The pilot was good. Sort of cliche, sort of overacted (I’ve been watching eps from season 5, so obviously the cast and the writing is tighter), an annoying amount of soft-focus. Seriously, people: backlighting and a little Vaseline on the lens is not going to make your cast more likable. It will, however, make me want to punch you in the face. Funny how that works.

If I’d tuned in for the first episode, I might not have been impressed enough to watch it again, save for one thing: at the end, House is explaining to one of his underlings that he hired her because she’s pretty, and that pretty girls who go into a demanding field like medicine are interesting because something’s wrong with them. He starts asking all these inappropriate questions about whether she was abused or molested as a child, and she replies with an ever-escalating series of indignant denials. House just looks at her and says, quietly, “But you are damaged, aren’t you.”

The girl flees. I’m hooked.

Apparently that’s what it takes to get me into a show: a deeply messed up protagonist with a thing for damaged goods. I’m so predictable.