I also very much liked “The Dig.” It is a brilliant way of exposing Thirteen’s inner turmoil, while allowing House’s more human side to surface in unexpected ways. The best of season eight so far has to be (for me) “Twenty Vicodin.” I love seeing House powerless and getting by solely on his wits (and not always coming out victorious).
...The Good
I have to admit that coming into season eight, I was not a big fan of making Foreman (Omar Epps) dean of medicine. But I think, for the most part, it has worked pretty well. Other than bringing in an outsider, I like the way this new position is beginning to affect Foreman, particularly as Chase (Jesse Spencer) and Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) have begun to work their mojo on him.
I like the addition of Odette Anable (Adams) and Charlyne Yi (Park) to House's team, but it's been too few episodes to put them in the "great" category. There is a lot of potential there.
I was also a bit bothered by Wilson and House getting their rhythm back so quickly after House’s return from prison. But not as much as I thought I would be. I think Wilson understands what in House’s psyche provoked him to act so rashly and recklessly in “Move On,” and now that House is out of prison, it’s easy to slip back to old patterns. And season eight has been full of much House-Wilson goodness.
...And the Not So Good
So, now for the not so good. I think Lisa Edelstein’s departure was a terrible loss for the series. Although “Moving On” left the series in a reasonable place for her absence in season eight, I feel that her presence at the would have created an enormous amount of dramatic energy off of which to play into this season. Would House have even had an office to which he could return? Would his professional value to the hospital have trumped Cuddy’s fury? Would they at some point come to some sort of understanding? We’ll never know. (Unless the recent rumors pan out and she returns for a few episodes). It was shortsighted of the network to let her walk away with only one (or possibly two) seasons remaining to the show. Along with Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) and House, they had always been the core of the series. Can it survive without her? Of course—and it has, with a very solid opening eight episodes. But it would be nice to have her back for some closure.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - MusicandHouse
I agree with all of your "bests" with the exception of Bombshells. I think I would put Charity Case in its place on my list. As for Chase, some recent internet spoilers say you will get your wish. I will say no more so to aviod spoiling those who don't want to be.
I agree that TPTB need to decide/announce if this will be the last season. I have a feeling that they already know, but I think the audience deserves to know as well. I need time to prepare.
BTW I think when House returns it will be January 23 at 8pm. At least that is what I remember reading when FOX released their midseason schedule. I think the remainder of the season will air at 8pm followed by Alcatraz
2 - Barbara Barnett
You are right about the time and about Chase :) It's my living in the central timezone trying to finesse the ET thing :). I knew the time changed, tho. But it's corrected.
3 - rjw
I,too,enjoyed "Twenty Vicodin".I also really liked "Transplant".Most of the season has gone well.I don't think "House" is standing pat.For the most part,I have found that each season starts off slowly,then really revs up.I do miss Cuddy (sort-of),but can't fathom that House would be back at PPTH if she stayed."Bombshells" might have been controversial,but it was very well-done (the best script that Hess/Friedman has co-written)."Out of the Chute","After Hours" and "Moving On " were also excellent.I'm looking forward to Jan.23rd,to see what else will happen.I understand there will be at least one Chase-centered episode coming up (glad to see because Jesse Spencer is a terrific actor).Still not much of a Foreman fan,but it does make sense to have him be Dean of Medicine (I think he likes to feel that he's in charge).Sorry if this comment seems to ramble on.
4 - The Other Barnett
Barb,
I agree with the feelings about uncertainty with the PTB about whether House returns or ends this season. I, of course, think the show is good to go for another couple years beyond this year with the current cast (Annabelle and Yi have potential that I hope the writers can tap). Still, I am a bit afraid for the announcement...don't want the show to end.
I agree that more patient interaction is needed. House shows his humanity through actually brushing with humanity (if it is a good POTW, which has not always been certain this year).
I agree with giving more focus to Chase, but a team of four makes it difficult for each individual to stand out. If Chase takes on some kind of secondary House-whisperer/Interpreter role for the newbies -and then throws in a decent confrontation with House or diagnosis miracle every few episodes...then I'd be happy.
I like the notion of House dealing with his father and mother directly this season. Which leads us to Nolan as the perfect conduit for this family drama.
Either way, I agree Nolan is needed. I think it is possible that the show could avoid House going into his troubled introspective side at work or in public if he can open up to Nolan about his troubles.
