'House': Whole lot of shakin' goin' on!

I just have to say it out loud: "House" just keeps getting better and better. What at first seemed like a pretty silly idea -- to passive-aggressively keep from hiring a new team, House has a group of doctors competing like they're in a reality show -- has turned out to be brilliant. Not only do we get all sorts of great new characters, we also get to see House at his best, trying to figure out, and neutralize, each one. Gone are all the boring concerns about his Vicodin addiction, gone is the irritating model of House declaiming and everyone else denying (even though he's always right), gone is the increasingly dull and unbelievable tension between him and Cuddy. (As subordinate/boss, that is. The sexual tension, one hopes, is still in there somewhere.) Cuddy is done trying to squelch him; now she is just shooting for managed chaos. Which is so much more fun because it revolves more around the medicine and less around all the personal pathos of the staff.

      Last night's case was a screenwriter's dream. A man comes in with no memory but a very strange disorder -- Giovanni's Mirror Syndrome (where do they come up with these things?), which causes him to unconsciously mimic those around them. So all of the characters were subjected to a vision of their own selves, and we got to watch them react to it. How great a dramatic idea is that? Although it must be conceded that while Patient X managed to delve into the psyches of all the contestants, he stayed on the surface when mirroring House, revealing only his lust for doctor 13 and admiration for Cuddy's breasts. Too bad; it would have been interesting to get a peep into House's interior, and even more interesting to see what he thought of the image.

But the quibble is so minor, I'm ashamed to have made it. This season of "House" should be handed out as Christmas gifts to every writers' room in America to serve as a template for really shaking up a show in danger of bogging down in its own conceit. Mercifully, House didn't kick anyone off the island last night; the loss of any of the new characters will lead only to heartbreak for me. I miss the old guy already and don't care that he wasn't a doctor. Indeed, I was just as uneasy when Cuddy announced she had hired Foreman back. I love Omar Epps, but I hope this doesn't mean a return to the old "House." As good as it was, the new "House" is better. 

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Comments

[rene]

This probably comes from someone who didn't start watching House right from Pilot.
Since season 3, the writers succeeded in one thing: to have ruined the House spirit altogehter...

Yes, this season had some nice twists and the first couple of eps were brilliant, but on Mirror, Mirror it seems House has turned into a soap.

Nothing wrong with that, of course, even House used to love soaps.... He doesn't watch them all that much lately. Maybe because he now lives in one. :(

[kryptogal]

Loved this episode! I really love the newbies, and don't really miss the original gang much. I don't want House to fire any of the newbies left. And maybe Wilson could hire the old guy/non-doctor as an assistant.

[Lila]

This season has been hit or miss for me. I agree completely that the old format was getting stale (except the House and Cuddy part- not counting the life lessons, their interactions, as well as each of them with Wilson, are one of my favorite parts). While I had high hopes for this new format, it hasn't lived up to them. I haven't seen the depth this season I look forward to from this show. Mirror, Mirror should have been an episode where we learned a lot about each character. And we learned that House thinks Cuddy and 13 are attractive? Cuddy likes her own breasts? Taub is attracted to Amber? What a wasted opportunity.

While the hiring process has been a great concept and I like that they're changing things up, I miss the depth the show used to have, the complicated cases, and the complicated characters. I don't miss the orginal three fellows and I don't understand why they're being shoved in for a couple of minutes an episode apparently just to be there. I do miss administrator Cuddy who was more than just a love interest who flailed around the hospital only showing up to be incompetent- I'm really hoping her showing in Ugly was not a one time occurence. Wilson has been great. I do like the newbies other than boring 13. The new characters have been very entertaining, it's the way the new concept has been played out and the changes to certain old characters my problem is with.