Customer Reviews

House Season 4

5 star:		(142)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

The fourth season of "House, M.D." was one of its best seasons yet. This very entertaining (and popular) drama series has already three strong seasons behind it, and season four does not disappoint. I was kind of weary going into season four because of what happened at the end of season three, when everyone's favorite crabby TV doc lost his team. I wasn't sure if this show would still be as good as it was, but I'm glad I stuck it out for season four. Give the writers credit, because this time they decided to have some fun going into the season, and great fun it was. The show at times is very dramatic, and at other times it's very funny.

The season starts off in the first episode with Dr. House still without a team and trying to diagnose a patient on his own, while Drs. Cuddy and Wilson (House's boss and good friend, respectively) try to persuade him to put together a new team by hiring some new doctors. The humor in episode one is still very much intact, especially in the scene where House tries to get ideas from the hospital janitor ("You were bouncing ideas off a janitor", Wilson tells him hilariously). When House finally decides to give in, there are 40 candidates vying for 3 positions on House's staff. And that's where the real fun of season four begins. The next several episodes turn into a "Survivor" type game where House eliminates the candidates one-by-one until he finally makes his final decision in the ninth episode. These episodes worked very well and it was a lot of fun to watch House play off these potential candidates. In the middle of all this, House's three former team members (Drs. Foreman, Cameron, and Chase) all return to Princeton-Plainsboro, but now working in new positions. The latter episodes deal with the three new doctors trying to deal with House as well as the patients they're diagnosing. And in an interesting subplot, Dr. Wilson finds a new love interest who just happens to be one of the same doctors who was trying to get onto House's staff and lost out. The final episode ends with a heartbreaker as House and company try to save the life of a person who was the victim of a bus crash, and House's inability to find out what really happened since he was also a victim of that same bus crash and has come down with temporary amnesia which makes the other doctors' jobs a whole lot harder.

Hugh Laurie once again dominates this show as he has from day one. Lisa Edelstein (Dr. Cuddy) and Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. Wilson) provide great support as usual. Omar Epps (Dr. Foreman) is back and is given a pretty good amount of screen time since his character is now overseeing and watching the new team. Former real-life couple Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Cameron) and Jesse Spencer (Dr. Chase) are also back, but weren't given much to do this time around. This is due to the three new cast members whose characters were the ones that House picked to make up his new team. Peter Jacobson (Dr. Taub), Kal Penn (Dr. Kutner), and Olivia Wilde (Thirteen) were the best ones for the job, and if I were a doctor and I had to chose some new team members, I would have picked these same characters. However I would have picked an additional fourth member to be on the staff: and that would have been Amber. Anne Dudek was a major standout in season four as Amber, who has a personality that's just like House. This character ended up being the last to go when House made his final decision on who he wanted for his team, but she was back (surprisingly) in the later episodes as Wilson's new girlfriend.

Because of the writers strike that shut down television production on all TV shows, the fourth season of "House" is shorter. Only 16 episodes this time around, but they're some of the best episodes that this terrific show has to offer. I hope it gets multiple Emmy nominations this year because it deserves them, and maybe this time out it'll win some Emmy Awards. My fingers are crossed.

First let me start by saying House my my favorite show, I couldn't think any more highly of season 1 through 3 - intense, compelling, funny, great camera angles, writing, just everything about those seasons is perfect in my eyes. Even today watching those episodes for 5/6th time, I'm still so impressed.

Season four took a drop, I can't see myself watching the episodes over and over like I could the first three seasons. Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer are no longer in the show (much, anyway) and all the great chemistry between House and his team is gone, replaced by three new boring one dimensional characters. The writing seems like it's slacking, resorting to ridiculous lines that feel as if they're only there for shock value.

If you're new to House, I recommend picking up the first three DVDs before considering this one. It is still a great show compared to what else is on TV, but it doesn't stand out like it used to.

House has always been one of the best dramas since its premiere which is not because of the medical drama, but because of the unique characters that make this show so much fun to watch.

Of course, Hugh Laurie is simply fantastic in the role of the grumpy, sarcastic and unconventional Dr. House, but not only does Laurie give amazing performances throughout the series, in fact all the other actors do the same and have helped to create characters that one truly cares for, that are interesting and have an edge.

The writing on this show is exceptional and the performances by the cast-members are some of the finest to grace TV and get even stronger the more the story-lines start to get more personal towards the end of this strike-shortened season.

At the beginning of Season 4 House is alone, without his team Chase, Cameron and Foreman who were fired (by House) or quit. But it doesn't take long and he is running something like "House's Idol" to fill the three fellowship spots that Cameron, Chase and Foreman left.

This part of the season is loads of fun and has incredible writing as well as interesting medical cases to maintain the typical House feeling from previous seasons.

This Season gets stronger with each episode and the addititon of a certain female character promises lots of extremely funny and, for House unusual and challenging moments.

Finally in the two-part season finale, which is "House, M.D."'s best to date the season ends on a very, very strong note that is both emotional (slightly unusual for this show), touching and fascinating to watch as House's Head and Wilson's Heart are examined and a story that has you at the edge of your seat is brought to life on your TV screen by actors whose performances in these two episodes alone literally scream "Emmy". (Robert Sean Leonard should definitely be nominated!)

If you are already a fan of "House" then this Season set is, of course a must-have and for people who were a little disappointed in Season 3, Season 4 is way beyond better, although it is different to the previous ones. However for somebody new to "House, M.D." I'd recommend getting one of the earlier seasons as this Season relies heavily on the dynamics from Season 3 and creates a new House which is still the same though.

House's best season yet and one of the must-buys for every TV junkie who cares for a great drama series with a stellar cast, a show that is intelligent and extremely witty at the same time as providing great medical and character drama.

