Everybody Lies...

Sometime quite a few afternoons ago, I was flipping through channels when something caught my eye. I'm not entirely sure what caught my eye at first, it had something to do with the tense lighting and music and the presence of the characters on the screen at least I suppose it did. There were doctors in an elevator, one not dressed like a medical professional but more like the cool kid in high school that seemed arrogant and intelligent. There was a young girl, Michelle Tractenberg to be exact, was basically dying and said cool doctor was not allowed near his patient. I was absolutely enthralled when said maverick doctor caught the patient in an elevator in what seemed like a staged coop. He examined the patient for a tick and found it seconds before the patient reached problematically low heart rate. Up until this point I thought that I had found an interesting medical movie, until someone walked into the room and told me it was actually a show. The show was of course, House. From then on I would watch the mini marathons of it on USA, addicted to seating on the edge waiting for who was right and if the life would be saved.

That's how I started watching house, not in any particular order and never regularly. So when I stumbled upon this large block of time I've been handed, House was on the list of shows that I should catch up on. Over the last few days, I have watched the first four seasons (and not season 5 only because Blockbuster did not make it available). Watching House has been like riding a roller coaster having one thrill after another, feeling the anxiety of climbing to plummet, and always knowing you had the same characters around you. It was comforting, yet always new.

 Dissecting the show into why it's such a ride is something entirely different. The first reason I started watching was aesthetic, an impulsive decision based on my visual and emotional response. The particular episode that first intrigued me happened to fall in the timeline of season 2, episode 16: Safe. The middle of the episode, like almost every episode of house, was visually displaying a tension. The show itself is visually pleasing with a balanced amount of close ups to convey proper emotions, to the moving walk and talk shots. The lighting represents everything from the natural aspects of a hospital to the mood of the characters, to the feelings of the patients. Placing the crafting of the technical aspects of the show aside, we boil down to the essence of the ride: story.

Each episode is a story of what? Mystery Disease as the problem, race for the answer as the plot, character development as the details, and ultimately diagnosis/ treatment as the resolution. Each episode is constructed in the same manner, always a patient with unknown disease. Always a patient that lies. Always clues and answers hidden in the details. Does that really keep compelling an audience to keep coming back for six seasons? The episode formula definitely keeps a person entertained for a few episodes, but not six seasons. The story is the entirely story, the focal point being Dr. House himself. A genius, a truly talented doctor with a drug problem and a lack of social skills.

Herein lies the genius of the show, the entire series is about House and his relationships. House is maintained as a character, as a person, as a functioning doctor by his team, his only friend and his boss. The writers/ creators of the show make the audience like Dr. House, the unlikable character by not only making him the main character but by associating him with so many other likable characters. On some level people can associate to this genius, over the top, anti-social doctor. And on many other levels the audience can associate with the over giving best friend (Wilson), the over achieving boss, the emotionally attached (Cameron), the need to pleaser (Chase), and the self- righteous (Foreman). The audience loves how House over analyzes everything, how he solves every case, how he's an ass to everyone, how he gets whatever he wants through manipulation. The essence of the show is how House survives and actually cares about his relationship without ever really showing it or saying it. The creators have established a world and characters so perfectly that it is hard to stay away while the drama unfolds.

I can not wait to see season 5 and I have heard nothing but good things about the season opener last monday. I'm going to stay on this ride, as long as the characters keep pulling their weight.