Spoilers below.
My earlier rant about needing to make the events of the season premiere stick still stands, but I am cautiously optimistic about this season seeing the previews for the next episode. The fact that Dr. Nolan is sticking around is a good sign to me. And I am not surprised to hear that House is contemplating quitting.
Consider that House has always equated his genius with his misery. On numerous occasions, if he loses his misery, he feels that he loses his edge, and does something to slip back into the morass. And it’s not just the pain in his leg, either. He admits that he was an addict before the medical incident that gave him his cane and his pain. And yet his old lover Stacie predates that medical incident, as does Wilson, and they both saw in him someone deeply flawed, but so brilliant as to be irresistible.
It is going to be a challenge for House to come to believe that he can still be brilliant without being miserable, and if he is right, then it will be an even greater challenge for House to accept being “well” but also “merely competent”. So, quitting? Getting a job in a restaurant kitchen? Yeah, I can see that. House really does need to exercise those little grey cells, and Nolan is exactly right in suggesting a hobby.
Indeed, maybe House should get a private investigator’s license. Indeed, that would chart very close to the plan that Erin, Cameron and I worked out, where Hugh Laurie could team up with Alan Rickman and Christopher Eccleston and fight crime, turning an awesome show into the awesomeness of awesomeosity.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to next week, and I am impressed with the ability of the cast and crew to shake things up a bit, while keeping this a show about one man.