This was the fourth season of the medical show House on the FOX Network, and it shows that the writing for this particular drama just keeps getting better and better as the seasons progress. So much so, that they even gave House the Super Bowl treatment by featuring it as the primary show after the Super Bowl Post-Game Show had aired. The star of the show is British actor extraordinaire Hugh Laurie, who brings a unique charm and charisma to a character that seems to thrive off of negativity. Rather than present your typical doctor drama where everyone has a "feel-good" approach to them, you have Dr. Gregory House, who has his own methods of pushing people's buttons and getting his own desired reactions in order to get the job done. His arrogance at times puts his own ideals at risk, but with so many successes under his belt, you cannot help but get a chuckle out of his everyday work habits.

House is by all accounts a genius when it comes to the practice of medicine, and even though he is extremely anti-social, he and his specially chosen team of doctors are very good at their job. With their help, he often figures out ways to diagnose very ill people from everyday life who happen to be suffering from something unexplainable. Symptoms might appear in the patient and when no other doctors can figure out what is going on, House and his team step in, and more times than not, end up saving the day. The excitement lies in their methods of solving these illnesses, and ultimately in how the characters interact with one another to get the job done. House is brilliant, but he often relies on his team as a crutch to help him come up with the ideas that he usually takes credit for. He believes, and it is probably correct, that if he continues to push them, he will turn them into better doctors.

The fourth season of House starts off where the third season ended, with House and his team in shambles. House of course dives in without them, and tries to diagnose patients on his own, finding it less than successful to do all of the work on his own. It is at this point that fellew staff members Dr. Cuddy and Dr. Wilson step and to try and convince him that his best bet is to put a new team together. This would take hiring new doctors, and while he fights it for about an episode (quite an amusing one) he ends up deciding to have what basically amounts to an open job interview where 40 candidates try to get the 3 positions that he has opened up. In probably the best arc I have seen in the show, several episodes are spent as House weeds out the group, figuring out which of these cast of characters really has what it takes, and which ones are just hoping that a nice resume can get them through it. Of course he figures out the three best, but to add drama to the situation, his three old staff come back in different positions within the hospital.

There is a lot of drama within Season 4 of House, but the show ended up suffering because of the Writer's Strike. There were only 16 episodes during the season, and while they were all entertaining, the best arc was when he was interviewing the students, and the finale really leaves a lot out there in regards to the great writing and acting on the show. With a lot of good episodes to the credit of Season 4, I think that House is still on the upswing in regards to where the show is heading, and I think that heading into Season 5, the show is looking as strong as ever. If you missed out on some of the great episodes of Season 4, then you should head out and buy this DVD set, because it is not only worth it for the episodes, but for the interesting behind-the-scene features that they include in the DVD set. House is a great original drama in the medical field, and even if you haven't been a fan of the show before this season, this is a great Season to start watching.









Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD