"House" Episode 1: "Alone"

What's a "House" without any team to torture? Why, if Tuesday's season premiere is any indication, he's the same cranky doctor as always. To check out my thoughts on the fourth-season premiere and share your own, just read more

With Chase, Cameron and Foreman all gone, House started off the episode by recruiting a janitor to help him solve the case of a woman who was crushed by a building and developed a mysterious illness on top of that. In no time, House went from describing medical cases to him in condescending terms ("so you have a favorite buffer...") to slapping a white coat on him and calling him Dr. Buffer. I'm a sucker for a good in-joke, and Dr. Buffer was good for that. "Or maybe lupus?" "It's never lupus." Heh. I'm glad that gag didn't last the whole episode, but it was a good setup for things to come.

Cuddy spent the episode trying to get House to admit he needed a new team to help him kick ideas around. But as negotiating tactics go, banning House from discussing cases with other people seemed a little pointless — I mean, if his bouncing ideas off every random doctor and nurse would save a life, shouldn't she be all for it? Still, though, it moved the plot forward enough and set up that great scene at the end, with House warning the prospective fellowship candidates that they have no idea what torture they were in for.

The antics between House and Wilson really stole the show for me in this episode. They have such great chemistry, and while I haven't always found their friendship believable, I'm starting to understand that they thrive on each other's weird energy. I love that Wilson would go through the trouble of making ransom notes after kidnapping the guitar (even if it was Cuddy's doing, I can't see her cutting out all those little magazine letters). And House kidnapping Wilson's patient? Genius, and typically unethical, revenge — especially because it shows that House really does equate that guitar with a human life, at this point.

Some other thoughts:

• I loved the anguish in Wilson's voice when he realized House was monkeying with his TiVo.
• We'll soon know if that one ER doctor who came up with new theories for House winds up being one of the fellowship candidates, but if she does, I'm already fearing for her. "I just care about people"? I sense another Cameron situation coming on.
• I really did not see the twist coming with the case of mistaken identity, but I totally should have. Otherwise, why even introduce the other woman's husband?
• My favorite House line of the night, after Cuddy accuses him of doing absolutely nothing since the team left: "In what twisted universe does mastering Eddie Van Halen’s two-handed arpeggio technique count as absolutely nothing?"

Your thoughts? Do you miss the team? Are you ready for House to start interviewing fresh meat?

Photos courtesy of Fox