Thoughts on House Season 6: Part 2

Okay, so this is me managing to pick up where I left off before the New Year. (Hooray!) Hopefully, this won’t have to extend itself to 3 parts. We’ll see, because, as you know, I love to ramble.

I finished the last post with what I loved about season 5 and what I liked about season 6 so far. Now here are my (loving) criticisms. Remember, I only say these things because I love! Like last season, the House behind-the-scenes crew seems to be trying to mess with the format of the show. As I said before, last season did a great job of balancing DOTW (Disease-of-the-Week) and character drama. I was hoping they would stick to this path, but this season seems to be all about the character dramas with a little bit of medicine sprinkled on the top. This isn’t working for me—don’t they remember what happened to ER? I stayed on much longer than a lot of other fans, who jumped ship there the moment Dr. Green died, but what broke it for me was when it seemed like the county staff stopped treating patients and started acting in a soap opera. Come on, we have General Hospital for that! From the looks of this season, I fear that House might be headed for the same route if someone doesn’t stage an intervention.

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I mean, for a show about medical mysteries, there’s been a shocking lack of both medicine and mystery this season. It’s been character drama all the way, and not even all of it has been about House—what were those weeks focused on Chase all about? And perhaps you can argue that I’ve been getting smarter, but I believe that the writers have just gotten less creative when it comes to the patients and their diseases after the D’bala stuff. For example, the episode with the porn star (which, to be honest, I just didn’t like at all, so you’ll hear me complain about it a lot) had probably the least amount of medicine in any House episode to date—even the season 6 premiere had more medicine, albeit not really being done by House—and I could see the twist coming a mile away. “My parents never let me play outside and freaked out whenever I had a cut or a scrape!” Didn’t they realize they were laying it on a little bit thick? Not to mention that I forgot they even had a case for the greater part of that episode. Part of the fun of the DOTW was seeing if you could catch the moment with the clue that holds the key to the entire diagnosis, but (for me) it only works if you don’t catch it before the team does, or at least not TOO far in advance.

And let me go on a tangent-rant here about the “moral” of that episode…Yes. The porn star is a nonconformist freedom fighter. Let’s all rebel against our parents and become porn stars just to show that we all can think for ourselves and not have to listen to what other people tell us! Because that’s what porn is about. Free thinking. Working outside society’s rules. Being the true original thinkers of the world. WHAT THE HELL, GUYS?!? The entire purpose of that episode basically justified the guy’s lifestyle of unprotected sex with multiple partners—what medical personnel across the board (let’s for a moment take morality out of the equation) qualify as destructive, unsafe behavior—as OKAY! The part that bugged me the most was when they thought he’d need a liver transplant, so Cameron told him that the transplant committee would (rightly) view his career as high-risk behavior, and he goes off on her. “She wants me to change and have a religious conversion! Why is everyone judging me? Why can’t anyone let me live my life the way I want to?” (Not the exact words, but that effect.) And his wife says, “Because it’s killing you.” Duh! Sure, Cameron was judging him throughout that episode, but saying that a transplant committee wouldn’t want to give an organ to someone who might get an STD through unprotected sex with a random partner, be it a porn star or bar floozy, IS NOT stifling your freedom! It’s COMMON SENSE! But then the episode completely backtracks on all of this by, in essence, making him seem right. His porn star lifestyle “saved his life.” Nice message, guys. That’s not edgy, that’s not profound, it’s not even entertaining. It’s just damn frustrating. I’ve disagreed with messages that House and other series have offered me before, but usually I at least find it somewhat provocative. This just sucked. Destructive living = thinking for yourself. Great life lesson.
I also just don’t understand how people supposedly work through “intimacy issues” by watching other people have sex, but that’s an altogether other post. Going back to House...

What happened to all the risks from last season? The ones that worked? The ones that involved unexpected points of view, unique aesthetic choices, somewhat intelligent philosophical debates? Aside from the “Wilson” episode that just seemed to come out of left field, House this season has become increasingly formulaic, this time in the soap opera sense rather than the Law & Order wave that it was riding for its first 4 seasons. For an uber-fan like myself, this has become increasingly frustrating.

