Though he's energized by his new human toys, House has been distracted by his usual excesses with no ducklings following his every move to rein them in, and no one is yet close enough to the case or to House to catch the personal patient details he often overlooks.
There are some standouts for me in the pool of remaining fellowship candidates, though I wish I didn't know the news I linked to above and could actually play "wonder who's sticking around."
Impossibly old fraud Henry (Carmen Argenziano) is the one House says he'll miss most of all, back when he thought he was fired. I wouldn't go that far, but he's one of my favourites, too. Even after discovering he'd never been to medical school, House couldn't crush his dream any more than the astronaut patient of the week's (if we accept Cameron's more sympathetic explanation). Though House won't hire the non-doctor as a doctor, he's enough of a rebel to overlook Henry's medical credentials and give him a shot at being part of the team.
Call me crazy, but I enjoy Anne Dudek's Amber, the cutthroat bitch who only needs a limp and a sense of humour to be more likable, and who is baffled at the thought that House thinks cool ambition is the most compelling reason for someone to save his life.
Kal Penn is adorably crafty as Dr. Lawrence Kutner (hmm, that name sounds strangely familiar), the doctor who refused to be fired and earned House's respect by suggesting the non-respectable diagnostic tool of tequila. And Olivia Wilde (cool last name, but she spells it wrong) plays 13, the enigmatic candidate House hasn't been able to reduce to an epithet, but whose unflappable exterior flapped in "97 Seconds" after she contributed to the patient's death.
Besides a demonstration of why House needs a team, the early episodes also demonstrate why House needs a Cuddy. Foreman's new – and now former – boss makes an appearance as the anti-Cuddy (played by Kathleen York, who sang the lovely "In the Deep" from "Autopsy" and Paul Haggis's Crash, and worked with both Shore and Haggis on Family Law).
Heading his own diagnostic department, Foreman can't fight his natural House-like tendencies for long, and is fired with nearly the same words he's used against House in the past. If all doctors acted like Foreman, his boss says, the hospital would be full of dead patients: "You confused saving her life with doing the right thing."
Article comments
1 - Judy
I have missed you this season. So glad you did this review. You are so good at your reviews and always point out things about the characters in the episode that I miss. Hope you'll stick around and keep reviewing for us. You are awesome!
2 - BoffleB.
Great insights, Diane, as always. Agree that Shore and co. were very right to mix things up at this stage of the game. I do so love the drama, Hugh Laurie, and House that I'm eager to see where they go next with this. Am enjoying the tone of extreme!House at the moment, but hope that some of the broader comic pieces (the guitar-napping, the Survivor tribal council) give way to more subtle efforts. Hope you continue to write about House. (Enjoyed your piece about honorary canuck House, eh!)
3 - EC
I enjoy your commentary, but I wholeheartedly disagree that the show has been invigorated. I think it's been dumbed down by playing up reality show nonsense. I think the introduction of new characters is a cheap gimmick to save the writers from actually having to explore and flesh out the characters we already care about. I find Chase just as interesting and compelling as House--only with room to change and grow. The only scenes from the last two episodes that even felt authentic were the scenes with House and Chase. The first episode was boring. The second episode was scattered and left me wondering what show I was watching. The third episode highlighted just how ridiculous and dangerous this "game" is (given the outcome). The show was working just fine the way it was and it's a disservice to the viewers who have put it where it is to sacrifice half the cast by reducing them to nothing more than bit parts. I am thoroughly disappointed with the turn House has taken and I hope they eradicate this mess by bringing back Chase, Cameron, and Foreman in full capacity.
4 - Diane Kristine
Thanks guys! I always planned to dip in and out so I'll be around, Judy.
EC, I couldn't disagree more, but your (obviously completely valid) opinion is exactly why I think the shakeup was so gutsy, and I'm so grateful for it. Of course there will be fans who don't want the show to change, and that can be a great excuse for writers or a network to let a show stagnate.
5 - EC
I believe that a show can go on for years with the same cast of characters without stagnating if the writing is excellent. Frasier comes to mind--excellent show popular with both fans and critics, no major changes to the core cast over the 11 year run. Better storytelling IMO would be to flesh out the characters that they already have an audience invested in instead of alienating part of the audience by failing to utilize the chemistry that has made the show the success it is.
6 - Diane Kristine
Oh, you didn't see the same show (or read the same reviews) I did if you think Frasier didn't stagnate. We're definitely on different sides of the fence. I could happily see the ducklings change frequently. It doesn't even make sense for fellows to have been there as long as they were - early in season one we found out they were part way through 2-year fellowships. I can suspend my disbelief with the best of them, but it only makes the characters look more and more like idiots if they are on indefinite fellowships, never growing professionally.
7 - sherlock21b
While I agree that the Survivor-style storyline has indeed resulted in some rather creative storytelling as a whole, I can't disagree with you more about the new blood. Except for the absolutely delightful Old Fraud, I keep wanting all the med-testants to get auf'ed(to use the expression of a different reality show). Not one of them is as interesting on their own as the original trinity of ducklings, who were the absolute perfect lens through which one could view and relate to House. Not only are the newbies not intriguing (amber is a two-dimensional version of House without any of his redeeming features), I fear they will get old fast, once the thrill of competition ends. Even Foreman at his worst or Cameron at her most self-righteous is better than what we've gotten so far. I shudder to think we'll get less of them to make room for second-rate characters.
What is worse, however, to my way of thinking, is the way in which they've dumbed down and sexed-up (what is with her clothing? no professional woman dresses that way) Cuddy. This is not the confident and professional administrator that we saw in Season 1 (to my mind, still the best season of the show). Kathleen York's competent administrator was actually all the more damning because she showed just how much Cuddy is willing to kowtow to her rogue and ignore his antics. Granted, that would make the show more problematic, but still.
Change does not always mean improvement, and following a successful formula does not always lead to stagnation. The key is in successfully integrating new features into the whole. I'm reserving judgment until I see how this experiment ends, but for now it's problematic for the producers that the most memorable scene of the season so far was Chase telling House where to stuff it.