You Should Be Watching "House"

If there were a cynicism and insult meter, this program would easily be the most sarcastic, cynical program on television. House himself is constant barrage of bitter, sarcastic wit. His co-workers have little choice but to answer -- and work -- in the same terms. House won't even turn it off for strangers or patients. Add to this the fact that for most of the hour, the doctors are openly guessing what the disease-of-the-week might be in something not unlike a parlor game of "20 Questions." Yes, they conduct tests and use the most technologically sophisticated diagnostic techniques and they are all very bright, but in almost every show you will hear some version of "We have no idea what this is," and "Let's try this and see if it kills them." ...

Dr. House isn't a one-dimensional ogre, however. He has relationships, a history and an inner life. Already, we know he has an ex-wife, an ex-lover (now his supervisor at the hospital) and the romantic interest of one of his young female associates. Why would anyone ever love such a character? It's a marvelous question. Why is grace, grace? House deserves no friends or lovers, because he gives them all nothing except his bitterness, sarcasm or silence. The fact that House needs to be loved, and is a walking advertisement for what humanity without love can become seems to be part of the answer. House would have fit in well on the 70's show "M.A.S.H." or in Joseph Heller's "Catch -22." Cynical and sarcastic, but in the end, you realize these characters had to cope with themselves and their fears, with the war, its hypocrisies and its losses. Their twisted adaptations weren't their ultimate human face, but it was the one that came to dominate in the day to day.

The Internet Monk does a much more thorough job of analyzing "House" than I ever would ... but he articulates a lot of things that I have thought about after each episode.

One of the most interesting episodes dealt with House kicking his pain-killer habit ... not to get off of the drugs but to get a couple of weeks free from clinic duty. At the end of the episode, now clean, he goes right back to taking his drugs, arguing that his is a "livable" addiction. He's still paying bills, working, etc. It doesn't matter what arguments his friend advances toward staying off the pills, he likes life with them more. Yet for all his faults we see beneath the facade (very rarely and not deeply) to see the tortured soul who needs at least one person to be his friend.

Probably the most fascinating aspect of this show is that it will bring up a very touchy issue and then refuse to pander to either side in its thinking ... rather like House's character. When a woman was going to have an abortion so that she could then donate a kidney to her ailing husband, pros and cons from both sides of the moral fence were brought into play, without slamming either side. This happens consistently and is one of the things that I enjoy most about the show ... you aren't always cringing wondering when the "MESSAGE" is going to be stamped on you with a big, heavy foot.

This show has provoked more conversation within our family than any other about real life examples of the fallen state of man and how to live in the real world with all our flaws.

Plus, it's a killer medical show. So give it a try.