My Week on TV - 02/10/2011

House: Family Practice (S07E11)
My rating: 9.5/10

So this week's house was pretty good, I'd say.  The plot looked amazing in all of the previews -- it was a welcome change to see some real potential for trouble between House and Cuddy. I certainly don't want their relationship to end, but the period of House-being-himself and Cuddy-being-agreeable-about-House-being-himself had to come to an end at some point, and I'm glad that it did.  The glimpse into cuddy's personal life was also nice, since we see very little of her outside of her love life -- the contrast between her and her mother was interesting, and the conversations that took place (particularly the one where her mother said that she liked Cuddy's sister better) added a level of humanity to Cuddy that viewers rarely get to see outside of the hospital.  
Now, House was also a big part in this episode.  At first, I was really afraid that they were going to end the relationship (it has to last at least ONE whole season, right?) but there was that one redeeming moment when the two of them were in Cuddy's office fighting after her mother had demanded to leave and go to a different hospital.  House said that the only reason he was doing all of this was because her mother was going to die without his help and he couldn't stand the thought that Cuddy would wake up one day and think to herself that the man lying next to her killed her mother.  DRAMA, MUCH?  But it was such a moment -- a rare but oh-so-honest view into the heart of House (he has one of those, right?).
What's-her-name (that intern whose time on the show is hopefully coming to an end) had a nice, but predictable performance.  While she redeemed herself in House's eyes, I still think that her character needs to have some kind of change in order to stay worthwhile as part of the team, and by extension, the show itself.  
Apart from that, there is little that I found problematic with the show.  That is, except for the fact that lighting was so drastically different in this episode.  While I understand the need for drama and severity, it really seemed like a bit much.  It painfully reminded me of the first few episodes of the series when the producers still weren't sure what direction to go in (drama? comedy? both?).  As much as I can appreciate using the set to emphasize the storyline, it was just too much.  When I can't see clearly and everyone's faces are half-shadowed, somebody in the room needs to turn on a darn light.  Did all of the light switches in the hospital stop working that day?  It's not a major part (or really even a major annoyance) but it's still a factor that remained noticeable throughout the episode and I believe that the same dramatic plot could have been achieved with the lights left on.
Regardless, this episode was certainly one of my favorites.


Now, normally I would include all of my television shows in the post, but I'm feeling particularly lazy right now.  But in the future, posts will include shows like Castle, the Mentalist, and, of course, Glee.