The same thing that made this an enjoyable, hilarious episode of House also made it a less effective one by hour's end.

The Wilson vs. House storyline was the funniest use yet of this unusually vindictive, yet always tender and hysterical, friendship. Viewers and message boards around the Internet have buzzed about this pair's seemingly gay interactions, so it was a pleasure to watch the series address that head on.

Read our detailed review of "The Down Low" to see how this all went down.

However, the light tone of this arc - along with the secondary, prank-based storyline involving the underlings - negatively affected the supposedly dramatic conclusion to the patient-of-the-week diagnosis.

When House went all montage style with the undercover cop (played brilliantly by Ethan Embry, who has come a long way since Can't Hardly Wait), it was difficult to drum up too many emotions over his fate when we'd just spent a great scene with Wilson proposing to House in a restaurant.

Not enough attention had been paid throughout the episode to the contrasting drama of the team's case. That closing montage didn't feel earned.

It makes us wonder: should House give in fully to its evolving comedic style? It's always been a light-hearted drama, but it's also billed itself as a serious show. Will it ever be Scrubs? No.

But has the chemistry between Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard stood out as the most entertaining aspect of the series over the last year? Clearly. House may never be a buddy comedy, but perhaps it should focus even more on its lighter elements and stop trying to mix them with profound, depressing medical cases. At least for this week, the combination made for a confusing episode.

Yet it was an incredibly entertaining one, don't get us wrong. After all, House made like Jack Bauer at one point. That's never a bad thing. Check out a few of our favorite House quotes from the installment below:

Wilson: Gregory House, will you marry me?
House: This is unexpected. | permalink

House: You're invoking the guy code?
Wilson: We're guys. It's a code. | permalink

House: I'd like to date her, in the sense that I'd like to jump her repeatedly. | permalink

Foreman: The phrase "Who's Your Daddy?" comes to mind. | permalink

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.