The post-Super Bowl episode of House (“Frozen”) garnered record-setting ratings for the series. Of course, many of those new viewers will stick around and become fans. Jumping into a series mid-fourth year isn't always easy. So, in honor of all of you House “newbies,” and because I'll use any excuse to drag out my (very nearly worn out) House DVD collection, I re-watched all 80 or so episodes and put together what I call the "Welcome to the End of the Thought Process” (Unofficial) House Episode Guide.

I don't watch House for the humor; or for House's outrageous behavior and rude comments. I watch House for House (the character, that is) — for the peeling away of his layers — the character study that the series and the always-brilliant Mr. Laurie do so well. My episode grades primarily reflect that. But I’ve also factored in things like atmosphere, humor, the patient mystery, use of the secondary characters, and (of course) music.

On the other hand, such frivolous things as the blueness of Hugh Laurie’s magnificent eyes (which seem to fluctuate from just plain blue to the varying shades of the Caribbean Sea, depending on the light) have not been factored in at all. (Yeah, I know.) Neither have the improbability of the medicine (I’m not a doctor, so I really don’t care), the inaccuracy of legal issues (I’m not a lawyer either), or seeming character inconsistencies (because over the course of the series, despite the different writing styles of the series scribes, the characters have been overall consistent).

But this is a subjective guide, and House is truly a series that can be viewed, interpreted, and enjoyed from a variety of angles. So, feel free to debate and argue with me as you wish in the comment area below. In fact, I’d love it.

Episodes marked with an asterisk (*) are those I consider to be “must-see” episodes. Links will lead you to lengthier reviews/commentaries I’ve written for Blogcritics or on posted on my LiveJournal. The guide will posted in several parts over the next few weeks. Plenty of time to go back, re-watch for yourself.

* Pilot (A) - “You can’t always get what you want” goes the Rolling Stones classic. “But you just might find, you get what you need.” All the elements that make this series great were there right from the beginning: Wilson manipulating House to take on a patient (and lying to do it!); House making a soul-to-soul connection with a patient; the sparkling bite that defines House and Cuddy’s relationship. The humor was perfect and it served as a balance to the story’s intensity. House’s motto, "everybody lies," is introduced in the series pilot, as is the idea that House’s real specialty is hunting medicine’s zebras, a medical metaphor for unusual medical cases that require out-of-the-box thinking (House’s gift.)

"Paternity" (B) - Okay episode really, really boosted by the final and very introspective scene of House standing alone on an empty lacrosse field clearly thinking of days gone by when he was healthy and whole. The humorous side story, which involves wagering on the patient’s paternity, is wonderfully rendered and connects well to the main story. Cuddy and House share a delicious scene (played brilliantly by Hugh Laurie and Lisa Edelstein) in which Cuddy forces House to pay for the expensive DNA test he ran on the kid for the bet (but which proves essential to the correct diagnosis).

"Occam's Razor" (B) - Occam’s razor states that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. In House’s world, that usually means somebody lied – or screwed up. Mislabeled colchicine (a gout medication, mistaken for a cough remedy) places a young man at death’s door as the team scrambles to make sense of the myriad symptoms. The best scene involves House introducing himself to a roomful of clinic patients: “My name is Dr. Gregory House. I am a BORED (board) certified doctor in infectious diseases and nephrology….”

* "Maternity" (A) — The team is at a loss to figure out what caused (at least) six newborns to become critically ill in the hospital maternity unit. As the situation becomes dire, House doggedly insists they pursue and run a therapeutic trial on the sick infants, potentially sacrificing the life of one baby in order to save many more lives. House’s almost Spock-like cold rationality is more than offset as he agonizes over the choice Cuddy has left in his lap. “Do what you think is right,” she finally concedes. When one infant succumbs, House knows they must do an autopsy but sends everyone home for the night. Alone, in the dark of the autopsy room, the exhausted House stays behind to perform the grim task. It is a brief, but incredibly moving, scene.

"Damned If You Do" (A) - The season one Christmas episode. A nun comes to the clinic with a supposedly simple rash. When she has a heart attack in the exam room, Cuddy accuses House of accidentally overdosing her with the antihistamine epinephrine. Of course the answer is not so simple, but it’s fun watching House begin to doubt himself about it, while trying to deny it. House and Wilson banter about circles of Hell and Christmas, winding up having Chinese food together at House’s apartment. This episode also featured the first time we see House playing his beautiful baby grand piano as he renders a starkly elegant “Silent Night,” sitting alone in his flat drinking a whiskey as Christmas goes on in the world beyond his solitary gloom.

* "Socratic Method" (A) - The Socratic method is “the best way of teaching anybody about anything,” according to House. However, Socrates was also considered schizophrenic, as is this week’s patient, Lucy. But House isn’t buying it as he gets to know Lucy and her son, making a strong connection with them both. He reads Lucy poetry, listens to and interprets her ravings, respects her and her position, all much to the dismay and confusion of his colleagues. His willingness to ignore the conventional wisdom about Lucy allows him to discover that her mental illness is but a symptom of Wilson’s disease, and quite treatable. The episode gets extra points for the gorgeous Baroque piano piece that Hugh Laurie plays late at night while pondering the case. And more extra points for the hysterically fake upper-crust British accent House uses to disguise his voice when phoning one of Lucy’s prior physicians in the middle of the night. A super, super episode.