I have to preface this by saying that House is one of my favorite shows. However this last season was almost unwatchable at times. In the first 3 seasons we learned that House could be a real jerk, but we felt that underneath it all he cared about his patients (and about his relationship with Wilson) and that his less admirable behavior was more from past baggage and not from malice and inherent nastyness. His game-playing usually benefited his patients or forced his team to recognize something in themselves. We forgave him his behavior because the net outcome was always positive. (And because he was always right, ultimately.)

In Season 4, however, House is playing games just for the pleasure of watching the negative reaction. Worse, he is shown as being wrong in his diagnoses. This is over the line. I guess we're supposed to believe that he is sinking to a point where he will be forced to choose between his relationships with patients and friends vs whatever neurotic jollies he's getting from his negative behavior. But you can't change a character's nature just to fit your dramatic needs.

He does indeed reach a choice-point in the final episode of the season, and this is the best episode this year, but the set-up for this isn't worth it.

I do feel for the writers of this show. It's extremely difficult to keep a show fresh over 4 years (and more) and there is a need for longer archs and conflicts. Season 4 just wasn't one of their more successful efforts.

Although this season was mediocre, it was all worth it just to see "House's Head" episode, where the season reaches its peak at the last 5 minutes. Those last 5 minutes are one of the best TV bits I have ever seen. Truly, worth sitting through the season just for this episode.

How can this price be justified? This season has a lot less episodes and costs more than the previous ones... How is that fair?

I love House, and have few complaints as to the content of storyline but I do question DVD content per episodes which number in this season, 16, down from previous seasons, 1=22, 2=24 and 3=24 episodes. Season 3 purchased thru Amazon cost me $37.99 for the 24 episodes equal to $1.58 per episode. Season four will cost me $2.62 per episode. It's a shame price hikes seem to be a fact of life but should a price hike offer less value or content value equal to previous years?

Season Four of House, M.D. was a very big shift from any of the first 3 seasons. Gone were the the old, and in were the new. The new team is far less interesting or engaging; rather, they actually take away from the whole diagnostic process. Despite this unfortunate change, House, Wilson, and Cuddy are at their finest as the season started moving on. The two-part season finale was, in my opinion, the best episodes ever produced. This could only be achieved though with more appearences from Chase and Cameron.

This season is far shorter than any of the past, so don't expect the same as in the past. The extras are not very strong in this DVD collection. I bought the DVD because I love the show and already have Seasons 1-3, but I would recommend purchasing the first 3 season first if you haven't seen them yet.

Not nearly as good as usual, but still worth watching.

I was so excited when the forth season of House M.D. became available. My husband and I are huge House fans. I was somewhat shocked when I got season four to find that it only had sixteen episodes. I felt somewhat cheated. Then watching it I felt that the first five or six episodes, while okay, seemed more like some reality TV show where House is eliminating his choices for his team down to three. I became more interested in who was going to be fired next than House's brilliant diagnosis' and bizarre treatments. Once House picks his team, the shows begin to feel more like those of season's one thru three. But then the two part season finale hits kind of out of place with the rest of the season. I felt like I had skipped a couple of episodes. I don't want to spoil the season for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I will say that the finale was completely unexpected. True House fans might be somewhat dissapointed as I was, but true fans will still buy it and watch it.

At the end of season 3 we were given the shocking conclusion of losing the team we have loved for three years. Foreman quit because he didn't want to become House, Cameron quit because it was time for a change and Chase was fired. I know a lot of dedicated fans felt this was a big mistake, as these were characters that we had fallen in love with and didn't want to say goodbye to. Season 3 left us with a message that it was time for a change. Let me tell you that this change was awesome. Starting with episode 1 of season 4, House is alone in his office and hasn't worked since he lost his team. Determined to get House to hire new staff, Cuddy sets him a challenge. Cure his patient alone and he doesn't have to hire a team, otherwise if he can't figure out what's wrong on his own, he must hire a team. House loses the bet and episode one ends with House in a room of 40 doctors hoping to be on the team.

Season 3, in a way was one of the more emotional seasons when testing his friendship with Wilson and testing his previous teams loyalty. Season 4 was more of a relief from that drama, with which some people may not like, but I truly loved. The first few episodes became a reality TV type show in which House would test his 40 possible employees and fire the ones that failed. Over this time we started to become aware of who the team would eventually be and what their quirks and personalities were.

With the comic relief of the first few episodes, the finale presents us with a real tear jerker and possibly the most emotional episodes we have ever seen from the show. Wilson falls in love with one of House's former possible employees, but the finale tests their love as his girlfriend is taken critically ill. Robert Sean Leonard really shines in the finale and next to the sensible man we've come to know and love, he gives us a real emotional side. The two part finale is something brilliantly made that no fan will be disappointed with. I find that even with the writers strike, we were still given the most triumphant season finale from the entire show.

Along with that I can't help but think that they had plans to have the old team re-unite at the end of season four. Unfortunately we wouldn't get to see that at the end of season four. I hope we really do get to see this situation arise in season five, although the team aren't completely gone. Cameron is in E.R., Chase is now a surgeon and Foreman is back and working for House already. In this season we were given a further development between the relationship of Cuddy and House. I'm hoping that in season 5 we are given a definitive answer on where this relationship is going. This season, as usual was filled with the classic lines that it's famous for and below are some of my favourites.

From Episode 4: Guardian Angels:

House: "I can't ask the black guy or one of the chicks to do it; it'd be insensitive."

From Episode 10: It's A Wonderful Life:

House: "You talk to your kid about sex so she'll think you're open about everything. Keeps her from asking questions about the things you don't wanna talk about."

From Episode 13: No More Mr. Nice Guy:

House: "Run him for everything you can think of: lepto, schisto, hemo and the fourth Marx Brother nobody ever heard of. "