House: Season One
As promised, I'm writing a full review on my thoughts on Season One of "House". I finally finished it and I'm currently on the second episode of the second season. I've been doing my best to play catch-up and I would love to hear your comments on my thoughts. :)
I put it under the cut because it contains spoilers, so I know some of you are still watching the first season, so beware! lol. It's detailed, therefore it's long.
I took note of some really solid episodes and kept track of what exactly it was that I loved about them so much. For the most part I really loved the episodes that provided glimpses into the backgrounds of the main characters. I love character development, and this is the first time I'm getting a lot of their stories.
PILOT: The first thing that struck me about the first episode was how differently it was filmed from the rest of the series. It was a bit distracting but by the end of the hour, I was used to it. It's one of the best pilots for a show I've ever seen. I though the POTW was wonderfully portrayed by Robin Tunney. She had such a lovely moment in the hospital room with House when they were talking about his leg and how it made him a bitter person. There was a lot of emotional intensity, which I really loved. Plus, as a bonus, there was a lot of Cuddy and Wilson, which always makes me happy.
FIDELITY: This was another great episode mostly because it gave me a reason to feel sympathetic towards the character of Cameron as it's revealed that she married young, only to lose her husband to cancer. I thought she had a really great scene where she had to interact with House and she was really struggling to not let him see her cry. Moments like that are what makes the show great.
HISTORIES: This was by far one of my favourite episodes. I don't know what it was but I just loved the whole POTW storyline with the homeless woman. She had such a tragic story and I loved how it enabled the writers to introduce a bit of Wilson's past with the mention of his missing brother. Very sad. It was also the episode that made me realize that I really like Foreman. Before I just never paid attention to him but I love how he stands up to House and he can also be just as witty and sarcastic.
DETOX: We get to see House experience withdrawl for the first time. It was interesting how it dealt with his addiction and gave more depth to Wilson's friendship. Plus, the hand smashing scene was shocking. The lengths he goes to in order to ease the pain in his leg always surprises me.
SPORTS MEDICINE: It's the first episode where there are scenes that take place outside of the hospital for a prolonged period of time. I thought it was great in the character development department. We see the deepening bond between House and Wilson (they almost go to a monster truck event together). It's also the first mention of Stacy and Wilson's guilt over seeing her in private without telling House. I really liked their interaction regarding the whole messy situation, and I thought it was a great way to tease House's past love interest. It was also the episode where House takes Cameron on a "date...only without the date part". I didn't realize how big a crush Cameron actually had on House until he asked her to accompany him, and while I thought it was cute I still don't see it happening for them. lol. I'm not a House/Cameron shipper. I'd like to see him a bit more with Cuddy. Those two could be hot together!
CURSED: This one gave us Chase's backstory and the introduction of his father. Therefore I liked it because, as I stated earlier, it's character development.
BABIES AND BATHWATER: This was a refreshing episode because there was no Cameron. Towards the end of the season I was getting pretty sick of her constantly talking about her crush on House. It was nice to see her out of the picture, if only temporarily. I thought she'd become a little too "high school" in her actions. She made it too public at work. The POTW was really sad, and it's always a shock when House can't save the patient. There was also a great House/Wilson moment, regarding the whole Vogler issue and how Wilson stood up for his belief in House. Those two rock my boat. lol.
LOVE HURTS: The one with the "date". I really liked how House reacted to Cameron's advances when they went out for dinner. He basically put her in her place saying he was two times her age and he didn't need her pity. I hope that, for the most part, that is the end of their little thing. It just didn't feel right. I mean, sure he's flirty with her sometimes, but he does that with a lot of women. Plus, he otherwise never really expressed interest in her. I really loved the final scene where he's in his office looking at a picture. We can't see the picture but I'm assuming it's of Stacy. I thought that was a really sweet, very un-House-like moment that really portrayed his softer side. Yes, he can fall in love.
THREE STORIES: Of course, fantastic. All-around great episode. I loved finally being able to see what exactly House went through with his infarction. And we get to meet the mysterious Stacy.
HONEYMOON: The season finale was decent. No real cliffhanger other than the revelation that Stacy will be working at the hospital until her husband is better. Lovely scene where he's watching them in their hospital room, lying on the bed, snuggling. Laurie's expression said everything. I did love the final scene where House tries to walk in his apartment without his cane, but stumbles. Then he takes some Vicodin and the camera closes in on his face and fades out. Sexy! lol.
Overall, it was an excellent season. It will definately be hard to top, in my opinion. It was great to finally see the original interactions between the main characters, plus getting background on them is always a good thing.
It also made me realize that I love HOUSE, WILSON and CUDDY even more. Especially House and Wilson, they have such great scenes together. Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard have excellent chemistry. Lisa Edelstein is so sassy in her dealings with House, you can't help but love their scenes together. This season also really made me like FOREMAN. Before I just considered the three lackeys as underdeveloped and their stories didn't interest me. But Foreman is probably the smartest of the three and I really think he handles himself well with House and with patients. He's a character I'd like to learn more about. As for CHASE? Meh. I could do without him. He's whiny, moody and worked undercover for Vogler, which is a no-no. With CAMERON, I started off liking her for the first few episodes. I thought her crush was cute at first and I could see why people liked her. Then it got really grating. It got to the point where I wanted an episode to go by where she just did her job and stopped making doe-eyes at her boss. It's not high school. Therefore, Chase and Cameron are the only two I'm iffy on...everyone else is great. I even like Stacy although I haven't seen much of her yet.
The VOGLER story arc wasn't as bad as I'd feared. He was only in about five episodes (significantly less than Tritter), and I think that since it was the first season it was forgivable because they needed to introduce the audience to a villain to make House come out of his shell and show some anger. Yes, Vogler was a bit of a caricature of a typical bad guy, but if nothing else it really solidified Wilson's loyalty to House.