"Fidelity" (C-) - How can you have African sleeping sickness if you’ve never been to Africa? Of course House believes that the answer to everything eventually leads back to someone’s lie. As it does here. In this case, the sleeping sickness patient has been having an affair with her husband’s best friend — who has been to Africa. This episode first establishes that House is multi-lingual, demonstrating his knowledge of Portuguese. A lovely scene near the end between House and a teary Cameron is touching, and verges on giving House away as someone who’s not as much of a jerk as he’d have us believe.

"Poison" (C+) - Oh, Georgia! One of the absolutely best clinic patients in the entire series to date. The elderly lady (with the annoying son) who has a syphilis-induced crush on House appears here and there in the episode to add a touch of sweetness to this otherwise interesting but “just okay” episode. For the first time, I found House is very unsympathetic, and more arrogant in this episode than I like him. The writers also attempt to draw a parallel (as they still insist upon) between Foreman and House (something I’ve never understood), even having them wear the same shoes.

"DNR" (A+) - Is it ever permissible to violate a “do not resuscitate” order? That is the ethical dilemma of this brilliant episode. A world-class jazz trumpeter, John Henry Giles, of whom House is a fan, comes into the hospital with diagnosed ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Giles' primary physician is Foreman's old mentor, a California doc named Marty! This episode synthesizes all the elements that make House unique and wonderful: the series’ unique take on medical ethics; conflict between House and his colleagues; a glimpse at what really makes House tick.

There is an iconic scene that defines House as different than other doctors. As Foreman ponders whether to resign his fellowship to accept Dr. Marty's job offer, House offers a contrast between their differing medical philosophies. “He sleeps better at night,” House argues. “He shouldn’t.” Dr. Marty believes that you do your job and accept the inevitable with a shrug of the shoulders. House struggles with himself and with everyone else to obtain a better patient outcome, whatever it takes. And for or all of Gregory House’s outward arrogance, House has a sort of humility that Foreman, Dr. Marty, not even Cuddy and Wilson really understand. To me, this scene completely sums up the character. The episode also ends on a poignant note as Giles, now healed due to House's persistence, presents him with a priceless gift — his beloved trumpet. The depth to which House is touched is expressed wordlessly and eloquently through Hugh Laurie’s expressive eyes. One of my absolutely favorite episodes.

"Histories" (B+) - A fine episode in which the series poses the ethical question: does a homeless person deserve respectful care in the hospital when ill, no matter what the cause? House’s answer is yes; and in so doing reveals an underlying (and deeply-buried) humanity pointing out the glaring difference between Foreman’s angry arrogance and House’s affected arrogance. Foreman would have thrown this week’s patient disdainfully to the curb and out of her snugly warm hospital bed, insisting that she is simply "faking it" to get a night out of the cold. But Foreman gets a lesson in the real humility that House lectured him about in “DNR.” As it turns out, she has rabies, eventually dying from the disease. A chastened Foreman sits with her in her final hours, granting her a modicum of peace and dignity.

* "Detox" (A+) - A tour-de-force acting performance by Hugh Laurie pits House’s stubbornness against his need for Vicodin after betting Cuddy that he is not addicted to pain meds. He agrees to give up Vicodin for a week in exchange for one month off clinic duty. During the increasingly difficult and painful struggle, House tries to diagnose a teenage boy. The team, growing more wary of House’s judgment as he suffers the effects of narcotics withdrawal, insists that the boy has lupus. House, just as insistent, is certain that it is something else. As they boy's condition worsens, even Foreman wants to see House back on Vicodin, offering him a bottle of the drug. Spilling the pills onto his desk, you can see the interior struggle raging within House's eyes.

With the boy dying, and about to undergo a possibly (in House’s judgment) unnecessary liver transplant, everyone continues to dismiss House’s insistence that the boy’s recently deceased cat holds the answer. As preparations for a transplant are made, House, sick and hands trembling, autopsies the cat, trying to hang on long enough to find the answer before the surgery. Of course House is correct and the boy is saved from a life on immuno-suppressant drugs. One of the series’ absolute best episodes. Riveting. House’s admission to Wilson (who we learn manipulated the bet in the first place) that he is addicted to the pain killers, but won’t give them up because “they let me do my job; they take away my pain,” is a breathtaking and heartbreaking way to conclude the first half of season one!

Lacking the gratuitous and over-the-top jokiness that has characterized some of this season, the House super-duper post-Super Bowl episode had a compelling and emotional drama; a terrific side story; and a resolution to the games that have been played between House and his fledgling fellows since episode two. What a perfect episode to place in that coveted time slot. And what a joy that so many people tuned in to see my favorite show at its very best. According to FOX, “Frozen” "...earned the series its highest ratings ever, and was the highest rated scripted program on any network in two years.”

