House 7x16: Out of the Chute
Okay, first off, if you want to feel better about House/Cuddy, I strongly recommend reading An Ideal State of Imperfection by lieueitak. Post 7x15 Bombshells. It explores Cuddy's thoughts and feelings and reasons behind the whole ordeal and gives hope for the future. This is how I'd love their relationship to go. A girl can hope.
House
I do have to say, this ep made be feel better, strangely. Judging from the ep discussion, it seems that quite a bit of fans are pissed at House and I understand that. But I'm not mad at either of them. If anything, this made me more hopeful and confirmed some of my thoughts now that I've had a week to think on it and read more sane reviews. I'll get to all that relationship stuff in a bit.
The Case
-Can I just say that trailer was pretty awesome? At first the slo-mo stuff was weird, but I liked it with the patient's thoughts as a voice over. Plus that rodeo stuff was pretty darn cool. I applaud the directing this week.
-Masters, Masters, Masters. She was actually more human. She had a little crush on the patient despite her rational side telling her no. I guess that parallels House/Cuddy a bit since Cuddy was pretty much that way with House except she actually went along with a relationship. Masters was incredibly awkward, almost like Brennan and I found it adorable lol. Idk why I like Masters. Maybe it's because Amber Tamblyn's face just makes her so innocent and likeable? I know lots of people hate her, but I just can't. She straight up told House that his judgement is impaired and feared for him on Vicodin. While the team rolled their eyes because they've seen him on drugs for so long, she at least expressed some care for House.
-Also, Master's little outburst about House and Cuddy breaking up was cute. I guess that was supposed to be the fans reactions as well, but I love her shock. I guess Wilson didn't bother telling her? And, "But House loves her!" totally made me squee because even socially awkward Masters can tell how in love he is with Cuddy.
-LOVE Taub getting a kick out of Master's little crush on the POTW. It's the only amusement he has in his life right now. I'm sure living with Foreman isn't all that exciting. Besides, it almost felt like a sibling moment where the older brother makes fun of the younger sister for having her first crush. Aww.
-LOL AT CHASE MESSING WITH FOREMAN HAHAHAHAHA. He'd so do that.
-Jesse Spencer was amazingly hot in this ep. That leather jacket and sunglasses? Mmm.
-AND HUGH LAURIE WAS SHIRTLESS FOR LIKE HALF THE EP. THIS IS THE MOST WE'VE EVER SEEN SKIN FROM HIM. THAT WAS SUCH A REDEEMING FACTOR. I had a hard time hating on House because of that, ngl hahahaha. I honestly thought some fans would complain that we've seen House naked with more hookers than we ever saw him with Cuddy. But you know, whatever.
-And btw, I actually liked this POTW. That balance test was insane. And the surgery with the blood gushing everywhere and spraying Chase and Foreman in the face was AWESOME. I've missed those scenes. I think this ep succeeded largely because there was a pretty good balance between the case and the personal.
The Messy Stuff AKA The Relationship Of (Loving) Doom
-So, first off, we've been given a timeline for how long House and Cuddy were together: six months. Not just because adding the months up from September make sense (since the premiere was supposed to happen directly after Help Me, we don't count the summer months) but because House says so when he thanks Carnell for dropping off the food. "Why didn't I meet you six months ago?" is what House says.
-So, they didn't even make it a full year. You know, in my most recent House fic, right here, next to you, I had them celebrating their six month anniversary because I wasn't sure if they'd last long enough to reach a year. Sometimes, it hurts being right about that stuff. :(
-Btw, Carnell is one of the BEST things to happen in this ep. Seriously, I was dying when he was in the scene. Casting director, you did an EXCELLENT job finding this guy.
-Wilson is also back to his meddling. Interesting that he backed off the last ep and then House/Cuddy blew up. Now he's back in the middle, and it seems to only be getting worse. Then again, Wilson is now the voice of the fans and has to play that role of having our reactions. But he loves the neediness, so I guess this is good for him? Either way, some of this scenes were awesome and hilarious. That massage scene? LOL.
