House: Season 6

So, I've been doing really well in terms of hitting my monthly backlog goals. All books (and two extras) and all video games are accounted for, leaving me with nothing but two seasons of HBO television. So why, then, have I spent the last few weeks watching House? I've got no legitimate reason. But then, is reason ever required when it comes to plowing away through one's backlog? Anyway, as I said just over a year ago in my review of Season 5, "Unfortunately, the great finale only made it necessary for Season 6 to start off terribly (no spoilers, but trust me), one of several factors that led me to stop watching House midway through this year." And I stand by the opening statement and the decision; Season 6 did start terribly and it was well worth my time to kick the show to the curb for the second semester of my college senior year. We begin with two episodes of Dr. House in a mental institution, trying to quit his Vicodin addiction cold turkey, once and for all. And boy, does the show suffer because of it. The institution segments with House were boring. The hospital segments without him felt lacking. And even when House finally comes back to the hospital, he's still got to wait around a while before his medical license gets reinstated. So we get a "nice" stretch of several episodes in which House is just hanging around acting petulant while his former diagnostic team sort of struggles without him, but only in the same way they would be struggling with him at the helm anyway. Then there's yet another sloppy main character send off that feels unrealistic, sudden, and silly - a House trademark in recent years, it seems. And the writers get just a little bit too "meta" for comfort, as House drops a terribly forced Mike Tomlin reference near Foreman (played by Tomlin lookalike Omar Epps) and says, of Dr. Hadley, "It's not like she's the hottest woman in the world," a clear reference to the fact that Olivia Wilde had just been bestowed that very honor by Maxim. Once House returned to the diagnostic team and assembled his best crew - a combination of his older crew and his more recent crew - there were a few dull and uninteresting procedural episodes. At that point, I was done for the year. But I'm glad I bought and watched the DVDs (as if there was ever any doubt that I would), because Season 6 began to gather momentum only a few episodes beyond the point I had stopped watching over a year ago. There were a few episodes that broke the formulaic routine that House (like any network procedural) so often employs. Even those standard procedural episodes, however, began to trend upward in terms of overall quality. At least, that's my own personal opinion. The season ended on an extremely high note, too, with an effective form-breaking penultimate episode and an intense and shocking finale that pushed both Hugh Laurie's acting and Dr. House's character development further than I'd ever seen either go. So, thankfully, I am in fact looking forward to Season 7 and however many come after it. Apparently the show may change networks next year for Season 8 - could be reason enough for me to jump back in. But probably not. We'll see how long it takes me to buy and watch Season 7. If I end up doing so this summer, then yes, I'll probably be looking to catch up in time for Season 8. But then, what's wrong with waiting for the DVDs once again? Speaking of which, I just remembered - I still have to watch the fourth and final season of Heroes. Blech.