Mira Sorvino (read my interview with Ms. Sorvino) guests as Cate Milton, an adjunct professor of psychiatry at Princeton Plainsboro, currently on leave, serving as staff doc at an Antarctic research station. She comes onto House's service via web-cam, complaining of severe kidney pain.

Despite House’s expected sarcasm regarding psychiatrists, his admiration of, and growing respect for, Cate are apparent from their first scene. She disarms him almost immediately, even as he baits her in his usual manner, only to be cut off (literally) as she reminds him that she is the one in control. It is her strength and bravery despite her illness that intrigue and impress him.

“Since when do you let a patient in on a differential?” Foreman asks, stunned at House's acquiescence.

“Since the doctor and patient are one and the same.” House, no longer dismissive of her, realizes that unless he treats her as an equal, he will get nowhere.

The relationship between House and Cate quickly becomes one of equals. He insists to Foreman that they be forthright with her when cancer becomes the most likely diagnosis. House dismisses Foreman’s argument for withholding this information, respecting Cate’s right to stay in the differential loop. When House discloses that she needs to perform a full-body X-ray series, he appreciates her stoicism as she sets aside her emotions to perform the task. “Good for you,” he quietly reflects.

House consults with Wilson as he evaluates the X-ray films for signs of cancer. As House complains about Cate, Wilson deduces that House actually “likes” her, goading him about it. It’s a great and playful scene between Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard. But it also draws an interesting (to me, anyway) distinction between the two doctors’ personalities. Wilson insists that they’ve hit a dead end, after they discover a deep-lying enlarged lymph node. It’s too deep to biopsy without a full surgical team, he argues. House, on the other hand, evaluates the problem idealistically, assuming that they will find a way, focusing on which stains they will be able to improvise after they have the sample. It’s the sort of unique optimism that is very characteristic of the pessimistic House. House contends they simply need to find a node closer to the surface, despite the fact that Wilson sees no X-ray evidence of any enlarged superficial nodes. House needs to examine the patient!

As House sits comfortably on his apartment sofa in front of the web-cam, Jack Daniels nearby, fireplace roaring in the background, he informs Cate that she will need to strip for his exam. Because he can’t really touch her, he will have to rely on her self-exam and his own very sharp observational skills. Cate refuses to strip in front of House in his apartment.

“Show me your apartment,” she insists as a quid pro quo for undressing. House’s apartment is a glimpse into his heart and soul — beyond his affected boorishness. “No pictures of family or friends,” she observes of the lonely and isolated House. But his flat also reveals a man who likes books, antiques, artwork, and music. This is a serious and studious side of House that almost no one gets to know — a personality he keeps well hidden.

Reluctantly, House agrees. “You’d rather show me your soul than your leg,” she baits. Everything that this battered and tormented man has gone through is symbolized by the long disfiguring scar on his right thigh, his constant reminder of all of his wounds — internal and external.

Pushing back, he sneers, knowing full well what comes next. “Got me all figured out. Gonna try to fix me now?”

But instead, she disarms him. “Who said you needed fixing?”

House guides her hand from 9,000 miles away, distracting her by keeping the focus on his typically inappropriate remarks. Yes, of course he’s enjoying himself, and part of it is House’s inept way of connecting with women. But once they identify an enlarged lymph node, their banter is immediately forgotten. Both of them understand the gravity of what happens next. “You’re doing a biopsy,” he intones gravely, roaring fire and sexual innuendos suddenly evaporating into the ether of cyberspace.

Now it is Wilson's turn to direct Cate as she prepares to biopsy the lymph node. House sits nearby, clearly distressed about the difficult and painful procedure that she must perform on herself. He shocks Wilson by urging her on, calling her first name, then asking her (almost as if he’s metaphorically holding her hand) if she’s “okay” when she finishes the procedure, exhausted.

Of course, Wilson must badger House about “caring for her.” He pushes hard, maybe even knowing that by doing so he’s pushing the emotionally fragile House back into his shell. It leads me to wonder whether Wilson actually wants House to come to terms with himself. If he did, Wilson would understand these seeds of humanity for what they are and leave them alone; instead he suffocates them. (Although despite this, I really did like the House/Wilson dynamic in this episode– and House certainly gets his zings in as well.)

Cate is curious about their unlikely relationship. Wilson, she has learned, is the guy with the “perfect score: responsible, nice, human.” House is “brilliant, straightforward and an ass.” Cate’s suggests that Wilson may not be quite as nice as he seems. “Indiscriminate niceness is overrated,” she challenges.

“No wonder he likes you,” responds Wilson as he examines the results of the biopsy with her. Wilson understands the attraction. She is strong, brilliant, and wise. And (fortunately) she does not have cancer. But she is now having acute pain on the other side.