-I guess it's also safe to say that the team members also are the reactions of various fans as well. We have Masters' outburst of "What? But he loves her!" And then we have Taub being the voice of reason saying, "I can feel bad for him while still expecting him to be an adult and show up for work and not go on a booze-Vicodin-hooker filled bender." THIS. ALL THIS, TAUB. THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU SO. I hope House eventually grows up enough to deal with this, but I'll get to that later.
-Slight discrepancy with timeline again. Foreman says House has been clean for two years, but it should be one and a half since he's only been with Cuddy half a year, but whatever. I guess he's trying to paint House in a better light while saying he's a drug addict. =/
-My absolute favorite scenes were the Cuddy/Wilson ones. Like some of the other fans, I was a bit peeved that it takes H/Cuddy to break up to finally get scenes with W/C but here they are. Wilson voicing his outrage and telling Cuddy off and not letting her get a word in was nice. I really liked that, but Cuddy has all the right answers. They all make sense from her POV and I KNEW she'd take on all the guilt, not just because of her guilt complex, but because she practically blamed herself when she broke it off. She told House she thought she could handle this and apologized.
-A lot of people are like, 'WHY DID YOU BREAK UP WITH HIM WHEN YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE GETTING INTO?' and that's a valid question, but what you want and what you get are rarely the same thing. She knew he was a jerk, she knew he was an addict. I believe her when she says that she's not breaking up with him solely because of the pills. She did it because he was emotionally distancing himself from her when she needed him most.
It's not his fault, it's who he is. I should've known it. This is my fault.
Some people are pissed she's being the martyr or whatever, but I see this as Cuddy owning up to her mistakes. Some people wanted her to apologize for screwing up some of the stuff in the relationship and she's doing that now, kind of. She's at fault here and she knows it. She's taking it as an adult. She's at work, she's doing her job and she's not proud or happy about her decision to break it off with House, but she's sticking to it. Like I said, she has the perfect answers to all of Wilson's accusations. From her perspective, every single one of her answers make sense.
Then, of course, Wilson has to throw in that line about House going back on Vicodin to further her guilt. It felt more like a little dig than a warning, but idk.
-My only issue with these gorgeous Wilson/Cuddy scenes is that it's Wilson who is reduced to begging for another chance with House. He does it in both scenes. He asks her to give him another chance. That just made me cringe. Wilson is doing this, not House. Wilson is all but on his knees asking her to take him back.
My other issue is that Wilson is increasing the burden on Cuddy. In House's grand speech about choosing her over being brilliant, he's not just being romantic, he's putting the great pressure of putting everything he has on her. Everything depends on her. Cases/puzzles don't mean much because he's putting all his eggs in her basket, so to speak. Not only that, he's expecting her to live up to that and I don't think anyone could bear that kind of weight. That's too much responsibility on top of being a single mother and running a hospital. I think that, coupled with her health scare, spooked her and drove her into breaking up with him. It was out of fear at first, and she knows it, but she's sticking to it.
-The other Wilson/Cuddy scene was so gorgeous, the one at her doorstep.
Wilson: You're gonna have to talk to him eventually. He needs you.
Cuddy: I love him. And I know he loves me. But I just can't--
Wilson: He needs you in his life. Even if you're not sleeping with him, he needs you. Without you--
Cuddy: You can't go backwards! I can't fix his problem. I am his problem.
This is brilliant. I think it is anyway. Because the whole backwards thing has been my mantra forever. You can't go backwards. That's been my saying since I screwed up my relationship and then he tried to get me back. Going backwards is practically impossible. Going back to just being friends can be possible depending on the circumstances, but with House and Cuddy, going back to how it used to be won't work. They'll be able to work with each other, but until House grows up some, I don't think they can even be friends.
Also, that whole backwards logic works for NOT being back at square one. This entire ep deals with House trying the usual methods in coping, albeit in a fancy hotel, and none of it works. He's absolutely dead inside. He can't go back to square one like this. Yes, he's back on drugs on going on a bender but this isn't his typical one because nothing works. Maybe that's why I felt more relieved. I thought it'd be worse, it'd be darker and maybe a repeat of Merry Little Christmas or his mental breakdown in S5. Although living on the edge just to feel something is pretty dark too.
