'07-'08 TV Season Year-in-Review: HOUSE

I've been meaning to post a "year in review" of the past TV season for several weeks now, but simply haven't gotten around to it. What with the writers' strike kind of screwing everything up and causing all the shows to end at varying points during the year, the end of this season just didn't have the same "finale fever" to which I am so delightfully accustomed. Given that nary a one of my new shows from last season (and even some of my established shows) ended back in December, it left only a handful to finish out the year in usual April/May fashion. As such, the reviews of shows that ended 6 months would be seriously lacking in detail (what with my hardly remembering how they ended and whatnot—a minor handicap, as you can imagine) and so I don’t think I’m going to include those in this series of posts.

Anyway, without further ado, here goes Chapter 1: HOUSE

Ahhh, House. A true love of mine since I finally got hooked toward the end of the first season. This year House rounded out its fourth season. A season which saw many (too many, as far as I’m concerned) changes and cast shake-ups that would have rattled most shows to the core and left nothing but a hollow, cancelled shell of its former self in its wake. While season 4 wasn’t House’s best, I’m pleased to say that it has survived such a tumultuous year and has set itself up for a pretty fantabulous return in season 5.

I’m not going to lie. I was never that interested or invested in the ducklings. Cameron, Chase, and Foreman served their purpose in the first three seasons (most notably as House’s lackeys, whipping-boys, scapegoats, toys, and, well, butlers), but I’ve never been particularly concerned with them other than how they relate to the big three: House, Cuddy, and Wilson. It speaks volumes about the show that, in this day and age for television, it isn’t the hip, young, twenty-somethings that everyone cares about, it’s the trio of 40ish elder-statesmen of the show that are everyone’s favorites. Anchored by the incomparable Hugh Laurie, and with outstanding support from Lisa Edelstein (I love Cuddy oh-so-much) and Robert Sean Leonard (who’s held a special place in my heart for ages), the show managed to survive a earthquake-level cast shake-up that left Cameron (who isn’t missed at all), Chase (who is kinda missed a bit), and Foreman (who could really use even less screen time) basically seeing as much airtime as “Nurse #2” and “Man in Elevator,” if not less. By and large, that’s fine by me. BUT, and I used all caps for a reason, House’s hunt for three new ducklings ended somewhere I wasn’t thrilled with, but we’ll get back to that…

The hunt for new employees. I really did enjoy the concept, and for the most part, felt that the Survivor-style interview process was quite a lot of fun. HOWEVER, note the unsubtle use of caps again, the wacky antics took a toll on the show overall. So much time had to be devoted to the interview process and the show was trying to keep track of so many characters that the real heart of the show was largely obscured. The show didn’t have time for the quiet moments this season. Character development was slipped in with small doses, but felt kind of crammed in and forced (which the writers’ strike certainly didn’t help…). The most annoying part of this story arc, I would have to say, is that it not only relegated the original ducklings to cameo status, but it also cut down on Cuddy and Wilson screen time, and that’s a much, much graver sin… Anyway, the employee hunt was fine in concept, but sloppy in execution.

**SPOILER ALERT**
(If you haven’t seen season 4 yet (Annie, I’m looking in your direction), you’ll want to shun the following…)

As House’s little game started to wind down, potential ducklings that I actually quite enjoyed were sent home and ducklings in whom I wasn’t particularly invested remained. I have nothing against Taub, Cutner, and 13 (Hadley), per se, but I don’t find them all that engaging. No where near as engaging and interesting as Cutthroat Bitch, who was the last to be dismissed.

Ahhh, Cutthroat Bitch. Now, while the season was progressing, she was by no means my favorite character on the show, and I did find myself annoyed with her character at times and even hating her character at others. BUT, the mere fact that I cared about her character in any regard puts her in a higher class than Taub, Cutner, and 13 (Hadley), whom I couldn’t care less about. I don’t even know why that’s the case! I don’t care about 13 (even with the Huntington’s disease—which, can I just say, could have been a really interesting story arc, and I’m hopeful it will be in the future, but so far, has been completely underwhelming). I don’t care about Taub or Cutner either. It may just be the curse of the ducklings, but, as with the previous trio, I just don’t really care about them. I care about the new ducklings even less than the previous ones, and I wasn’t broken up about it at all when they all quit in the season 3 finale. It was with vague curiosity that I checked on their contracts to see whether or not they’d be back…

Anyway, point being, the new ducklings don’t exactly keep me glued to my seat. Neither did the previous ducklings. Soooo, I guess this might mean that next season will return to the former glory of seasons 1-3? Here’s hoping. I can definitely see where the shake-up was necessary, but I think it could have been done more successfully and could have ended up with much, much better ducklings.

Which brings me back to Cutthroat Bitch, aka Amber. The good ol’ writers of the show realized (a bit too late) that Amber actually was the most interesting of the candidates and brilliantly, ingeniously, brought her back in the most completely awesome, season-redeeming way ever. The Wilson/Amber relationship (that was surprising, funny, and basically perfect), which I affectionately call(ed) Wilber (hey, Charlotte’s Web was a big part of my childhood, okay?), really brought the show back and made the last several episodes of this season pretty outstanding (with the two-part season finale blowing everyone’s socks off). Amber and House made for finely matched opponents, each vying for Wilison’s love and attention. Awesome.

But, back to the season finale. **MAJOR SPOILER ALERT** (Annie…) Brilliantly conceived and executed, start to finish. The two-part season finale offered the kind of gut-wrenching tension, excitement, character elucidation, and narrative that makes House the classic that it is. It’s been weeks and I still can’t believe they killed off Amber. It was exhilarating and heart-breaking to watch and I still have mixed emotions about the whole affair. Although this turn of events made for some pretty spectacular television, I liked the dynamic among House, Wilson, and Amber and I’m sad to see that go. I do, however, think this will make for some fascinating House/Wilson interaction in season 5, but it’s still hard to swallow. I think the most devastating moment was watching Wilson discover the note Amber had left for him under the pillow. That it was written on an envelope was truly perfect. It seemed such a minor, trifling note to leave that she scribbled it down on a used envelope, as everyone has done a million times before. But in this case, it would be the most important and disastrous message she would ever write. Watching Wilson clutching the scrap of paper was horrible and I think it spoke volumes to just how much he cared about her and just how much her loss will affect his relationships in the next season, particularly with House.

Final quandary: Is House to blame? It’s a tough call. That he called Wilson’s apartment looking for a ride home after a long night of House being House isn’t a crime. That Amber decided to go and get him rather than bothering Wilson is a completely logical approach to the situation. That she happened to take medication that would ultimately kill her (only after her kidneys had been destroyed by an unforeseen bus accident) was a crazy fluke at most. And, that House did actually manage to diagnose the problem in the end was yet another medical miracle (even if there was nothing they could do to save her).

But unfortunately, when all added up, it’s hard not to blame House, even if isn’t a completely logical stance. If House hadn’t called, she wouldn’t have come. If House hadn’t brazenly gotten on the bus, neither would she. If House could have just spent that one single episode not being House, Amber would be fine. It’s a leap of logic to conclude that this is all his fault, but it’s an emotional oversight to not assign him any blame at all. It’ll be pretty interesting, and completely devastating I imagine, to see how things play out in season 5, to say the very least.

Overall Season 4 Grade: B
Season Finale Grade: A+