 Another major problem this season is that, after 2 or 3 episodes in the beginning, they seem to have forgotten that House had an addiction. The season premiere was completely dedicated to House in rehab. Then—I currently can’t remember if this was in one episode or spread across 2—House was trying to distract himself from the pain with cooking and the psychiatrist told him to go back to work. And…That was it. Oh, there’s since been passing references to why he didn’t have a medical license anymore, but apparently the temptation to go back to Vicodin just no longer exists. Wow! If rehab is that easy and effective, why do people complain so much? No problem! Let’s face it, that’s just not reasonable both realistically and narratively. From what I hear, addiction just doesn’t go away, even with very effective crash rehab, and certainly not with someone as far gone as House apparently was. And, from a storytelling perspective, this quick recovery is just not compelling. It wasn’t just the limp that made House conflicted, it was the drugs! Maybe they’ll visit relapse later; I hope they will. Hugh Laurie is a magnificent actor; he’s made me fall in love with this asshole addict that epitomizes everything I normally hate in human beings. He would certainly rise to the challenge of portraying an addict in relapse who is conflicted about his actions! Just look at his stunning performances at the end of last season! (For the record, I really thought last year would be his year, but the Emmy went to Jon Hamm. Frakking cable…) Perhaps the House writers thought relapse was just too conventional; they have a point. However, it’s also a topic ripe for stories, and, as I pointed out in my previous post, they do a magnificent job of telling these seemingly conventional stories in unconventional ways. I point again to House’s hallucinations as his addiction wake-up call. I will be sorely disappointed if the series continues to act as if the Vicodin thing is gone for good because, as House would say, that’s just not interesting.

In lieu of the potential drama to be had from a House relapse story, they’ve made the series into a soap opera about House and Cuddy. Now, don’t get me wrong; as you can tell from my previous post, I LOVE me some Huddy shipping action! I love their chemistry, I love their UST (Unresolved Sexual Tension), and I think they should eventually get together as a pay-off for the entire series. I just happen to think they’re going about it in the completely wrong way. Let me put it this way: House is an asshole. We know this. It’s part of his “charm.” But he’s been alarmingly quickly, in the course of this half-season, transformed into a pining adolescent boy who, to be perfectly frank, is a little bit pathetic, and in an rather un-endearing way. I guess he’s always more or less stalked Cuddy—popping up at her house at random hours, interrupting dates, etc.—but it just seems juvenile now. And it’s also the simple language that he and Wilson use to talk about her! I can’t think of a specific example right now and don’t feel like Googling transcripts, but the feel I get when they talk about Cuddy is of 2 junior high boys passing notes in homeroom about what girl they want to sit next to in the cafeteria. It just seems immature, and all this talk about House finally being able to retain an “adult” relationship with Cuddy is being undermined by this juvenile language. It’s also not nearly as interesting as House going about his usual bastard business. Because, let’s face it, if House has to act like a kid, I’d prefer rebellious teenager to infatuated prepubescent sad sack.

I also just don’t buy Cuddy and Lucas. I feel like I can’t be the only one who feels this way. For one thing, he looks like he’s 20, and while I know cougars are all the rage now, it just doesn’t work. Besides, part of the reason Cuddy claims to be with Lucas is that he’s someone she can see in a mature, committed relationship, and last time I checked, cougars weren’t looking for that sort of thing. Additionally, the whole Cuddy-Lucas thing is yet another element of this season that just came out of nowhere. I understand that they wanted an obstacle between House and Cuddy being together; in fact, I definitely prefer that to an oh-too-easy Huddy relationship once he left rehab. I also get that the most logical roadblock would be Cuddy in a relationship. But why Lucas? They sort of laid the groundwork for it in season 5; he definitely thought she was hot, they had that one encounter in the coffee shop for her to get “dirt” on House that she knew would be fake but attended anyway, implying that she may be interested in him as well…Then Lucas disappeared. I just re-watched season 5, and I still can’t recall how they managed to write him out! Was it just that Cuddy wouldn’t pay for a P.I. on the hospital’s dime? That might be it. Anyway, so this guy disappears in the middle of season 5, and when he reappears in that 3^rd or 4^th episode of season 6, we’re now supposed to believe that they have been dating and now have such a committed relationship that they’re moving in together? Sorry, I don’t believe it! I would believe that maybe House was the only one who didn’t know—after all, he was in rehab for awhile—but then to have Wilson, Cameron, Foreman, Thirteen, Chase, Taub, and apparently everyone else in the hospital clueless as well? I don’t buy that. Maybe if the writers had Wilson act like he’d been hiding it from House all this time, I could’ve bought it, but as it is it seems a stretch.