Back to the whole doorstep scene, Cuddy is right in that she is his problem, but I don't think she's his ENTIRE problem. She's only part of it, but only because he put that great burden on her to make it worse. She'd always be part of the problem if they ever broke up, but this magnifies it because of the added pressure. House has always had a plethora of problems stemming from his father that he needs to deal with, but saying Cuddy is responsible for all his problems would be wrong. Also, she can't be held responsible for all the actions House is making right now. She didn't tell him to go on a bender, he decided that. He could act like the adult Taub described or he could be juvenile about it and be in denial.
He chose juvenile and now he has to live with the consequences. Btw, I think I counted eight hookers? There might've been up to nine. I started to lose count after six.
The bright side to all this is there is a lot of love. The writers are definitely underscoring the love between House and Cuddy. Even during the breakup there was a lot of love. It could've been worse, but it was quiet and heartbreaking. They love each other, that will never cease. For some strange reason, hearing Cuddy say that makes me feel SO much better. Gives me hope. Even if they never get back, maybe they can be good friends again and that'll be enough for me.
-The one House/Cuddy scene felt like the old them again. At least it wasn't destructive. House was back to some of his cutting remarks, but nothing too harsh. He does mention Cuddy breaking his heart to her face and he got the guilty look in response, which probably made him feel better and bitter simultaneously. I just hope there's an ep where they do finally talk about all this. I want to see them confront each other and spill it out. There can be some yelling, but the quiet way they've been handling all this would be much, much better.
-House dumping off his balcony... into a pool. Yeah, I knew it was the pool back when the promos started airing. One, House is the main character so he won't die 2/3 of the way through a season. Two, I don't see House as committing suicide like that. Three, way to be really dramatic for a cannonball. Psh.
-But House is still in a dark place. Living on the edge just to get a rush. I just hope he doesn't stick a knife in a socket again. And I am REALLY MISSING 13. Part of me wants to see her talk him out of his funk and get him back on track because other than Cuddy doing that, she'd be the only other one. 13 has been through so much and she knows what it's like to self-destruct and live on the edge. House actually helped her getting off that track and I think it'd be fitting if she returned the favor. I love their weird relationship. I wouldn't mind if they went on a trip when she eventually comes back.
***Spoiler speculation based off the promo for the next ep. Don't read past this line if you don't want to be spoiled. You've been warned.***
OKAY. WTF. WHEN THE WEDDING BELL SPOILER CAME OUT I WAS LIKE WTF, NO WAY. UNLESS IT'S A PATIENT GETTING MARRIED OR WILSON AGAIN, THERE WAS NO WAY I'D BELIEVE HOUSE/CUDDY GETTING MARRIED. But apparently it's House/hooker? Um, way to be transparent and spiteful House. I'm guessing we've moved on from denial onto anger? This MUST be a ploy to get a reaction out of Cuddy and sticking it to her. She already feels guilty enough. She won't fight back. And if House subconsciously wants her to stop the wedding, I hope she doesn't. That way he has to live with the consequences of being married now, especially to a hooker. That'll be her way of getting back to him in a way. Of course if he really does enjoy it, it could backfire, but I doubt it. I bet he's paying that hooker a ton of money to set this all up. It's one elaborate and expensive game.
My question is, why in the world is the team involved? And HOW did they get involved. Are Chase and Foreman out to hurt Cuddy too? And why is she there in the first place? My money is on the fact that he gets her there on a lie, unless she's trying to be the bigger person but leaves when she can't see him go through with it. After that stunt, I don't think Cuddy would ever take him back at this rate. I think he still may have a shot now, but if this wedding goes down as we all think it will, then forget it. And friendship? Ha, yeah right.
I guess that marriage deal is the mistake that Wilson tries to talk House out of. God, the angst could be amazing in this ep. Could be. But marrying a hooker? Really? Honestly? What else will he do? After Cuddy gets hurt, I hope she gets back at him somehow. Or actually, if she doesn't. It'll drive him crazy why she's not responding, although that could backfire into him thinking she never loved him which would be crazy but there you go.
