House, M.D.: Season 3 by Fox Network

The Season 3 DVD collection of House, M.D. has been out for nearly two months, and I've already watched it so many times that even my husband (who's not really a fan) can quote chapter and verse and tell you, from one line of dialogue, which episode I'm watching (yet again!) So it goes without saying that I highly recommend that you go out and purchase this set (in the lovely red box) to match the blue (Season 1) and orange (Season 2) collections, if you haven't already.My suggestion is to watch the seasons and the episodes in order. Although House, M.D. is promoted as a procedural drama, the episodes also tell the fascinating story of Dr. Gregory House and the doctors who reside in his orbit. The Season 3 DVD set contains a hilarious blooper reel (my only complaint about it is that it is too short); a director's commentary on the mid-season episode "Half-Wit" (which guest starred Dave Matthews); and a behind-the-scenes look at "The Jerk" (a late season entry). Other extras include a look at the props, a peek at the production office, and some alternate takes of several scenes. (None of these additional extras, in my opinion, is particularly special).My favorite extra on the DVD has less to do with the show than with its star. It is a recorded recording session of Hugh Laurie's band "Band From TV" recording Laurie's arrangement of "Minnie the Moocher." It's a rare look into the recording studio and into Hugh Laurie's other life (one of them, anyway) as a gifted musician.The advantage to watching Season 3 on DVD, besides the glorious color and richness of the print, is that you can watch episodes one after the other with no breaks, no commercials, nothing to interrupt the flow of the narrative. Broken up as it is aired, it is easy to miss the cohesiveness and story arc of Season 3. As I see it, the season unfolds in four separate acts (on five DVDs). Act 1: Episodes 1-4 (concluding with "Lines in the Sand"), followed by the bridging episode "Fools for Love." Act 2 (also known as the "Tritter Arc" among fans was) was bridged into Act 3 with "One Day One Room," which concluded with "Fetal Position." "Airborne" led fans into the season's final act. The following "road map" is intended to guide you through some of the glorious subtext and motivations (as I saw them) that suffused the series's third season. These are the things that can be easily missed in casual viewing, but that draw me back to this show week after week and viewing after viewing.Act I--The Happiness Scale. The season started out hopefully for Dr. House, in the aftermath of his near-fatal shooting and subsequent treatment with the veterinary drug ketamine, a radical procedure that would, if it worked, end House's pain to the point where he could exercise, do physical therapy, and regain the use of his leg. Side note: This is why you should also watch Season 2 before Season 3. We first meet the new (and maybe improved) Season 3 House all sweaty and running! Pain free and cane-free! However, House's Season 2 finale hallucination had convinced him that "meaning" was lacking in his miserable, lonely existence. And Season 3, as much as anything, is about House's search for meaning and humanity - and for healing. House's Season 3 journey is also about change--change that is within his control, and change that is not.But from the start, House is at a loss as to how to insert meaning into his life. So much of season 3 is about things that House cannot control, such as the terrible disappointment of the ketamine treatment's failure. There is a devastating scene in Episode 3 ("Cane and Able") where House tries to push himself on a treadmill in the dead of night. He's in terrible pain, desperate, trying to deny the pain its final victory. Then there is the tragedy of that episode's final scene, made even more tragic by the musical backdrop of the song "Gravity," as House seeks out the familiarity of his cane, his face awash with defeat.Season 3, Act I concludes with "Lines in the Sand," as House tries to understand how parents could devote themselves to an autistic child. As he had wondered about the patient's wife in the season premiere, so, too, he wonders how the boy's parents can be fulfilled by the all-consuming task of raising their needy son. What is the meaning they derive from it? Are they happy? House connects with the autistic boy, and for his efforts is rewarded with a gift that I think both stuns and moves him. It is also in this episode that House engages in what appears to be a power struggle with the Dean of Medicine, Lisa Cuddy (who alternately tries to both control and protect Dr. House), over something seemingly trivial - the replacement of House's bloodstained carpet - that actually gets to the heart of House's control issues. That carpet was something he could control when everything else in his life was spiraling away from him. It had become, in effect, his anchor. He doesn't want it replaced.Act II--Les Miserables. As Act II unfolds, things spiral completely out of House's control. He offends the wrong patient, a vindictive detective who sees House's relationship with vicodin as a menace to society. House has found his own personal Javert. He sees Detective Michael Tritter (played by David Morse) simply as a bully. If you ignore a bully, House postulates, he will go away to harass an easier score. House's refusal to deal with Tritter as a serious threat digs him into even deeper trouble, sweeping everyone around him into the maelstrom. But through this personal nightmare, House still endeavors to come to terms