutner, Kal Penn, asked if he could leave the show because he was offered a job at the White House! Congratulations, Kal!
I wish that the House tribute page for Kutner had the suicide hotline and additional information. I was pleased to discover the show has an ongoing affiliation with NAMI. All net proceeds from the sales of T-shirts sold through housecharitytees.com go to NAMI.
Do you think Kutner's story parallels that of any of the characters in Impulse? What does he have in common with Conner? Tony? Vanessa?
5 comments:
There's a certain similarity to all the characters in Impulse, I believe.
On the surface, Tony, Conner and Vanessa are all perfectly normal. There isn't anything "crazy" about them. It isn't until you dig a little deeper that you find out what's really going on. The same can be said about a lot of people who suffer a mental illness, I believe. The appearance of being completely normal and functional, but there's something more that sometimes isn't discovered until almost too late - or too late completely, as the case may be.
It also made me wonder what the surviving characters will be doing in ten years.
Haven't read Impulse, but I like it when shows use story lines to get the word out about serious issues like mental illness.
Thats neat that they did that. I haven't ever watched House, but I'm sure, from what I've heard of it, that there are similarities. Thanks for the post!
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