HOUSE: SEASON SEVEN
(not rated)
MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5)
BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5)
BY KEVIN CARR
Like “The Office” – though in very different ways – “House” has had plenty of ups and downs over the years. The last few seasons, however, have been particularly good because they are dealing with the root issues that make Gregory House both a great character and a terrible person. This season has all the cool medical mysteries to solve in the typical “House” fashion. But what makes season seven stand out is what’s going on behind the differential diagnosis.
House’s relationship with Cuddy is intriguing and caustic yet tender at times. It breathes new life into the show as he learns to deal with another human in a more intimate setting. There’s also the shake-up of the staff while Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) took off to do some movies. This absence was written into the show quite well, offering a new foil for House with Amber Tamblyn as the wide-eyed, idealist. Sure, it’s still a depressing show with characters that are fun to watch but maddening to be around, but it has hit a special stride in seasons six and seven. Let’s see how much longer this will last.
Blu-ray features include a spotlight on Tamblyn’s new character: “Meet Martha Masters.” There’s also an in-depth look at House and Cuddy’s relationship in “Huddy Dissected.” The fun meta episode “Bombshells,” which features cross-genre homages gets looked at with “Anatomy of an Episode,” and Olivia Wilde gets her own spotlight in “Thirteen Returns.” There are also commentaries on select episodes as well as U-Control settings for “A Beginner’s Guide to Diagnostic Medicine” which we’ve seen before, plus access to BD-Live and pocketBLU.