Post by Ash Kingston on Jan 6, 2020 7:23:55 GMT -5
So, for the past couple of weeks, Bravo (or as it's now known up here in Canadia, "CTV Drama") has been doing a complete House marathon. Because I never actually watched the last season, and because there's NOTHING ON during the Christmas-New years stretch, I figured I'd give it a watch to see what I missed, as well as try to remember why I stopped watching in the first place. Plus, I wanted to be sure it still held up.
Honestly, I'm glad I did. As such, I've decided to compile my thoughts here in this thread, and share them with all of you. Because I can, and I also refuse to start my own blog. If you haven't seen House before, expect some spoilers from here-on out. If I need to tag them, mods, lemme know.
Now, before I go into greater detail, I have two complaints about this marathon. Due to licensing rights, they couldn't use the original theme song ("Teardrop", by Massive Attack) for any episode in this marathon - or when airing it outside of the US as a whole, apparently - and while the replacement theme they got is alright, it was still a disappointment. But whatever, shit happens. The second issue was the decision to randomly air an episode of "Project Runway" in the middle of the marathon, along with a repeat later that night. This meant that three episodes in the marathon got skipped over entirely... at least during my viewing of it. But, again, mistakes happen. Though I'm still sour over it, clapping be damned.
The first three seasons still hold up particularly well, although there were a couple stumbles. The pilot episode, oddly enough, was one of the weak points; the strange color saturation they used kinda gave it a washed out feeling, which kinda sucks when you remember one of the first patients House is shown interacting with is supposed to be ORANGE. But outside of that, there were a number of really good episodes; "Three Stories" in Season One, the Euphoria two-parter in Season Two, along with the season finale, "No Reason", and "One Day, One Room" in Season Three.
The two biggest weaknesses in those seasons came from something else entirely; the decision to have a recurring villain in Season One, and Season Three. The story arcs with Vogler - the billionaire entrepreneur - in Season One, and Tritter - the cop who tried to ruin House's life - in Season Three were absolutely dreadful simply because the show didn't need villains out to screw up House's life when House himself did a perfectly fine job. Knowing in hindsight that Vogler was a corporate mandate does at least make his inclusion understandable, along with the decision to get rid of him as soon as possible, but the entire arc with Tritter was entirely unnecessary, and only served to make every other character look like utter assholes.
Unfortunately, I think Season Three also marked the end of House regularly dealing with patients in the clinic, which was honestly one of the highlights from the first three seasons. They were usually quite funny and very entertaining, and while I get why they did it (you can only have so many idiots with colds come in thinking they have lung cancer/the plague/bees), it was still something that made the first few seasons enjoyable.
Season Four... truthfully, I think it could have been one of the better seasons of the show, had it not been for the Writers Strike cutting it short. Certainly, the fact that half of the season was dedicated to the whole "game show" aspect of House picking his new team didn't help, and even without the presence of hindsight, it was obvious who it was gonna be after only a couple episodes. But the second half the season, and the finale in particular, were both really good. Season Four was also, obviously, the end of the "It's Not Lupus" jokes, which... I'm fine with, but I still missed them.
With Season Five... I feel like it was probably one of the weaker ones, though not the worst. One of the big problems, honestly, was just how they shoved Thirteen into the spotlight; many of the side-plots this season revolved around her, her being diagnosed with Huntingtons, and her relationship with Foreman. It's not even that Thirteen was a bad character, but all the focus she got came at the expense of both Taub and Kutner, who really needed it a bit more.
Then again, considering that they had to write Kutner out due to Kal Penn leaving to work with the White House, it might have been for the best. Certainly, it threw a big wrench into any plans they might have had for the season... but they made it work. The finale of Season Five ("Both Sides Now") might be my favorite episode of the season, if not the entire series, especially the last ten minutes or so. While I'd love to comment on the Season Six premiere ("Broken"), it's kinda hard because they skipped the second half of it during the marathon.
