Jon22: The Website of Jonathan Dobres

House is now officially on winter hiatus (possibly due to the WGA strike), so it seemed like a good time to talk about how the season is shaping up. Earlier thoughts on the season are here. Extended rambling and spoilers ahead.

House is not a medical drama. As Kal Penn, who plays Kutner, says, “It’s not a show about medicine. It’s a show about relationships between people.” The patients, the exotic ailments, and all the trappings of the hospital are just a stage on which the characters interact. Other “procedural” shows rely heavily on the artifice of their procedures. Law & Order’s material is proudly “ripped from the headlines,” and really, where would CSI be without microfibers and thirty-two inch, flat-panel computer screens? House relies most heavily on the performances of its cast. There’s literally no show without Hugh Laurie’s skill and the reparte that surrounds him. In an alternate universe House could be a sitcom. It’s often pointed out in regards to House that shows with “unlikeable” leads aren’t supposed to work. Often this is said with a raise of the eyebrow and an incredulous smirk, as if House is the first TV show to accomplish this sort of anti-miracle. It’s certainly rare for a TV show to pull this off, but historical precedent clearly exists in the unlikeable forms of Archie Bunker and Al Bundy.

The show is typically marred by two problems. First, it’s medically inaccurate. In the real world there would be a dozen reasons to fire House in every episode, some of them mandatory. House and his team seem to be medical experts in everything, equally comfortable performing a tumor resection or a brain biopsy while also insisting that menial blood tests not be handled by lower-ranking laboratory staff. Most of the diseases and syndromes on the show, while accurate in the sense of checking off a list of symptoms, have their time courses greatly accelerated for dramatic effect. Likewise, the speed of recovery is almost always instantaneous. The audience, even those of us who have worked in hospitals, are willing to forgive these errors because deep down we agree with Kal Penn. It’s not about medicine, and we don’t watch it for that.

It’s about the people, right? This brings us to problem number two. House is really bad about continuity and long-term character development. It’s been improving gradually, but remember Wilson’s homeless brother, whom he hasn’t seen in years? Neither did I until this moment. The main characters have changed subtley over the past three and a half seasons, but you have to dig awfully deeply to see it.

Which at last brings me to Season 4, and why I love it. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single misstep this year. Sure, House’s staff are still adept at everything, but the show seems to have backed away from the more outlandish medical cases of seasons past. We’ve even finally seen a case of actual, real, honest-to-God lupus. At the same time, the whole dynamic of the show has changed with the injection of a new medical team. Foreman, Cameron, and Chase all have their virtues, but the interplay was getting a bit stale. The new personalities have energized the arc of each show, and given us an extended plot that has lasted a whopping eight episodes. Opinion on this massive shake-up is mixed, but I can’t see it as anything but positive. The one thing that confuses me is that Omar Epps, Jennifer Morrison, and Jesse Spencer (Foreman, Cameron, and Chase) are all still listed in the title sequence despite having, what, maybe thirty minutes of screen time combined this season? All three doctors are still at the hospital, with Foreman hanging on in the especially odd position of Cuddy’s envoy (presumably she finally has more important items on her schedule). What’s going on here?

At the moment it seems that House’s new team is comprised of Taub, Kutner, and Thirteen (and no, we have not been told her real name). The three newbies are vaguely analogous to the old team. You’ve got the experienced doctor who’s likely to challenge House, the vaguely incompetent guy who’s a little eager to please, and the woman who cares about the patients as people. Still, there’s room for nuance. Thirteen, for instance, may or may not have Huntington’s chorea. Her refusal to get a genetic test for the devastating illness was beautifully revealed in an episode in which the patient was a magician (is it more satisfying to know or not know?).

Great thematic touches like that have been largely absent from the show to date. It’s also been easy to empathize with some of this season’s transitory characters. I can honestly say that I was sad to see Cole leave, and likewise Ridiculously Old Fraud. This season is House’s best yet. I just hope the writers’ strike resolves in time to properly finish the season.