While millions of Americans are turning their heads towards the celebrity dancing competition, Dancing with the Stars, they are truly missing out on some compelling television in the form of FOX’s House. It’s a shame really that society has conformed to cheap tactics to pull viewership into their orbit, as I feel many reality programs do. As a result, quality writing and true exhibitions of talent are being overlooked. Why are we watching “cheap” celebrities like Bristol Pailin and The Situation dancing horribly when we could be watching five-time Emmy nominee, Golden Globe and SAG award winner and disgustingly talented Laurie giving his all week after week? Granted, DWTS is probably good for a laugh or two and some artificial drama. However, House is having one of its best seasons in awhile and too many viewers are missing it. In all honesty, if I want to see “celebrities” with cheap backgrounds, I’ll pick up the latest tabloid. But enough about low quality programming, since this blog is intended to turn the viewership eyes towards some seriously compelling television. Let me take a look at House and what I feel is its return to the glory days…..basically why the heck you should be watching it.
As has been the case for six seasons, House has been a character study into the journey of the complicated life of its main character, Dr. Gregory House. We’ve seen his story unfold before our eyes and witnessed how he became a cripple, the driving forces behind his genius medical mind, his dysfunctional family life, his loves, his losses, his addictions, and his dissent into depression and serious Vicodin addiction which culminated into his committal into a mental health facility. As we ended season six, we began to see all the work that House invested in himself to become a better, sober person, after his stint in Mayfield, almost come crumbling down when he lost a patient who resembled his own personality. He also began to come to terms with losing the woman he loved, Dr. Lisa Cuddy, that night as she revealed she was set to marry another and announced that she was “done” with him. At one of his lowest points, we found him on his bathroom floor clutching a bottle of drugs ready to give up on what he felt were failed attempts at doing the right things in his life and at the accident scene. What really did he have left? He was alone, since his best friend Wilson moved on as well. Just then in a simple twist of fate, when House had pretty much thrown in the towel, he received the most unexpected glimmer of hope as his lady-love Cuddy cut ties with her fiancée to be with him. This is how our sixth season opened….with House and Cuddy exploring this newfound relationship journey and discussing all the complications that go with it….and there was a lot of lovin’ going on too. Yes, the opener turned many of the general fans off, while the “Huddy” community was rejoicing. However, it was something that needed to be done. Hell, five years of sexual tension. What would you do? This lead to a great first full team second episode and one in which House and Cuddy had to deal with their first major issue…..how in God’s name do we have a relationship and function at work? What I thought was nice was the balance found in this episode. The patient of the week and her family faced a very tense medical dilemma in which a decision had to be made to take the lung of her sick brother and some marrow in order to save her life. Yes, the brother’s life-span would probably be cut down to half, but it would ultimately save the life of the daughter since her body rejected a donor lung. This dilemma made for an incredibly tense moment between House and Cuddy at the end and went to the classic House story of tackling an ethical dilemma. Plus, in this episode we had a return of clinic patients, which were always a pleasant diversion from the seriousness. They were a father and son elderly pair who wanted House to lie, so they wouldn’t have to live with each other anymore. In the end, after taking money from both the father and son, House really solves the father’s simple health issue, hands both of them back their money and suggests counseling. As for House and Cuddy’s work issue, it was resolved for the moment. But again this part of their relationship needed to be addressed early on because it is a major issue with Cuddy being his boss. But I don’t think it will be the last serious work issue we’ll see this season. It basically continued the question brought up in the premiere between them. Therefore, it made sense to address it in the second episode. However, it didn’t overwhelm it which I think made all fans content.
The third installment of the series introduced us to Alice Tanner, a writer of a teen novel series about a boy named Jack Cannon. There was some fine acting in this one as Amy Irving played the patient of the week. She was plagued by a past that mirrored House’s in many ways. Her distress overwhelmed her to a point where she just wanted to die. What was classic about this wasn’t the illness of Alice, but how much her struggles were a parallel to House’s own personal struggles. This is a tactic the writers use well even if it isn’t intentional. It’s always something that gets the fans talking and discussing. We find out that House’s personality hasn’t changed. He’s still an ass who takes pleasure in mocking his team, patients and performs the usual breaking and entering. Yet, he has an unlikely companion in his illegal pursuit in the form of Cuddy. Okay, she didn’t know what he was up to at the time, but she went along nonetheless. And as obsessive as House is at solving puzzles, we discover that he is just as obsessive about his relationship, citing that he thinks Cuddy will get bored with him since they have nothing in common but sex. It’s both funny and I admit cute to see House so nervous about the future of his love-life. But it also showed how House doesn’t just live in the moment. He’s always thinking a thousand steps ahead. Alas, that is the nature of our star diagnostician, the man who always has to analyze everything and see the negative right out of the gate. After probably one of the most entertaining scenes in the form of a double date go-cart race, we do find out at the end that Cuddy is happy with House and enjoys their relationship because it is uncommon. We also find that in some ways each makes the other better. For example, at the end of this particular episode, House loses the nerve to take back his lie about Alice’s son (He told Alice her son died of an aneurysm and not because she let him drive in the rain.) Alice had been feeling responsible for the incident which found her still alive and her son dead. The truth was that Alice’s actions did cause her son’s death, but House was trying to give her hope. In a moment where House was going to recant his story as a result of Alice telling him she was going to leave her story open-ended, he happened to see Cuddy there and decided against it. Cuddy did make him a better person in that moment as much as he didn’t want to admit it.
