Caveat: mild spoilers ahead
The great actor Brian Cox (Coriolanus) recently explained that drama is more 
about empathy than sympathy. You can hate a character for what he's done, but ultimately if you understand his (or her) actions, the character will endure. I believe that really is the key to why so many have loved the character of Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) on House, M.D. through seven seasons. However, at the end of last season, House snaps and crashes his car into ex-girlfriend Lisa Cuddy's (Lisa Edelstein, who has left the series for The Good Wife) home. With that rash action, he has lost the sympathy of not only of his friends and allies in Princeton, but a considerable number of fans in the online community.
So the question coming into season eight is whether the audience can still empathize with House after the events of last season’s controversial finale, whether or not they find him sympathetic at this point.
We find House at the start of season eight facing a parole board, one year into a longer sentence at the East New Jersey Correctional Facility. He’s become eligible for parole (not because of anything he’s done to merit it, but because there is a space issue—and he’s had “good-ish” behavior during his year-long stay in the slammer).
He has five days until his parole is effective and House basically has to stay out of trouble during those last five days—easier said than done. He makes an effort though, and for the most part plays it straight, even giving in to the intimidation of some antagonistic prison bullies who intend to collect an “exit tax” from him before he goes. Part of their price? Twenty Vicodin.
But the prison gang is just the least of House's worries when an inmate exhibits some strange symptoms that House finds irresistible. While trying to navigate the prison (and prisoners’) rules, House’s curiosity gets the best of him, and along the way he meets the young, earnest, but very bright Dr. Jessica Adams (Odette Annable), a prison doctor as intrigued by House’s medical skills as she is by the patient’s mysterious symptoms. But ultimately, she is faced with making a choice (and risking her job) between following protocol with the patient or trusting House’s instincts and unique observational abilities.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - ALBERTINA280
I like so much, fans don't watch House.We live House!
2 - ALBERTINA280
Barbara I hope Chasing Zebras II! do not disappoint me! Love so much!
3 - Barbara Barnett
Thank you. Chasing Zebras II is up to the publisher. The more people who buy CZ I, the better chance that there will be a CZ II!
4 - me
So are House and Foreman the only regular original cast members in this episode?
5 - Barbara Barnett
me--you are half right :)
6 - MusicandHouse
Well, based on the adition of new cast members we do know House returns to PPTH but I too am curious to see how his relationships change. I am surprised to hear that even Wilson has not made contact with House the whole time he was in prision. I want to see their relationship strained but restored to what it was eventually. As much as I am apprehensive about the posiblity of Wilson becoming the Dean of Medicine, I think it would be interesting to see House and Wilson trying to mend their relationship with Wilson now in the position of boss.
I know Foreman is in the episode from the promo so I find it kind of odd that he hasn't mentioned Cuddy's departure. I am really curious though to see how he finds out and reacts when it does happen.
Also, glad to finally know where the title of "20 vicodin" comes from! I've been trying to figure it out for weeks now
7 - doddle
@MusicandHouse
"I think it would be interesting to see House and Wilson trying to mend their relationship with Wilson now in the position of boss."
Please no, wilson as the new dean, it would be a bad joke.
As for this ep, it looks like "Broken" but in an another place, a stand alone ep.
I'm not worried about House's return, nothing will change, just cuddy and maybe 13 will leave the hospital.
8 - Lucy
"a year, as he notes, during which they’ve all had a chance to move on with their lives."
As a viewer, I'm really sad that Cuddy has moved on with her life for good. I'd have liked to see her and House trying to work together again after the crash (which apparently was Shore's original plan). Even if it's much more realistic that Cuddy wouldn't want to have anything to do with House ever again.
6- MusicandHouse
"I know Foreman is in the episode from the promo so I find it kind of odd that he hasn't mentioned Cuddy's departure. I am really curious though to see how he finds out and reacts when it does happen."
Yes - also I thought Foreman was visiting House and offering him the chance to return to PPTH as the new DoM, which would've implied that Cuddy has left. So maybe Foreman is not the new Dean after all?
9 - doodle
@Lucy
"Even if it's much more realistic that Cuddy wouldn't want to have anything to do with House ever again"
It would have been more realistic to start the season in an another hospital, Plainsboro is Cuddy's baby. But maybe, Cuddy will again give to House a 1256 chance, she'll leave Plainsboro and will let House with his habits and people he worked with, knowing that whoever from the team will replace her, will also reinstate House in the hospital.
10 - dago
Thank you for this nice little teaser.I really apreciated it.But allow me one question:is your article on the House/Cuddy
failure part II still to come or is it canceled for good ?
11 - Jane E
Thanks for the article. In all your articles, you really show a love for the character of House, like so many of us viewers have. I look forward to a great year of communication with you through this blog.
I find your statement about empathy for House very much on target. That goes soley to the acting of Hugh Laurie. It has amazed me for the last 7 years how he had made not only me but the rest of the world cheer for this misantropic, cranky physician. What an outstanding preformance. By the way, I read your blog article on All or Nothing at all, so I rented it on Netflix. You were right. Hugh was great. The character was a total user and just like House, you feel such empathy towards this character due to Hugh.
