At the end of Season Five, Dr. House was checking himself in to Mayfield Psychiatric Ward to detox from Vicodin and hopefully get rid of the hallucinations he had been suffering. House's stay at Mayfield is where the season six premiere picks up. And what a season premiere it was.
After a fantastic opening montage used instead of the normal opening credits, the episode begins with House trying to check out of Mayfield, having successfully completed detox. His attending physician, Dr. Nolan, believes House still needs further treatment, since the hallucinations came after the death of two colleagues as well as House's own father. Because House cannot go back to practicing medicine without a written recommendation from Nolan, he is forced to continue treatment in Ward 6.
"Turning the Ward Upside Down"
Upon entering the ward, House (in true House fashion) decides the best way out is to make everyone so miserable that Nolan will write him a recommendation just to get rid of him. This ranges from "diagnosing" the other patients in group therapy (and then exploiting their conditions on the basketball court), to enlisting manic-depressive roommate Alvie in an attempt to black mail Nolan. When this fails to work, House tries to play nice, though he still argues with the doctor's treatment of "Freedom Master" Steve, a patient who thinks he's a superhero. In an attempt to prove the ward's doctors wrong, House encourages Steve's delusions, sneaking him out to a fair to use their sky diving simulation so Steve can "fly." This back fires horribly, however, when Steve then attempts to jump off of the parking garage, severely injuring himself.
Seeing how his meddling turned out, House finally resigns himself to receiving help from Nolan. As the two begin one-on-one sessions, Nolan tries to get House to open himself to other people, and talks with about his budding relationship with Lydia, the sister-in-law of Annie, another patient who has not spoken in ten years. It is with Lydia that House most obviously shows he is still capable of connecting with people.
With no Patient of the Week, the only mystery House gets to solve is that of Annie's "voicebox." Steve first notices Annie is staring at something in one of the rooms, and after Steve's fall House notices what it is they are staring at. The "voicebox" turns out to be a music box, and once it it is given to Annie, she actually speaks again. This leads to her being released to a rehab facility, which unfortunately means Lydia will leave with her to Arizona. When House willingly brings his troubles to Nolan, Nolan agrees to write House's letter. Nolan's logic is that House's pain shows he can connect strongly with people, and by wanting to talk about it he has accepted it and wants to move on.
The Doctor is Back
It was a refreshing start to the new season. Medical dramas are a plenty, and it is easy for them to all start to feel the same. By moving out of Princeton-Plainsboro, the show is free to observe House in a new environment, and see how he reacts. This brings out a much more human side of him. He encourages Steve's delusions because he's happier when he thinks he's a superhero. He helps Alvie fill in rhymes during his rap at the Ward talent show. And he embraces the patients he's spent time with at the end of the episode as he gets ready to leave (he then face plants into his cake).
It will be interesting to see how much of a change this experience has on House when he returns to the hospital. This is not the first time a season has started with a big change that slowly reverted back to the way things were before. Season three began with House's leg pain free, but it only took a couple episodes for the pain (and Vicodin) to return. The only way to know will be to see how House reacts to his old environment in upcoming episodes.
