Why Amber Tamblyn's Dr. Martha Masters Left House M.D.

Even in its least interesting seasons (which isn't a dig by any stretch), David Shore's beloved medical drama, "House" (or "House, M.D.", as some folks call it) always featured complex, multi-layered, and intellectually provoking recurring characters. Naturally, everybody had their favorites (Olivia Wilde's mysterious Thirteen was mine) for different reasons, but regardless of who you preferred, all of them were intriguing to some degree because of how they treated (and were treated by) Hugh Laurie's insufferably mean genius, Dr. Gregory House.

The fresh face in the penultimate season was Dr. Masters, played by Amber Tamblyn, a third-year medical student and intern who was extremely bright yet inexperienced due to her lack of training. She was smart and well-educated, but also too obedient and by-the-book, which irritated the hell out of House, since he usually went against the book and broke as many rules (ethical or otherwise) as needed to successfully diagnose every one of his patients. At one point, House had even given Masters bogus tasks and unnecessary medical procedures to perform, so he could do whatever he wanted without having someone constantly looking over his shoulder and potentially tell on him to his boss. Masters also had a naïve belief in people's generally good nature that House despised, which gave him numerous opportunities to deliver his hilariously rude antics for our amusement.

Though Masters' goodness was refreshing, ultimately, she was a younger, more innocent and immature version of Jennifer Morrison's Dr. Cameron, and didn't feel like a character who'd have a place in the series to stick around for too long. That was all by design.

According to the actress, she was never meant to be in "House" longer than the 13 episodes she initially signed up for. Her plan was to do something separate after the medical drama with producer Katie Jacobs and creator David Shore, but the latter's all-around commitment to "House" would've never allowed that to happen realistically. So with Shore's blessing, Tamblyn and Jacobs went to work on their own project once her storyline on "House" came to an end (she only returned a year later for the series finale). In a 2011 interview for TV Line, she said,

"Thirteen episodes was always what I signed up to do. That was the plan all along. I never had any intention of staying longer than 13 episodes. That got really emotionally difficult toward the end because I didn't want to go. But Katie and I fell in love with this other project and I knew the time was right."

The actress also added that she didn't think she could've stuck around even if she wanted to because she preferred to jump between projects frequently. "I don't like to get comfortable where I am. I think it's dangerous to be too comfortable in what you're doing," she explained. But despite her relatively short time on the show, the actress developed great relationships with her co-stars and even received a heart-warming, surprise going-away party from all the cast and crew members, organized by Laurie. He gave a speech about them working together, which deeply touched Tamblyn, considering that she wasn't even a main cast member on the series. "I was in tears. It blew my mind. No one's ever done that for me." It's never easy to leave behind a beloved and highly successful show like "House," but many can only dream of the kind of perfect send-off that Tamblyn received.