The House season 6 premiere was a one-man show for Hugh Laurie, and I’m pretty sure all die-hard House fans had a grand time. And as much as I hate to admit it, much less admit it, I kind of did not miss the supporting characters. Maybe I miss Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) a bit, but only when she interacts with House, so I guess the doctor is still the integral part of that missing element.

Anyway, needless to say, “Broken” is not your typical House episode. No Princeton-Plainsboro, no medical case of the week, and just a lot of introspection in the whole enigma that is Gregory House. Prior to the premiere, Laurie has hinted that something like this will happen, and I initially thought that I’m going to hate it (because it’s going to be dull and too heavy), but count on House to break expectations.

On the episode, after checking himself into Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital, House initially tried to scheme his way out of the asylum. Yet after his actions lead to a fellow patient jumping off a building, he finally decided to cooperate. In order to get back to practicing medicine, though, he must get on the good side of head shrink Dr. Darryl Nolan, played by Andre Braugher. House may have met his match though, at least temporarily, because Nolan is as good a judge of human behavior as they get, and he figured out that House needs help.

In the end, the conclusion may have been slightly cheesy and predictable: showing House that there’s more to humanity than he cares to admit, not the least bit thanks to frequent visitor Franka Potente and roommate Alvie, played by Lin-Manuel Miranda. But it’s still beautiful: that human contact is not necessarily life-threatening.

– Glenn Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Fox
(Image courtesy of Fox)

Glenn Diaz

Staff Writer, BuddyTV