Except that House isn’t an ass because of the damage to his leg and his pain. His long-time friends (such as they are - Wilson, Cuddy, his ex, Stacy) all agree that he was pretty much of an ass all along before his leg surgery. A House without pain is still an ass.
Actually, the show has pointed out that he was an ass even before he hurt his leg. His real problem is that he is too closed off emotionally. He can’t get what he really wants in life because he is too scared to expose himself. Too scared of rejection. What makes the show interesting is that he deals with his misery by being a complete ass. Just think of this past season and how he evades Cuddy. They kiss, and the next time she confronts him he grabs her boob. Then he gets her a nice table for her office, but when Cuddy goes to see him he is with a hooker. In this episode he doesn’t go to her baby’s party. A few episodes back he makes it all the way to her doorstep and then runs away. This guy has serious issues.
Point is that it’s not just the physical pain that makes him act like an asshole, there is also the emotional misery as well.
Ah. I haven’t seen that yet. Honestly, I’m not sure that makes it better. So he doesn’t even have an actual excuse for his asshatery, he just is an asshat.
Part of what got me into the show was that he gets to say and do things that I would want to do in that situation, but refrain from because I’d be afraid to get in trouble. Who wouldnt want to tell someone off for being annoying, or accuse them to their face that they’re lying. That appealed to me, and I’m glad he’s an ass still after all these years. He’s still doing things that I want to do and thats cathartic
As for breaking the law, lets be honest here: when it comes to saving lives and helping people, bureaucratic red tape is the last thing that should stand in the way. Thats why I hated the Trigger episodes so much, when that cop tried to arrest House for using pills. The man’s brilliant and he saves lives. The pills are only doing bad things to his own body. Sure its against the law, but in the situation, would any one of us rather have a death on our hands or a slightly medicated doctor? Considering that the show’s premise is that only House can solve some of these mysteries, I’m willing to forgive his law-breaking and general attitude
He has father issues. They did a show on his father’s funeral. I think it’s a big contributor to his schmuck-like behavior.
House had been shot in one episode. After his rehab, he was temporarily pain-free. He was even running between his home and the hospital. He didn’t change one bit. And of course, the pain eventually came back and House was back on the cane and the pills.
The thing I see in House is a real overachiever streak. You never get the “Thank God this patient will live,” but rather, “Whew, my batting streak is alive!”
He exemplifies how doctors have to remain detached or they won’t be able to do their job as effectively. See, for instance, Foreman tinking with the trials on behalf of 13, Cuddy getting too involved when her handyman slips and falls from the roof, and others. He’s going for all-out objectivity…he doesn’t even want to talk to the patient.
He has some great lines about Cuddy. When he had to treat that guy with the CIA, he told Wilson via phone something like, “They’ve got a satellite tracking her crotch. I told them there was 0% chance of invasion, but they wouldn’t believe me.”
I found those episodes uncomfortable, but not bad. It really forced the issue, including how far others would go to protect him (Wilson claiming he wrote the scrips, Cuddy lying the pills were placebos) and House actually sort of “broke” under the pressure when he agreed to treatment etc. But then, the way that story line ended shocked me more than any other.
Some of the shit that mofo does…like when Wilson was calling around trying to find an apt so he could move out and House erased three messages from the machine :smack::D. Great stuff!
Well…if your father was the drill sergent from Full Metal Jacket…you’d have issues to! 
Turns out…{spoiler delete}
Good.
HATED House when I first started watching (The Captain of the Remote declared it must be watched.) He grew on me. :shrug: Now I can’t miss it.
I like it simply because House says and does all the shit I have wished I could get away with. I don’t care about his “issues”, and in fact I’ll skip any episode that primarily deals with House’s issues, his past, his soft gooey center or whatever.
I don’t care.
House is an asshole, and I watch it because I wish I could get away with being that much of an asshole to that many people and still be employed. I also enjoy it because I know it’s fiction. Realistically, nobody could do all the crap he does and not get into trouble.
Loved House from the moment I started watching it, but haven’t really kept up with it since the original team split up. All of the characters are extremely well-acted, and my favorite interactions are between House and Wilson.
However, I agree that they don’t need to give House a deeply buried shred of humanity. Let him just be a jackass. Nor do they need to satisfy any sort of romantic tension between any of the characters.
Admittedly, House was better in the earlier seasons when the show was part-CSI and part-Diagnosis: Unknown, with a lead character who just happened to be a self-loathing ass. Seems now they’re trying to make it more soap opera-y.
I’m sure real doctors who watch the show groan at certain aspects of the fictitious medicine, as do real hospital administrators who know a real House would never get away with anything he does. Makes for good TV, though.
Oh, and I would gladly submit my body, without hesitation, to suit Jennifer Morrison’s carnal desires.