Speaking of Season Six... it was alright. The decision to bring Chase and Cameron back and reform Team House, like some sort of medical Shield reunion, was certainly an interesting one, and I think it worked. I also really enjoyed House and Wilson's friendship, and the conflicts that rose from them living together. What I didn't really like was the decision to bring Chase back to House's team full time; his decision to kill Darth Vader that African dictator was certainly questionable, but his reasoning - the fact that the man was going to return home and get his genocide on - made sense (even if people might disagree with it). But Cameron blaming House for it was a bit too far. The end of the season, where they decided to have House and Cuddy hook up for real, was... I get why they did it, and at the time, I liked it.
In hindsight, though...
Look, I'll be real; Season Seven was the worst one to me, and it all comes down to how badly they handled the relationship between House and Cuddy. As badly as Thirteen might have dominated Season Five, she had NOTHING on just how much focus that "Huddy" took up. So many episodes seemed to revolve around House trying to either show Cuddy that he did care for her, or him trying desperately to fix his relationship with her, while occasionally doing medical stuff. I legitimately think he spent more time out of the hospital than in it. What I found funny was that near the end of the first half of the season, House tells Cuddy that because of their relationship, he's happy, and that means more patients under his care might die. But he's perfectly okay with that, because she's worth it to him. Which is what makes what happened ONE EPISODE LATER all the worse, to me.
What really ruined it for me, however, was that it felt like they were trying to break House and Cuddy up from the very start of the season, as if they had made a huge mistake last season and didn't quite know how to fix it. It honestly reminded me of the stories I've heard/read about the Spider-Man comics, about how they were trying desperately to find a way out of the marriage between MJ and Peter almost as soon as they had made it official, which ultimately culminated in the disaster that was One More Day. Which... okay, Bombshells was not One More Day. It's not even the worst episode of the season (or the series). But the justification for why they broke up (House had a moment of weakness because he was terrified that he might lose Cuddy, and suffered a momentary relapse) was awful, and the episodes that followed from it suffered immensely.
The second half of the season, in addition to still suffering from "what medical show?" issues, had a second problem. Earlier in the season, they had brought in a new girl - Martha Masters - to replace Thirteen, and she was actually pretty likeable. Certainly, she was a breath of fresh air for Team House, which had grown increasingly... cynical and messed up, I guess? But near the end, they wrote her out and brought Thirteen back for the last five episodes of the season, and... the character just felt wasted. Learning after the fact that she was only there so Olivia Wilde could be in TRON: Legacy, and she was meant to be temporary just made things worse to me. As did the fact that Wilde ended up quitting, which made it all meaningless.
And speaking of the ending... the worst episode of the series? "Moving On". I don't think there's a single redeemable thing about it; certainly, it made House into a psychotic asshole, and his stunt at the end was just... unbearably stupid. I dunno if they did this because Lisa Edelstein was leaving the show, or if they decided to do this and then write her out, but it didn't matter (and still doesn't). This is the episode that killed any lingering interest I had in the show back in 2011, and watching that season again just reminded me why.
So, going into Season Eight, I expected that it would be pretty damn rough. I knew that Cuddy had been replaced by Foreman, but beyond that, I had no idea what to expect. However, after all that, I found that I... really liked it. It was a very nice return to form, one that reminded me a lot of earlier seasons, where the patients and what was wrong with them was treated as actually being important. House's team - the returning Chase and Taub, along with newcomers Park (who I had expected to hate, but actually found quite likable) and Adams - worked well together, and House was back to being kinda misanthropic, but still much better than he had been in the previous season. The two episodes that revolved around Chase - first getting stabbed in the heart by a patient, and then the episode that focused entirely on his recovery - were probably some of the better episodes, and might have been the best for the season... except they got beat out by the finale.
Guys, I loved the final four episodes of House. Utterly loved them, even as I cried like a baby. In my eyes, they were a perfect end to the series, though... that might be the fact that they just ended, like, two hours ago speaking.
*ahem*
The only downside, to me, was the character of Doctor Adams. She just felt kinda... tacked on, and it was obvious at times that she was only there to fill in for Thirteen. Compared to everyone else in this season, she got the absolute least amount of development, and she got SIGNIFICANTLY less focus than Park. I was also disappointed that Cuddy didn't return for the series finale, but I guess there must have been bad blood there.
