Bring the House Down.

Spoiler alert: this post discusses various House storylines all the way up the to the latest episodes aired (end of series 7).

I've posted this Photochop work of mine last
 year, but it's relevant now more than ever!

Oh House, how the mighty have fallen...

Miron and I used to love House. It used to be our favourite TV show only to be pushed aside by Modern Family due to its emergent brilliance paired with House's own gradual staling. We came in late and caught up with the first few series on DVD before watching it regularly as it aired.

The first episode was great. A buffling medical mystery, an interesting mix of characters in the cast and of course Doctor Gregory House and his utterly inappropriate social conduct. He would say and do the most outrageous things that we would never dare to do in real life and he will get away with it because he is a diagnosis genius.

As the first few years went by our suspension of disbelief was stretched further than Kirstie Alley's wasteline as House and his team kept encountering hundreds of "rare" medical mysteries (twenty two a year, to be more specific) and all the mysteries were resolved the same way: the team will come up with different theories to treat the patient and the patient will seem to recover only to get worse again and again until the last minute where House would come up with the answer by chance when talking to someone (usually his friend Wilson) about something entirely different. During the episode there will be something interesting about the patient life-choices which will invoke a lively argument that splits the team down the middle and causes them to reflect on their own lives and decisions. Ho hum. Cut and paste, cut and paste.

It was more formulaic than Lady Gaga's latest album, but we forgave those gaping flaws in order to get to hang out with the coolest doctor in the world since Dr. Doogie Howser. As the years went by we even got a nice slow cooking character study of House and what makes him tick. The series has peaked with series four's finale and hasn't been topped since as far as I am concerned. A great mix of mystery, emotional roller coaster and shocking twists and turns. Some of the best television I have ever watched.

Had the producers had any dignity they would have wrapped things up in series five where the paint by the number plots were becoming more and more tedious. Six Feet Under is my all time favourite TV show and I don't think it's ending would have been as powerful if they dragged it on for another five years. Also, Michael C. Hall wouldn't have been free to do Dexter, so win-win. But House is a huge hit both in ratings and DVD sales so as long as that's the case the creators will attempt to carry it until Hugh Laurie himself might actually need a walking stick in real life.

So the writers did their best trying to throw a few twists into the plot. At the end of series six House was admitted into a psyche ward. How would he ever get out of that mess? Easy, in two episodes everything was practically back to normal. Then at the end of series seven they hooked him up with Cuddy, another status quo shaker that did not last. And now at the end of series seven yet another shock ending: enraged when he finds out Cuddy is dating a new man, House drives his car into her livingroom and disappears to some ocean beach before the police could arrest him. How is he ever going to get out of that mess?

I don't care! I know that within an episode or two House will be back at the hospital solving medical mysteries and being rude to patients. House would have a meltdown, realize he needs to get a grip and will get better - until the next meltdown. The lack of any lasting character development has become apparent a long time ago and from the cool guy who says it like it is, House has become a jerk you want to beat to death with his own walking stick. The formulaic medical mysteries are also infuriatingly repetitive. Hugh Laurie is a magnetic actor so I would probably keep watching for a while, but it is not really fun watching a TV show you are beginning to resent.

Lisa Edelstein leaving the show is also an ultimate ending to the House/Cuddy romance which was one of the more enjoyable storylines in the history of the show. House losing Cuddy for good will truly mean a complete regression of the character back to square one or even beyond.

House has pointed out in the past that he is a great doctor because he is unhappy and therefore not distracted when doing his work. During his time with Cuddy he actually became happy and sloppy. Once he realized that he thought it over and decided that even though it will mean that more people will die because he is happy with Cuddy, he was OK with it. That was a fantastic potential ending for the series and an ending to the character's journey. While being a good ending it also had a dark edge to it to avoid making it too kitsch. That's right there is what should have been the last episode of House.

But money talks and the show must go on. And on. And on. And on.

Perhaps the writers will surprise me next series with a fresh twist or two, but to be honest, even at its most formulaic House is still better than most TV dramas airing nowadays.

Which is kinda sad, don't you think?

Mickey