Tonight, Monday, October 3^rd marks the House MD season 8 premiere.
Twenty Vicodin
Written by Peter Blake; Directed by Greg Yaitanes
 
When last we saw Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), he was smiling in relief after plowing his car into the home of his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein).  Although meant to be a metaphorical ending – representative of breaking the chains of expectations, change, propriety and connection – the controversial finale instead brought a dark and tragic ending to a lack-luster season full of missed opportunities, unbelievable stories and disintegrated characterizations.

The House team has been teasing the fans for years with a Greg House who was progressively uncomfortable with life and misery, and was seeking to change.  Yet even through a mental breakdown, time in a mental institution, detox from vicodin, regaining his medical license, rebuilding his medical practice, entering into an overdue and long-awaited relationship (they spent all of season 6 focused on House pining for Cuddy), experiencing the subsequent break-up, going back on drugs and falling into a debauchery that took the viewers beyond all realm of belief, there was no exploration into the House character or his issues beyond a desire to connect and a need to trust. With so much build-up and promise, the viewers needed to learn more about House and experience a little more emotional substance to support the abundance of shocking twists. The persistent focus on other characters and insignificant plots that did nothing to get inside the heart and soul of this complex character, left viewers increasingly frustrated and angry.  The extremes of season 7, in conjunction with the unmet hopes for deeper emotional insight that should have been brought to the surface in a romantic relationship, proved to create a brand of animosity almost palpable for many viewers.  Critics and fans alike were vocal throughout the season regarding their ever-increasing dissatisfaction. The finale was a blow that left many viewers feeling they simply could not tolerate anymore teasing and stagnancy from a character that had now been reduced to an unsympathetic shell of the anti-hero they’d been rooting for so many years.

The Season 8 premiere, Twenty Vicodin, begins with House in front of the parole board.  In the first minutes, the viewer is subjected to a series of explanations, excuses and justifications for his violent act that are a complete regurgitation of the many interviews from show creator David Shore over the summer.  I’m not certain if they believed the words would be more acceptable coming from the mouth of Hugh Laurie or the character of House, but it certainly continued to downplay the magnitude of the violence, attempted to ignore the significance of the act as more than just inappropriate and careless, and minimized the greater emotional and psychological trauma such an act causes for both the victim and the one-time aggressor (as they make it a point to stress). Nevertheless, as a result of overcrowding, House has the opportunity to make parole if he can behave himself for 5 days.

The episode is slow.  It spends time establishing the various politics and power structures within the prison.  The viewers are made aware through a series of scenes that House has learned to navigate the various sects and manipulate the system.  He is more subdued than we’ve seen him since the first few episodes of the series.  He is restrained, yet still smart mouthed, and continues to push the line of propriety even as he follows the rules set out before him by both guards and alpha prisoners. Unfortunately, the possibility of parole has now shifted the lines of power and new expectations are placed upon House.  This, intermixed with the medical puzzle presented through a fellow prisoner, pushes House into situations and old behaviors that could risk his parole, and even his future both in and out of prison.

The patient of the week has a rash.  Not interesting to Dr. House, but a trip to the infirmary during his daily janitorial chores – which of course leads to the introduction of new doctor, Dr. Adams (Odette Annabel) – draws House into a new puzzle. The patient of the week is interesting, even though the changing power dynamic with the inmates prove to distract from the case.  As usual, there are several misdiagnosis and treatments before the final epiphany, but it allows more time to set some groundwork for the season.

Typical of House, he reads Dr. Adams almost immediately and uses his knowledge to manipulate his way into further involvement with the case.  We understand immediately that House sees in the prison doctor an altruistic nature that frustrates as much as fascinates, but he’s most intrigued by her interest in the medical puzzle.  This commonality would have felt like a good foundation for a future connection had it not been for the forced and cliché scene wherein House and Dr. Adams mirror one another in a reaction to the patient’s symptoms.  As Adams declares “cool” when the patient bleeds profusely, the relationship suddenly felt forced, weakening any natural chemistry between the two.

The new doctor does however provide an outlet to introduce what will very likely be an important push this season.  House has a gift.  Yes, the gift of medicine, but this is not the one in the spotlight.  He has a gift of reading people.  This is not a new revelation into the House character; we’ve known about this gift all along.  It is the aspect of House that made season 7 so unbelievable and frustrating.  It is the aspect that viewers were expected to ignore as it undermined the unconvincing weakness in the structure of the House/Cuddy romantic relationship, challenged the notion that he is incapable of sustaining a relationship and made incoherent the notion that he could not function in his medical prowess while in a relationship.

Additionally, House is driven by a need to be right, which both supports and disrupts that gift.  His interchanges with Dr. Adams regarding these aspects of his personality are very reminiscent of the season 3 episode, Son of a Coma Guy. In fact, I found the echoes of the Baraku back-story quite beautiful.  Unfortunately, having writer Peter Blake admit to an online Twitter follower that this homage was unintentional and an accidental connection was a bit disheartening.  Most House fans are smart and analytical, making the connections that reflect the complexity of the character.  To think these connections are more accidental than intentional really makes you appreciate how much power is packed into a real plan.  Such an admission leaves viewers appreciative that accidents like this happen, but doesn’t build faith in the talent and forethought of the writers.

