Full House

It is often in the world of television when just one character makes the show essential viewing. As is the case with the show 'House' and it's misanthropic main character Gregory House, but is this also a detriment to the show? In this review I'll discuss this and other points, on how the show functions.

The show follows a seemingly regular pattern when it comes to episode plots. Before the credits we see some random person have some sort of grotesque physical breakdown, this results in doctor House, the head of the diagnostics department and his interchangable team spending most of the episode trying to figure out the problem, mis-diagnosing more times than is believable, with numerous sub-plots involved, either the comical hijinks of the team or a study of Houses character. This premis causes the show to fall into a trap, as audiences expect the same thing every week and to lose interest, as what happened with the A-Team. The show combats this through numerous means, such as every so often changing the perspective of the show to that of one of the minor characters, or basing the episode around something else, e.g the 2 parter where House was detoxing in a mental hospital. But the reason why the repetitive premise works is because of the connotations the situations and cases have on certain characters and the consequences made from them. Take for example the episode where the team had to treat an African war lord, this resulted in Chase, a member of the team, euthanising him in order to prevent bloodshed, this turmoils Chase's conscience and results in his wife leaving him. Things like that peaks viewers curiosities on how this case will affect those solving it.

Many will agree that the main attraction of the show is the main character, played perfectly by Hugh Laurie. He is probably one of the best characters on t.v, a miserable person, who cares little about his patients well being (for the most part) and more about finding out what's wrong with them. He's abusive and snarky towards his patients but is the best doctor in the hospital, this raises the question of whether a nicer or efficient doctor is prefered. He is a man tortured by a leg injury, drug addiction and heartbreak (at different points), this makes him a complex character to study, but is also fun to watch as he enjoys pushing his team to the limit with abuse and mental tests to analize their worth and character.

In short House is a great character, but what about the supporting characters? The Character of Wilson is one of the few who can be as interesting as House, he is House's best and only friend, his modus operendi is completely the opposite of House's, as he is someone who cares about peoples feelings and is generally a nice guy. Both question eachothers motives but stay together because no one else will befriend them. The Dean of medicine and House's on again of again flame is well played yet unremarkable, often just there to be either verbal fodder or emotional support for House. That leaves us to the team, those who work for the most difficult boss in the world, throughout the 7 series so far, you'll notice that members leave and comeback more times than you can count, this makes future departures and returns things difficult to care about if they've been done so many times before. Apart from a few minor storylines, the team have no major impact on the series, that appear to be just there for Houses amusement and to analize him, this makes the audience not care about their dilemas if they only contribute a few witty lines.

Overall House is a very entertaining show, it showcases drama, comedy and mystery all in one, it provides one of the most interesting characters on t.v and despite a few flaws, makes you want to tune in the next week.