Knowing that it’s not cancer, and back in his apartment, House visits with Cate. Even though she may not even see it, House has paid her the rarest of compliments — by trusting her enough to see his leg. Maybe he’s doing it to goad her; maybe to prove to her that she was wrong and he's not self-conscious about his scar. Whatever his reason, she does not attempt to psychoanalyze it; she appears to not even react. (But we do see her looking at his leg as she switches off the camera.)

Autoimmune disease is the latest theory. Anti-inflammatory meds are out of the question, so Foreman comes up with an innovative but very risky idea, one to which House is extremely and uncharacteristically opposed: send her outdoors in -70 degree temperatures for five minutes (in eight, argues House, a healthy person would be dead). Although it is unlike House to argue against a procedure simply because it is risky, we as viewers know House’s relationship with ice. His father used ice baths as punishment when he was a boy. I don’t know if the writers intentionally made this connection or not. But it would explain why House, growing more attached to Cate, would avoid inflicting that sort of torture on her — therapeutic or not.

But before she can test Foreman’s theory, Cate collapses into a coma. They need to diagnose the cause and need to call on her mechanic, Sean, to continue running the tests.

When asked to tap Cate’s bladder to taste her urine, his reaction suggests to the hyper-observant House that Sean is in love with her. In House’s view, that love should trump everything when her life is on the line, no matter how distasteful the task. (Is this how House was finally able to come to terms with Stacy’s sacrifice of their relationship? Hmmm...) This is House the romantic — the disillusioned idealist when his cynicism button is muted.

To relieve the pressure that has now built up in Cate’s skull, Sean must drill into her or she will die. Sean is not okay with this (neither would I, I’d be freaked). Viscerally connecting with Sean, both caring about Cate’s well being, House practically pleads with him as he shrinks from doing the risky procedure. “I am not going to let you hurt her,” House assures him. “Please, please. This is her only chance.” An astonished Foreman watches intently, as House emotionally pleads with Sean, mystified at this version of House, unguarded — someone who Foreman has never before seen. Believe me, Foreman can do a whole lot worse than to “become like House,” something that he abhorred so much last season, he resigned rather than risk it. Seeing the power of Sean's love, House backs away, as Cate thanks him, telling her that it was Sean that saved her life. Phew.

The intensity of the episode was broken by the the dual side plots of House's quest for cable TV and the mystery of Wilson's new girlfriend. The cable games served also as a reminder that as emotionally connected as he was to Cate, House is, fundamentally, House. And House can be an ass. Even when (and sometimes because) he has a point.

House said it at the beginning of the episode, “As far as you know it’s more than a silly battle over cable.” And it was. I said in my review of “It’s a Wonderful Lie” that House craves a team that will stand up to him, challenge him, keep him from drowning in the deep end of diagnosis. So he pushed until someone snapped, standing up and telling him “No!” But only House would try to couple that with a pathetic attempt to get cable television!

FOX will re-broadcast “Frozen” on Friday, February 15.

Admitting that she is a “geeky” House fan, she said that it was her favorite series. “I became absolutely addicted to House and just thought it was so intelligent — and thought Hugh is so fantastic (as well as) the writing and the other characters.”

Meeting Hugh Laurie at the Golden Globes in 2005, both nominated, she recalls just “gushing” to Hugh about how much she loved the show. “And I think I might have frightened him,” she joked.

She was delighted when, three years later, she was offered a terrifically written role on her favorite show. Sorvino believes that being a fan of the series made it easier, giving her more confidence in her role, which called upon her to have “instant rapport” with House. She understands his loneliness, Sorvino reflected, while he gets her “solitary stubbornness." “You feel like there’s a potential for more, and that if they weren’t millions of miles away, something might happen.”

Sorvino loved working with Hugh Laurie, and like so many guest stars on House, she had nothing but praise for Laurie, noting his well-known supportiveness and generosity as an actor. Sorvino explained that because the episode was shot in a unique way, the only contact between patient Cate and House was via webcam. They were never on camera together. “Hugh was awfully generous,” she offered. “He would come and sit off-camera for me, even though we weren’t physically in the same room. He was actually shooting two episodes at once while I was doing my episode. Hugh is hopping from sound stage to sound stage, and he still found the time to come around and do off-camera with me.”

Although unfamiliar with his British comedy work during the 1990s, she noted his “amazing” timing, which enables his character to get away with saying the most “shocking or rude” things. “But,” she pointed “he knows he can get away with it, kind of like a naughty boy. Off camera, like his onscreen character, Hugh is both funny and “very smart.”

“Frozen,” airs immediately after the Superbowl, Sunday night on FOX. The final new episode before the strike-induced hiatus resumes (indefinitely, as of this writing) will air on Tuesday, February 5.

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Although the writers and the conglomerates who own television are once again talking, the status of the 2007-8 House season is still up in the air. Some in the know have intimated that if the strike is settled soon (read: mid-February), there might yet be time to salvage some of the season. So, let's hope they're right.

When last we saw House and company, he had finally formed his new team after weeks of reality TV-esque game playing. "At least the games are over," sighed a relieved Cuddy in the final scene of "Games." "How well do you know me?" retorted perpetual game-player House, a self-satisfied grin on his face. Cuddy smirked back appreciatively, leaving House alone to turn out the lights on this chapter of the season. And so it stands until Tuesday. 

