Review: House M.D. – Everybody Lies

For me, *House M.D.* is one of the top three best TV shows I’ve ever seen. The show premiered in 2004, but I started watching it in high school—I think around 2009 or 2010. By 2012, when the final season aired, I was already caught up and had become completely obsessed with it.

From then until now, I've watched it from start to finish three times, and the last time was just last year. So, if I'm going to write about a TV series for "Blast from the Past," *House* was the obvious choice.

For those who haven't seen it, the premise is simple. Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) heads the diagnostics department at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. His team takes on cases that no one else can solve, and House solves them in his own way: arrogantly, sarcastically, using methods that are questionable to say the least, and with the motto “Everybody lies.” The series was created by David Shore, aired on Fox from 2004 to 2012, and consists of 177 episodes spread across eight seasons.

More than one case per episode

At first glance, *House* seems like a classic medical drama: a patient with strange symptoms, a few misdiagnoses, a brilliant last-minute idea, and that’s it—case closed. Except that, on House, the cases are more of a pretext. What really keeps you glued to the screen is House himself.

Right from the first season, we learn why he uses a cane and why he lives with constant pain in his leg. The episode “Three Stories,” one of my favorites, explains it all in a way I really didn’t expect. From there, each season adds something new: people who aren’t intimidated by him (Detective Tritter in Season 3, for example), decisions that have consequences, and relationships that actually change from one season to the next. It’s not the kind of show where everything resets at the end of the episode.

Hugh Laurie and a character I never get tired of

Hugh Laurie's performance is, in my opinion, one of the best TV roles I've ever seen. And I'm not just saying that out of nostalgia. I'm amazed every time I rewatch the show, because I simply never get tired of the character's style.

In real life, you probably wouldn’t be able to stand House for even five minutes. He’s rude, manipulative, and never misses an opportunity to put his colleagues and friends in their place. Still, Laurie makes him fascinating, and beneath all the sarcasm, you can see a tired and lonely man. It’s no wonder he won two Golden Globes for the role and was nominated for six Emmys (ironically, without ever winning).

And his dynamic with the team is a delight in every episode. The whiteboard discussions, the ideas thrown on the table and rejected one after another, the one-liners with which House takes everyone down a peg—these are the things I keep coming back for. On paper, the one-case-per-episode formula should get tiresome at some point. Well, there isn’t a single episode where I feel like it was too much or that it became repetitive—and that goes for all 177 of them.

House, Cuddy, and Wilson

The character of Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) is perfectly integrated with that of House. She’s his boss, the only one who tries to set rules for him, and, more often than not, the only one who stands up to him. Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard), on the other hand, is there precisely to counterbalance House’s madness. He’s his best friend and, often, the only one who tells him things to his face.

To me, the three of them form a sort of love triangle. They complement each other, provide the balance the show needs, and simply make things work. Take any one of them out of the equation, and *House* isn't the same show anymore.

The relationship between House and Cuddy, however, deserves a few more lines. The tension between them is there from the very first episode: they argue, they provoke each other, they take jabs at every opportunity, and you know from the start that there’s something more there. The show is patient with them, though, and it’s not until the end of Season 6 that the two decide to try being together. Season 7 is basically their season, and seeing House try to be different for someone—with all the usual awkwardness—is one of my favorite parts of rewatching the show. Without giving anything away, their story isn’t a fairy tale, but that’s exactly what makes it believable.

When House Goes Downhill

And here comes the darker side of the show. House has been addicted to Vicodin since the first season, and at first it seems like just a quirk of the character—pills pulled out of his pocket in the middle of a conversation, as if they were candy. Over time, however, the addiction comes to play an increasingly significant role in the story.

The moments when House starts to lose it are also the hardest to watch, but that’s exactly where Hugh Laurie shows why he’s so good in the role. The end of Season 5 and the beginning of Season 6, with the episode “Broken,” are, for me, the series’ high point. You see House losing control and trying to regain it. And every time it seems like he’s pulled through, the show reminds you that things aren’t quite that simple.

The team changes, but the first one remains the best

Over the course of the eight seasons, House's team changes almost constantly. Thirteen (Olivia Wilde), Taub (Peter Jacobson), and Kutner (Kal Penn) each have their moments, and House seems to enjoy himself every time he has to pick a new team.

Even so, Foreman (Omar Epps), Chase (Jesse Spencer), and Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) are still, in a way, the best team. Foreman, ambitious and stubborn, resembles House more than he’d care to admit. Chase is always trying to curry favor with him, and Cameron is the most empathetic of them all and constantly clashes with the way House treats his patients. When placed alongside House, their discussions were always heated.

The End

I can't say much about the ending without giving away spoilers. The final episode, "Everybody Dies," aired on May 21, 2012, and doesn't try to wrap up the series with a spectacular medical case. Instead, it focuses on House and his friendship with Wilson.

It's a bittersweet ending—one that doesn't resolve everything you might have hoped for, but one that fits the character. Honestly, a happy ending where everything wraps up nicely and everyone lives happily ever after would have been out of place in a show like *House*.

Conclusion

All in all, *House M.D.* is one of the few shows that still holds up on a third complete watch. I can honestly say that I enjoy it just as much as I did the first time, back in high school, and that says a lot about how well the show has aged.

If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it without hesitation. And if you saw it ten years ago and haven't watched it again since, maybe it's time for a rewatch. As for me, I don't think I'll be taking it out of my top 3 anytime soon.