House Season 5 [DVD]

Up to season 5 House was known as focusing a lot on the comical witticisms of House as he insulted his colleagues and his boss. This particular season takes a more serious turn, and although there does exist the comedy that it's famous for, there is a more serious aura around the entire season and its characters as all is not well in the land of Dr. Gregory House. For a medical drama, House is pretty special as it retains a very formulaic style of storytelling and wholly stays away from soap opera dramatics; instead replacing them with casual love stories, complex medical cases and an even more complex main star.

Just when we think we know House, the show takes another massive turn and shows us a completely different side to him that we never thought existed. Season 5 seeks on exposing a new emotional side to House. At the end of season 4 we saw the end to Wilsons girlfriend, Amber and what we are lead to believe to be the friendship of House and Wilson. Season 5 opens with our worst fears, Wilson quits and tells House that they can no longer be friends and in order for Wilson to be truly happy, he must have House out of his life.

In comes a private investigator hired by House to spy on Wilson in his new life and also his team. The split doesn't last for long and House & Wilson end up back to their old tricks of childish friendship antics. Chase & Cameron gain a more prominent role in this season as their relationship is explored in more detail as Cameron struggles with the possibility of a permanent relationship as she still can't let go of the memories of her husband who died a few years prior to their relationship. This presents a higher purpose for them still remaining in the opening title sequence and hopefully, this increased prominence will mean they become a stronger part of the team in season 6.

Thirteen is also forced to struggle with the fact that she has Huntington's disease, and to a certain point takes it very badly. Foreman also gains a bit more purpose in this season and develops a relationship with Thirteen, but I felt like this relationship was only brought into the picture to avoid having to fire him as even now his presence just seems pointless. Taub and Kutner are their usual selves with nothing really important happening to them other than House torturing Taub over his affair. There are quite a few delightful surprises that take place during the season, some are more important than others, but they're all designed to keep us watching to the next episode.

As with every TV show, the finale is always the most special episode that will keep you wanting more up to when the next season starts. House is no exception to that rule and although most TV shows may create a cliff-hanger to keep you wanting more, they would also wrap a few stories up so they don't have to be revisited. House very rarely does that. Instead it gives us riveting cliff-hangers that makes us question the true brilliance of what we have seen, yet if you're not a fan of the primary cliff-hanger, there's also a few other stories that you will want to know what happened next. This is a truly brilliant season that exposes a more emotional and loveable side to House that have only briefly been explored in previous seasons. There is one massive shocker that most reading this review will have probably heard about by now, but it's just an overall great season and worthy of any House fans DVD collection.

Season 5 is straight up weird. It's rich with hints and clues that not all is well with House, and the season finale ends on the mini-mother of all cliff hangers. Season 6 opening episode is going to be unmissable. American tv shows always end a season with a cliff hanger, but so often they're appallingly slapdash. Not so with House. From about mid way through the season, it's subtly hinted at that there is something profoundly amiss, and it culminates in a dark and surprising final few scenes.

Anyway, back to the beginning. At the start of the series, Amber is gone, and so is Wilson. In his place there's a private detective, Lucas (played wonderfully by Michael Weston) who is sardonic and clever (actually a match for House) and, apparently, is being given his own spin off series. That's officially Good News.

Chase, Cameron and Cuddy get more of a look in than they did in season 4 - it's no longer incongruous that their names are in the opening credits... although, Cameron and Chase are largely spent fine-tuning and/or imploding their relationship. Season 5 also introduces a relationship between 2 more of the main cast... and the violent loss of another. Apparently in the States it was widely touted as a "Very Special Episode", with ramifications that would ripple throughout the rest of the season. They set up a bit of a red herring leading up to it, so it is a genuine shock but, somehow, that whole storyline is a little unsatisfying. That being said, House's situation is possibly predicated on it, so maybe there are huge, House-shaped ripples we've yet to fully see.

The team still solve the unsolveable, House still offends anyone with ears (and, indeed, someone without), and it's still fiercely clever and frequently funny. The entire season feels a lot more chaotic than the others - almost as if they wrote much of it on the fly, but it's no poorer for that. It's still House, it's still wonderful, and it deserves no less than 5 stars.

After the explosive, unexpected, tear-jerking, and edge of the seat final two episodes of season 4, it's safe to say that I was very eager for season 5 to begin. It picks-up approximately two months after seasons four finished and House owing to the fact that he hasn't spoken to Wilson since Amber's funnel, is on edge when Wilson comes back to the hospital for the first time.

I felt that the season had a slightly shaky start. The first few episodes while decent fail to inspire and were not the strongest point in the history of House. Thankfully when things get going, they really get going and its well worth sticking through it.

The season is considerably more serious than those before it and has a number of darker undertones. Foreman seems to be failing as the head of a department, Thirteen is trying coming to terms with her Huntington's disease, Taub is unhappy, House finds his world collapsing around him towards the brilliant final few episodes, and Kutner - well I'll just say that you'll be shocked and disturbed with episode twenty.

A benefit to the series is that we get even deeper into House's character as well as the other main cast. We begin to see more of Cameron and Chase through the season which I was glad to see as they were almost non-existent in season four.

Highlights of the season include Wilson loosing his temper, House hiring a Private Investigator, Cuddy adopting a baby, and House trying to be nice to his patients. However the most enjoyable scene was watching Wilson drunk and enjoying himself with a striper.

Everything that made House so good in the past continues in the fifth season, with perfect acting, amazing plots, and that comic element that Hugh always manages to inject.

But for me the best part has to be the season final, I knew it was going to difficult if not impossible to top the end of season four, but the story is so unexpected and shocking it makes for a real cliff hanger.

However there were a number of small issues that I wasn't happy with in this season, nothing that serious but a few things I feel that I should still mention.

I don't like what has happened to the character of Doctor Eric Foreman who seems to have been dumbed down considerably and comes across as more of a less vocal, less confident, and less intelligent character than in previous seasons. Quiet often you'll see him sitting down staring into space adding little or nothing to the team efforts.

At one point House is forced to diagnose a 'patient' at gun point, while the episode and its story is good enough, I was surprised at House's attitude and in your face defiance with the gunman. Considering that he was shot several seasons before, I feel that it would be highly unlikely that he would have such composure when faced with another gun.

I'm also really beginning to dislike the very repetitive tread for characters to be fired, or resign only to be rehired several episodes later. They've used it so many times for so many of the cast that it's lost all impact.

However after all that is said, I'm still perfectly happy with House and it remains one my favourite shows.

It's great that House is still going strong after five seasons with such a committed fan base. While I do have a few small issues with this season, I still feel that it's one of the best shows on television and an essential DVD boxed set to buy. If you're new to House than I suggest that you begin with the first season and work you're why up to this point, it won't take long when you get hooked. If you're a House fan then this season is a welcome addition.