with the role of "meaning" in his life and in others'.The episodes "Son of Coma Guy" and "Merry Little Christmas" are specific examples of House's continued journey. In "Son of Coma Guy," House helps a man (played by John Laroquette) make sense of his own tragedy by enabling the man to make the ultimate sacrifice. It's a poignant moment, driven not by ego or the solving a diagnostic riddle, but by respect for one person's desire to make his death meaningful. House, who is often accused of not caring for anyone but himself and having no interest in a patient beyond solving a diagnostic puzzle, risks his career and his freedom by assisting the man's suicide at a time when, had Detective Tritter found out, it would have ramped up House's legal difficulties exponentially.The second act of Season 3 also explores the value House places on being "normal," picking up on a thread from "Lines in the Sand." House decries being "inside the circle" and the "circle queens," who endeavor to re-mold anyone "outside the circle" (as House sees himself) to fit inside it. House appears to revel in his uniqueness, his outsider status a badge of honor. In "Son of Coma Guy," he romanticizes a Japanese Buraku (outcast) physician he knew as a kid living in Japan as his role model for becoming a doctor himself."Merry Little Christmas" is the first of several episodes where House helps give another outsider--another "freak" like him--the chance of a normal life. And it becomes clearer and clearer that this is something House seeks for himself. This theme echoes the Season 2 finale, "No Reason," in which House ultimately decides to risk his genius for a "normal" life. The encounter with Tritter (and the nearly tragic events of "Merry Little Christmas") lead to House's voluntary stay in a drug rehab program. But we are led to assume, by House's own words, that neither rehab nor his brush with the law have any effect on the good doctor.The Tritter arc bridges to Act III with "One Day One Room," which contradicts the assumption that House was left unchanged by his encounter with Detective Tritter. I think rehab put House in a particularly vulnerable emotional place, despite his best efforts. And it is at this vulnerable time that Eve, a young rape victim, enters into his sphere. She simply "wants to talk" to House - and only to House. But he resists connecting with her, questioning why she would even want to connect with him, until he can no longer push back. And when she wears down his resistance, getting deeply under his skin, House reveals to her that he had been physically (and probably emotionally) abused by his marine pilot fatherAlthough being an abuse survivor doesn't come close to fully explaining House's motivations, personality, or behavior, it does begin to explain why he so very much needs to be in control of his out-of-control life. I believe that he had never told anyone about the abuse until that moment in a room with a stranger. That, of course, is part of House's MO: revealing things about himself to perfect strangers (and to us, the viewers) rather than risk doing so to those who know him the best.Act III--Baby Steps. After the heaviness of the first two acts, we get the humor of "Needle in a Haystack" before embarking once again on House's journey to "normal." We get hints in "Insensitive" and "Half-Wit" that House is doing a lot of reading about experimental pain management - something to help himself. Wilson believes that House is depressed and needs to begin to reach out to people, rather than relying on drugs and the faint hope of healing himself through radical, experimental, and dangerous procedures. "It will shorten your life," Wilson tells House in "Insensitive," regarding an experimental treatment for pain. "Shorter but normal," House retorts.But in "Fetal Position," we do witness House begin to reach out, take baby steps. Back in "One Day One Room" House had revealed to Wilson (and to the rape victim) that he visits a jogging park (even though he can no longer run) to "watch and imagine." In "Fetal Position," more of his torn inner life is revealed. House makes plans for a vacation that someone in his physical condition cannot possibly take with ease: The Galapagos Islands, Vancouver Island, the Andes. He imagines, he desires. But to actually do would require bigger steps towards change than he is emotionally able, or willing, to make.Act IV--Resignation. Season 3's final act is fueled by Foreman's decision that he has no stomach for House's game. He sees himself in House (I don't, but, hey, I'm only a fan) and doesn't like what he sees: a cold, misanthropic, unemotional machine. No heart; no soul. Meanwhile, House continues his baby steps towards change. Whether they are fueled by the antidepressants Wilson was surreptitiously slipping him for at least one or two episodes, who knows? But House allows himself the pleasure of a young woman's company and an ongoing flirtation with Cuddy, something he would have never done two years ago, or even one year ago. Our change-averse, out of control doctor has edged closer and closer to becoming part of society.Then, in the finale, House does something we've never seen him do: kick back and relax with a patient's spouse. The scene towards the end of the episode perfectly bookends the season premiere, in which House had nearly forced himself to spend time with his family, trying awkwardly to access his own humanity. As he told Wilson, "I didn't even know how I was supposed act." But in the finale, he has, in the end, resolved that issue, as he enjoys tequila and cigars with the patient's husband, keeping watch on the man's recovering wife.This would not be a review of mine if I didn't make special note of the extraordinary Mr. Hugh Laurie, OBE. His portrayal of one of the most prickly and difficult characters ever written for network television is breathtaking in every episode. He is a joy to watch as he deftly tells House's story. He so completely embodies the character, and is so completely in the moment in every scene, that every episode is simply a master's master class. Three words to conclude: buy it. Today.(originally published at Blogcritics.org)