LOL, the patient mystery makes me think that it'll be Masters' long lost brother or something hahahahah.
Oops. Sorry this is super long. I should trim these down or find a more eloquent way to voice my thoughts.
House
I do have to say, this ep made be feel better, strangely. Judging from the ep discussion, it seems that quite a bit of fans are pissed at House and I understand that. But I'm not mad at either of them. If anything, this made me more hopeful and confirmed some of my thoughts now that I've had a week to think on it and read more sane reviews. I'll get to all that relationship stuff in a bit.
The Case
-Can I just say that trailer was pretty awesome? At first the slo-mo stuff was weird, but I liked it with the patient's thoughts as a voice over. Plus that rodeo stuff was pretty darn cool. I applaud the directing this week.
-Masters, Masters, Masters. She was actually more human. She had a little crush on the patient despite her rational side telling her no. I guess that parallels House/Cuddy a bit since Cuddy was pretty much that way with House except she actually went along with a relationship. Masters was incredibly awkward, almost like Brennan and I found it adorable lol. Idk why I like Masters. Maybe it's because Amber Tamblyn's face just makes her so innocent and likeable? I know lots of people hate her, but I just can't. She straight up told House that his judgement is impaired and feared for him on Vicodin. While the team rolled their eyes because they've seen him on drugs for so long, she at least expressed some care for House.
-Also, Master's little outburst about House and Cuddy breaking up was cute. I guess that was supposed to be the fans reactions as well, but I love her shock. I guess Wilson didn't bother telling her? And, "But House loves her!" totally made me squee because even socially awkward Masters can tell how in love he is with Cuddy.
-LOVE Taub getting a kick out of Master's little crush on the POTW. It's the only amusement he has in his life right now. I'm sure living with Foreman isn't all that exciting. Besides, it almost felt like a sibling moment where the older brother makes fun of the younger sister for having her first crush. Aww.
-LOL AT CHASE MESSING WITH FOREMAN HAHAHAHAHA. He'd so do that.
-Jesse Spencer was amazingly hot in this ep. That leather jacket and sunglasses? Mmm.
-AND HUGH LAURIE WAS SHIRTLESS FOR LIKE HALF THE EP. THIS IS THE MOST WE'VE EVER SEEN SKIN FROM HIM. THAT WAS SUCH A REDEEMING FACTOR. I had a hard time hating on House because of that, ngl hahahaha. I honestly thought some fans would complain that we've seen House naked with more hookers than we ever saw him with Cuddy. But you know, whatever.
-And btw, I actually liked this POTW. That balance test was insane. And the surgery with the blood gushing everywhere and spraying Chase and Foreman in the face was AWESOME. I've missed those scenes. I think this ep succeeded largely because there was a pretty good balance between the case and the personal.
The Messy Stuff AKA The Relationship Of (Loving) Doom
-So, first off, we've been given a timeline for how long House and Cuddy were together: six months. Not just because adding the months up from September make sense (since the premiere was supposed to happen directly after Help Me, we don't count the summer months) but because House says so when he thanks Carnell for dropping off the food. "Why didn't I meet you six months ago?" is what House says.
-So, they didn't even make it a full year. You know, in my most recent House fic, right here, next to you, I had them celebrating their six month anniversary because I wasn't sure if they'd last long enough to reach a year. Sometimes, it hurts being right about that stuff. :(
-Btw, Carnell is one of the BEST things to happen in this ep. Seriously, I was dying when he was in the scene. Casting director, you did an EXCELLENT job finding this guy.
-Wilson is also back to his meddling. Interesting that he backed off the last ep and then House/Cuddy blew up. Now he's back in the middle, and it seems to only be getting worse. Then again, Wilson is now the voice of the fans and has to play that role of having our reactions. But he loves the neediness, so I guess this is good for him? Either way, some of this scenes were awesome and hilarious. That massage scene? LOL.
-I guess it's also safe to say that the team members also are the reactions of various fans as well. We have Masters' outburst of "What? But he loves her!" And then we have Taub being the voice of reason saying, "I can feel bad for him while still expecting him to be an adult and show up for work and not go on a booze-Vicodin-hooker filled bender." THIS. ALL THIS, TAUB. THIS IS WHY I LOVE YOU SO. I hope House eventually grows up enough to deal with this, but I'll get to that later.
