Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Hugh Laurie, "House," mysteries, dark comedy
Likes: Companies that learn from their mistakes
Dislikes: Doctors, hospitals
Hates: Needles, Non-anamorphic widescreen

The Story So Far...
Executive Produced by Bryan Singer, "House, M.D." follows the medical misadventures of Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), a genius diagnostician with a bum leg and addiction to painkillers, who hates people and loves puzzles. Working with his team of doctors and annoying the hospital administrators, House tackles the toughest cases, where no one can figure out what's wrong with the patient. Focusing more on solving the mystery than the action in the operating room, the show tempers the drama of a medical show with House's sarcastic humor, and mixes in some intriguing relationships among the doctors. August is the month for House, with the first season released on DVD in 2005, and the second season a year later. DVDTalk has reviews of both sets: Season One | Season Two

The Show
With a formula now firmly entrenched and a fan base that loyally goes along a path each week that's not only familiar, but as regular as clockwork, there was only one thing for "House, M.D." to do for its third season: introduce a new baby and have a surprise wedding!

Well, maybe not. Thankfully, instead of injecting a Cousin Oliver into the series, the creators took advantage of the mythology they are working with, and one hell of a talented cast, and decided to get deeper into the doctors' heads. For the most part, this approach worked perfectly, revealing more about House' intensely private life, and reflecting it in the lives of those who work for and with him or those whose existence depends upon him.

No continuing storyline was as important or involving than the one that introduced the character of Michael Twitter, played with concrete gravitas by David Morse ("Hack".) Playing a cop rubbed the wrong way by House's aloof bedside manner, Morse is the only person to ever truly stand up to the good doctor and make him play by the rules. The police involvement draws everyone into House's troubles, and forces his friends to make some tough decisions that they'd rather not make. It also showed a glimmer of humanity in House that would become important as the season built to its finale. The only negative would be the length of the arc, which lasted six episodes. Considering that most stories on House wrap up two, maybe three episodes, this was as long-form as the show gets, and felt a bit drawn out at times.

As is usually the case, House doesn't get the spotlight to himself this season, as his team, his boss, Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein); and his friend Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) all get a chance up front, whether it's an unhealthy relationship between Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) and Chase (Jesse Spencer), a baby chase on the part of Cuddy, or Foreman's (Omar Epps) professional and personal struggles. Though these have always been a part of the House recipe, they became a bigger part of the show this season, as the stretch run changed everything for the team, leading to a finale that left things up in the air heading into season four. More interesting were the opportunities they had to "play House," taking lead roles at times, like Cuddy's role in "Fetal Position," Wilson taking command in "Airborne" and Foreman's turn in "House Training."

There were several stand-out episodes in this season, starting with the season premiere, which picked up on the result of House's shooting in season two, establishing the slightly changing nature of House's personality in this season. This strand ran through the show until the finale, which was a great capper, as this House was not the same man in the first episode, hammering home everything this season was about. In between, the more unique conditions seen in the show always seemed to make for interesting episodes, and there are some winners in this run, including a screaming child with autism, a 600-lb man who refuses treatment for anything weight-related and a woman who can't feel pain. When a special patient, like the aggravating child genius who battles House in "The Jerk," wasn't enough, the show threw in something new, changing locations to an airplane from Singapore, in "Airborne." It's just another example of how the series' crew is able to make something fresh out of formula.

As good as the stories are, without Laurie playing the titular crankpot, they may as well set up the camera and run around punching themselves in the head. It's hard to come up with more ways to praise his acting, so a simple "brilliant" should cover it.

Normally, when you have such a tremendous talent on a show, it either raises the bar for the rest of the cast, or makes them look bad in comparison. Here, everyone raises their game, especially Epps, who has to anchor the show as the anti-House, and as a result turns in some genuinely emotional performances. While the regular cast is pitch-perfect, the show also seems to find perfect guest stars, who make their appearances into dramatic excellence. Whether it's John Larroquette as a man House forces out of a coma, Dave Matthews playing a brain-damaged savant, Meredith Eaton-Gilden ("Boston Legal") standing up to House, or Kurtwood Smith ("That '70s Show") as a dad who has to make a hard choice about his son, the show is great at getting the most out it's actors.