What can be said about a series that must certainly be ranked as one of the most compelling to have ever appeared on television? It is easy to view the slew of awards that House, M.D. has been nominated for (and won), to recall the litany of accolades the show has garnered from news, entertainment, and magazine critics, and even to review the endless series of online postings concerning the show (like this very one, here, on Amazon), and conclude that, "Yes, House, M.D. is probably a good show." But in fact, House, M.D. is more than a good show. For many viewers, the series is easily one of the most fascinating and unusual to have ever been aired on television. Moreover, and dare I say it, the series will likely eventually be ranked amongst the top television shows ever produced on network television.But before I say any more about House, MD., let me briefly for the reader summarize the show. House, M.D. is a medical drama that takes place at a fictional teaching hospital ("Princeton-Plainsborough Hospital"). The story revolves around a particular doctor, Dr. Gregory House, an individual who has established himself as a medical genius able to solve difficult medical mysteries that other doctors have been unable to solve. Dr. House works with a small group of internists who are serving in residence under him, and who, despite their much less experience, actively work with House to solve medical problems through a technique called a "Differential Diagnosis," a kind of group-based brainstorming session where diagnostic ideas are presented, written on a white board, and systematically eliminated by comparing each hypothesis with the ongoing list of patient symptoms. But Dr. House is more than just a diagnostic genius: he possesses a debilitating leg injury that keeps him in perpetual pain, and he regularly uses powerful prescription painkillers to the point where there is genuine concern that he may, in fact, be a pain medicine addict. But there's more. Along with his genius, House has an incredibly insensitive and offensive demeanor, and seemingly has no concern for social norms, courtesies, or sometimes, even common decency. His unparalleled genius at helping patients is probably what keeps him employed in spite of his incredibly ongoing offensive behavior.What makes this show so compelling, so unique, and so interesting? There is probably no one answer to this question. At the core of it is likely House himself, a character who is fundamentally a contradiction, a walking incongruity, a person that we desperately and increasingly wish to understand, and perhaps, even wish to control to correct his unacceptable behavior. We find ourselves watching this man and so strongly wishing that we can figure him out, to come to a true understanding and belief about him, to solve the mystery of who he really is, and by that knowledge, settle the manifold open questions surrounding him and his relationships to others that each episode more fully presents.Unfortunately, or should I rather say, "fortunately," such an understanding is not easily developed. The complexities, ambiguities, and open questions surrounding the character of House come tantalizingly close to being solved time after time, only to be later shown that what we thought was the answer to this man was really just another false lead, another misunderstanding, another fact to add into this increasingly difficult puzzle. Part of the show's allure is this ongoing dissonance, not only between House and his coworkers, but deeply within House himself. Is he truly an uncaring person? Is he truly a person who views his entire medical career as simply a series of puzzles to be solved, and where people who recover are simply a side effect of the solved puzzle? Does he really look at every social, religious, or ethnic factor as a legitimate target of derision? Is he truly hostile to people's religious convictions? Does he truly believe that his drug addiction is an irrelevant issue to his work? Each episode faces us with House's reaction to these questions to varying degrees, and over time, we may find that we build an increasing understanding of this man, but we often find those understandings torn apart in a later episode, where new observations on House make us rethink what we think we knew.In spite of House's problems and deficiencies, we often find him an imminently likeable character, and we often see hints of goodness in him that he desperately tries to keep hidden from others. Often, it is hinted in the subtilest of ways that House himself wishes to hide from others the fact that he truly does care, but this hint is just as quickly dashed as we witness his next immature toy kicking. (It can sometimes seem that House is more of a four year old in a nursery who is testing his fellow nursery members for territorial markers. In other cases, he is the genius child who seeks to use others as fodder for his most recent theories on human and animal behavior.)House, M.D., if the truth be known, does not