-Slight discrepancy with timeline again. Foreman says House has been clean for two years, but it should be one and a half since he's only been with Cuddy half a year, but whatever. I guess he's trying to paint House in a better light while saying he's a drug addict. =/
-My absolute favorite scenes were the Cuddy/Wilson ones. Like some of the other fans, I was a bit peeved that it takes H/Cuddy to break up to finally get scenes with W/C but here they are. Wilson voicing his outrage and telling Cuddy off and not letting her get a word in was nice. I really liked that, but Cuddy has all the right answers. They all make sense from her POV and I KNEW she'd take on all the guilt, not just because of her guilt complex, but because she practically blamed herself when she broke it off. She told House she thought she could handle this and apologized.
-A lot of people are like, 'WHY DID YOU BREAK UP WITH HIM WHEN YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE GETTING INTO?' and that's a valid question, but what you want and what you get are rarely the same thing. She knew he was a jerk, she knew he was an addict. I believe her when she says that she's not breaking up with him solely because of the pills. She did it because he was emotionally distancing himself from her when she needed him most.
It's not his fault, it's who he is. I should've known it. This is my fault.
Some people are pissed she's being the martyr or whatever, but I see this as Cuddy owning up to her mistakes. Some people wanted her to apologize for screwing up some of the stuff in the relationship and she's doing that now, kind of. She's at fault here and she knows it. She's taking it as an adult. She's at work, she's doing her job and she's not proud or happy about her decision to break it off with House, but she's sticking to it. Like I said, she has the perfect answers to all of Wilson's accusations. From her perspective, every single one of her answers make sense.
Then, of course, Wilson has to throw in that line about House going back on Vicodin to further her guilt. It felt more like a little dig than a warning, but idk.
-My only issue with these gorgeous Wilson/Cuddy scenes is that it's Wilson who is reduced to begging for another chance with House. He does it in both scenes. He asks her to give him another chance. That just made me cringe. Wilson is doing this, not House. Wilson is all but on his knees asking her to take him back.
My other issue is that Wilson is increasing the burden on Cuddy. In House's grand speech about choosing her over being brilliant, he's not just being romantic, he's putting the great pressure of putting everything he has on her. Everything depends on her. Cases/puzzles don't mean much because he's putting all his eggs in her basket, so to speak. Not only that, he's expecting her to live up to that and I don't think anyone could bear that kind of weight. That's too much responsibility on top of being a single mother and running a hospital. I think that, coupled with her health scare, spooked her and drove her into breaking up with him. It was out of fear at first, and she knows it, but she's sticking to it.
-The other Wilson/Cuddy scene was so gorgeous, the one at her doorstep.
Wilson: You're gonna have to talk to him eventually. He needs you.
Cuddy: I love him. And I know he loves me. But I just can't--
Wilson: He needs you in his life. Even if you're not sleeping with him, he needs you. Without you--
Cuddy: You can't go backwards! I can't fix his problem. I am his problem.
This is brilliant. I think it is anyway. Because the whole backwards thing has been my mantra forever. You can't go backwards. That's been my saying since I screwed up my relationship and then he tried to get me back. Going backwards is practically impossible. Going back to just being friends can be possible depending on the circumstances, but with House and Cuddy, going back to how it used to be won't work. They'll be able to work with each other, but until House grows up some, I don't think they can even be friends.
Also, that whole backwards logic works for NOT being back at square one. This entire ep deals with House trying the usual methods in coping, albeit in a fancy hotel, and none of it works. He's absolutely dead inside. He can't go back to square one like this. Yes, he's back on drugs on going on a bender but this isn't his typical one because nothing works. Maybe that's why I felt more relieved. I thought it'd be worse, it'd be darker and maybe a repeat of Merry Little Christmas or his mental breakdown in S5. Although living on the edge just to feel something is pretty dark too.
