[H]ouse, M.D. Episode 8x04 "Risky Business"

Risky Business may have been the title of the episode but it certainly describes how many millions of fans feel about the show at this point in time. Shore is playing with fire. Someone please turn the hose on him, this isn't funny anymore. House Director/Producer Greg Yaitanes keeps asking me why I'm watching and tell him honestly I can't help it, when you've followed something for so long it's hard to give it up.



The best things about last night's episode:

1) Hugh Laurie. That little bet-making dialogue at the beginning between him and Park was great. I sense Hugh is ready to wrap this up. We have seen clearly in so many interviews over the years how much fun he's had with his colleagues and the show but now it might be time for him to move on and tend to his first love---music.  The thing about Hugh is that he's so damn talented. He could read the writing on a package of toilet paper and make it Emmy-worthy. This season though he just doesn't seem to have the same energy of past seasons. I'm sure it's very different without Lisa there, as he has said but I also attribute his lack of energy to the fact that he's always got a lot going on, the man is a consummate busybody, always doing something. He admits he loves his music far more than acting and when his face lights up mentioning his music, you know this is the last season.

2) Who doesn't love Wilson? Seriously though if I were Bob I'd be pissed at having to drive over an hour and a half each way through traffic from Thousand Oaks to the Fox studios in LA just to film a lousy two minutes.Ok three at best. But still...

3) Michael Nouri as the POTW, though I thought his character was way underutilized.

4) The Ortho doc casting House's chairs and all the stuff on his desk. Classic. Finally someone's not putting up with House's bullshit.



The worst things about the episode:

1) Foreman's office. Seriously, all that beige is really affecting me and not in a positive way. I wondered why beige and then it hit me, the color is a reflection of the man--dull. Foreman is about as dull as a box of rocks. Think about how awesome the office looked when Cuddy was DOM, it was very stylish much like the Dean herself.  (I wonder if she took her old med school desk with her?)

2) Foreman. Yeah I know I mentioned him already but that was his office, now I can pick on him. Foreman is so dull. If I hated him before, I hate him even more now. Ok I didn't hate him before but I can't stand the character now. Bring me back the Foreman whose mom hugged him and forgave him for killing a patient. I loved THAT Foreman. Now he's got about as much reign over House as I do. He's not going to send House back to prison. No way. House is in Foreman's head, he trained him. 

3) The idea that Dr. Adams could practice medicine in a hospital in which she has NO privileges. Hell she's not even wearing a lab coat for crying out loud. Would I want a second-rate unemployed doctor who was just fired from her prison job treating me? I don't think so. Of course this is yet another detail skipped over by TPTB.  

4) That whole play between Foreman and Park. WTF? That wasn't Foreman, that was some pod person. And for the record, has Foreman was in need of a neurologist....uh HELLO? Foreman? You ARE a neurologist. It says so on your diploma. Oh wait,  is that the diploma that has two "n's" in University (ok inside joke for House fans related to the "great Mayonnaise pandemic of 2007") Maybe the same person who wrote Foreman's lines also came up with three different birthdays for House? Or the insanely fatal prescription dosage on Cuddy's prescription bottle of Zolpidem in Season 7? Just a thought.

5) Adams. She is so dry I think she's going to crack up and blow away. Or at least I wish she would. When I saw Adams walk into House's office (what in hell was she even doing there if she didn't work there?) in that dress I thought "seriously are they trying to give us Cuddy-light?" and let's just put that to rest right now. There is no way that she could even come close to Cuddy much less Cuddy-light. Not only does the character and the actress lack the style and depth but there's zero chemistry between House and Adams. I'm guessing there's not supposed to be but even Cameron and House connected on a level which morphed into mutual respect later on in the series and House even connected with Thirteen because of her disease. But Adams? She brings nothing substantial to the show. She has no purpose, she does not fit in. And oh yes, someone make her do something with her hair! We're not impressed.

6) Park. The whole soft-voiced, naive, cute, Velma thing was nice for a few minutes in her first episode, now it's just annoying. I really thought Martha Masters was annoying but then she grew on you but this one? As House says, "OMFG!"  She's as dry as Adams. The only good thing about her being on the team is now there's someone on the team shorter than Taub.

7) House is a mean son of a bitch. Now I'm confused here. If you have the energy to rehash the episode "Charity Case" with Wentworth Miller as the POTW, remember how House told him at the end that him choosing his family over the money was "healthy". I thought "hey that's a nice moment for House" but Shore must have picked up on that because this week, House does the opposite, he convinces the POTW to choose money over family by convincing the guy to sign a press release stating he's moving his family's company to China. House of course bought a lot of  stock in the company when it tanked early on and made a killing on it when it skyrocketed after the announcement of the move to China.  House uses that money to fund his diagnostics department and hire Adams and bring back Chase and Taub. The House I saw there was not the House I remember from the good old days.

8) Where's House's pain? Where's the Vicodin?  House's leg has been his excuse for his miserable life for so many years, all the sudden there's no talk of the pain or the leg. Oh so he's got a bad leg, no big deal. And the Vicodin? The Vicodin has been so prominent and important to the show over the years, it deserves to be listed in the credits! Actually I believe it may have been Shore who said they're not going to focus on it and make it a big part of the story. Seriously? You're doing that now? House is an addict, yes we know his leg hurts, but he uses the vicodin to not only numb his physical pain but keep his emotional pain in check. Remember Detective Tritter? Detoxing? Nearly OD'ing how many times? Cuddy saving him from taking it only for him to take it a year later when he thinks she's dying? I hated when he went back on it after being clean for so long, I hated it. (Because that was House winning, really winning at something and being less miserable and we were all for it!) But now, considering all that's happened he either needs to be taking it on screen or he needs to be clean. We're owed an explanation here. The vicodin over the years was not just some arc, it was an integral part of House and his story. Either he's on it or he's not. Stop with the games.

9) Saving the worst for last. The ending. First, a HUGE what the HELL were you thinking to TPTB for not having Adams put goggles on BEFORE smashing up the ortho lab. Did you see that glass flying? Again, it's details people, details. Now...on to the important stuff. That ending could be taken two ways. 1) House sensed how hurt Adams was over her divorce and gave her the opportunity to get her anger out (by destroying the ortho lab) instead of doing what he did and bottling it up like he did (see Season 7 finale), or
2) He wanted to basically drag her to the "dark side" and make her miserable and hateful much like him, Foreman, Chase and Taub have become. Could House really be that mean? Not the old House but I don't know what direction TPTB are taking House's character. I'm getting mixed signals here.




I miss what I refer to on Twitter as #ClassicHouseMD. You know what I'm talking about too. The good old days...the riveting medical cases, the awesome epiphanies, the fun, humor and pranks, House interacting with his patients (and relating to them!), team members we actually liked, House's hilarious clinic duty, Cuddy and Wilson teaming up against House, Cuddy yelling at House and keeping him in line, House staring at Cuddy's breasts and making jokes about her ass, and of course the House-Team, House-Wilson, House-Cuddy, and House-Wilson-Cuddy banter and interactions. God, those were the days! 

Good times.