Season Premiere Review: House (Season 4)

House [s4 ep01]: "Alone"

*** Spoiler Warning ***

Key Plot Points of Season Premiere

• It's been two weeks since Foreman & Cameron quit and Chase was fired. House has done nothing but now has a new patient. The patient was pulled out of rubble six hours after her office building collapsed from a gas main explosion. House makes a deal with Cuddy that if he can diagnose the patient's problems without a team, she must leave him alone for a week.


• Needing someone to bounce ideas off of, House enlists the help of a janitor and even dresses him up as a doctor to help interact with the patient's mother and boyfriend.


• Wilson kidnaps House's guitar and holds it ransom until House agrees to interview candidates for a new team.


• In the course of his diagnosis, House discovers that his patient was on anti-depressants, was an alcoholic, and had an abortion, none of which the mother or boyfriend were aware.


• House solves the case by realizing that the symptoms weren't lying, but the chart was. The physical injuries from the building collapse were so bad that the mother and boyfriend didn't realize...the patient was someone else. The woman they knew has already died. This patient is someone who worked in the same building and had a very similar hair color, figure, and facial features. With the severe facial injuries, the two patients looked practically the same.


• House is finally convinced to hire a team but plans to have some fun in the process. So, he plans to narrow down his team from a group of 40 potential doctors, no doubt embarrassing and mentally torturing them for several episodes to come.

Opinions and Observations

• It was a great inside joke when the janitor says, "Maybe it's Lupus. My grandmother has Lupus." It's a running gag of the show that Lupus is a commonly hypothesized diagnosis.


• I know House ultimately outsmarts everyone, but it's very fun to watch Wilson and Cuddy come close sometimes. Wilson's idea to kidnap House's guitar was ingenious and hilarious. Cuddy's idea to stop enabling House was good too. Unfortunately, she couldn't carry through on her intentions because doing so would be the equivalent of patient neglect.


• The three cast members of House's old team are still in the opening credits. Previews for next week's episode plus internet rumors suggest that they'll still be on the show, and their characters will still be at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital; they just won't be working for House.

Hopes, Concerns, or Expectations for New Season

• I'm glad they're switching things up this year. Even though Foreman, Cameron, and Chase were good enough to still be on the show, their chemistry with House was getting old. He says something obnoxious, and they roll their eyes at him. House needs new blood, and I look forward to seeing who he chooses for his new team.