For those of us who have been watching "House"
for the previous five episodes, this two-part
season opener was an inevitability. Greg House
(Hugh Laurie) has been pushing the envelope of
karma for a long time now, and had to get a
return on his investment sooner or later. And,
as karma often does, it pays off not with an
Old Testament-like judgment, but with a second
chance.
Great episode, great script, great acting by
Hugh Laurie as usual (he'll probably finally
get that Emmy for this one), helped along by
stellar performances by Franka Potente and
Andre Braugher.
It's a fascinating moment in a multi-year TV
series when its lead character actually is
allowed to *change* his character. Will the
audiences *allow* him to?
Clint Eastwood's biggest box-office failures
were in films where he wasn't the hero who
rides off into the sunset. One of them ("The
Beguiled") contained some of his best work as
an actor, but it flopped like a dead fish in
theaters because audiences didn't want to *see*
a different Clint Eastwood. They wanted the
one they had gotten used to.
Similarly, Paul Newman once said that his big-
gest regret as an actor was that he'd never
gotten the chance to play a villain. He'd tried,
many times over the years, but no one would ever
produce a film unless he was the hero.
So will Greg House be a new Greg House, or will
the producers take the "easy road" and allow him
to backslide into the Same Old Same Old? If they
don't, will the ratings tank because audiences
want the "old House?"
I wait with 'bated breath to find out...
