(Bloomberg) — When the heavily armed flying killer monkeys smashed through steel doors into the mess hall searching for the hidden cache of grenades, I started thinking I might be on the wrong channel.

The only monkey previously seen in the rarefied world of misanthropic genius diagnostician Gregory House, M.D., was the one on his back.

As played by Hugh Laurie, a big part of House's charm — along with eyes the colour of the Mediterranean, stubble that could sand raw pine and scorched-earth wit — is his dependence on Vicodin. Something to do with an ancient leg injury that has him gimping around with a cane and popping pills like candy as he works his magic. Did I mention that he plays Scriabin like Horowitz?

This week's episode of "House" (Mondays at 8 p.m. on Fox) began with the hirsute homicidal hominids, which turned out to be a virtual reality game and the set up for House's latest medical mystery tour. Except that when the patient, a Web-savvy techie whose nervous system is seriously on the fritz, insists on being treated by the staff star, the camera cuts to House tendering his resignation to boss-cum-sparring-partner Dr. Lisa Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein).

Soon the diagnostic unit is being run by the striving Dr. Eric Forman (Omar Epps), who doesn't have a clue (or, actually, has too many clues) as to what's ailing the gamer. He keeps being second-guessed by Dr. Remy Hadley (Olivia Wilde), which makes him even more insecure than usual, especially given the fact that they're lovers.

Where the hell is House? And how did we land in "Grey's Anatomy" territory?

For the answer, you had to have seen last week's extraordinary two-hour season premiere, an episode destined for the Best-of-TV lists. At the end of season five, House's pills had gotten the better of him. The new season opened with him restrained on a bed in the loony bin.

Over the course of detox and rehab, House takes an intimate journey that's equal parts "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (he even leads a couple of patient rebellions) and "Good Will Hunting." He's determined to game the system, but he's met his match in the head shrink, played by the supremely commanding Andre Braugher. He also has a bipolar rapping roommate ("In the Heights" creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda) and a Schumann- playing love-interest (Franka Potente).

House is quick but the shrink is always one step ahead of him, and in a self-contained arc with just a few too many tied up ends, he gets clean, has his heart broken and returns to the world. Part of him knows that to stay straight, he needs to leave his old life.

Episode two proved that is more easily said than done (obviously, since we are less interested in following House into new territory than in continuing to watch him mess with the heads of his acolytes and nemeses).

Hugh Laurie is House and House is Hugh Laurie. We may be unwilling ever to separate the two, so well does the Scottish actor fit the ornery American role. Braugher is there to be the necessary father-figure, as is Robert Sean Leonard as House's closest colleague and one true friend. The season opener was an impossible act to follow, but even resuming its most tried-and- true dramatic gambits, "House" remains addictive.