Back to the whole doorstep scene, Cuddy is right in that she is his problem, but I don't think she's his ENTIRE problem. She's only part of it, but only because he put that great burden on her to make it worse. She'd always be part of the problem if they ever broke up, but this magnifies it because of the added pressure. House has always had a plethora of problems stemming from his father that he needs to deal with, but saying Cuddy is responsible for all his problems would be wrong. Also, she can't be held responsible for all the actions House is making right now. She didn't tell him to go on a bender, he decided that. He could act like the adult Taub described or he could be juvenile about it and be in denial.
He chose juvenile and now he has to live with the consequences. Btw, I think I counted eight hookers? There might've been up to nine. I started to lose count after six.
The bright side to all this is there is a lot of love. The writers are definitely underscoring the love between House and Cuddy. Even during the breakup there was a lot of love. It could've been worse, but it was quiet and heartbreaking. They love each other, that will never cease. For some strange reason, hearing Cuddy say that makes me feel SO much better. Gives me hope. Even if they never get back, maybe they can be good friends again and that'll be enough for me.
-The one House/Cuddy scene felt like the old them again. At least it wasn't destructive. House was back to some of his cutting remarks, but nothing too harsh. He does mention Cuddy breaking his heart to her face and he got the guilty look in response, which probably made him feel better and bitter simultaneously. I just hope there's an ep where they do finally talk about all this. I want to see them confront each other and spill it out. There can be some yelling, but the quiet way they've been handling all this would be much, much better.
-House dumping off his balcony... into a pool. Yeah, I knew it was the pool back when the promos started airing. One, House is the main character so he won't die 2/3 of the way through a season. Two, I don't see House as committing suicide like that. Three, way to be really dramatic for a cannonball. Psh.
-But House is still in a dark place. Living on the edge just to get a rush. I just hope he doesn't stick a knife in a socket again. And I am REALLY MISSING 13. Part of me wants to see her talk him out of his funk and get him back on track because other than Cuddy doing that, she'd be the only other one. 13 has been through so much and she knows what it's like to self-destruct and live on the edge. House actually helped her getting off that track and I think it'd be fitting if she returned the favor. I love their weird relationship. I wouldn't mind if they went on a trip when she eventually comes back.
***Spoiler speculation based off the promo for the next ep. Don't read past this line if you don't want to be spoiled. You've been warned.***
OKAY. WTF. WHEN THE WEDDING BELL SPOILER CAME OUT I WAS LIKE WTF, NO WAY. UNLESS IT'S A PATIENT GETTING MARRIED OR WILSON AGAIN, THERE WAS NO WAY I'D BELIEVE HOUSE/CUDDY GETTING MARRIED. But apparently it's House/hooker? Um, way to be transparent and spiteful House. I'm guessing we've moved on from denial onto anger? This MUST be a ploy to get a reaction out of Cuddy and sticking it to her. She already feels guilty enough. She won't fight back. And if House subconsciously wants her to stop the wedding, I hope she doesn't. That way he has to live with the consequences of being married now, especially to a hooker. That'll be her way of getting back to him in a way. Of course if he really does enjoy it, it could backfire, but I doubt it. I bet he's paying that hooker a ton of money to set this all up. It's one elaborate and expensive game.
My question is, why in the world is the team involved? And HOW did they get involved. Are Chase and Foreman out to hurt Cuddy too? And why is she there in the first place? My money is on the fact that he gets her there on a lie, unless she's trying to be the bigger person but leaves when she can't see him go through with it. After that stunt, I don't think Cuddy would ever take him back at this rate. I think he still may have a shot now, but if this wedding goes down as we all think it will, then forget it. And friendship? Ha, yeah right.
I guess that marriage deal is the mistake that Wilson tries to talk House out of. God, the angst could be amazing in this ep. Could be. But marrying a hooker? Really? Honestly? What else will he do? After Cuddy gets hurt, I hope she gets back at him somehow. Or actually, if she doesn't. It'll drive him crazy why she's not responding, although that could backfire into him thinking she never loved him which would be crazy but there you go.
LOL, the patient mystery makes me think that it'll be Masters' long lost brother or something hahahahah.
Oops. Sorry this is super long. I should trim these down or find a more eloquent way to voice my thoughts.