start out in Season One as a soap opera, but by Season Five for the series run, I think a defensible case can be made that the show takes on many of the trappings of a soap opera, curiously and ironically enough, mirroring the very soap operas that the character House in the show is seen so frequently watching (often, on an old, 1990's style portable television located in his office). This morphing into the arena of the soap opera doesn't really matter, though, for the viewer who has gone through the entire set of previous episodes in order. With no attempt to defend this shift in style, the show uses its first three seasons to genuinely establish itself as a puzzle solving, medical mystery show, with House serving as a medical Sherlock Holmes (sans the hat and the pipe, but plus the strange personality and temperament issues), and the stories are easily carried with each individual episode standing as a mental gymnastic exercise that keeps the viewer wanting more. But strewn through these episodes are myriads of strange, and often, very awkward character interactions that are left unfinished and unexplored, tantalizing us with seeming keys to unlock the mystery of House. It is perhaps inevitable that a show lasting so many years (now in its sixth season) and having such strong characters and unusual trappings would be inevitably drawn to revisit and examine such unfinished business. These "explorations" begin to occur more repeatedly in Season Four, and by Season Five, we see the exaggeration of much of this at the expense of series' original, focal point of medical mysteries to be resolved, which by this point in the series often take back seat to the ever growing personal dramas. But even this doesn't matter. The issues and themes explored in Season Five, while taking on the feeling of a soap opera, are still handled with great expertise and generally fascinating ways, so that we still find ourselves focused on each event, all the time still (unconsciously at times, I must admit) wishing that we can figure House out, get the mystery of House solved, and have some type of a resolution that fits our conception of the real world. By the end of Season Five, we still do not have an answer for this dilemma, and the show uses this dilemma to hold the audience's attention in a powerful manner.The basic premise of the show is so startling unique and fascinating in its own right that the show does not need to rely on cheap "shock" tricks to maintain attention. It is true that there are a number of "shocking" events to occur through the series, and there can be no doubt that the show, being first and foremost a network based television format production, employs "cliffhangers" to hold the viewer through the regular commercial breaks, but it is amazing to see how the show is regularly worked into individual episodes that are artfully crafted into stories that flow, and work, from beginning to end.Quite some time ago, I wrote a long review for The Rockford Files, a television show in the 1970's that, in my own thinking, achieved the status as being one of the best television shows ever produced. I had written my review at a time when the first Rockford Files DVD's were being released, and the opportunity to re-watch these shows reminded me again of the superior writing, the acting, and the impressive interworking of the cast which made this show, not just a cut above the average television show, but a true classic, one that could almost not be challenged in the realm of television. I still feel that way about The Rockford Files, and, truth be known, another very different show from a decade earlier, The Dick Van Dyke Show, had many of these same characteristics, all coalescing to make what eventual became in both cases a classic production. The Rockford Files and The Dick Van Dyke Show reached such pinnacles of performance that they remain examples of the very best television ever made, and even the ravages of 30 and 40 years of time have done little but solidify that achievement.House, M.D. is, in my opinion, is likely destined for that same level of accolade. In the show, we find that same coalescing of features - a truly unique character creation, excellent writing, and a cast that works well together - that will argue for the show's inclusion in that highest level of ranking. But whether that specific claim turns out to be true or not, the fact remains that House, M.D. is one of the most fascinating, intriguing, and enjoyable shows to watch. We witness medical problems and the difficult procedure in diagnosing and treating those problems; we witness the struggles, oddities, and offensiveness (and yes, there are many parts of the show that are incredibly offensive) of a main character who remains both a genius and an enigma, an inscrutable person who is endlessly fascinating to behold; we witness a cast of actors who must earn to interact with the powerful character of House while establishing their own credibility; and finally, but not least of all, we enjoy Hugh Laurie's incredible rendition of the House character. Add these factors up, and you end up with one heck of a fascinating show. I'll say it in conclusion again, that this is one of the best television shows to have appeared in years, and Hugh Laurie is superb in his role as House. You can enjoy it even more on DVD, where there are no commercial interruptions. I rate this as five stars, but the real truth is that it is one BIG star (House) with four other stars with him. Well, make that seven or eight other stars, depending on the season you are currently watching.

