Gregory House walking into an austere, anachronistic building that is the Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital is how season five of House, M.D. ends. No doubt it was a great way to end the season, because it raised a lot of questions for viewers, namely: is House going to be changed into some unrecognizable, empathizing, I’ve-seen-the-light person or stay as emotionally detached and acerbic as before? Secondly, will these changes, if any, be good? Will no changes be good?
The Difference Change Makes
The answer to the first question is yes, House does change. The show thankfully makes this a definite process, with House fighting tooth and nail at first to resist any of Mayfield’s efforts to help him. But when he does give in and makes a determined effort to break his addiction, he has to work at it. It isn’t easy, and he makes mistakes (rather, choices that don’t aid his rehab) in the process.
Although House does change, he is even now in the process of changing. There isn’t an abrupt ah-ha! moment where everything rights itself. In this light, the show portrays human psyche very realistically. It seems completely plausible that this is how House, if he were a real person, might react. Is House’s break from vicodin plausible? Of course. House is a determined, type-A person. Everything he does, he does to the extreme. Need to pop a few pills for pain? It becomes an addiction. Want to learn how to cook? Become a veritable chef. When House sets his mind to something, he does it, and he does it well. Deciding to give up vicodin is no different.
If House had completed his stay in Mayfield Psychiatric and gone back to Princeton Plainsburough as if nothing had happened, the show would have more of a problem. If House hadn’t gotten help, his life would have swiftly gone even farther down the drain than it already was. Where would the character growth be? What would be the point of focusing on House’s efforts to solve his problems only to treat them as negligible in following episodes?
Is the Show House M.D. Compromised?
This brings us to the last question: do these changes in House’s mental state compromise the show? The short answer is no. The explanation is slightly longer. All characters have to develop or else shows would be boring and predictable. Although House seems to have conquered his addiction and is working on improving his “bedside manner,” his off-color humor and crude methods of talking with and relating to people are still an integral part of his personality. Although these aspects of his personality hold are less bitterness than they used to, they still remain, keeping House as familiar as when he first showed his face in 2003.
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