In what feels like an additional present to House fans everywhere, the final new episode, until the strike is over, will air just two days later, on February 5. In “Don’t Ever Change,” House and his team treat a woman who collapses at her wedding. House discovers that she had been a music producer living in the fast lane until she converted to Hasidic Judaism. He insists that people don’t change so easily, and thinks her conversion is a symptom of some underlying illness. There is plenty of room here for further explorations of religious themes, and of course, House’s general assumption that everybody lies.
I have complained a lot about this television season, but while we fans have been merely inconvenienced by the interruption of the season, my support and best wishes go out to the Writers Guild and to all of those whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the strike. Still, I’m very excited about these upcoming episodes. This will give us more chances to explore the nuances of House’s personality and his relationships while discovering new favorite moments. I know that I, like House fans everywhere, feel like I have something to look forward to.
Photo Credits:
Adam Taylor/NBC Universal/FOX
Isabella Vosmikova/FOX
© 2007 FOX Broadcasting Co.
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Article comments
1 - Amanda
Cindy, I'm reading your article and it's ME saying all the things that you are saying!!
All except the part about being jealous of the kiss between House and Cameron. I don't see them together ever....or at least I hope not.
I see Stacey coming back to House in the finale episode (Many many years from now) and them both living happily ever after. The series CAN NOT end with HOUSE still being misrable.
2 - Susanne
I have been very dissappointed with this season. The newbies are boring, it was good for the first three ep but after the end of "97 seasonds" it just went all over the shop for me. Cuddy has become a walking doormat compare to the last two seasons what's going on there? Jealousy cringe is that a good thing or bad thing? Being a woman in my 50s I love the cameron/house relationship and I can see them together but not Stacey. For that relationship to work I think one or both people had to change because two people cannot be the alpha dogs in a relationship. I think that stacey was there to reveal more about House and let House finally have some closure in his life and that's all. So I do not see him with stacey at the end even though I have my preferred relationship I would have been fine with cuddy/house until saw how degraded she has become and the fact that House uses her whenever he pleases and treats her like crap and very little repect leaves me saying "How in Earth can she be in a relationship with him?"
I will watch the last three eps but I'm not really jumping for joy about it, I actually have some paperwork saved up. To me survivor arc was a waste of time and a waste of good characters. It wasn't a solution to their old/boring problem it was a distraction, they are just going to go back to the old formula. Wht happens if they get boring, put those three on the side and then hire another 40 people and go through it all over again? In my opinion they won't get very far until they open up the door and start exploring cuddy, wilson, cameron, chase and foreman individually. They can take a page from Grey's Antomy who is named after the lead but actully put emphasis on their supporting characters and use he talent and let their characters grow wheres with house the characters are stuck at one note, two note with hardly any growth, except for chase at the end. I watched the reruns and actually enjoyed them wheres with these new eps I find myself extremely dissapponted.
Great review by the way, I'm not looking foreward to these eps though but I am holding on I may be in denial. I hope the new ducklings go because so far they haven't really made an impact and don't expect them to especially when one is more likely to be seen on a sitcom and one is perfect Mary sue which is not interesting for a TV character.
3 - Tammy
I have enjoyed every House episode for the past three seasons. But this new season is a different story. I do not enjoy how House has been written completely differently to every other episode in previous seasons. It used to be clever and interesting, now it has become boring and crude.
The survivor arc was only interesting in the first couple of episodes but after that it became obvious that the actual NEW characters weren't going to be chosen. Instead they chose the three most boring and bland characters that bring nothing to the show. I mean where are Cameron and Chase? We keep hearing that they will be back in full force, but the question still remains, WHEN?
I will watch the next three episodes, but I'm up for watching repeats of the first three seasons because that's the House that I grew to love and enjoy.
4 - CindyC
Amanda - I don't like to speculate on how the series will end, but I don't forsee anything in the shape of House living a "happily ever after" with anyone. I think that would go against the premise of the original concept. I can envision House walking into the sunset with Wilson by his side (friends) in the same vein as the end of Casablanca -- or House sitting alone in his apartment, playing the piano, with a cigar burning in an astray and a glass of scotch -- and he's perfectly content to be that way. Of course, only time will tell.
Susanne -- I have to agree to disagree with you about Cameron -- as a woman approaching my 50's, I had major problems with the "I'll come back if you go on a date with me" story, and I never really liked her since. I thought it was totally inappropriate and immature. And because I have enough issues dealing with my middle years, I don't really like the idea of House and a younger woman. That is jealously speaking of course, because I'm still working through my issues that come with what I feel is the passage of youth. I'll get over it eventually. Like I said, I will agree to disagree, because I don't want this to turn into a forum for shippers debate.
Tammy -- I agree that this season does not live up to the promise of seasons past, but I am willing to give the writers the benefit of the doubt as to the direction the season was heading. I think that the writers' strike has had a negative impact in that we will not get the chance to see where they were headed with the story, nor have we had the opportunity to explore the depths of the new characters. I like the choices made for the new team and I was hoping for the chance for Kal Penn to shine as Kutner. I have found respect for him as an actor after watching The Namesake.
I'm also wondering, given the abbreviated nature of the season, if the DVD release of Season 4 will have a lower price tag, and/or lots more special features. An in-depth interview with Hugh Laurie woud be great.