House ~ Broken

And the season premiers keep on rolling in!

House made a bold choice this week in having its 2 hour premier set entirely in the asylum where House has committed himself. We got some really strong character work, a peak at a new side of House (one where he can admit that he’s broken), and some fun guest stars (I see you there, Booger – being all paranoid).

Since I got a little carried away with the Mad Men post (see gigantic ramblings below), I’ll keep this one short. So in a NUT-shell (see what I did there? No? Ok), here are some brief thoughts on the premier of the sixth season of House.

• Hugh Laurie can act his ass off. Sure, we already knew this, but it’s nice to be reminded. This episode was completely and utterly his. Wilson popped up for a minute on the other end of the telephone, but other than that there were no reminders of the world outside of the asylum. This was a great episode for him. Maybe they should have called it a tv-movie, 24 style, and tried to swing some Emmy nods in the Mini-series/TV movie category.

• We were totally prepared to be enraged at seeing House with another woman (we had been thoroughly spoiled on this part of the plot), but his encounter with Franka Potente really didn’t bother us. Cuddy loyalists though we are, it was interesting to see House actually with someone, and being completely and totally honest with them. Yes, the fact that we knew it was doomed from the start, and that it was completely fleeting, may have made it easier to stomach. Still – seeing House all vulnerable and teary eyed broke our little hearts.

• So after some fun and games, some legitimate breakthroughs, and an admission of having serious problems to work through, House is unleashed back into the real world. We’ll be seeing the rest of the gang next week, but we can rest assured that things won’t be the same as when House left.

FYI, next week’s episode is called “Epic Fail”.