(Season One, Episodes 20 – 22)
I have got to say I’ve been quite impressed with the first season of House. The good doctor is interesting to watch as he goes through his machinations. The team around him is fun, though I do think Chase is a bit of a weak link. While the show follows a stagnant formula, it’s not afraid to break out of it from time to time, and overcomes this generalized downside by great characterization and strong dialogue writing.
“Love Hurts”
How can you not like House’s clinic patient in the teaser? Not only were they using each other to get out of work, the level of ribbing he and Wilson gave House about Cameron was just plain fun.
The couple of the week was both freaky, and about to be on our TVs a lot more, Christina Cox in Defying Gravity and John Cho on Flash Forward. Seeing Peter Graves as a blue pill chasing elder gentleman was a bit off putting, though.
The Grey’s Anatomy style parallels between the doctor’s and patient’s lives, in this case Annette’s line about becoming completely open to another person, was a bit much, and a little cheap. That being said, I am liking this connection between House and Cameron more and more. Cameron is, other than House, the most fleshed out character on the show thus far.
“Three Stories”
Admission time: I actually saw this couple of months ago in syndication. It was actually the reason I decided to do the Virgin Diary in the first place. What I had no idea, though, was that it was from the first season. I had just figured it was later on in the overall narrative of the show.
I absolutely loved this episode. The non-linear story telling, the misdirection, breaking the fourth wall, the twists and turns, the surreal portions of the story; everything about the way the story was told was fun, despite covering some fairly heavy content.
Continuing the theme of the great guest casting, this episode had a couple of good ones. Sure, I could talk about Sela Ward, but I will more in the next episode, or Carmen Electra, because, you know, Carmen Electra, but no, not her either. Josh Zuckerman played ‘Keen Student’ in the lecture, but I’ll always remember him as Billy from the “Issac & Ishmael” episode of The West Wing. Yeah, I’m a Sorkin fanboy…. What are you going to do?
House is a great teacher, despite his lackluster people skills. In his lecture, he doesn’t shy from the hard ethical questions that doctors face on a daily basis. Also, he uses effective teaching tools to make his point. I especially liked him spinning the white board when he was posing a 50/50 life or death decision to the class.
Oh, yeah, major backstory. I said earlier that I was surprised that the audience learned as much about House as early as they did. Yeah, it explains about why he is the way he is, but more than anything, I get him and Cuddy more now than I did before. I’d actually like to meet the Dr. House from before; Witty and sarcastic, but not to the extreme he is now.
“The Honeymoon”
If I thought the pissing contest between House and Mark was good, then House drugging him to get him into the hospital was classic. Neither could top the exchange between House and Cameron “…The woman you used to live with.” “That’s her Indian name. On her driver’s license it says Stacy.”
Stacy and Cameron’s dirt session did reveal the answer to a question I had before. Now that she says it, I can imagine that House really wasn’t that different before. In fact, I think it was less the loss of function in his leg, and more the loss of Stacy herself that has affected his personality more.
Sela Ward is amazing, plain and simple. She’ll obviously be around more next season, and she’ll be a good addition to the cast.
It was zero fun watching so many hearts break at once. House because he’ll never get Stacy back, and Cameron because she’ll never get House.
Finally, the “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” was a nice call back to the beginning of the season.
So, that’s a wrap. I’ve now completed two Virgin Diary entries, with House and Moonlight. I easily enjoyed House more, and its now a show that I am going to find a way to catch up on to the current season as quickly as possible. I’m interested to see how long it takes to flesh out some of the other characters more than they already are. Cameron has gotten a great deal, but I think I want to know more about Foreman, and to find out what exactly is going on in Wilson’s marriage. I’m all kinds of hooked now!
Read the rest of my House Virgin Diary by clique-ing on the House tag on the right hand side of the page.
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Jul 23, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
It’s been too long since I’ve seen first season House, but I have to say Chase became one of my favorite ducklings. Jesse Spencer puts a lot of nuance into the character as the series goes on.
LindaH, Chase is my favorite duckling too! haha I miss the first season, it’s been too long since I’ve watched it! Now all they play are fourth and fifth season re-runs, and I liked the old team better than the new team