I do not share your hunger for House's tormented genius side to come out - I am perfectly happy with the slightly warped, cock-eyed, selectively-immature, and flippant House. No matter what Shore and others think, people do change and the prison experience may have shaken loose some cobwebs in House's psyche. No one can operate with a dark cloud introsection holding pattern over them without either relying heavily upon a narcotic crutch and/or blowing up his whole relationship community. If one or both of those things happen - House is back in the pen. I don't know about you, but I can certainly agree with the notion that it does not hurt to have a very limited temporary lobotamy once in a while.
Now if you want House to be (to paraphrase a John Mayer tune) 'slow-dancing in a burning room', bring back Cuddy. I see the story value (especially if this is -gulp- the last season)but I honestly believe Cuddy was harmful to House emotionally and (maybe) mentally. She enabled him and yet tried to shame him, too. How is this healthy? All of her good qualities can be replaced by different individuals and I certainly never believed that she was the love of his life.....she was the convenient one to love. If Lisa Cuddy returns to PPTH, House will drop into his old dark self. If the writers put House into a period that includes a confrontation with a biological father and his mother; followed by Cuddy.....the tether will break and Nolan better be present. Those who have been talking about the end of the show including House killing himself...that would be (or should be)very likely.
If I had my opportunity to supplant Shore as show runner til May (knowing there is going to be a 9th season), I'd do the following storylines:
1. House confronts his family situation, leaving him angry, warn, and leaning on Wilson to deal with his hurt feelings with mother and confused feelings for biological father. Nolan also enters to allow House to share whats going on in his head.
2. Chase has brief tryst with Park - weirdness, hilarity and warmth ensues.
3. Taub's daddy-conundrum fades into the woodwork.
4. Adams asserts her diagnostic and street/prison-wise techniques/skills in a couple episodes.
5. Foreman has an internal moral quandry in his adulterous relationship that can only be noticed by House, Taub and Chase - to their intermingled humor/concern.
6. House returns to the prison as a means to blow away all his back-logged clinic hours and discovers some shocking illness - this gives us more chance to get some back-stories.
7. To close the season, Cuddy returns for a couple episodes to take care of a few pieces of personal business and to attend to her dying mother (another Bergen appearance). House gets to unload, Cuddy gets to unload, Wilson gets to unload on both, and Nolan refs. But House also gets to be the one who helps usher Cuddy's mom over to the other side, while also gently closing the chapter with Cuddy while helping her accept her mom's role in her life and her death.
Thus allowing for the 9th season to be purely about diagnostics and character interplay....and maybe a return to patch things with parents....maybe.
What do you think?
5 - elcristina
I agree w/ some points of your comments,specially about the Drama on the show. I miss the times when the episode was 90% drama and 10% comedy (today is more like the opposite) and mostly because this drama was always present in every episode of the first to third season and this is what made [H] the big tv show that it became. After that, Wilson's Heart, Broken, Help Me, After Hours was in my opinion individual stuff that always remember the good drama that made me falling in love about it. Twenty Vicodin was good but after that and until now I don't see where this season is going, is it going to be centred in House's relations with his mother?! His lack of relation w/ his father or a relation w/ his real father?
This lack of commitment is what make terrible episodes without any continuation.
And the return of Lisa?! I really don't understand. One of the producers (I don't remember wich one but I can look for his name after) said when Lisa left that her exit was a relief because they didn't know what to do with her character on this season. And now they want her for what exactly? And don't get me wrong I want her back because deep down I know it's the only chance that House has to have some other closure than death.
But this is my exactly point in all of this, for example after 'Moving on' Shore came and said that this was House dealing and ending his relationship with Cuddy once for all but on the Season Premiere he (or the producers or whatever) show him with no lawyer trying to punish hisself for what he did. This is the lack of commitment that I mentioned and this way at the same time I want Lisa back it's hard to imagine something good for her and for her character.
I'm hopeful that when the show returns on January all things can become clear, the arc of the season, the end (or not?) of the show so this way the producers can really put their mind on something good to closure the serie.We, fans, we all want that !
6 - Max Durdy
I've said this since the end of Season 7: I think bringing Nolan back would be a great thing for the show. Look at the episode "Baggage": it was one of the best in Season 6, and went deeper into the character of House.