When we rejoin the season, already in progress, it will be to, rather belatedly, celebrate Christmas. "Of course," suggested Olivia Wilde ("13" on the show) "it's a pretty House-like thing to delay the joyous holiday." Yesterday, Ms. Wilde was kind enough to participate in a conference call with journalists and bloggers in advance of next Tuesday's episode.

The episode, a Housian pun on the title of the classic Christmas movie It's A Wonderful Life, features a side plot in which the new team — and the normally Grinch-like House — play "Secret Santa."  The main medical mystery plot has House and the team treating a woman who suffers from "sudden paralysis of the hands." The ever-cynical House, true to form, believes that the key to the case involves the patient's lies regarding her own life and relationship with her daughter.

Although it may be slightly surprising that the often-miserable doctor would want to play a game so sweetly prosaic as Secret Santa, Wilde suggested that House is always a game player, and his participation in Secret Santa allows him to continue playing with his staff — although the dynamics between him and the team are now changed. "He no longer controls their future, and their relationship has now changed," she said. She said that House does his thing and there's lots of humor, but also, like most episodes it is also "heartbreaking."

Wilde was among the three actors chosen to be part of the permanent House cast from the original 40 fellow-wannabes who auditioned beginning in episode two, "The Right Stuff." She said that none of the actors knew until very close to the end who would be chosen for the three new spots on House's staff. This sense of insecurity, she believes, helped to keep all of the young actors on their toes and the performances at a high level, although she added there was never any competitiveness between them and all became good friends. She said that all of them were grateful for the opportunity to be cast for even one episode. She feels that being featured on (even) one episode of a huge hit like House is an enormous break for any young actor. "There was really was no jealousy on the set."

Wilde called the work ethic on the House set "wonderful. Everyone is there for each other, which enables everyone to relax and trust each other." That environment allows everyone to take risks with their portrayals that they otherwise might not.

"Watching Hugh and the risks he takes raises the bar," she said. "That's how great performances happen." Wilde is a long-time fan of Hugh Laurie, having been familiar even before her involvement on his series, with his earlier British work in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and BlackAdder. "He is immediately disarming. He's brilliant at drama, but humor permeates the room and makes it easy (for us)."

She praised the House star, pointing to his on-set generosity, despite his monumentally long hours and the pressure he must feel carrying the series. She remarked that when she is unsatisfied with a scene, Laurie encourages her to re-shoot it if she wants to do so, despite the pressure to move on to the next scene. "He'll say 'I know they're pressuring us, but let's take the time you need...'" Hugh's on-set generosity with fellow actors and crew is famous among the House gang. 

Like the rest of the cast, Wilde has been professionally idle, awaiting a settlement to the strike.  In the interim, she is to begin filming a new movie on Monday in Louisiana.  The movie, Year One, is directed by Harold Ramis and stars Jack Black.  The movie is about "Biblical times" according Wilde, calling it "Monty Pythonesque."

"It's a Wonderful Lie" airs January 29 at 9 p.m. EST/8:00 p.m. Central. 

I had the opportunity to speak with Mira Sorvino last week as well.  Look for my interview with her on BlogCritics and later on this LJ early this coming week!

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One of the joys of watching House, MD is experiencing the intricacy and subtle layering of the writing. Laurie once referred to House scripts as "Faberge eggs," and I think I do understand what he means. But speaking of Laurie, his nuanced and complex (and often brave) portrayal of the troubled House makes the writers’ words come alive and lends to them a resonance that beckons the viewer to look behind and inside and around them. The subtext he provides to the writers' words (and enhanced by the direction) lend a humanity and fragility to the character that is simply stunning at times.

If you think about it, so much is going on in even an average episode of House, it’s amazing that they can carry it off in the allotted 43-minute run-time. Pulling it off, creating the density, the pacing, and the ebbs and flows requires cohesion of script, direction, editing, and acting. Frantic action in a very talky, serious, funny show: breakneck action inter-cut with moments of exquisite introspection, soul-searching and ethical debate. When it works, the results are spectacular. And on House, it works (almost) always.

The season one episode "Sports Medicine" happened to be playing on my television the other evening. Written by John Mankiewicz,“Sports Medicine” fits into the “typical” House episode formula. But when you look into the heart of story, there is so much more going on than immediately meets the eye. Plots and subplots that move the series’ storyline forward, give us pause, make us think and make us laugh. It is quite intricate and fragile. Like Hugh Laurie said — a Faberge egg. Yet the episode’s story can also be taken at face value, by a more casual viewer and be amusing and completely satisfying.

