Is House truly 'Alone'?
Time for a quick show of hands: After the season's first episode of House, are we missing the Good Doctor's fearless underlings, his cottages?
I'm not saying I wouldn't want Jennifer Morrison, Omar Epps and Jesse Spencer to return to House at some point, but as I indicated in my review of the season's first two episodes, thus far absence hasn't necessarily made this heart grow fonder.
Tuesday's (Sept. 25) season four premiere found Dr. House still working without a diagnostics team, which is to say that he was doing absolutely nothing ("In what twisted universe does mastering Eddie Van Halen's two-handed arpeggio technique count as 'absolutely nothing,'" House asked Cuddy when facing accusations of inactivity).
As we discovered in last season's otherwise uneven "Airborne" episode, as amusingly reliable (and medically productive) as House's interactions with the cottages may be, there's at least as much dramatic fodder in a foraging House. Just as he made airplane passengers adapt to his entrenched intellectual routine in "Airborne," Tuesday's "Alone" episode found House initially using a custodial engineer as his sounding board ("Imagine that the roof of the storage closet collapses on your favorite floor buffer, which then starts overheating." "Why would I have a favorite floor buffer?"), which yielded creative potential diagnoses (Dr. Buffer was quick to suggest lupus) and humor.
Tuesday's episode also served as a reminder that as good as the actors playing House's condos may be, there isn't any kind of qualitative drop-off to giving extra screentime to Lisa Edelstein and Robert Sean Leonard (quite the opposite, really). Both Doctors Cuddy and Wilson just wanted House to interview a new team -- in fact, neither doctor seemed to have anything else to do around the hospital this week -- but they went about it in very different ways.
Did you like Cuddy's attempts at bargaining and half-hearted administrative sanctions? Well those just led House to consult a Magic Eight Ball, much to Cuddy's chagrin ("Who are you going to believe, a classic toy or a woman who, if she had any confidence in her ideas, wouldn't feel the need to distract you with a water bra.").
Or did you prefer Wilson's attempts to hold House's guitar hostage? Well that just led to an escalating terror war between the colleagues ("Do you know what terrorists do when you don't negotiate? They terrorize." "Bring. It. On.") and culminated in Wilson resorting to torture ("You ever tighten a guitar string really, really slowly? Past the point it can handle the strain? It makes this weird... sound... almost like a scream. Eeeeeek."). While the annoying 'shippers have debated whether House belongs with Cuddy or Cameron, I've always just wanted more of House and Wilson together. No, not like that. They're just fantastic as Odd Couple-style friends.
Next week's episode -- equally good, if you ask me -- involves the introduction of a new set of potential cottages. Will the Cameron-esque E.R. doc with the allegedly lopsided breasts make a return? I wouldn't dare give that away.
Other thoughts on the week's episode:
Wanna talk about an obscure pop culture reference? Try House and Wilson discussing Raid on Entebbe, a 1977 telefilm starring an all-star list of craggy period character actors including Peter Finch, Martin Balsam, Jack Warden, John Saxon, Horst Buchholz and Yaphet Kotto as Idi Amin Dada. So what'd you think of the cottage-free House?
I thought it was good--although I think I will miss his people!! Maybe they'll come back--or maybe he will hire some other people!! I kinda liked the one girl in that one scene!! He might be able to pull it off by himself--but he's definately better with some one/'s to sound off of--the janitor was even funny!! Who knows maybe even cuddy & wilson would complete his staff well!!
That was an interesting case, since it happened in real life to a local girl and her college friend.
I'm not sure what to think of the weird camera work on this episode. It was a bit jarring, but at least I didn't come away entirely hating it!
Loved it! Wilson and House were hilarious. House consulting the janitor was hilarious. Was it just me or did House look totally hot playing the guitar lol.
The case was very interesting and tragic.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the season and I agree with the original author...I'm not missing the quitters in any way whatsoever.
It was hilarious when he stole Wilson's patient! That is so wrong it is great. I loved the whole terrorism thing between them. Wilson obviously knows House better since at one point House at least called someone for an interview--even though he hung up.
I have to agree with his idea for getting his group replaced. Love that he is making all applicants go through a 6 week interview process. He is exactly right that he needs more than 10 minutes to decide. This is going to be a great season with all of that going on.
Side note, Cuddy's white outfit was a bit tight and slutty even for her. There is no way a dean of medicine would dress like that. She looked great but normally she does professional sexy much better.
As usual, it was all just GREAT even without his team. But then, I am one of those millions of fans who would be content to just watch Hugh Laurie play the guitar, piano, sing for the entire hour, OR just sit there and stare into the camera. You might say I like him a lot.
I loved it! It was great. Can't wait until next week!!! Did anyone else notice that House wasn't really popping any pills last night? I thought that was kind of odd. I do love the 6 week program idea, and can't wait to see how that pans out... but I also hope the old team will come back. It't going to be a great season!
Oh, and I totally agree with Liz. Hugh Laurie is fantastic!
I have only disliked one episode of House ever and it sure wasn't this one! Sure I missed Chase, Cameron and Foreman, but in Cuddy's nagging, she perfectly pointed out why that team worked so well together and were so entertaining. I loved every scene with Wilson. I sometimes question their friendship (like why Wilson keeps putting up with House), but this war between them epitomized their friendship, pranks, jokes and nagging back and forth and then House has to take it one step too far. I couldn't stop laughing.
I also question the fact that nobody really dies on this show, so this case being a little hard to categorize in the win/loss columns, which made it all the more intriguing. I can't wait to see how House plays off the new team, especially Kal Penn's character.
heh, wilson seems to have a lot of time on his hands, but i liked his interaction with house. and i liked it with just him, wilson and cuddy. team? what team? i, for one, am glad those ducklings are gone and am disappointed that they'll be adding new ones (if one of the female ones "fall" for house again, count me out this season; the last thing i want is some cameron clone--cameron was bad enough).
I think House the doctor needs a team but House the TV show didn't miss the three young 'uns that much. I love Cuddy and Wilson too and this ep had loads of good interaction, not just House bullying them, as he does with his underlings. The game show doctors could be fun, and House will ADORE having a large audience. Would a job with him really be that coveted?
The term 'cottages' to refer to House's team is really awful. It'd be great if you didn't use it anymore. 'Ducklings' works fine; 'the team' would also suffice, if you're feeling brusque.