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"Twenty Vicodin" is the eighth season premiere episode of the American television medical drama series House and the 156th overall episode of the series. It aired on Fox on October 3, 2011. The episode introduces a new regular cast member to the series, Odette Annable, who plays Dr. Jessica Adams. Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel on the ABC show Family Matters, makes a guest appearance in the episode. In the episode, the storyline picks up eleven months after the season seventh finale with House in prison.

Plot

Eight months after being imprisoned for driving his car into Cuddy's living room, House has five days before he is granted parole, to which he has become eligible due to space issues and relatively good behavior. He is faced with prison bullies, mainly their leader (Jude Ciccolella), who extorts him into paying them "twenty Vicodin" as "exit tax", and meets Jessica Adams (Odette Annable), a young prison doctor who becomes fascinated with his medical skills. When a fellow prisoner collapses due to mysterious symptoms, House races against the clock and the head prison doctor to find the cure. During his imprisonment period, House has not had any phone calls or visitors; as House explains, human contact is what brought him there to begin with. In the end, House cures the man, but not without punishment from the parole board.

Production

"Twenty Vicodin", the eighth season premiere of House, was written by Peter Blake. It debuted actress Odette Annable as Dr. Jessica Adams, a doctor working at the prison where Dr. House is incarcerated. David Shore stated that it was a challenge for him to appropriately punish House for the deed in the season 7 finale without turning the series into a prison show or changing House's characteristics (while changing the environment around him, i.e. removing Cuddy and "chilling" his relationship with Wilson), and that is why he decided to pick up the story eight months after House's incarceration.

Reception

Critical reception

The episode was received with generally good reviews. The A.V. Club initially gave this episode a B− rating. Anthony Ocasio of ScreenRant.com gave the episode a positive review, stating "the House season 8 premiere presents a wonderfully crafted case study, penned by executive producer Peter Blake, on the man that is House, in which Hugh Laurie masterfully traverses a new environment filled with intriguing challenges and compelling characters." Joseph Oliveto from screencrave.com gave the episode a very good review, awarding the episode 9/10. Oliveto commented that Twenty Vicodin was "A tense season-opener assures us that “House” hasn’t lost the magic".

Ratings

With 9.78 million viewers, "Twenty Vicodin" was the 8th most watched program of the night. This was a decrease of 0.76 million viewers from the season seven premiere, but an increase of 0.67 million from the season 7 finale. The episode was the 14th most watched program of the week for adults 18-49. The season premiere was the second most watched program of the week in Canada with 2.81 million viewers.

References

1. "House Scoop: Jaleel White Sent Directly to Jail". TV Line. tvline.com/. August 30, 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
2. Handlen, Zack (October 3, 2011). "House "Twenty Vicodin"". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
3. "House Exclusive: New Details on Top-Secret Season 8 Premiere!". TV Line. tvline.com/. July 28, 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2011.
4. Ausiello, Michael (July 28, 2011). "House Exclusive: New Details on Top-Secret Season 8 Premiere!". TV Line. TV Line Media, LLC. Retrieved July 28, 2011.
5. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (July 25, 2011). "'Breaking In' Co-Star Odette Annable Joins Fox's 'House' As New Regular". Deadline. PMC. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
6. Gicas, Peter (August 31, 2011). "Urkel, Er, Jaleel White Set to Guest Star on House". E! Online. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
7. "House's New Season Will Pick Up (Major Spoiler Alert) Later!". TV Line. TV Line Media, LLC. August 6, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
8. Barnett, Barbara (September 15, 2011). "TV Preview: House, M.D. - Season Eight Premiere "Twenty Vicodin"". Blogcritics. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
9. Blake, Peter (June 28, 2011). "I'm writing 801". Twitter. Retrieved August 4, 2011.
10. Barnett, Barbara (September 27, 2011). "House, M.D. Creator David Shore and Actress Odette Annable Talk About the Season Premiere and More". Blogcritics. Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2011.
11. Handlen, Zack (October 3, 2011). ""Twenty Vicodin" · House · TV Review House: "Twenty Vicodin" · TV Club · The A.V. Club". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
12. Anthony Ocasio (October 3, 2011). "'House' Season 8 Premiere Review & Discussion". Screen Rant. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
13. "House: Season 8 Episode 1: Twenty Vicodin – TV Review". Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
14. "Monday Broadcast Final Ratings: 'Terra Nova,' '2.5 Men,' '2 Broke Girls' Adjusted Up; 'Castle' Adjusted Down – Page 106073 – TV By The Numbers by zap2it.com". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. October 4, 2011. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
15. "TV Ratings Monday: Dancing, Castle, Two and a Half Men Up; Lone Star No Star; + The Event, Hawaii Five-0 – Page 64332 – TV By The Numbers by zap2it.com". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. September 21, 2010. Archived from the original on November 18, 2010. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
16. "Monday Final Ratings: 'Dancing,' 'House,' 'Event' Adjusted Up; 'Law & Order:LA,' 'Clash Of The Commercials' Down – Page 93755 – TV By The Numbers by zap2it.com". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. May 24, 2011. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
17. "TV Ratings Broadcast Top 25: 'Sunday Night Football,' 'Two & A Half Men,' 'Modern Family' Top Week's Adults 18-49 Ratings – Page 106739 – TV By The Numbers by zap2it.com". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. October 11, 2011. Archived from the original on October 13, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2017.
18. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 15, 2011. Retrieved December 13, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• "Twenty Vicodin" at IMDb
• "Twenty Vicodin" at Fox.com
• Medical review of "Twenty Vicodin"

• House season 8 episodes
• 2011 American television episodes
• Television episodes directed by Greg Yaitanes
• Prison healthcare in fiction
• Television episodes set in prisons