The season 6 premiere of House was good. I believe in getting psychiatric help. I also know that some medicines can absolutely change who you are. I’ve seen the effects of what good psychiatry can do. I loved that House raged against the machine, but the possibility of House becoming someone that can love and let love is fascinating for the storyline. i can imagine that no one would believe him and that fight for belief would take him back to his old ways.
The episode started with Radiohead’s No Surprises. What a great song for the opening. If you remember the video (and if you didn’t, it’s above), Tom Yorke’s head is in a tank. Water fills until his head becomes submerged in water. He’s singing pre-water fill up and post drainage, but his head become submerged for so long that you wonder that he can take it. That was an appropriate song for this entire episode. We are watching House finally get his head above water.
The way House looks when Alvie starts singing Brick House is priceless. Time to rage against the machine. For an hour we watch as House uses every trick at his disposal to cause discord, hoping that the need for a peaceful psych ward will force the psychiatrists into giving him what he wants, a signed statement saying he is ready to practice medicine again.
House will do anything to keep himself from doing what other people want him to do.
But then House begins to know his fellow patients, from Alvie, his Puerto Rican roommate to Freedom Master, a kid who lost his wife and now feels like he’s a superhero. I love Derek Richardson who played Freedom Master. He was my favourite part of Men in Trees. There’s something just so sweet about him that it was very devastating when he gets hurt. It is after Freedom Master’s accident that House wants to stop being whatever it is he is. He takes his medicine, he talks about his feelings, he falls in love with a married woman. He imagines someone will choose him (this is beginning to sound very Grey’s Anatomy “Pick me. Choose me”).
The center of the episode sagged for me. While it is good that House is sharing his feelings, it really seemed like the episode went nowhere. In parts, it felt like a made for tv movie about a grumpy old man who gets his groove back. That this grumpy old man is House and that it means something (especially that Braugher may become a regular guest) is what keeps me watching. Also, House is gonna make it with a married woman? What about Cuddy? I guess the need for human contact, which House hasn’t had since, what, season 3, prompted the act. Also, I can see how people wouldn’t like the act just before the ending. Most people abhor the use of sentimentality in television, but since I like it, I did enjoy 2 things about the scene: Freedom Master actually getting to be the hero and Greg House being right.
It was weird not having a medical emergency. I guess I just felt like I was left hanging without the rest of the crew there, but I didn’t hate it for not being a normal episode of House. It was a bit refreshing, like eating watermelon after enjoying a tasty and tart hummus. Now I’m ready to tackle the season ahead with this remembrance of the old House, who he became and to try him again. Maybe I’m leaving the tart hummus and going on to some spicy bean dip with goat cheese crumbles, but even though it’s different, it can still be just as good.
What does this episode mean for House, the show? I mean, if Greg House isn’t overly narcissistic and sarcastic, completely uncaring of others while being completely miserable, then are we just gonna be watching something made for CBS? According to the commercials, I’m relatively sure we will have the show we crave, but will it be good/better?
What do you think? Did you enjoy the premiere or were you upset because the show was not the House we’ve come to know and love?