Overall? I... still really like House. Yeah, the later seasons weren't quite as good as the first three, and Season Seven still obviously pisses me off, but I feel like it held up well enough that I'm probably gonna keep watching episodes when they're on.
So, uh... that's it. I might have opinions on characters later, maybe? Anyway, thanks for attending my TED Talk.
Honestly, I'm glad I did. As such, I've decided to compile my thoughts here in this thread, and share them with all of you. Because I can, and I also refuse to start my own blog. If you haven't seen House before, expect some spoilers from here-on out. If I need to tag them, mods, lemme know.
Now, before I go into greater detail, I have two complaints about this marathon. Due to licensing rights, they couldn't use the original theme song ("Teardrop", by Massive Attack) for any episode in this marathon - or when airing it outside of the US as a whole, apparently - and while the replacement theme they got is alright, it was still a disappointment. But whatever, shit happens. The second issue was the decision to randomly air an episode of "Project Runway" in the middle of the marathon, along with a repeat later that night. This meant that three episodes in the marathon got skipped over entirely... at least during my viewing of it. But, again, mistakes happen. Though I'm still sour over it, clapping be damned.
The first three seasons still hold up particularly well, although there were a couple stumbles. The pilot episode, oddly enough, was one of the weak points; the strange color saturation they used kinda gave it a washed out feeling, which kinda sucks when you remember one of the first patients House is shown interacting with is supposed to be ORANGE. But outside of that, there were a number of really good episodes; "Three Stories" in Season One, the Euphoria two-parter in Season Two, along with the season finale, "No Reason", and "One Day, One Room" in Season Three.
The two biggest weaknesses in those seasons came from something else entirely; the decision to have a recurring villain in Season One, and Season Three. The story arcs with Vogler - the billionaire entrepreneur - in Season One, and Tritter - the cop who tried to ruin House's life - in Season Three were absolutely dreadful simply because the show didn't need villains out to screw up House's life when House himself did a perfectly fine job. Knowing in hindsight that Vogler was a corporate mandate does at least make his inclusion understandable, along with the decision to get rid of him as soon as possible, but the entire arc with Tritter was entirely unnecessary, and only served to make every other character look like utter assholes.
Unfortunately, I think Season Three also marked the end of House regularly dealing with patients in the clinic, which was honestly one of the highlights from the first three seasons. They were usually quite funny and very entertaining, and while I get why they did it (you can only have so many idiots with colds come in thinking they have lung cancer/the plague/bees), it was still something that made the first few seasons enjoyable.
Season Four... truthfully, I think it could have been one of the better seasons of the show, had it not been for the Writers Strike cutting it short. Certainly, the fact that half of the season was dedicated to the whole "game show" aspect of House picking his new team didn't help, and even without the presence of hindsight, it was obvious who it was gonna be after only a couple episodes. But the second half the season, and the finale in particular, were both really good. Season Four was also, obviously, the end of the "It's Not Lupus" jokes, which... I'm fine with, but I still missed them.
With Season Five... I feel like it was probably one of the weaker ones, though not the worst. One of the big problems, honestly, was just how they shoved Thirteen into the spotlight; many of the side-plots this season revolved around her, her being diagnosed with Huntingtons, and her relationship with Foreman. It's not even that Thirteen was a bad character, but all the focus she got came at the expense of both Taub and Kutner, who really needed it a bit more.
Then again, considering that they had to write Kutner out due to Kal Penn leaving to work with the White House, it might have been for the best. Certainly, it threw a big wrench into any plans they might have had for the season... but they made it work. The finale of Season Five ("Both Sides Now") might be my favorite episode of the season, if not the entire series, especially the last ten minutes or so. While I'd love to comment on the Season Six premiere ("Broken"), it's kinda hard because they skipped the second half of it during the marathon.
Speaking of Season Six... it was alright. The decision to bring Chase and Cameron back and reform Team House, like some sort of medical Shield reunion, was certainly an interesting one, and I think it worked. I also really enjoyed House and Wilson's friendship, and the conflicts that rose from them living together. What I didn't really like was the decision to bring Chase back to House's team full time; his decision to kill Darth Vader that African dictator was certainly questionable, but his reasoning - the fact that the man was going to return home and get his genocide on - made sense (even if people might disagree with it). But Cameron blaming House for it was a bit too far. The end of the season, where they decided to have House and Cuddy hook up for real, was... I get why they did it, and at the time, I liked it.