Literally the best show ever and way ahead of its time! the cases are outrages but medically correct as far as most medical dramas pertain too! House is just witty, and catches me off guard , love to binge

I only watched an handful of House episodes when they first appeared on TV. I'm now making amends by catching up on all of the eight series that were made. This really is a wonderful medical drama. It's well-written, the acting is terrific (especially by Hugh Laurie) and, with each episode, you are guaranteed heart-breaking moments, thought-provoking scenarios and periods of laugh-out-loud comedy. I've particularly enjoyed getting to know the principal characters that are brought to life so brilliantly by the actors. What a great series this has been - I now can't wait to switch off the lights, sit down in my favourite armchair with a mug of coffee and lose myself in series four!

House Season 3 is entertaining. There is a much needed expansion to the non-medical plot lines, including House's legal struggle. Hugh Laurie is inspired throughout and remains the pivotal character. Can he really be the slightly ridiculous figure who cast his shadow in British comedies like Blackadder and Jeeves and Wooster?Unfortunately, the other characters are grossly underwritten, mere adjuncts to House's savage and uncompromising moods. They stand and fall by their reaction to House. It would be much better if we saw plotlines that do not detract from the style of the show but still add value. I realise that this show does not want to be an ER (more's the pity) or a lesser hospital show, but it can retain its edge with a little more forethought.One big thing that can grate... how many more detective trails can we watch where numerous false diagnosis' are conjured up before wilting away? The medical drama is formulaic and a little jaded, hence the need for plots that branch out. Still, I've enjoyed all three series and will watch the next with anticipation.

Hugh Laurie's Dr Gregory House is one of the finest characters from US television in a very long time. Other recent American medical dramas such as Grey's Anatomy are still very good, but simply cannot compete with the brilliance of House.A large proportion of this season is taken up by House's involvement with the police, with Detective Tritter going out of his way to bring House down for his addiction to Vicodin. The story develops over several episodes, until "Words and Deeds" when House is finally put on trial.As ever, the rare diseases and strange diagnoses are the basis of each episode, with "House Training" leading to a huge mistake by the team.If you're a fan of House, then this season is quite simply a must-have buy.

I expected to be feeling a bit jaded by now but the pesky doctor and his friends (or enemies, it isn't easy to tell sometimes) just keep wriggling out of the 'seen it before' swamp and skirting all the predictability landmines. I never saw it before and now I'm hooked. Incidentally, in this season, David Morse turns out to be brilliant (and House's not quite identical twin brother as well).

Hugh Lawrie plays the sarcastic character so well, rather unusual to be able to "inject" humour into what is essentially a programme about sometimes horrific medical conditions.The supporting characters are also excellent and have developed from season 1 into ones that you can relate to. I felt that series 1 was more about the medical conditions rather than developing the characters, but necessary as an introduction to the whole thing.I'm addicted to "House" and look forward to watching season 4