I would also have bought a Wilson-Cuddy hookup much more than randomly bringing Lucas back, if they insist on keeping it within the House canon, but that’s another story.

So I apparently have issues with the sixth season's overarching story. Just to be difficult, I also have issues with this season's standalone episodes. The reason why is rather convoluted, but I'll do my best to spell out what I mean. Previously (season 1-4), the standalone episodes were just that—stories all by themselves without really any effect on anything else. Season 5 managed to find ways to incorporate some of those standalones into the larger arc in creative ways (as discussed in the previous post), primarily by making those solo episodes involve characters and events within the House canon. I'm thinking now of the Kutner suicide episode, which really is a standalone episode when you think about it. However, the standalone episodes this season that are supposed to affect overarching stories/characterizations don't follow that formula.

What do I mean? Except for a BRIEF appearance by Wilson, House was the only person from the main cast to appear in the premiere. Now, I mentioned that there were nice moments in the premiere; however, overall, to me it felt more like a side note rather than a jumping point into the new season. This is because it was an episode revolving around people we’re never going to see again. Yes, of course, I just said House was there, but, as I complained about before, for being such a momentous thing, it seems to have had little impact on him for the season so far. Basically, to me, the season premiere just doesn't seem to connect with the rest of the series, let alone season 6. I realize this is partially because of the premiere's TV movie format, but it also has to do with the fact that House was dealing with deep-seated issues with people we didn't care about. Thus, the premiere had to waste precious time making us care about these people, at least minimally, and now they're gone forever. Meanwhile, the people with whom he's had issues for awhile—well, the issues are still there. This was also an issue I had with the Wilson episode, aptly titled "Wilson." The self-centered bastard in that episode, who was a patient of Wilson's whose cancer recurred, is oddly reflective of another self-centered bastard who has been known to take advantage of Wilson's generosity, friendship, and willingness to give until he has nothing left. They even said as much in the episode. So...Why did need this whole new guy??? We have one of those already! I want to see him have this argument with House, not some other guy we'll never see again! And if the writers thought we weren't ready for that, well, they were wrong.

As I mentioned in the previous post, side characters with their own drama have always been present on the series, but they were always in the periphery. They belonged there; the series is called House, after all. But this season, there's been an alarming amount of time spent on these side characters and it's just not as interesting. The only problem I really had with season 5 was that it dwelt so much on Foreman and Thirteen, and more of the same is going on here. Why should we care when Chase has a moral dilemma? Sure, it was a hell of a moral dilemma, and I actually thought the Diballa case was a great episode. However, they dwelt on it way too long afterward. So, while House was busy mooning over Cuddy, we had to deal with Chase feeling guilty over murdering a dictator and hiding it from his wife. I realize they wanted to do it that way to plant the seed for Cameron leaving, but it detracted to much from the guy the show’s named after. Plus, I know plenty of people who didn’t like Chase and Cameron, but I personally really liked them. I thought they were sweet, I thought the way they got together (Cameron showing up on Chase's doorstep to ask if it was Tuesday, not the sex buddies thing) was sweet, and I wanted them to stay together. Needless to say, I was sad to see them split up, and even sadder that Cameron had such a negligible send-off from the series. Hello, it's Cameron! She doesn't even get a complete goodbye episode? Just the last 5 minutes of one saying that she's leaving? INSANELY UNSATISFYING!

The producers have, however, said that they’ve left it open for her to come back, so here’s my prediction for how they’re going to do it: She’s going to be pregnant, and she’s going to say that she was artificially inseminated by her dead husband’s sperm that she had had frozen. (Remember at the end of season 5, when they almost called off the wedding?) If they choose to go the REALLY soap opera route, which they seem to be open to this season, it’ll turn out that she was lying and it’s actually Chase’s baby. TELL ME that that's not a fantastic idea! Don’t let me down, producers…

As a final thought, I feel that there may have been a missed opportunity by not showing House in rehab. I realize that it would really have been impossible. This is a show about House, so it would’ve been apt to see what he was up to in all that time; however, the show is predicated on showing medical mysteries, and they can’t bend the rules of reality so much that PPH would allow a doctor in rehab to treat patients. Fine. However, for stories rife with conflict pathos, where can you find a better source than rehab?

I realize that that was insanely long. If you made it this far, you must either love House or the way I write. In either case, congratulations, and I hope I made some valid points. Let me know what you think; I'm dying to hear...

~The Original Fong~
**You wish you could pull off being me**

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