House Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I hate to admit it, but I wasn't all that psyched (heh, no pun intended) to watch the season premiere of House. After last season doled out disappointment after disappointment and overall just kind of bored me, I didn't have high hopes at all for the aging series. I've already spoken at length about how underwhelming and dull the new ducklings are, so I won't belabor the point, but sadly, they were only one component of last season's nose dive. I just stopped caring and was on the brink of breaking up with the show. The end of last season raised some interesting questions, however, and I'm a loyalist at the end of the day, so I was willing to hang in there.

The previews for this season's premiere only moderately piqued my interest, which is sadly, a marked increase, but I still didn't have high hopes. I DVR'd the premiere and then finally got around the watching it a couple of days later. Much to my pleasant surprise, not only did the premiere hold my attention for the entire two hours (an aspect I wasn't exactly looking forward to) but even managed to buoy my confidence in the show a bit.

In spite of the overall depressing tone of the premiere (a fact inherent in life on a psych ward), it was nice to see something different for once. I've seen House solve the same kind of mysteries in the same format year in and year out for entirely too long for it to be fresh or enthralling anymore. Seeing House in a new atmosphere (one he doesn't control) reinvigorated my interest in him as a character. The fact that he left the facility at the end of the episode genuinely bummed me out... I was really hoping House would stay in the mental hospital for longer than two episode's worth of time, but hey, we have to get back to Princeton Plainsboro so 13 can make us want to throw out our TVs, don't ya know...

Not every aspect of the premiere worked perfectly, but it was a much better outing than the show has had in a long time. Watching House face his own demons (as opposed to calling out everyone else's) made for a nice change of pace and brought out a different side to the character (but still managed to be House). In essence, House was forced to be his own patient and diagnose and treat his own issues. The staff at the hospital may have facilitated the process, but it was House himself who had to finally let go of his hang-ups and embrace humanity. House has always related to patients with mental problems or deficits, so it makes sense that he would finally open up to people in this kind of atmosphere.

I also quite enjoyed watching House get schooled by the doctors. House is generally accustomed to being the quickest and cleverest around, but in an atmosphere where the doctors have seen it all, House was out of his depth. As much as I enjoy watching House screw with people's heads, seeing him get bested was pretty satisfying. That and his disastrous trip to the carnival with the guy who thought he could fly were the tipping points, methinks. House actually doesn't always know what the best course of action is and had to own up to the consequences. He's been allowed to do as he pleases for so long that I really don't think he knew how to handle it. In the end, he acquiesced.

I'm not sure how (or if) the new and improved (?) House will reintegrate to his old surroundings, but I'm interested enough to want to find out. House may have made progress at the loony bin, but it'll be a sight to see if he manages to show his new side to his old friends and colleagues. It's one thing to let your guard down with a bunch of people you don't know or care about and who are (for the most part) insane, it's quite another to behave differently around people you've known for years. I'm less than confident that he'll be able to keep up his progress, but at least in intrigued enough to find out. I'm still not over the moon about the show starting up again (it has felt like a chore to watch for nearly two seasons), but I'm hopeful House's new mental state will enliven the show and curb the boredom. In the end, I think the only thing that could really and truly fix the show would be to cut the dead weight and bring in some genuinely interesting new blood. Word is, Dr. Cameron is being written out of the show, but she's not the dead weight I was talking about. I never knew just how much I loved her character until she was replaced. I'm hearing it was a creative decision on the part of the writers/producers, so in essence, Jennifer Morrison is being fired mid-season, which is always a bit of a shame. Story-wise it may be for the best, but it's always sad to see.

Adding to my apprehension/more than usual excitement for the new season, the House and Cuddy situation took a turn for the worse? better? weirder? last season and it seems House may have worked out some of his issues. I've always been a Huddy fan, but last season totally deflated my investment in them as a potential couple. Once a couple actually gets together, the dynamic changes and I'm not sure that's a good thing. I'm always a little wary of the pay off, but sometimes that's just the road that has to be taken (especially after 5 years of toying with the idea). I'd be more reluctant for things to take that turn, but with a flagging series, I'm pretty much open to anything. It can't possibly make things worse than last season, right? In the end, at least I'm not so overly invested in the show that I couldn't cut ties in the event that it actually is worse. With some shows, I'm so thoroughly engrossed that the thought of breaking up is unfathomable. It's at times like these that bad storyline decisions hurt the most. With House, I'm at the point of take it or leave it, which in a way, is incredibly freeing.

I was intrigued by the premiere, but I'm really not all that excited for House's return to Princeton Plainsboro tonight. I'm invested enough to keep up, but something pretty striking will need to happen for the show to ever regain a top tier position again. At present, it's at the bottom of the second tier and if the next few episodes don't reel me in, I'll have to banish the show to the third tier... a position I couldn't have imagined for this show just a few short seasons ago...

Sigh.

I miss Amber...