OVERALL GRADE: A
I put it under the cut because it contains spoilers, so I know some of you are still watching the first season, so beware! lol. It's detailed, therefore it's long.
I took note of some really solid episodes and kept track of what exactly it was that I loved about them so much. For the most part I really loved the episodes that provided glimpses into the backgrounds of the main characters. I love character development, and this is the first time I'm getting a lot of their stories.
PILOT: The first thing that struck me about the first episode was how differently it was filmed from the rest of the series. It was a bit distracting but by the end of the hour, I was used to it. It's one of the best pilots for a show I've ever seen. I though the POTW was wonderfully portrayed by Robin Tunney. She had such a lovely moment in the hospital room with House when they were talking about his leg and how it made him a bitter person. There was a lot of emotional intensity, which I really loved. Plus, as a bonus, there was a lot of Cuddy and Wilson, which always makes me happy.
FIDELITY: This was another great episode mostly because it gave me a reason to feel sympathetic towards the character of Cameron as it's revealed that she married young, only to lose her husband to cancer. I thought she had a really great scene where she had to interact with House and she was really struggling to not let him see her cry. Moments like that are what makes the show great.
HISTORIES: This was by far one of my favourite episodes. I don't know what it was but I just loved the whole POTW storyline with the homeless woman. She had such a tragic story and I loved how it enabled the writers to introduce a bit of Wilson's past with the mention of his missing brother. Very sad. It was also the episode that made me realize that I really like Foreman. Before I just never paid attention to him but I love how he stands up to House and he can also be just as witty and sarcastic.
DETOX: We get to see House experience withdrawl for the first time. It was interesting how it dealt with his addiction and gave more depth to Wilson's friendship. Plus, the hand smashing scene was shocking. The lengths he goes to in order to ease the pain in his leg always surprises me.
SPORTS MEDICINE: It's the first episode where there are scenes that take place outside of the hospital for a prolonged period of time. I thought it was great in the character development department. We see the deepening bond between House and Wilson (they almost go to a monster truck event together). It's also the first mention of Stacy and Wilson's guilt over seeing her in private without telling House. I really liked their interaction regarding the whole messy situation, and I thought it was a great way to tease House's past love interest. It was also the episode where House takes Cameron on a "date...only without the date part". I didn't realize how big a crush Cameron actually had on House until he asked her to accompany him, and while I thought it was cute I still don't see it happening for them. lol. I'm not a House/Cameron shipper. I'd like to see him a bit more with Cuddy. Those two could be hot together!
CURSED: This one gave us Chase's backstory and the introduction of his father. Therefore I liked it because, as I stated earlier, it's character development.
BABIES AND BATHWATER: This was a refreshing episode because there was no Cameron. Towards the end of the season I was getting pretty sick of her constantly talking about her crush on House. It was nice to see her out of the picture, if only temporarily. I thought she'd become a little too "high school" in her actions. She made it too public at work. The POTW was really sad, and it's always a shock when House can't save the patient. There was also a great House/Wilson moment, regarding the whole Vogler issue and how Wilson stood up for his belief in House. Those two rock my boat. lol.
LOVE HURTS: The one with the "date". I really liked how House reacted to Cameron's advances when they went out for dinner. He basically put her in her place saying he was two times her age and he didn't need her pity. I hope that, for the most part, that is the end of their little thing. It just didn't feel right. I mean, sure he's flirty with her sometimes, but he does that with a lot of women. Plus, he otherwise never really expressed interest in her. I really loved the final scene where he's in his office looking at a picture. We can't see the picture but I'm assuming it's of Stacy. I thought that was a really sweet, very un-House-like moment that really portrayed his softer side. Yes, he can fall in love.
THREE STORIES: Of course, fantastic. All-around great episode. I loved finally being able to see what exactly House went through with his infarction. And we get to meet the mysterious Stacy.
HONEYMOON: The season finale was decent. No real cliffhanger other than the revelation that Stacy will be working at the hospital until her husband is better. Lovely scene where he's watching them in their hospital room, lying on the bed, snuggling. Laurie's expression said everything. I did love the final scene where House tries to walk in his apartment without his cane, but stumbles. Then he takes some Vicodin and the camera closes in on his face and fades out. Sexy! lol.
Overall, it was an excellent season. It will definately be hard to top, in my opinion. It was great to finally see the original interactions between the main characters, plus getting background on them is always a good thing.
It also made me realize that I love HOUSE, WILSON and CUDDY even more. Especially House and Wilson, they have such great scenes together. Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard have excellent chemistry. Lisa Edelstein is so sassy in her dealings with House, you can't help but love their scenes together. This season also really made me like FOREMAN. Before I just considered the three lackeys as underdeveloped and their stories didn't interest me. But Foreman is probably the smartest of the three and I really think he handles himself well with House and with patients. He's a character I'd like to learn more about. As for CHASE? Meh. I could do without him. He's whiny, moody and worked undercover for Vogler, which is a no-no. With CAMERON, I started off liking her for the first few episodes. I thought her crush was cute at first and I could see why people liked her. Then it got really grating. It got to the point where I wanted an episode to go by where she just did her job and stopped making doe-eyes at her boss. It's not high school. Therefore, Chase and Cameron are the only two I'm iffy on...everyone else is great. I even like Stacy although I haven't seen much of her yet.
The VOGLER story arc wasn't as bad as I'd feared. He was only in about five episodes (significantly less than Tritter), and I think that since it was the first season it was forgivable because they needed to introduce the audience to a villain to make House come out of his shell and show some anger. Yes, Vogler was a bit of a caricature of a typical bad guy, but if nothing else it really solidified Wilson's loyalty to House.
OVERALL GRADE: A