Ode to a Misanthrope
BY KARDELEN KALA (TRIN/I)
kala@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
A couple of months ago, the production team of my favorite TV show in the world, "House M.D.," announced that the current season will be the last of the series. They gave many reasons for this, mostly about keeping the mystery alive and not being the last to leave the party, and ended their statement with their title character's philosophy of life: "Everybody lies."
I don't know what they were lying about (maybe the fact that the main reason behind their decision was declining ratings and the increasing discontent of the lead actor, Hugh Laurie?), but the stories in the series proved House right time and again. Everybody lies. But he was lying when he said that, of course.
That the show is ending doesn't come as a huge surprise. Eight years is, after all, a long time. (“The X Files” ran for nine seasons, and pretty much everyone would have preferred six or seven. And I won't even talk about Billy Connolly as a pedophile priest. Try listening to “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.” with that image in mind!) It's nonetheless surprisingly sad. I've known for a long time that I love "House," of course, but I guess I never actually realized how big a part it played in my weekly routine. You get one episode per week, and you enjoy it. My high school self, who went through the first three seasons of the show in about a month during her senior year, is particularly upset over the news.
What is it about this show that's so special and so hard to give up? Is it the formulaic medical drama that presents itself each week? For the first two episodes, maybe. Is it the impressively talented supporting cast and their lifelike characters, whose adventures and mishaps are quite enjoyable to watch? Well, they do play a part in the show's success, that's for sure, but as the departure of Dr. Lisa Cuddy, by all means an integral part of it for the first seven years, clearly demonstrated, even the most important characters can be replaced. No, for all intents and purposes, "House M.D." is a one-man show; it's about one misanthropic, miserable, hopelessly annoying, highly intelligent and incredibly damaged man: Dr. Gregory House. And it's the interaction we as the audience had with him for the last eight years that I'm going to miss the most.
Based on Sherlock Holmes (complete with a drug addiction and an enabler doctor for a best friend), House has been and will remain one of the most realistic and well-written characters on television. In fact, the way his character and motivations are handled has a literary quality that's very hard to find in anything produced for the mainstream in any country (Tony Soprano is another exceptional example). For his team and friends, House is an enigma (though their failure to learn from their past experiences with him does get a little annoying from time to time), but as the audience, we get to look inside his head, and more often than not we know what he actually thinks and feels about any given subject. Because he has been treated as a real person and has remained consistent throughout the course of the series, we've gotten to know him more and more. While this has eliminated some of the mysterious qualities of the earlier seasons, it’s given us front row tickets to the mind of one of the most exciting fictional characters of the new millennium. I, for one, will seriously miss House's all too familiar antics, his interactions with his team, his modus operandi (fun fact: I have realized over the course of the show that I also work best when I brainstorm with several other people, though my conclusions are nowhere near as brilliant and life-saving, of course) and his love of the puzzle.
And now that it's time to say goodbye, I can honestly say that it's been a pleasure getting to know Dr. Gregory House in all his glory and misery. The themes evoked by his character and surroundings aren't new by any means, but he does offer a fresh take on various eternal issues of humankind. And, while the occasional episode and the abrupt announcement that the series was ending are sobering reminders of how commercialized writing has become, I can't say the change there has been all that drastic, really. Some of the greatest writers in history have been known to accept commissions to write books, which takes nothing away from their literary value in the end; so I feel no shame in my open celebration of the show and my belief in House's literary lasting power. My opinion is of course biased, as I have always valued characters in a story more than the story itself, and as I do seem to be attracted, more often than not, to a certain type of person. However, I still think that time will prove me right.
I feel like I've turned romantic in my old age, but for the last few weeks, I've seemed to be very eager to express my gratitude to everyone and anyone who makes this world a little more bearable through art and creation, and this certainly includes fictional characters. They are, after all, created by actual people based on actual experiences. Dr. House is and will remain one of the most important figures in fiction, at least in my mind. Nowadays I'm just saddened by the fact that there are very few new episodes of "House M.D." left; they should be savored. Maybe watched all together as a marathon, even -- a postmodern twist to finishing a very good book by reading the last six chapters in one sitting. Why not? I'm sure my old man Greg, so fond of TV show marathons on lazy Saturday afternoons (or, for that matter, on busy Monday mornings), would approve.