House is one of the most talked about medical dramas ever produced, and for good reason it broke the mould and reshaped it. Named after the titular character; House (Hugh Laurie) – a highly intelligent doctor who’s like a modern day Scrooge. But instead of being consumed by wealth, he eagerly laps up the most strange and hard to diagnose cases that walk through the door. And though House never has Scrooge’s three spirits of Christmas to change him, he’s surrounded instead by a team with greater empathy and an understanding of human kindness, than he’ll ever willingly voice. But sly glances and an urge to save people before they die, hints at some level of awareness, but so do his cynical and snide remarks about people’s lives.
As House says, he treats the illness, not the people – they lie. Aware of this he sends his team to investigate everything they can about the person; their place of work, home life, what they were doing in the events that led up to their illness. But to get the answers, these doctors might not always act within the law, crossing that ethical boundary too many times to even see it, but it’s okay if it’s all in order to save someone’s life, isn’t it?
The show’s methodical approach, and range of diseases/illnesses is fascinating, and when teamed with superb graphics of what’s going on in the patient’s body, you’re already hooked. Let alone such interesting and multifaceted patients, and then there’s the doctors.
Each episode focuses on one patient, with House and his team trying to work out what’s killing them before it does. This can mean there’s a bit of a routine to the show, one that after a few episodes it’s not hard to guess at, while the amount of times Lupus is suggested as a diagnosis meant that the show writers eventually embraced it as a joke.
Aside from the patients and their story, which is always interesting and sometimes provides a quandary of sorts, the show looks at the doctors’ personal lives; interweaving their stories between episodes and sometimes across seasons. And though team dynamics change, House, and his best friend Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), are always there. Although House does a damn good job of alienating everyone.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that House torments people as much as he’s tormented himself (constantly living with a painful injury), the weird thing is I think he’s addicted to it; to being that person who pushes everyone else’s buttons and then watching with glee as they implode. But it’s not the only thing he’s addicted to, and it’s hard to say which addiction causes him more trouble.
Hugh Laurie plays House, and does such a good job that you’ll come to think of the character as being written for him – it wasn’t. But whenever he’s on the screen he owns it. Still, there are other countless stars to name in House; Omar Epps is great as Foreman – a colleague who pushes back at House as does the hospital administrator; Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) – whose chemistry and tension with House is razor sharp. Then there’s Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) who tries to be the conscience House avoids having, whilst also being there for comedy; lovingly shaking his head in dismay at House’s actions. Chase (Jesse Spencer), Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) interact more with the patients and show an empathetic side. But personal favourites are Taub (Peter Jacobson) who comes in later to the series with his carefree attitude and whiny nature, making him comedy gold, and Amber (Anne Dudek) as the colleague you all know and hate; vicious, daring and a bit of b-tch. But what’s under that yappy exterior? Sadly she comes into the series too late and leaves way too soon, but her story is amazing and her departure the best TV has ever shown.
Dramatic, heartfelt and very funny, House lives on the edge of emotions; with the best moments coming from his brutally honest and cutting mouth, especially when he’s made to do a few hours of clinic work – becoming a good old regular Sherlock Holmes, but only in discovering and telling people; your wife is having an affair, your pregnant, you’re a !@**$
The cases are bizarre, House is eccentric, and everyone else is just, oh so human. It’s entertainment as it should be – entertaining.
Creator: David Shore
Other notable works:
- The Good Doctor 2017 –
- Sneaky Pete 2015-2019
- Due South 1994-1999
