TV Review: Hugh Laurie’s House Shatters M.O. in Sly Season-Six Premiere of ‘House M.D.’

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CHICAGO – Unrelenting pain, obsessive drug use and chronic hallucinations. Yeah, House has a problem. He’s broken. But can he be fixed? And will he let himself?

Television Rating: 4.5/5.0

For the first time, Dr. Gregory House is embracing denial no more. In the undeniably worth-your-time two-hour FOX premiere of season six of “House M.D” on Monday, Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie instead shatters his M.O. by admitting his addiction to the narcotic painkiller Vicodin. He works on a drug detox as he tries to win jurisdiction over his hallucinations.

Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House for the sixth season of “House”.
Photo credit: George Holz, Fox Broadcasting Co.

This time, calling the season opener an “epic premiere event” isn’t just the marketing folks blowing smoke up your whoopie cake. And this time, House mostly doesn’t step foot in a hospital where he usually plays the mastermind and callous doctor.

Instead, he’s now in a psychiatric hospital where he’s actually the patient. While it’s unfamiliar territory for the House character and the series in general following five successful seasons, the intrepid decision by the “House” makers pays off in spades.

The two-hour season premiere, which is titled “Broken” and can almost stand on its own as a made-for-TV movie, starts outside of House’s traditional hospital and maintains the theme throughout. At first, I felt the decision stymied my appreciation of this series because I wasn’t furnished with another inexplicable case needing House’s sly mind to decipher.

Dr. Nolan (guest star Andre Braugher, center) confronts House (Hugh Laurie, left) in the “House” two-hour season premiere episode. Also pictured: Megan Dodds (right).
Photo credit: Mike Yarish, Fox Broadcasting Co.

But as you cuddle the concept of a story that delves deep into another universe from what you’re normally accustomed to here, you soak up the new subplot in its new environment just as you do the previously traditional storytelling in the show’s previously traditional atmosphere.

There’s a possibility, though, that some House lovers might feel shafted. The show’s linchpin has been House’s emotional unavailability, his inability to love and the denial of his own problems while he so slyly cracks the curious cases of everyone else.

Just as the show has sold viewers on this modus operandi for so long, though, it just as quickly detonates these themes in one atomic bomb of a season premiere.

Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House for the sixth season of “House”.
Photo credit: George Holz, Fox Broadcasting Co.

At first, I partially felt like this “House” opener is intensely “trying too hard” for high ratings in a cutthroat competitive television landscape. After all, this is entertainment and a dramatic mystery like this must keep putting up powerful numbers.

Once you understand and respect what the series must accomplish at a business level, you’re able to forgive season six for starting off in a way that may feel like you’ve been rused into a new veracity that’s the polar opposite of everything you thought you knew about this TV show.

Just as one door closes, another successfully opens in such a way that you’ll not only care but you’ll be refreshed to get on board just as you did when themes changed before.

House (Hugh Laurie, right) meets his roommate, Alvie (guest star Lin-Manuel Miranda, left) when he arrives at the psychiatric hospital in the “House” two-hour season premiere.
Photo credit: Mike Yarish, Fox Broadcasting Co.

Aside from Hugh Laurie again in the title role, “Broken” for the most part makes the bold decision not to feature many of the show’s typically beloved characters and actors (i.e. Jesse Spencer as Dr. Robert Chase, the Chicago-born Jennifer Morrison as Dr. Allison Cameron, Lisa Edelstein as Dr. Lisa Cuddy and Omar Epps as Dr. Eric Foreman).

House’s vital colleague and friend Robert Sean Leonard as Dr. James Wilson only appears in “Broken” in a cameo role. But without the show’s usual suspects, the entirely new-fangled story line also features a drove of fresh faces in guest-starring roles.

The Chicago-born Andre Braugher (“Primal Fear,” “City of Angels,” “Frequency,” TV’s “The Andromeda Strain”) is the episode’s most imperative fresh face. He’s the attending physician who strong-arms House into staying at Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital to experience true rehabilitation.

Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House for the sixth season of “House”.
Photo credit: George Holz, Fox Broadcasting Co.

As guest star Dr. Darryl Nolan, Braugher masterfully lets House know he can’t con a con man and be released without an honest recovery. House’s liberation from the psychiatric hospital is at Dr. Nolan’s sole professional discretion.

Then there’s the high-strung, wannabe rapper Alvie (guest starred by Lin-Manuel Miranda) who begins to idolize House when they become roommates. He’s an entertaining cup of caffeine.

Now Franka Potente (“Blow”) as the married guest star Lydia does more than just visit the psychiatric hospital and assist House in bending its rules. There’s a twist between House and Lydia you’ll have to watch to believe, but suffice it to say they tug at more than just each other’s heartstrings. The German-accented belle clicks with House in a way you couldn’t see coming.

Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) has earned time out in the yard at the Mayfield
Psychiatric Hospital in the “House” two-hour season premiere.
Photo credit: Larry Watson, Fox Broadcasting Co.

House battles between his attempted cons at earning (or even blackmailing) for his release and whether or not he wants to take the drugs and navigate the hospital’s intended process.

Will House’s pride and typical demeanor win the day or will a real recovery be fashioned by a complete opening and humbling of his beautiful but broken mind? “Broken” is two of the best hours on TV that you can spend right now in your pursuit of the answer.

Read viewership numbers on the 2009 “House M.D.” season premiere.
Read our news on Jennifer Morrison of “House M.D.” leaving the show.

“Broken” features Hugh Laurie, Curtis Armstrong, Angela Bettis, Meghan Bradley, Andre Braugher, Luke Davis, Alex Désert, Megan Dodds, Norman Fessler, Harrison Forsyth, Andrew Leeds, Ana Lenchantin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Artemis Pebdani, Jack Plotnick, Franka Potente and Robert Sean Leonard in a cameo role. The trailer for the season-six premiere can be watched now below!

Read viewership numbers on the 2009 “House M.D.” season premiere.
Read our news on Jennifer Morrison of “House M.D.” leaving the show.

By ADAM FENDELMAN Editor-in-Chief/Publisher HollywoodChicago.com adam@hollywoodchicago.com