In hindsight, though...
Look, I'll be real; Season Seven was the worst one to me, and it all comes down to how badly they handled the relationship between House and Cuddy. As badly as Thirteen might have dominated Season Five, she had NOTHING on just how much focus that "Huddy" took up. So many episodes seemed to revolve around House trying to either show Cuddy that he did care for her, or him trying desperately to fix his relationship with her, while occasionally doing medical stuff. I legitimately think he spent more time out of the hospital than in it. What I found funny was that near the end of the first half of the season, House tells Cuddy that because of their relationship, he's happy, and that means more patients under his care might die. But he's perfectly okay with that, because she's worth it to him. Which is what makes what happened ONE EPISODE LATER all the worse, to me.
What really ruined it for me, however, was that it felt like they were trying to break House and Cuddy up from the very start of the season, as if they had made a huge mistake last season and didn't quite know how to fix it. It honestly reminded me of the stories I've heard/read about the Spider-Man comics, about how they were trying desperately to find a way out of the marriage between MJ and Peter almost as soon as they had made it official, which ultimately culminated in the disaster that was One More Day. Which... okay, Bombshells was not One More Day. It's not even the worst episode of the season (or the series). But the justification for why they broke up (House had a moment of weakness because he was terrified that he might lose Cuddy, and suffered a momentary relapse) was awful, and the episodes that followed from it suffered immensely.
The second half of the season, in addition to still suffering from "what medical show?" issues, had a second problem. Earlier in the season, they had brought in a new girl - Martha Masters - to replace Thirteen, and she was actually pretty likeable. Certainly, she was a breath of fresh air for Team House, which had grown increasingly... cynical and messed up, I guess? But near the end, they wrote her out and brought Thirteen back for the last five episodes of the season, and... the character just felt wasted. Learning after the fact that she was only there so Olivia Wilde could be in TRON: Legacy, and she was meant to be temporary just made things worse to me. As did the fact that Wilde ended up quitting, which made it all meaningless.
And speaking of the ending... the worst episode of the series? "Moving On". I don't think there's a single redeemable thing about it; certainly, it made House into a psychotic asshole, and his stunt at the end was just... unbearably stupid. I dunno if they did this because Lisa Edelstein was leaving the show, or if they decided to do this and then write her out, but it didn't matter (and still doesn't). This is the episode that killed any lingering interest I had in the show back in 2011, and watching that season again just reminded me why.
So, going into Season Eight, I expected that it would be pretty damn rough. I knew that Cuddy had been replaced by Foreman, but beyond that, I had no idea what to expect. However, after all that, I found that I... really liked it. It was a very nice return to form, one that reminded me a lot of earlier seasons, where the patients and what was wrong with them was treated as actually being important. House's team - the returning Chase and Taub, along with newcomers Park (who I had expected to hate, but actually found quite likable) and Adams - worked well together, and House was back to being kinda misanthropic, but still much better than he had been in the previous season. The two episodes that revolved around Chase - first getting stabbed in the heart by a patient, and then the episode that focused entirely on his recovery - were probably some of the better episodes, and might have been the best for the season... except they got beat out by the finale.
Guys, I loved the final four episodes of House. Utterly loved them, even as I cried like a baby. In my eyes, they were a perfect end to the series, though... that might be the fact that they just ended, like, two hours ago speaking.
*ahem*
The only downside, to me, was the character of Doctor Adams. She just felt kinda... tacked on, and it was obvious at times that she was only there to fill in for Thirteen. Compared to everyone else in this season, she got the absolute least amount of development, and she got SIGNIFICANTLY less focus than Park. I was also disappointed that Cuddy didn't return for the series finale, but I guess there must have been bad blood there.
Overall? I... still really like House. Yeah, the later seasons weren't quite as good as the first three, and Season Seven still obviously pisses me off, but I feel like it held up well enough that I'm probably gonna keep watching episodes when they're on.
So, uh... that's it. I might have opinions on characters later, maybe? Anyway, thanks for attending my TED Talk.
