Review by Justin Bateman
Stars Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Robert Sean Leonard, Omar Epps,
Jesse Spencer, Jennifer Morrison, Olivia Wilde, Peter Jacobson | Written by Various
UK certification 15 | UK RRP £44.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 970 minutes | Directed by Various
At the end of Season 5, Dr Gregory House (Laurie) is hallucinating wildly due to his continued painkiller addiction for the pain in his gammy leg. He finally agrees to go to Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital to get help which is where we join House in Season 6. It's an unusual environment for him to be in and predictably the good doctor revels in winding up everyone around him – at one point it all seems to be a bit One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
Slowly but surely the series gets back to normality but in some ways seeing House outside of his comfort zone – in the hospital, riling people, pausing dramatically before realising the answer to the latest medical conundrum - is more interesting than the old routine. So it's shame that House's personal problems don't last longer than they do.
However, despite its formulaic structure, House remains one of the best dramas on television. The characters are fully formed and continue to develop with revelations about Cuddy, Chase, Cameron, Foreman and "Thirteen" all bouncing around the irrepressible House. Hugh Laurie's performance is as good as ever, combining cyncial with witty and brilliant in a way that makes you proud to be British. Well, me at any rate.
Also excellent is the script, which as we all know is the key to a continually watchable television series. The writers – and there are more than a dozen involved over the course of the series – do a fine job of not only ensuring the dialogue is sharp but also maintaining a fine balance between high drama, low humour and some genuinely moving situations. Fittingly, the drama reaches its climax in the final episode which provides a colossal dose of despair and hope almost at once and ensures that the next season will serve up yet another new and fascinating direction for the world's smartest medical consultant.
EXTRAS ★★★★ There's an excellent collection of special features for the House enthusiast including an ongoing optional feature called U-Control which enables you to get a short description of pretty much any illness as its mentioned in the programme. There are five short behind the scenes featurettes: Before "Broken", A NeW House For House, New Faces in New House, Crazy Cool Episode: "Epic Fail", and A Different POV: Hugh Laurie directs – behind the scenes of "Lockdown". There are also commentaries on four of the episodes, including one each from Robert Sean Leonard and Lisa Edelstein. In fact the only thing which would make this better is a commentary from Hugh Laurie himself.