‘House’ season premiere shows weakness, but promise
By Matt Braddick
You’ve got to hand it to those creative minds behind the television drama powerhouse “House.” After spending three seasons firmly establishing the show’s formula and style, it took determination (and a sense of risk) to go the direction they did in season four. By taking the spotlight off of some of the characters who had been so instrumental in the show’s popular rise, and replacing them with an entirely new group of characters for the audience to have to get to know, certainly the creators of this show had to know there were going to be consequences for this.
Season five debuted a little close to two weeks ago, but even in the title of its kickoff episode the writers demonstrated their awareness of these consequences and that it was time now to confront them. “Death Changes Everything,” couldn’t have been a more appropriate title, thematically, for this episode. Picking up two months after the heart-wrenching finale of season four, everyone’s favorite oncologist, Dr. Wilson, finally returns from leave and the staff is caught quite unprepared for the next step in his life story. Meanwhile, a new patient arrives with contradictory symptoms (as usual, right?) and House’s new team of miscreants are left to diagnose and treat this patient while House devotes all his energy to talking Wilson out of what he thinks is a deplorable mistake.
All that description and it really tells you nothing about the real plot. It was becoming quite fair game to criticize the plainly formulaic plots of each individual episode, but with this new season premiere the criticism carried much more weight. The patient here, though she engages in a mildly stimulating exchange with “Thirteen” about the implications of success and talent in our modern world, is still only a distraction for the diagnosis team. They have to be kept out of the way while House and Wilson deal with their future relationship.
Then, when her usefulness as a device has ceased, her ailment is miraculously discovered and washed away, without any of the pomp and circumstance witnessed in a usual episode. Of course, too, Dr. Cuddy is still locked in the middle, trying to salvage the pieces and make peace between these two men. What was strong about this start of season five was also its weakness. After season four, things of course were going to have to change, and by the end of the episode it’s clear the writers were willing to do what had to be logically done in order to progress the story, at least before they
actually arrived at that point.
Once the moment is there, when the paradigm shifts, it’s handled so hastily and carelessly, almost as if the story is now apprehensive about its decision to go down this road. The knowledge is there, but the commitment is not, and the final result means the episode is misshapen and conflicted. It then only follows that the audience, too, becomes conflicted. But not in a good way.
So while I would applaud the makers of this wonderful show for showing the resolve to take risks and the appreciation for the need for change, I would still question their final execution. Despite all my comments, I haven’t lost the slightest bit of hope in this show. “House” might easily be the most challenging show on television, so for that alone I’ll stay a fan so long as it retains that title. If “Death Changes Everything” is a misstep, it’s only because the writers and the actors are starting to tread on new, unfamiliar and uneven ground. What they have going for them is they certainly have the right boots for treading around on such territory: accomplished actors to play these very detailed and lively characters.