The fourth installment didn’t have the most compelling patient of the week story, I admit. But through the POTW story, the issue of relationships in general came into play and how hard they are or can be. This was one of those episodes where the POTW served as a vehicle to give House something to think about in terms of his own life, which is usually what the POTW stories are tailor made to do. It’s part of the fabric that the House writers like to weave in regards to the stories they tell from time to time. As much as we think House may be reluctant to spend time with Cuddy’s daughter Rachel, we find that this is an underlying issue for him. For Cuddy House possibly wanting to keep her at arm’s length in an effort to avoid the next serious step by wanting to keep his hooker massage therapist is an issue for her. We also have Chase playing a playboy bachelor after his breakup from Cameron. He’s out to have some fun and is given the task of hiring a new female team member. However, he seems to find that business and pleasure don’t make us the keenest of observers when it comes to job qualifications. As usual, House takes the utmost pleasure in stepping over Foreman’s toes in the process by selecting Chase to do the interviewing. Again, House messing with his team and mocking them in the process is another classic House quality that has returned. Why would anyone want to miss that? The results of this House episode had Chase’s pretty hire quitting but hooking up with him and House and Cuddy resolving their issues. House took the number of the Physical therapist Cuddy suggested and Cuddy let House stay over at her place to familiarize Rachel with him and signal that they were indeed a couple.
The last installment before the two week hiatus had House facing his biggest challenge…..babysitting Rachel. Anyone who loves the brotherhood of House and Wilson, took pleasure in this gem of a hilarious episode. Not only did it provide the best laughs of the season so far but it also provided the viewer with clever ideas in the area of parenthood in its many forms. Thanks to House’s “parenting”, Foreman and Taub learned valuable lessons about their personalities in the most Housian ways. Foreman learned through House how his ego could be deflated in the course of a second and Taub learned how his paranoia and child-like attitude does not appeal to those who are smarter than he is. House and Wilson also learned a few valuable lessons….never leave coins out for a kid to swallow and make sure a kid doesn’t know your name so she doesn’t tell on you when you hide things from mommy. Okay, well maybe those weren’t the most important things House learned. House did learn what it takes to be a responsible parent and even showed that he could handle the job. It was one of his fears that might have been put just s little more at ease.
So what does the future hold for House? Well, word on the information highway says that the next few episodes are intense and brilliant. Plus, we are introduced to temporary new fellow Martha Masters, played by Amber Tamblyn from Joan of Arcadia fame. The cases are said to bring up several issues at hand that cause all sorts of legal and ethical issues. Plus, I hear the acting is superb. It’s definitely something I wouldn’t want to miss if I were you. Additionally, sometime in January we finally get to met Cuddy’s elusive mom played by five-time Emmy winner Candice Bergen of Murphy Brown and Boston Legal fame. Ms. Bergen is an ace at balancing the comedy and drama in her acting, and I can only imagine some terrific moments between her and House. Plus, I’m sure Lisa Edelstein will get some stellar opportunities to spar with her TV mom as well. As for the Thirteen fans out there, she is set to return but I believe it won’t be until a little later in 2011.
What’s happening on House right now is nothing short of refreshing. So many doors have opened in which the writers can really play this year and play they have. As much as I am a House/Cuddy fan, I must say that I am enjoying ALL areas of the writing this year not just the proverbial “shipper” moments. The balance of romance and medical has been excellent and well handled. The stories are back to being interesting, intense and dealing with the facets of life and the issues surrounding all aspects of it. I’ve read many a fan who claimed that House has simply become a “soap opera”. Unfortunately, they aren’t looking at what’s happening this season, because a soap opera House is not. There is no melodrama here, just true to life issues and medical cases that have left viewers pondering….what exactly would I do in that situation? Can I ever get past a tragedy for which I may be responsible? Can I handle a situation for which I was not prepared? These are not soap issues but issues people face every day. Again, the show is a character study. Therefore, new layers of Gregory House are in line to be revealed as he trips in his relationship with Cuddy but makes great strides as well. The questions for him this season are can he succeed in continuing to battle his demons? Can he maintain what he worked on with Dr. Nolan in regards to other people’s feelings? Can he sustain that little bit of hope he has in love? Will he fail and succumb to Vicodin again? Will he continue to hide all that ails him from those around him? Will he survive a visit from someone who could be his toughest opponent yet…..Mrs. Cuddy? Basically, where do we see House going this season and will there be hints to his end?
Seven years this show has held its own, dared to be different by going against the natural flow of most shows, challenged itself each season, and has managed to stay fresh with new ideas. David Shore knows how to steer this ship so it doesn’t crash into an ice berg and sink, although it has and still may hit a few rocky storms along the way. That’s just my opinion though. Don’t hit me.
Even a bad House episode is still damn good thanks to some incredible acting by an amazing cast. I will take a bad episode of House over some bad dancing on Dancing with the Stars any day. Hugh Laurie is the master of his craft and if you really want to know something true about the arts, just take one look at him and you will see all you need to see. He knows how to quarterback his team and works hard at making each show and each moment a memorable experience for the viewer. It’s a shame that some people cannot appreciate the art of this amazing show. It is still different than anything on television thanks to a complicated character and talented cast and crew who put their blood, sweat and tears into something that is extraordinary.
In conclusion, take your remote on Monday night November, 8th turn it to FOX and instead of watching a badly executed tango, check out what TV Guide has deemed the Princeton Plainsboro Tango and catch House at 8PM EST, because the glory days have returned.
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