The constant in every House episode is its medical mystery. It is the medical mystery that creates the series’ “procedural” elements. A patient comes in with symptoms that point to several things; House and his team enter into a cycle of diagnose/treat/diagnose/treat as the patient worsens; House gets an epiphany, and synthesizing what he and his team have been doing with his epiphany, solves the mystery and cures the patient (most of the time.) This “formula” is at the heart of much criticism of the series by those who call it too predictable — "formulaic." Most of the series’ episodes unfold in this way, with some notable exceptions. But rather than a negative, I view the the main medical plot as a constant in each episode, the skeleton upon which everything else is layered to create the dense, elegant, and complex character study of Dr. Gregory House. Sports Medicine

In “Sports Medicine,” a mid-season one episode, a star baseball pitcher (Hank Wiggin) has broken his arm by simply throwing a ball (in one of the most difficult-to-watch scenes in the series). House’s immediate diagnosis is steroid abuse, which then becomes Addison’s disease plus steroid abuse and then ultimately (after some twists and winds) cadmium poisoning from tainted marijuana. A simple, straightforward (okay, nothing on House is ever completely straightforward) story.Monster Trucks and Cotton Candy

At the end of the episode, Houses attend a “Monster Truck” rally with Dr. Cameron. The planning of his outing, which threads in and out through the episode, at first appears to simply provide comic relief. And I have to admit that House obsessing about a monster truck rally, paying $1,000 for tickets, and acting like a 10-year-old boy who’s getting a Wii for his birthday is pretty amusing to watch. But this seeming side-plot becomes the vehicle (as it were) to elaborate on the character of House, and to provide entry for several crucial character threads to be explored later in that, and other, seasons.

If you closely observe him (rather than only take him at face value), House is an intellectual. His knowledge base includes history, philosophy, classical music, and several languages, in addition to a broad understanding of the sciences. He has a vast library in his home. But he has a thing (okay, not just a thing, but a thing) for monster trucks, a very "red-necked" pursuit, that is seemingly at odds with what we expect of an intellectual — but completely in keeping with his well-maintained anti-intellectual, low-brow (in all things but medicine) image. It’s such a “guy” thing, and one that it’s hard to imagine the dour and miserable House getting all excited about. But the gleam in his eyes when he asks Wilson to share this treasured outing is a priceless moment in the series. One of the things that makes the character of House so utterly compelling and so very human is his inner contradictions.

Wilson, however, turns House down with the excuse that he must present an important lecture on the night of the rally. And the story of the Wilson lecture becomes yet another layer of the episode. And it provides the entry point for one of the most important storylines in the entire series.

House learns that Wilson, in fact, does not have to deliver a lecture on monster truck rally night. Instead, Wilson has lied to House, having cancelled the lecture in order to have dinner with someone named Stacy. This is the first mention of this important character, and she is clearly someone who both House and Wilson know well. Is she the woman House once "lived with" that he describes to Cameron, when she asks if he's ever been married?

Wilson feels that he had to lie to House about having dinner with Stacy, and House’s reaction suggests that something about House and Stacy's relationship was very painful, something about which he feels some profound sadness. Is it possible that House's unemotional, cold exterior masks very deep feelings, feelings that House’s demeanor suggests are far from resolved? We also observe how House reacts to Wilson lying to him. Wilson lying to House clearly hurts him (played so gorgeously by Laurie in those couple of scenes) more than angers him. Neat, huh?

The monster truck plot also reveals House’s social awkwardness with the opposite sex. Far from the leering, hooker-using, arrogant guy we may think he is, House’s shyness in asking Cameron to go with him to the rally suggests (along with the Stacy story) that House is a lot more vulnerable and fragile than we’ve been led to believe thus far. But his interactions with Cameron at the truck show also suggests that House is capable of being playful, having fun, and enjoying himself. Dr. Gregory House, Rock Star

There is yet another side plot, this one involving Foreman, a new pharmaceutical company sales representative and, ultimately, of course, House himself. Foreman and the sales rep are having an affair. (Interestingly, setting up a comparison between the socially inept House and the more polished Foreman.) But the question is raised as to whether the beautiful rep is actually using Foreman to get closer to House. As House suggests, people get close to “Mick” (of Rolling Stones fame, of course) by forging alliances with his roadies. Turns out that she does actually want to get House to attend a conference through her relationship with Foreman, suggesting to the viewers (obliquely) that House must be quite a medical catch. I think that this is the first time we get this suggestion of House's importance as a physician from someone other than a colleague. Like the relationship reveal regarding Stacy, it makes the viewers wonder whether House might have lived a different sort of life before we meet him in the series pilot. Patients’ Rights and Other Ethical Dilemmas

Like many episodes, “Sports Medicine” raises ethical issues. First, there is the question of Lola’s (the patient’s wife) willingness to abort her fetus in order to donate part of her liver to her husband. Although she is willing to do this to save her husband's life, Wiggins is opposed to the idea, going so far as to attempting suicide to make his point. After the suicide attempt, House is convinced that the patient needs to retain his control over the situation, and despite Lola’s and House’s team’s protests, House protects Wiggin’s right to make this decision. This is an issue that has been explored more than once on House — a patient’s right to die. It is a central theme on House, as it relates to House’s personal experience, which the audience learns more about several episodes later (in "Three Stories").

