Review of House: Season 3

Introduction

Hugh Laurie is a bit of an enigma. Really. Partnered with intellectual comic Stephen Fry initially, Laurie always played the nerdy wimp in Brit comedy series, whether upper class twit in Jeeves And Wooster (of which I`m blissfully ignorant) or the sublime Lieutenant George in the even more sublime Blackadder Goes Forth.

He`s had a bit of a transformation over the last few years though. Serious drama roles in the likes of Spooks and inevitably The Bill (is there anyone who hasn`t in this yet???) have been part of the transition to a film career through the likes of Stuart Little and Spice World (er, yeah…).

Hugh Laurie seems to have found a real niche for himself though as a sarcastic, arrogant and slightly lame Doctor with a penchant for vicodin called Gregory House. House heads a team of three junior doctors who take on the most baffling medical cases that come through the doors of the hospital he works at. His team consists of Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), Chase (Jesse Spencer) and Foreman (Omar Epps), and House spends a good deal of his time and pleasure at knocking back the opinions and theories of the team as he tries to solve whichever baffling case has come in this week.

Attempting to keep a little sanity within the wards are cancer specialist Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) and doctor-cum-administrator Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein). Also of note during this season is an elongated guest appearance of David Morse as a revenge-driven policeman, who engages on a vendetta against House after he is humiliated by the annoying doctor who leaves him in an examination room for hours with a rectal thermometer up his butt - probably my scene of the season...

Video

As good a recent TV transfer as you`re going to get. Colours are deep, the picture is crisp and the few medical SFX are on a par with some of those seen in the likes of CSI who do it much more often.

Audio

Good Dolby digital stereo 2.0 soundtrack that once more for a Playback release shows a stunning ignorance of a large portion of a potential viewing audience by not having any subtitles. I really don`t know why I keep harking on about this…

Features

Alternate take from `Cane & Able`: The Angry Valley Girl Version - short and not all sweet (but quite funny) alternate scene with lots of bleeping.

Blooper Reel - lots of people laughing, not quite sure why…

Soundtrack session with Band From TV - it would appear that after enduring 16 hour filming days, Hugh Laurie is part of a band with a couple of co-stars (not main cast) from House that includes Greg Grunberg from Heroes. And it`s all for charidee…

Open House: The Production Office - hardly open, actually. A 3 ½ minute whistle stop tour behind the scenes. Other than a really brief view of the production area and extremely brief introduction to staff, I really can`t see the point of this. Kind of a production staff equivalent of giving an actor a camcorder for the afternoon…

Blood, Needles & Body Parts - Another 3 ½ minute wonder tour, this time the prop house. Slightly more relevant but again way too short to be of any real value.

Anatomy Of An Episode: The Jerk - 20 minute Making Of featurette that focuses on one of the stronger episodes in this season.

Conclusion

I am not a fan of medical series. I remember that paramedic series Emergency from the US at the backend of the 70`s before I hit my teens but that was about it. I`ve never really liked them, I`ve never really got the whole doctor bug thing and so not interested in watching dashing doctors and gorgeous nurses doing their thang in the ER with stethoscopes and EKG`s (or ECG`s if you prefer…).

And I`ll be honest; I never really gave House a chance purely for that aspect of the series. The appearance of Hugh Laurie in the starring role of a US series got me curious, but that medical thing held me back again. Maybe it`s a man thing. Or maybe it`s just as simple as I prefer crime or mystery drama. Still, I`ve now learned that mystery is a huge part of House and that kind of enthuses me a little but not too much. But then, it`s because it`s medical mystery and whilst I am quite comfortable with scientists waffling on about engineering or forensic mysteries, the medical stuff never really grabs my attention in the same way. Strange…

Luckily, really the medical dilemma`s play second fiddle to House and his arrogant disregard for everyone else. The interplay and relationships between House and his team, friends and patients is where the attraction is and it really makes for decent drama, purely formulaic obviously. Cuddy is there as the administrative foil where House wants to perform some drastic treatment, whilst Wilson is probably the only real friend that House has, despite the latter treating the former as something akin to some dog mess he just stood on. Does he mean it? Who knows, he`ll never tell you. Or anyone else.

The episodes in general run a little like this. Someone gets ill. House picks up the case. He asks the team their opinions. The three junior doctors use their really expensive medical training to come with potential diagnoses. House says they`re all wrong and to run certain tests. The tests come back negative. House says it`s something else and they start treatment. The patient gets worse and House states that it`s something else. The three doctors disagree. House ignores them and orders them to run another test. Wilson and/or Cuddy come down to to talk House, while they`re talking they say something that strikes a chord. With a wistful look in his eye, House works out what the problem is and despite no one agreeing (again) he does whatever is needed and all is well.

That`s about it in a nutshell I think. Sounds a little formulaic and repetitive, and it is a little. But it`s done in such a way that it isn`t. That`s down to two things: the acting and the writing. Hugh Laurie is the star, that much is not in dispute, and he is head and shoulders above all his co-stars (as he should be), but this is very much an ensemble cast and no one really lets the side down. One major plus point is the David Morse arc that takes up most of the first half of the season. Morse is a great actor and also a great foil for House. Quite inspired.

I missed seasons 1 and 2 of this and whilst I`m not even thinking of picking those up to catch up, I really did enjoy this for the character acting. It just happens to be set in a hospital and be about medical mysteries.

Minus points, some of the extras are miniscule and feel cheap and a little tacky. You don`t have to have sprawling huge extras, but make them worthwhile.

Oh and Playback, splash out on some bleedin` subtitles.