Depending on what the series has in store in season four and beyond, this could be the season that marks a turning point for the show, changing the rules andreinvigorating the series before it ever even needed it. Of course, if things go downhill from here, thanks to them messing with the formula, this could be the show's peak. Either way, it's a damn fine example of what TV can be.

The DVDs
The three-tray, three-panel digipak, wrapped in a stylish embossed, spot-coated slipcover, makes a return for season three. But after going from three dual-sided discs in the first set to six discs in the second, we're down to just five for the 25 episodes in this season. The digipak has an episode guide on it, with descriptions and info on extras. The discs have static anamorphic-widescreen main menus offering a choice to play all the episodes, select individual shows, view special features, and adjust languages. There are no audio options or closed captioning, but there are subtitles in English SDH and Spanish.

The Quality
House M.D. is one of the most beautiful shows broadcast in high definition, and thankfully, the anamorphic widescreen transfers on this set are once again excellent. The show's gorgeous sets and dramatic special effects shots are reproduced beautifully, with vivid color, an insane level of detail and not a speck of noticeable dirt or damage. Check out the shot in the first episode of a sweaty, unshaven House and see what kind of detail SD DVD is capable of.

The audio is presented via top-notch Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, which have crisp, distortion-free dialogue and powerful music and sound effects. There's nothing real dynamic about the mix, as is normally the case with TV audio, so the side and rear speakers are there for atmospheric effects and to give more depth to the music and sound effects, which they do quite well.

The Extras
The bonus material starts on disc one, with another of the show's great "Valley Girl Takes," an alternate scene delivery by Edelstein and Morrison. This time, the scene from "Cane & Able," is an "Angry Valley Girl Version," which has them swapping swears and "likes" with California style. If only they would do a whole episode like this, just so Laurie could get in on the fun.

After giving us two audio commentaries last time around, we get just one, from executive producer David Shore and executive producer/director Katie Jacobs, on "Half Wit." These creators get along well and have a lot of info to share, which makes for a fun and informative track that will be enjoyable for the show's audience.

The remainder of the extras are found on the final DVD, starting with a 5:30 blooper reel, which shows how much fun the cast seems to have while shooting and screwing up. It's followed by the 21-minute "Anatomy of an Episode: 'The Jerk'" which breaks down the production effort on this excellent episode, through on-set footage and interviews. It's a solid behind-the-scenes featurette, delivered in anamorphic widescreen and actually has Laurie speaking in his natural voice. It also has a couple of hints as to what is coming in season four.

Laurie fans get more from him in the seven-minute featurette on Band from TV, a charity all-star band that developed from the season-two episode "Sex Kills," co-starring Greg Grunberg ("Heroes.") With Grunberg on drums, Laurie on piano, Bob Guiney ("The Bachelor") on vocals and Lester Holt (NBC News) on guitar, along with David Foster acting as producer, it's certainly an interesting side project, worthy of a featurette that joins them in the studio for a recording session and several interviews.

Things wrap up with a pair of production featuettes, starting with the three-and-a-half minute "Open House," a tour of the show's production offices, led by Jacobs, and shot during production of the season finale. Shot seemingly completely off-the-cuff, it's a quick and dirty peek at the people who create the show. One group, the props crew, gets more screen time in "Blood, Needles and Body Parts," a 3:30 look at all the bits and pieces used to imitate the show's medical procedures, hosted by property master Tyler Patton.

The Bottom Line
The third season of "House, M.D." changed things up a bit for Greg House's team, supplementing each episode's medical mystery with more about House's increasing trouble with his pain management and his interactions with his staff, deepening the story. Though the arc involving Morse's tenacious cop drags on a bit too long, and the relationship between Chase and Cameron pushes the limits of believability, the rest of the show is brilliant, powered largely by the incredible performances by Laurie and the rest of the cast, which make difficult concepts simple and beautifully human. The DVDs looks and sounds terrific, replicating the series' gorgeous visuals, while the extras are a good mix of behind-the-scenes material. Because of how the series changes so much this season, this isn't a great jumping-on point for the series, but it's one that fans of the show will want to catch up with before the new season kicks in, as there are a lot of threads hanging as a result of season three.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.