Why I Love Hugh Laurie (House)

This past summer, I officially became hooked on House when Fox repeated the entirety of season 2 by showing a double dose every Tuesday. I know a lot of people don't like this show, but I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Why? It's simple. Hugh Laurie is quite possibly one of the finest actors I've seen in a long time. He was very famous in the UK for his stints on Wooster & Jeeves and Black Adder, where he got to show his comic genius.

But then came House, which is unlike any other show I've seen. It poses the question, would you rather have a doctor with great bedside manner who wasn't a strong doctor or diagnostician, or would you rather have a doctor with dreadful bedside manner (downright rude and mean in House's case) who knew his stuff? Because in this case, Hugh Laurie plays a rather famous diagnostician who takes on only the most baffling cases that no one else can seem to solve. But, he's got a bum leg from an infarction that took place in his thigh (apparently they're not just limited to your heart), and is constantly popping Vicodin to manage the pain. On top of that, he hates people and doesn't relate well at all to anyone.

So this season, we are taking a look at if House is out of control because of his "addiction" to Vicodin. Now, he is an addict, but he's a functioning addict. That is, the Vicodin kills his pain enough for him to be able to function normally. The question is, does he abuse it? Probably. But he is a very powerful person who gets what he always wants. Only this season, there's a detective who wants to see to it that he doesn't anymore, because he thinks House is an out-of-control addict who answers to no one. We'll see how this all plays out.

It's been interesting so far...making the lives of everyone except for House miserable in order to get House to do what he wants (basically, freezing all of their assets, or in one case, suspending their DEA number, thereby preventing him from writing prescriptions). Now, it seems that one of them is actually going to turn him in, only because in this past episode, he was way more out of line than normal. He actually punched one of his staff, and was totally and unnecessarily mean to his superior. Granted, his Vicodin level had been cut down due to all of this, and he was in pain...but still, he is way out of line. Something does need to be done before he actually kills a patient.