From the opening notes of one of my favorite songs (eh, maybe my favorite song, period) to the closing shot of House calmly boarding a bus by himself, the House premiere was anything but the usual episodic fare. Instead, it was almost a feature-length film based on a character in a popular TV show, but with an entirely different cast, location, and circumstance.
I must indulge in a little Radiohead jerk-off. No Surprises is a song stunning in its ability to evoke quiet desperation. Does House fit this description? In a way, yes. His lonely, painful life is completely internal, only manifested in his misanthropy. Perhaps no other song consistently affects me in such a way.
Franka Potente. It's a crime that she was a temporary character. Why is she always temporary? In The Bourne Ultimatem, she is killed 5 minutes into the second film. She made The Bourne Identity great. Her performances in House is just as calm, breezy, beautiful as she always is.
What about Andre Braugher? How is that guy not on a show? He's a great actor, who I think has almost wasted his career. Inside the interrogation room of Homicide: Life on the street he dominated. That show was Andre Braugher, until they decided to have him stroke out and almost leave the show. Maybe they thought everything else just looked small compared to him.
Yes, House finally changes. But, unfortunately, House, M.D. looks like it won't. I suppose now we will get back to the hum-drum of the past two seasons, as House implausibly diagnosis an impossible disease wrongly 4 times before coming up with the real solution, all the while needling his boring co-workers, whose lives we are subjected to. The irony of the show is that House it isn't nearly enough House. In a new situation, something outside of formula, that would be great. But no, it's just back to the grind.