In the end, House also does something professionally unethical, but, perhaps morally right (another central theme on House -- doing what is "right" but not necessarily "correct" or proper). After learning that the patient is a victim of tainted marijuana, and knowing that the diagnosis appearing on his chart will essentially end the ballplayer’s career, House omits this diagnosis from the official chart, instead sticking with his original Addison’s Disease diagnosis "for the record." He admits it to Cuddy, along with the explanation that no one should have to be destroyed because of one mistake. And omitting the information from the official chart allows Wiggin, at the height of his career, and soon to be a new father, to have a second chance. It’s a romantic action, and one not without professional risk to him, coming from this most (outwardly) unsentimental of characters. And it reveals an important character trait of House that is revisited throughout the series.

All of this packed into forty-three minutes. And I haven’t even included the comic relief of the episode (wherein House diagnoses an entire waiting room full of people in about 70 seconds!). And, as I suggested at the outset, “Sports Medicine” is a “typical” House episode. A good episode, but one that fits neatly into the formula, tries nothing extraordinary or out-of-the box. But it is this richness inherent in every episode, even the average bread-and-butter episodes, that makes House a truly great show. For at it core, House isn't so much a procedural, as a character study — and what a character!

The series writers — David shore, Lawrence Kaplow, Thomas Moran, Peter Blake, Sara Hess, David Foster, Russell Friend, Garrett Lerner, Mankiewicz, Matt Witten, , Liz Friedman, Doris Egan, and the rest — have, indeed, have created a beautiful, fragile Faberge egg of a series, wrought of silver filigree, fast-paced dialogue, and the rich inner life of a character brought so indelibly to life by a brilliant actor.

Happy new year to all, with a special wish that the WGA deal with David Letterman's World Wide Pants production company will pave the way to a resolution of the writers' strike!

Reprinted from BlogCritics.org

Another incredibly dense and fast-paced episode as House finally puts his permanent team into place. Games within games in House, MD episode nine, appropriately (if a bit obviously) called “Games.” Of course the entire season’s storyline has revolved around the “game” played by the master game player himself as he has slowly and (despite the conventional wisdom of his Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital colleagues) deliberately selected his new team of fellows.

House is the ultimate strategist, a chess player of the highest caliber; and he has spent much of the eight-week fellowship audition observing, judging, nudging, and strategizing — choosing a team of doctors in the only way he can. Far from the image he has projected of being arbitrary and impulsive in his picks, House is keenly aware of the intellectual, medical, and moral fiber of each candidate.

The situation became difficult for House during this last week of the competition, as dean of medicine Lisa Cuddy ratcheted up the pressure on him, insisting that he cut two candidates from the pool of four. Threatening to make him pay for the extra staff expenses out of his own salary does nothing to budge him from his comfy seat in the doctors lounge and its High-Def TV; however the threat to move the disabled doc’s parking space to a remote lot on the hospital property is quite another thing. With the four remaining candidates, he finds it difficult to choose, and true to himself, he tries to avoid firing anyone, rather than get rid of two doctors. I believe he has formed attachments to these four, which is borne out as the episode concludes, as House finds it difficult to say the words “you’re fired” to any of them.

And so, House begins his final selection round — diagnosing and treating Jimmy Quidd, a 38-year-old, punk-rocking heroin addict admitted to House’s service via the Princeton-Plainsboro emergency room. The patient has a whole host of symptoms that may or may not be attributable to his drug addiction. Throughout the diagnostic process, House observes the way in which each of the remaining four fellow candidates diagnose and relate to Quidd — both filtering their thoughts through his own process — and judging their analytical skills and character one final time to assess how they would each fit into his unique department.

The key to the patient lies in his past, and how it links to his present. Somewhere along the line, Jimmy Quidd - folk singer, a young man who loves children, who, as House says “has a heart, perhaps a soul,” - changed. And discovering who Jimmy Quidd actually is beneath the mascara and drugs and street-toughness leads House to the answer: measles — a childhood disease, which barely exists anymore, acquired via his interactions with children. Mr. Quidd, it seems, volunteers at a children’s shelter, exposing a warm heart concealed by years of drug abuse and hard knocks. But despite Quidd’s external lifestyle, he cannot keep fully concealed his true self, the irony of his situation being that his good deeds, coupled with a screwed up immune system caused by drug addiction, nearly led to his death.

“One of the tragedies of life,” House once told Stacy, “is that something always changes.” An event, a set of circumstances occur that profoundly change one’s life, setting it off in another direction — sometimes for the better, but often, believes House, for the worse. One bad decision can leave a man crippled and in chronic pain for life; one tragic event can turn a nice kid into a drug addict — a street punk and a loser. It’s easy to wonder what might have happened to Jimmy Quidd. Was his music (as pretty as it was) undistinguished, rendering him an “ordinary” musician? Did he have a driving need to be unique? Special in a way that only notoriety can make him? Was Quidd’s self-destructiveness the only way he ultimately could put an end to the misery of being trapped between an inherent niceness and his need for a life less ordinary?