I agree that House hasn't quite been as compelling as normal so far this season. I enjoyed "Twenty Vicodin" and I loved "Dead and Buried" because it posed the question of why House was helping the grieving father. There were several scenes I loved in that episode. To me, that felt like an episode from an earlier season because I honestly felt he connected with people more in the earlier seasons.
For me, we don't see House interact with patients enough. In the earlier seasons, House does seem to fight for patients a bit more (the season 2 episode "Deception" an example.)
There are episodes coming up that make me feel Season 8 may step up a gear:
"Nobody's Fault" is written by Friend, Lerner and David Foster (three of the veteran writers).
And there's an upcoming episode called "Chase", so it looks like we'll get a deeper insight into Chase's character.
7 - 20V
It's been a shaky year. I'd probably replace "Moving On" on your list with "Charity Case", which I felt was the strongest of Season 8 so far.
We're due for an ongoing plotline. A shot in the arm is needed. House, as a character and a show, really feels like they're both in a state of stasis. Maybe that's the point; getting out of a hostile environment such as prison and slowly assimilating himself back into his world takes time. I think the problem is the cast isn't really balanced well and the patients incapable of taking control of their own stories.I know we have new characters, but Wilson and Chase need to be given more to do.
Crazy thought: I'm 80% sure the show is getting a ninth season. Announcing any show in its final season is a pretty simple marketing campaign. The show comes back in a month. If we are staring down at the end, there's no reason to withhold that information. Unless we hear something in the next two weeks, I'm working under the assumption it's coming back.
8 - ann uk
Barbara, I agree with most of your reactions and, like you , I really miss the glimpses into House's dark heart.
I specially miss any exploration of his relationship with Wilson.Why did he never visit House in prison.? He had already made it clear that he thought Cuddy had treated House badly and he, of all people, would have understood House's emotional explosion although he could not excuse it.However angry he was ,I don't think he would have wholly abandoned House
And would House have accepted that abandonment so passively ?
This missed a chance to explore and develop a key relationship in depth as they renewed their friendship.
9 - donna
Totally agree with you ... especially about move on ! S7 was about House;s psychology ...he broke my heart when he said to Cuddy that he was feeling hurt and pain
10 - Erin
I really enjoyed reading your review of season eight so far, and agree with most of your insights. The only thing that I might differ on is I really loved Dead and Buried which made up for any jerkiness from House in any previous episode to me. Hugh Laurie was so compelling and his understated nuanced performance was wonderful to see. I'd love to see more episodes like it. Happy New Years!
11 - rbrown205
I really liked the way that House smiled to himself when being driven away toward the end of Dead and Buried. He actually got satisfaction from figuring out a way to avoid the death of another child. I would like to see more of that kind of House.
12 - tahina
I want Cuddy back, and would like to know how she's been doing, has she thought about House all this time? I bet she has, and maybe Wilson knows. Also, OMG, how much I miss Hugh and Lisa's sizzling presence on the screen! On that thought, Happy New Year!! :)
13 - Barbara Barnett
Happy New Year to you all!
14 - bigHousefan
Ann UK #8 - I agree with you totally!
Barbara, you said, "I'd like to see the character of House be less over-the-top manchild, balanced with some of his earlier seriousness."
I miss the soul-searching, thoughtful piano-playing House. I have wondered though if the change is by design. As the years go by, House has racked up additional emotional scarring. Perhaps gone are the days of a reflective House because it hurts too much. He seems to have replaced this with the childish bratty House...
I'm eager to see the upcoming exploration of House and his biological father as mentioned by David Shore in Fans Ask House. It's been a long time coming.
Happy New Year All!
15 - spitza
I just saw on Internet that Hugh Laurie died in an accident in New Zealand. I hope it's not true.
16 - sara
I prefer House and Cameron much more, and com'on, the real House md was the first 3 series, after this there is just a worst parody.
And I totally disagree, House, Wilson and Cuddy aren't the core of the show,it's completely untrue. I hate some people continues to repeat this false thing, there is a total lack of memory of what the show was at its best.
House is the core of the show.
And Bryan Singer was the real creator, he had all the best ideas at the beginning
(the style, the atmosphere, plots, characters and patients were built according to his vision) and after his departure there was the disaster because Katie Jackobs and David Shore are incompetent and have no real talent so therefore have not been able to continue to write a good show. This is the truth.
