I confess: I hadn’t seen an episode of House since the season six premiere, “Broken,” this time last year. While “Broken” was the best season premiere that House has aired thus far, I didn’t watch beyond that because I knew that it would revert to being a series of more of the same. I kept track of the show’s major plot points by osmosis (thanks Entertainment Weekly), but I didn’t care to watch another episode until I was given the opportunity to check out “Now What?” the seventh season premiere of the series.
I had been aware of the game-changing last episode of season six, which accomplished what season five’s finale did, except for real this time (you see where I was getting frustrated with the show backtracking). “Now What?” is an episode that takes the House/Cuddy dynamic (known by fans as Cuddy) a step even further than the season six finale, “Help Me,” did.
“Now What?” was divided between two storylines: House and Cuddy, and House’s team at the hospital. Not only is there a division in the storyline, though, but there’s a division in quality. While the House and Cuddy scenes are really well-written and acted, the hospital scenes are somewhat boring, and, in places, the acting is painfully bad. Thankfully, the goods much outweigh the bad.
Despite having skipped an entire season of the series, I found it really easy to fall back in to the swing of things. The previously on segment segued right into the beginning events of the episode (can I just say that the first scene of the episode is total wish fulfillment for any fans of the series?). Anything else that isn’t clear is pretty much cleared up by dialogue.
The episode is one of the better season premieres that the show has had. I might go so far as to rank it as second, after last year’s first episode. However, it’s not enough to convince me to come back on a regular basis. House really specializes in first and last episodes, and the rest of late are becoming filler, in my opinion. But for anyone, casual or hardcore fan, “Now What?” is a solid premiere, even when you consider that only half the episode is really worth watching. Whether you stay on for the rest of the season is totally up to you — though this premiere gives you no reason not to.
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Awesome. HL & LE have wonderful chemistry together. It sounds like it really pays off in the premier. I can't wait to see it and see where they take this dysfunctional and entertaining couple.
I totally agree with you re: House having superior premiere and finales. It didn't used to be that way, but the last three seasons have definitely fallen into a rut. I remember how insanely concerned I was for House after he went crazy, and how beautifully acted the following season's premiere was.
I'll check out the premiere, but Huddy is really the last thing I wanted to happen on this show. I'd take the tight writing and acting of the first four seasons over wish fulfillment. But you're the third reviewer I've read who's complimented the new direction, so I guess I'll keep an open mind. They really couldn't anywhere else except put them together.
Last season, I missed about a third of the eps, because the show just bored me. Hope this season reverses the trend.
I think you mean "known by fans as Huddy."
Um. Not every longtime fan of the series wanted "the first scene"– or any of the House/Cuddy nonsense that followed. SO MANY reviewers keep generalizing about the hardcore fans being Huddy shippers, when in fact a vast majority of us are either longtime House/Wilson shippers or prefer House to stay bitter, lonely, and IN CHARACTER.
It would be unrealistic for a character to remain exactly the same throughout the life of a show, if the show goes on for more than, say, three years. That does not happen in real life, and while tv shows aren't exactly real life, they work better when they try to approximate it. That's particulary true with a show that focuses intensely on individual personalities and not the intricacies of the plot. As for House "in character", an early episode flashed back to the time before the operation that left him crippled and before the Vicodin addiction. In his scenes with his ex-girlfriend, Stacy, he is clearly a different person than the House viewers have known over the past few seasons. That, and other snippets of dialogue, suggest that House before the catastrophe in his life was a maverick and out of control, but not the near-total misanthrope portrayed in what is supposed to be his life after the tragedy.
It would be unrealistic for a character to remain exactly the same throughout the life of a show, if the show goes on for more than, say, three years. That does not happen in real life, and while tv shows aren’t exactly real life, they work better when they try to approximate it. That’s particulary true with a show that focuses intensely on individual personalities and not the intricacies of the plot. As for House “in character”, an early episode flashed back to the time before the operation that left him crippled and before the Vicodin addiction. In his scenes with his ex-girlfriend, Stacy, he is clearly a different person than the House viewers have known over the past few seasons. That, and other snippets of dialogue, suggest that House before the catastrophe in his life was a maverick and out of control, but not the near-total misanthrope portrayed in what is supposed to be his life after the tragedy.
Aw, I'd say you really need to see "Help Me" if the only episode you saw before this one was 'Broken'. Putting aside that it was just a really good episode, House finally gave Cuddy her grandfather's book, Cuddy pretty much forced House to stay(i/e yelling and guilting him until he caved) with the trapped girl-a situation that was pretty much tailor-made to force him to care about his patient (which kinda made this her fault-kinda), and there was a great, epic House breakdown at the end. I mean, the acting was freaking awesome. House was crying manly tears. I am a sucker for manly tears, and when said man is sitting on the floor in his bathroom trying not to relapse while he does it…*whew* take my money.