Wilson’s non-cancerous cancer patient was living an ordinary life before Wilson diagnosed him with terminal cancer. Sentenced with only months to live, the patient was prepared to go out in a blaze of glory. He became alive in a way that only knowing you’re going to die soon can allow. He was ready. Prepared. But Wilson’s clemency hurls him back to the ordinary and boring day-to-day of simple existence. And a bewildered Wilson wonders how a commuted death sentence can render a patient angry.

House isn’t at all perplexed; he understands the patient's reaction. Expected it. The patient's reaction echoes back to House’s hallucination in the season two finale “No Reason.” In that episode, House hallucinates that Wilson and Cuddy have conspired to fix his leg, and without House’s consent. Wilson and Cuddy are both dismayed and bewildered that House is angry to find his leg working and pain free. In the dream, Wilson explains the cause of House’s anger to him, suggesting that his pain and his disability are what made him “special” and that giving up his pain, becoming “normal”, rips his uniqueness from him. Now, although this is Wilson speaking, it is all happening in House’s mind, and is part of House’s subconscious speaking. And here, in season four, with Wilson’s patient, House can see for himself that his dream spoke a truth about human nature, if not his own nature. (In the hallucination, House’s anger was more about the lack of consent, which hearkened back to House’s original injury.)

The story of Wilson’s patient also explores the tension that has been building all season between House and his friend. Wilson wants to compensate the patient for the $6000 he lost as an indirect result of the misdiagnosis and House intervenes by suggesting to the patient that he sue Wilson (a case that is in no way winnable) and refuse the $6000 offer, actually saving Wilson his $6000. It is a move that Wilson ascribes to House’s need to control even Wilson’s money, something that House does not refute, but, in fact, is an attempt to help Wilson, and protect him.

In spite of (or maybe because of) the tension between the two friends, I have really liked the House-Wilson dynamic this season. Yes, Wilson continues to try to manipulate and fix House; but he’s less preachy and less self-righteous than he’s been for at least a season. He’s worried about House, pointing to two extremely risky bits of self-experimentation that House has attempted this season. And although House seems happier and more comfortable this season, we have to wonder what lurks beneath that would so ramp up his self-destructive streak by sticking a knife in a live electrical outlet and allowing himself to be used as a human test tube (as he does in this episode).

So, House fired the cutthroat bitch. Wanting to win at all costs can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you play it. House asks Amber at one point why she wants to win - to be right - at all costs. She replies that people who win are happier than people who lose. Wrong answer. And any similarity between House and Amber disappears at that point. Of course we all know that winning (or being right) doesn’t make House happy. House’s need to be right comes from another place. But when House goes at the diagnosis, risking his career and his life, he does it “because it’s right.” He does it for the patient’s welfare, not his own. And certainly not for his own satisfaction. So it’s not surprising that Amber eventually had to lose. And losing is part of the diagnostic process.  "Humility is important," House said way back in season one.  "Especially if you're wrong a lot."  Being wrong is a necessary evil on the path to being right when you're chasing zebras.

But even with her take on medicine, House cuts Amber from the staff reluctantly.  Thirteen, too, is initially cut from the team, and it is with even more sadness that House releases her from his service. Of course, the game was still afoot, and far from being over, House still had one card to be played. And play it he did, out-manipulating Cuddy at her game, thus keeping at least three. The final hand played, House takes one final look around the lecture theatre, and with a sigh, relieved that the game is over, shuts the light on chapter one of season four.

And now we have two months until the show returns from its winter hiatus. (The official word from FOX this morning is that the next new House will air January 29.) Lots of time to mull over the new team, speculate on each member’s role and how the veteran cast members will fit into the new gestalt.

Random notes and observations: That was Hugh Laurie’s lovely acoustic guitar composition (played by Hugh) that House played on the record towards the end of the episode. The piece is elegant and lyrical and a nice gift to us fans to discover another facet to Hugh Laurie’s Renaissance-man qualities. And even more impressive than House’s improvised blues piano riff (which was short and sweet) earlier in the episode.

Wish list for the rest of the season:

• Find a place for the new team in the show or cut them loose. I’d love to see a bit more Chase; a lot less Foreman and even less Cameron.

• Stop insisting that Foreman and House are cut from the same cloth. They are not. Yeah, they’re both smart. We get it. But the resemblance ends there. House has a tenth the ego, a fraction of the arrogance and fathoms more soul and soulfulness than Eric Foreman.

• I am loving the continuing electricity between House and Cuddy (which had been lacking before “Games,” this season) and hope it continues and continues to heat up.

• Looking forward to episodes that are less surficially humorous and more serious. I know last season was very dark and angsty, but the pendulum has nearly swung back the other way, and it’s time to return to a little more angst and introspection. Reflective moments with House sitting alone in his flat or at his piano.

• Finally, and most importantly — a settlement to the writers guild strike. Like now. I mean it, guys. Compensation for work. Full Stop.

Happy Hanukkah to all of my Jewish readers and friends. A season of light and joy to all.