First to Last is a biweekly column where the pilot episode and series finale of a TV show are examined. But there’s a catch—the author has never seen a single episode of the show before viewing these two episodes! This week’s show: House, M.D.
House, M.D., unlike Lost or Mad Men, was a show I’d always been interested in (but, y’know, still never bothered to watch). From my understanding, the show is about a brash doctor whose tendency for being sarcastic was matched only by his ability to make successful diagnoses.
I watched two episodes of the program: “Pilot” (2004) and the series finale, “Everybody Dies” (2012). Here are the impressions I’ve gathered:
First off the bat: Dr. Gregory House is clearly a complex and damaged man. “You see that? They all assume I’m a patient because of this cane.” Those are the very first words he utters, so it is safe to assume that his leg (which has gone through muscle death) is the source of his torture. His preoccupation with his disability is likely what robs him of his ability to give a fuck. His arrogance seemingly knows no bounds and is shown to be rough around the edges with his co-workers.
When head oncologist Dr. James Wilson (who we later learn is House’s best friend) asks him to treat a patient who (he claims) is his cousin, House curtly says she’s going to die of a brain tumor, and laments how boring the case is. His relationship is especially strained with his boss Lisa Cuddy, and he gives heavy doses of tough love to his understudies Drs. Allison Cameron, Robert Chase and Eric Foreman. I’d like to note that That ‘70s Show was still on the air when House premiered, but Topher Grace left the cast the following year, as if Fox had decided their network had room for only one Eric Foreman.
Throughout the episode we see House popping pills several times, and a child’s fixation on his bum leg makes him uncomfortable to the point of abruptly leaving the room during a consultation. These things, I’m sure, will be the focus of House’s personal story arc.
House is a man who is most fascinated by the puzzles presented by difficult to crack cases. He may fix the patients, but he is still unable to fix himself. I’m not drawing conclusions here—those things are stated by patients and colleagues in bits of blatant exposition. It was a bit heavy handed, but I suppose I can forgive such an offense from the pilot episode. Will subsequent episodes be as obnoxious with their exposition? I’ll never know, because it’s time to watch the last episode, “Everybody Dies!”
And, oh, man, things have gone downhill for House! In the finale he wakes up in a burning building, is suicidal, and before long he starts hallucinating. This is the most interesting aspect of the episode, and what sets it apart from the pilot: the story is told from House’s point of view, and he quickly proves to be an unreliable narrator, with characters’ dialogue literally being reduced to “blah blah blah” during parts he finds boring.