House died 5 years ago.
17 - Paulac45
Agree with most of your choices for S7. As for S8 think you have overlooked how much House showed his very human side - albeit in a very Housian way - in Dead and Buried. The way he answered the father when he asked how the child looked and the look on House' face when he was looking back from the police car were exactly the House things that have always tugged at my heart strings and proved there is a very human side under the exterior jerk. The big downside, for me, of S8 is the dreadful acting - and I use that term very loosely - of CY. OA is not great but not as bad. My one wish for the rest of S8 is for Park and Adams to move a bit more into the background now their haracters are established and bring Wilson more to the fore - H/W (HL/RSL) on screen together are always the best moments of any episode IMO and I want more of them. Look forward to the Chase centric episode too. Would definitely like to see an arc involving House finally resolving/coming to terms about his parents - have always thought it a bit strange that nothing has been seen or heard about his mother since Birthmarks. My main wish, however, as I am sure it is for all us diehard fans is for the announcement of a S9
18 - Djesus
As much as I loved Cuddy in season 1 to 4, I don't understand that some of you want her back, House and Cuddy are now both better away from each other, House is ok, Cuddy probably married and happy.
I want dramas but certainly not again between House and Cuddy.
Bring her back would be like with Olivia Wilde, more a gift for the actress than a real need about House's story (13's character had long time ago left the show).
Separations are often difficult and with no return, and this is the case, there is no need for an explanation or excuse, anyway House's behavior is unforgivable though Cuddy had not also clean hands.
But I agree with you Barbara about this :
"I'd like to see the character of House be less over-the-top manchild, balanced with some of his earlier seriousness."
Something is missing in this season 8, more emotions and less comedy, I just liked the episode with the father who lost his son.
19 - Marie
"Would House have even had an office to which he could return? Would his professional value to the hospital have trumped Cuddy’s fury? Would they at some point come to some sort of understanding? We’ll never know. (Unless the recent rumors pan out and she returns for a few episodes)"
Barbara, how do you imagine to find out all of this even if LE returns? Cuddy can't get her position back, can she? I mean, what could be the reason for Foreman to give up his ambitions and give DOM job back to Cuddy? I think Foreman's death only. Sorry, I can't see the place of Cuddy on the show now. she's not DOM, she's out of hospital, she's out of House's bed, what's the point of her presence?
20 - lobentti
Hey !
Happy New Year to everybody! and our beloved characters, the actors, etc etc. Yes, there were ups and downs lately; IMO the best episode season7 was 'Unwritten'; the worst thing was to make Dr House pathetic and disrespectful with kids; the presence of Candice Bergen was a 'must', the absence of Lisa Edelstein was understandable, her character was going down and down, the 'candidate' that motivated House´s worst action looked like her son, not a man to confront House; and Olivia Wilde, for her understanding and dealing with House, as she was a dammaged character too (and accepted that, instead of Wilson and Cuddy that only blamed him); so far, here we had 5 eps of season 8, and it´s so... something more than cold, less than warm ... don´t find the right word. But, Mr.Laurie is great, although a bit 'tired' now that he found a new source of communication, the music. The two new Drs are out if the place, but it´s ok , so ... let´s hope for the best,and wait ... each week a surprise, without the former impact, butgood to watch.
Thanks for that.
21 - Barbara Barnett
sara--Bryan Singer directed the pilot. He did not create the series. David Shore created the series. He wrote the pilot and has been the creative force behind the series since day one. You are simply incorrect on this.
Marie--we wouldn't find any of that out, necessarily. If she had returned (and I'm not saying "now" I'm saying if she hadn't left) we'd get some sense of whether (or why) she would still value House as at least an asset to the hospital. Her returning now would answer none of that. And that's not what I said.
I'm fine with the series sans Lisa Edelstein. She may never return (or do it briefly like JMo did in late season six) and life at PPTH will go on. I'm just sayin' it was unfortunate that she left the series. There could have been some interesting fireworks. Her absence is missed (by me, at least).
22 - spitza
Hi guys, what do you think of this? It makes me really worried.
23 - Barbara Barnett
It's a story from a satirical NZ news site. In other words, don't believe it
24 - spitza
I thought that it was a joke too at first but then I thought that it would be a very sick joke and wasn't sure. Thank you.
25 - Barbara Barnett
It's a very sick joke.