Predictably, House does not submit to the demands of the prisoners.  He throws the expectations in their faces, placing himself in future risk by disrupting and confronting the power structure, and he destroys this chance for parole.  The new doctor sides with House and breaks the rules for the “good of the patient.”  For a moment, House and the viewers are left wondering if all of his scheming was worth it.  But then, in the final scenes we’re reminded that House is always right, and that yes – it’s what he most needs to hear.

This isn’t one of their strongest episodes. It felt laborious and did not utilize the characters for emotional and/or intellectual impact.  Jaleel White and Michael Pare were no more than bit characters, wasting considerable talent and possibilities.  The scenes with Kaleti Williams offered the most interesting material of the episode, with few spoken words and a lot of expression, their scenes created the ambiguity and complexity into character motivations that House fans love. The secondary patient for House, found in his cellmate’s pet cricket, provided more depth than the primary story.

It was disappointing to have Dr. Adams, who will later become a permanent member of the diagnostic team, placed in the precarious position of mocking the fans/critics through a bit of dialogue that both minimized violence and ignored the overall impact. Scripting her to address this ill-conceived notion marred her character and placed the actress in even a more difficult position in her journey to win over the audience in the post-Cuddy era.

For that matter, the episode didn’t address an important and anticipated detail since it was announced that Lisa Edelstein would not be returning to the show:  the absence of Lisa Cuddy. In the overall structure of the episode, it makes sense that she’s not mentioned.  On the other hand, some viewers are watching the premiere for the singular purpose of seeing how they will write-off this valued member of the team.  The fact that they do not reveal any real pain or remorse regarding his relationship with Cuddy or the violent act “on her home,” may prove to be an albatross around the proverbial neck of this series.  Even in a moment when the viewer is clearly meant to sympathize with House as he bemoans lost love through the “reading” of his patient, there is a lack of emotional authenticity.  He may not have anyone waiting for him and everyone has moved on during his months of imprisonment, but without the depth of sorrow and longing (such as seen throughout S6 as he pined for Cuddy), it’s hard to garner any sympathy or regain the connection to the character.

Additionally, the overuse of vocal epiphanies into House and his motives (through Dr. Adams) are unconvincing.  Where the show once allowed the subtle nuances that Hugh Laurie brought to his performance, and House himself to actually unveil the character (while still leaving much up to varied interpretations) it has become a disappointing habit over the past few seasons to have the unlikely characters in his life allegedly “explain” him.  This is demeaning to a smart audience, and still doesn’t really give away anything about the character because the viewers cannot really believe what is being said.  With anvil approaches, there is always doubt, disbelief and disappointment.

For a series that needed to come on strong in what may be their final season, it is in fact weak.  They are facing an already difficult task with the loss of Lisa Edelstein, who portrayed a very popular character and an integral part in the story, but the rebuilding of the primary character of House is the most challenging goal of all. After the controversy of last season’s finale, they needed to not only address the punishment for House’s crime against Cuddy, but also surprise the audience with a revelation of his character that would give some meaning to the debacle of season 7. The ambiguity that is usually a hallmark of the series only proves to weaken this premiere that so desperately needed to take a strong, intentional stand on both issues and direction.  Even the reason for his sentence is ambiguous, as the viewer is left wondering if House threw himself on the sword as a means to punish himself for the acts that brought him shame, or did his arrogance place him in jail?

The somber tones of the episodes and the insights into Dr. Gregory House (which at this point are new to the characters, not the viewer) are reminiscent of the pilot, and it often feels like that is exactly what this is – a pilot episode for the new House MD.  The main character is interesting, but the peripheral characters are uninspired.  The setting is overplayed and cliché, even though there was much less prison violence than the promos suggested.   Hugh Laurie is talented and imparts more into the story than the script projects.  The subtle focus on House’s gift and his incessant need to be right is as intriguing now as it was the first time.  Unfortunately, the failure to open House up to any new revelations regarding his issues, or even touch on one of the many dropped plots throughout the series, continues to be problematic for the overall narrative.  The House character is the show; he’s the purpose and the focal point. But failing to delve deeper into the character’s past and his nature erodes the very foundation of this series.  The introduction of new characters, peripheral subplots and shock/awe story twists are not sustainable without the fortification of a growing understanding into the heart and soul of Dr.Gregory House.

Although this premiere offers a reset and a possibility to “return to roots” as David Shore suggests, it’s just another crash for House where he is placed in a new situation, with new people, new challenges, and is taken to yet another dark place, but without growth or substance.  The character remains stagnant with only the performance Hugh Laurie providing depth.  It doesn’t make you want to change the channel, but it certainly makes you hope episode 2 will bring something to get House off the hamster wheel, and re-ignite our love of the show and the character.

Rating: C