When season 8 of House MD started, Hugh Laurie’s Dr. Gregory House M.D. was in prison, and the reason House is in jail remains one of the show’s most talked about moments. Hugh Laurie remains well known for his role as Gregory House, a deeply cynical and sardonic medical genius. With House being set up as a kind of Sherlock Holmes of medicine who can diagnose and treat even the most obscure ailments, outlandish scenarios are commonplace in the show. However, the antisocial House being sent to prison for harming one of the few people he seemed to genuinely care about was a shocking twist, even by the standards of House MD.
One of Hugh Laurie’s co-stars in House MD prior to the season 8 prison opening was Lisa Edelstein as Cuddy — someone House had a relationship with that veered from confrontational to romantic at times. House’s addiction issues made his and Cuddy’s relationship tumultuous. However, Edelstein left House MD after season 7, making a happily ever after for House and Cuddy impossible. It looked possible there wouldn’t be a House MD season 8 thanks to declining ratings and actor contracts expiring. However, her exit also offered up a chance to really throw House into a situation unlike any other he experienced on the show. House went to jail in season 8 because, with no future possible for him and Cuddy, the showrunners were able to have him do something no relationship — romantic or otherwise — could likely recover from.
House Went To Prison For Driving A Car Into Cuddy’s House
House MD season 8 proved to be the final for the series — and it was quite an eventful one too. It famously opened with House in prison, and while this has stuck in many fans minds, the specific reason he went to jail might have been forgotten. House went to jail because he crashed his car into Cuddy’s house in season 7. Prior to season 8’s prison episodes, season 7 ended with a heartbroken House driving his car into the empty living room of ex-girlfriend Cuddy’s home and walking away as she and her family looked on in shock. The season 8 premiere, “Twenty Vicodin,” opens about a year after this event. Gregory House went to jail for driving his car into Cuddy’s house, and he served eight months of a prison sentence for this specific crime.
It turns out House didn’t even try to get a reduced sentence and when his term was up, he planned to leave medicine and study dark matter instead, which would isolate him even further from other people. However, “Twenty Vicodin” saw House up for early parole, and all he had to do to get out was to behave himself for a mere five more days. Naturally, this goes wrong as a fellow prisoner demanded an “exit” fee of twenty painkillers, and he also helped treat a fellow patient suffering from a mystery illness.
House MD’s “Twenty Vicodin” ended with him obtaining the necessary pills but using them to ignite a riot. He saved the patient’s life at the cost of having parole denied for his behavior. The next episode saw a reluctant Dr. Eric Foreman (Omar Epps) approach House in prison with an offer to get him released early if he works on a complex case. It also turns out Cuddy resigned as Dean of Medicine and Foreman replaced her. House accepted the offer and got out of prison. However, a lot changed at the hospital in the year since House was away, including his old – and possibly only real – friend Wilson wanting nothing to do with him.
Gregory House Should Have Been In Prison Much Longer
House went to prison for driving his car into Cuddy’s home, only to get out when he accepted a deal brokered by Foreman. However, there’s definitely an argument to be made that House should have ended up in jail for much longer in House MD — and not just because he drove his car into Cuddy’s house. While House saved many lives over the eight seasons of the series, he was, at heart, a villain. House committed many crimes throughout the show. While House wasn’t an outright antagonist, he was never a hero like Sherlock Holmes, who many compare him to. He was a selfish man who hurt people and only saved lives because his ego wouldn’t allow him to do anything different.
Throughout the series, House did a lot of bad things for what was often the greater good. He committed countless crimes and ethical violations, but he almost never faced any consequences for them, including assaulting a patient. He also took multiple risks during, had they been attempted in the real world where TV logic doesn’t apply, would likely have ended up leaving a trail of bodies and lawsuits for medical negligence.
While his severe painkiller addiction isn’t itself anything he can be morally judged for, the fact he used his position as a doctor to commit prescription forgery is — and is also highly illegal. As is the fact he knowingly went on to treat patients despite being under the influence or mentally compromised due to withdrawal. In both instances, House could have ended up in prison. Then there’s the fact that House openly disrespected a judge in one of his cases, yet walked away with only a slap on the wrist. If nothing, House should have lost his license more than once in the eight seasons of House MD at the very least, and driving his car into Cuddy’s house is far from the only prison-worthy crime he committed.
However, House starting season 8 in prison didn’t mark a turnaround for him. After driving his car into Cuddy’s house, House finally faced punishment for at least one crime — even though he ran to Mexico before finally returning to face the consequences of his actions. House would have been arrested again, even after Foreman got him released into his custody. However, rather than face punishment for his crimes, House faked his own death. Admittedly this was to spend time with Wilson before his only friend died following a battle with cancer, but it’s nevertheless another case of House avoiding the legal consequences of his actions. Gregory House may have been painted as a tragic antihero in House MD, even when he was in prison, but by the standards of real medical law he’s a career criminal who got away with his crimes for far too long.