"House" Ends Its Season - Leaves Fans Pondering

The television show "House" has a very predictable formula. As a fan, you know what you are going to get every time you tune in. Someone will have some kind of thing happen to them. You will see them collapse or explode or, whatever, in the beginning. This person will end up under the care of Dr. House and his team. They will make dozens of attempts to discover the illness and make dozens of attempts to cure it and all of them will fail. You can tell what is going to happen by looking at your clock. At exactly ten minutes to the top of the hour, Dr. House will get a suddenly bolt from the blue and figure out what the illness is and how to fix it.

Still, this is a show that I cannot stop watching. I can give you two words that explain why I still tune into this show week after week: Hugh Laurie. His depiction of the despicable Dr. House is one of the most remarkable things to watch. House is a guy who is so miserable that you want to hate him. Despite this you cannot help but feel sorry for the guy and root for him.

I also am quite a fan of Jennifer Morrison who plays Dr. Allison Cameron. She is very hot. I guess she is also a decent enough actress, but really, I just like looking at her. Sorry Jennifer.

Anyway, the final episode of the season finally ran and it was the same formula. The only difference was that Dr. House found the cure at 47 after the hour instead of 50 after the hour because there were some plot-lines to resolve. The resolution presented here makes me wonder what the hell is going on and what the hell is going to happen next season.

For three weeks now the character of Dr. Foreman, played by Omar Epps, has been leaving the team. Determining that becoming like House was not what he wanted, he turned in his resignation. The entire season has been building to when House would finally decide to tell Foreman he was a valuable part of the team and he didn't want him to leave. House, being the stubborn jerk he is, refused to say.

Instead, in the season finale, out of the blue, House fires Dr. Chase, played by Jesse Spencer. Then he finally tells Foreman he is valuable to the team, but then explodes all over the guy for being selfish. Then, to top things off, he walks into his office to find a letter of resignation being handed to him by Dr. Cameron. At the same time Cameron finally showed up on Chase's doorstep and confessed she had true feelings for him as well.

We ended the season with House talking to the husband of his patient, which is new for him. Then he comes home, finds a new guitar waiting for him and fade-to-black as he contentedly plays on his guitar in his apartment. The credits roll and those of us who are fans are wondering if his team is really gone and what is going to happen.

The entire season of "House" was quite excellent. The season started with House ticking off a cop. Before too long he was being pursued for his constant abuse of prescription drugs. It looked, for a time, like House was going to end up in jail. He, of course, manage to buck the system, dodge the drug charges and remain the incredible bitter and angry jerk he always was. That's the way things go with Dr. House and on his show.

Laurie is still compelling to watch. How he can manage to maintain his limp, accent and personality is beyond me. His eyes are constantly moving and constantly showing a man who is constantly thinking. At the same time, his weathered face shows man in misery and constant pain. He knows that the pain and the misery and even the drugs are what makes him as good as he is at his job. This creates quite a catch-22 situation for him.

I certainly hope that the next season will find all of the characters back. Too much time and emotion has been invested into these characters. To have to get involved with a whole new team would just not be nearly as satisfying. Plus, I really want Jennifer Morrison to be back! She's too damn hot not look forward to each Tuesday night.

"House" is at least consistent. Even though you know the story arc and how it will go down, the show is well-written. There seems to be an endless supply of crazy and obscure illnesses for people to find. Between this hospital and the hospital on "Grey's Anatomy" you have to wonder what is going on out there. Maybe the two hospitals should team up and have some kind of competition.

I do know that I will be back for the next season. How long can this show continue? Well, for my money it needs the same team firmly and comfortably in place that it has had up until now. I'll tune in next season to see if a new team is in place or if the old members are going to come back. I will want to see if House is still the miserable prick he's always been or has come to some new understanding about life. I am willing to bet he's still a prick, but who knows. The entire theme of this final episode was "change."