PS. I also brought your book.
12 - Barbara barnett
Thank you for your kind words. To clarify, foreman is not in the episode.
It is not clear whether anyone has tried to make contact with house at all. It's possible that house tuned them away and refused to see anyone.
13 - Kabby
Thanks so much for this -- it's been a very long hiatus! I'm really looking forward to the set-up you mention with House returning to his old team and Wilson. With all that has happened, we finally have "new ground" to cover and reveal with all of these characters. This actually sounds really promising!
14 - spoilerchicka
Barbara, thanks for the great preview and explaining a few things. I am still so annoyed by the Cuddy exit from the show due to asinine executive positioning to cut the salary of the female lead of the show (especially after all she's done for it and espc. in S.7 - nudity, hello?) that I'm not sure I want to help it's ratings by watching. The only thing that would bring me back is to see Cuddy return and House fix the greatest puzzle of all - why he is the way he is with people (guessing childhood abuse?) -- and making amends to Cuddy. Digressing a little more, I do understand the character Cuddy would not necessarily want to reunite with House after this second mind-snap. However, I do want to hear about the studios contacting Lisa Edelstein and groveling enough to get her back on the show. We Cuddy fans LOVED the dynamic and personal power she had over the character House. Any chance of hope in that direction? Getting LE back, I mean? Please find out for us. We fans are beyond annoyed with House's vehicular attack - it never rang true to me that his jealousy would come out so maliciously and dangerously.
15 - doodle
@Barbara
Is this ep just about House and inmates and House and the new doctor (who btw looks like 13)? it seems to be a stand alone ep with no surprises.
And last question : is House still in jail in the end of the ep?
16 - me
So just House is in it then? are Wilson and Cuddy mentioned at all?
17 - doodle
@me
I've heard that rachel will be mentioned (House seemed to know that rachel wasn't in the house when he was a little bit upset, lol)
Writers seem to have read forums feedbacks about House violent behavior towards Cuddy and her family, is it enough to reconcile some fans with the character? not sure.
18 - Barbara Barnett
doodle. Sorry I can't answer your first question about whether House will still be in jail at the end of the episode. You'll just have to wait and see (LOL).
The crash is discussed and dealt with, although I don't know if it will be adequate to address those who are angry with the series. (I doubt it.)
I don't want to go into any more about it however. Only to say that the the way it's dealt with is not meant (I don't think) to make us understand House's actions, but to hear it from his POV.
19 - Oversimplified
Thanks for the preview Barbara.
I think you hit the nail on the head about empathising with the character. It's something they got so right in the past, and so spectacularly wrong at the back end of season 7. I'm glad they are at least doing something to re-address that, but oh boy they seriously have their work cut out for themselves. The whole thing with the new doc seems to be what most people predicted: she appears to a splice between Cameron and Thirteen, i.e. she has Cameron's righteous morality and belief in redemption, coupled with Thirteen's risk taking.
Oh one other thing- he intends to do a PhD in particle physics, specifically 'Dark Matter'?! That's one hell of a jump in specialism. It's a nice metaphor for more going on under the surface than is actually apparent, but it is a tad gimmicky and a little out of left field. I don't know how it works in the US, but getting funding for research is hard enough without having a criminal record and years of experience in the field. I know he's a genius and all, but wouldn't something like genetic mapping have scored a little lower on the 'suspension of disbelief' scale, and reinforced his interest in people 'in abstract'?
20 - Eloise
@Spoilachick
Sorry you are still unhappy but you can't speak for all fans, there is a proportion who want Cuddy back but also some who really dont! We still don't know why LE left, salary may have something to do with it but that may not be the whole story.
You say 'we fans' are annoyed by the House driving his car through Cuddy's House and that he should make amends, some of us don't agree. And I think House is paying by going to jail, also although he did wrong I personally enjoyed the finale.
There are many fans egarly awaiting this episode and the rest of the season.
So I am not meaning to be rude but please don't blanket all fans together.
21 - Magnificent Elliot
"To clarify, Foreman is not in the episode."
Wait, I thought one of the promos showed Foreman sitting across from House telling him he could get him released early from his sentence? Are you saying that particular scene is not in the season premiere?
22 - Susan
I haven't commented for a few months now, but just wanted to say #14 spoilerchicka - I agree with you. Call me a romantic but it's all about House and Cuddy. I'm hoping the producers are groveling and will get her back for several episodes.
I definitely don't have the anticipation of last year at this time for "Now What" and the new season of House, but I will be reluctantly watching......
23 - barbara barnett
magnificent: yes.
24 - Magnificent Elliot
@Barbara (#23)
Sorry if I seem a bit dense, but do you mean "yes" as in "Yes, that scene with Foreman is not in the season premiere" or "Yes, that scene with Foreman is in the season premiere"?
Also, if you don't mind me asking, are you still working on the second part of your review/evaluation of Season 7? I highly enjoyed the first half and cannot wait for the second half to come out.
25 - Eloise
@Susan
To you its all about House and Cuddy to me and many more who don't even go on the net its not!
Its about HL and his incredible portrayal of House MD.
Why should they grovel? she made her own decision, we were not there.