The writers and House's health insurance should have done better. Perhaps the writers underwent a lobotomy.
Last season, they totally got me when it turned out that House's dalliance with Cuddy was a delusion. It was realistic and not improbable, and I'm not even on drugs. Maybe I would have overlooked the numerous flaws in "Broken" if I had been high; with few exceptions, it was unrealistic and improbable, and chock full of stereotypes and cheap short cuts.
The psych hospital based on _Cuckoo's Nest_ mixed with a dash of _Birdy_ might have worked if the place, the people, and the program had changed as House's perceptions cleared. They didn't. The other patients, though marginally talented, were a "rag-tag bunch of misfits" that stayed that way.
Was that champagne he was drinking at a hospital function? Well, maybe, because he never discussed anything about recovery from addiction, as if the pain in his leg and his use of his brain to distance himself from others were the only problems. And the hospital staff tacitly approved of a relationship between a recently-admitted patient and a married relative of another patient. No mention of after-care or recovery meetings, either. I guess a relapse would allow the lousy hospital set to be used again, and perhaps between now and then, the writers could visit an actual psychiatric hospital or talk with someone who has worked or stayed in one.
There were a few shining moments. The bit with the music box (starting with House's intuition about its role) was lovely, and a few scenes near the end of House shedding the wooden bits and becoming a real boy were pretty good. I'd say that of the entire show, about 15 minutes were both decent and realistic.
The symbolism in the last scene was far too heavy-handed. We're smarter and we deserve better.
Last season, they totally got me when it turned out that House's dalliance with Cuddy was a delusion. It was realistic and not improbable, and I'm not even on drugs. Maybe I would have overlooked the numerous flaws in "Broken" if I had been high; with few exceptions, it was unrealistic and improbable, and chock full of stereotypes and cheap short cuts.
The psych hospital based on _Cuckoo's Nest_ mixed with a dash of _Birdy_ might have worked if the place, the people, and the program had changed as House's perceptions cleared. They didn't. The other patients, though marginally talented, were a "rag-tag bunch of misfits" that stayed that way.
Was that champagne he was drinking at a hospital function? Well, maybe, because he never discussed anything about recovery from addiction, as if the pain in his leg and his use of his brain to distance himself from others were the only problems. And the hospital staff tacitly approved of a relationship between a recently-admitted patient and a married relative of another patient. No mention of after-care or recovery meetings, either. I guess a relapse would allow the lousy hospital set to be used again, and perhaps between now and then, the writers could visit an actual psychiatric hospital or talk with someone who has worked or stayed in one.
There were a few shining moments. The bit with the music box (starting with House's intuition about its role) was lovely, and a few scenes near the end of House shedding the wooden bits and becoming a real boy were pretty good. I'd say that of the entire show, about 15 minutes were both decent and realistic.
The symbolism in the last scene was far too heavy-handed. We're smarter and we deserve better.