House is an Onion (House)

Member Name: duchy

Product:	House
Date:	26/01/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong, Compelling Drama

Disadvantages: None

I'd heard about House-who hadn't. It had won armfuls of awards in America an d my American friends raved about it during the first season. "Yeah -Yeah Another American medical drama "I thought-and Hugh Lawrie is in it. The bloke from the Jeeves series who played the upper class twit and had been in Black Adder -Ho Hum nothing worse than these Brits who sell out for a series in the US with formulmatic scripts and a poor American accent. This wasn 't a show I was remotely interested in watching...........

Fast forward a year. It was a rainy Sunday lunchtime and I settled down on the sofa to see what was on. Hallmark had a "House weekend" running-back to back episodes of the first series as a forerunner to the new series. Well nothing much on -let's see a little bit of this before turning over........... I was hooked-Hours later I was lapping it up still.
Charismatic and angry but with glimpses of vunerability the very attractive House, his interns -all well constructed and layered characters sometimes collegues, sometimes allies -sometimes at war with each other or with House. The other doctors-Cutty-the boss lady -needing to be tough with her vunerabilities well hidden -but House sees them-sometimes ruthlessly exploting them for his own agendas- othertimes -surprising with his understanding and insight. The best friend-put upon and also exploited by House-but you learn deep down he and House actually understand each other and both do care.
The plot-well there's always a mystery to be solved before the closing credits-often by House-but not always and the back stories provide contrast and interest.
Hugh Lawrie is a superb actor-he makes you if not like House then care for him and the accent I was so dimissive of in my opening paragraph is so accurate I've actually had arguments with people over his nationality ! The humour is often black but that to me is an advantage not a fault-and rare in US series.
House is like an onion-doesn't sound very exciting from the outside but has multiple layers and is powerful within. Peel it-you'll be glad you did !!

Summary: Peel the Onion-there will be no tears