Analysis: "Black Hole"
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"Black Hole"
or
how House felt insecure and Wilson flirted with a ring of rattan
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an analysis by M.E.W. & luridlurker
The subconscious is the true leading theme in this episode: The black hole each of us has got inside, full of special effects and a power that makes us speechless. It leaves us clueless if it starts to communicate, often enough interfering with our conscious thoughts and deeds when it makes us do things we don’t really want to do. A fascinating mystery. Getting in touch with one's inner self is hard, sometimes impossible, even with the help of challenges or machines since words can be misleading and the pictures produced need to be interpreted.
It is good to see House so much in control of things again. His team would’ve been at a loss without him-again-as they didn’t take their patient’s hallucinations seriously enough to take a second look. With Kutner gone, no one except House seems keen to experiment anymore. As if they’d ever had a patient whose symptoms could be diagnosed by anything straight from a textbook.
House knows a full body scan will achieve nothing and plans ahead. Though Foreman and the others have been on board for such a long time, they still keep suggesting the obvious instead of running with the unusual. Shouldn’t they have learned to look for zebras by now?
Foreman’s been officially labelled the most boring character ever. Yeah, what a buzzkill. His only reason for still being within the series seems to be contradicting House (and being dull, unimaginative and very important: black). When Foreman (predictably) fails, the Cognitive Pattern Recognition equipment is already waiting to be tried out. For House it’s a cool tool to gain insights nothing else could give. Patients lie, words are misleading, but the subconscious can’t be manipulated. It just has to be interpreted the right way. And House is up to the challenge. The strong, capable mastermind is back, focused on the job at hand, concentrated and clearly in charge.
While the main plot and the curing of the young POTW is mediocre at best-somehow we've heard and seen all of that clichéd unravelling before-(and played by better actors), at least we get nice special effects to fill the time at the beginning. Just the missing sound is a bit disconcerting and had me fumbling hectically at the loudspeakers at first. Anyway, the key theme is introduced; this time it’s all about the difference between what people say and what they truly, subconsciously want but hide deeply in their own black holes.
House is not just good at reading others and uncovering their motifs, he’s also highly introspective. Usually. In this episode his own subconscious seems to thwart him just like anybody else’s, though, and he seems unaware of its secret agenda when challenging Wilson to finally buy some furniture for their-still depressingly empty-living room.
He tries to make getting a dining table all about Wilson reflecting his inner self through furniture: “You are what you sit in.” And he refuses to do it himself for that very reason. Wilson doesn’t buy it for a minute, thinking it’s just his lazy freeloader-friend talking who doesn’t want to be bothered by mundane tasks. Yet empathic as he is, Wilson subliminally picks up House’s real need in their short clash when he sarcastically tells House to move his piano in and eat off that. Essentially he’s saying, Furnish the loft the way you want! Bring the piano! It’s fine with me! Which is exactly what House needs to hear. But somehow he doesn’t.
He wants Wilson to open up, to reveal what he’s truly feeling and thinking. He wants him to show again as he did in “Wilson” when buying the loft that their living together is considered long-term, that nothing has changed. That taking House in wasn’t just an act of duty and kindness between friends, but that he loves House enough to tolerate disliked habits like putting his jelly toast directly on the sofa, his constant mooching off of him and his silly pranks. He wants Wilson to make some sort of commitment.
But at the same time House is unwilling to do so himself. For the moment he’s not just deaf to the hidden meaning behind Wilson’s sarcastic comment but also to the mixed signals he himself is giving. House’s piano-the one and only thing that ties him to his old apartment-is still not at the loft. What is Wilson supposed to think of that? It’s almost as if House considers leaving soon and is just waiting for Dr. Nolan to give him the go-ahead.
Or is his insecurity showing because Wilson is on the prowl again? While House might happily settle for living with him forever, content to watch TV and spend time together, Wilson seems to have other things in mind since he’s tentatively started to look for the next girlfriend. Maybe House has a bad feeling about the future after Wilson’s tries to woo Nora (something he could prevent) and their excursion to speed dating (something that thankfully went badly enough on its own).
Talking to each other would help, but risking themselves emotionally doesn’t come easy for either of them.
It’s worth mentioning that House says, “You’ve never furnished a home.” A home. Not just "a condo" or “an apartment.” So for House, the loft has become a place he’s willing to call home. A place he might bring his personal items to. But he needs Wilson to make a decision first, craving some basic security before making any statements of his own by bringing his instruments. A situation that results in both of them sabotaging each other while actually needing the very same thing.
Hearing what he is supposed to do, Wilson is hesitant but he can’t walk away from the challenge without proving House right and admitting he’s empty inside.
Any place Wilson has lived in so far just carried the echoes of other people’s tastes and personalities. Either he stayed at hotels, at House’s old apartment or houses and apartments furnished and decorated by his love-interests. He’s never had to even think about something like transforming a living space to a home himself. It had always been there when he arrived. The concept of expressing himself seems frightening to Wilson who’s never thought furniture has any meaning at all, anyway. Except to sit on, sleep in and eat off it.
His office is an exception, though: There are his books, pictures and posters, gifts from patients full of personal history and meaning, his model ships, cups and teddy bears. As long as Wilson has been at PPTH, that room has been the only constant space in his life. It has remained untouched by wives and divorces. And he spends most of his time there and not at home anyway. So if anybody wants to get a glimpse into Wilson’s inner self, his office is the place to go.
We’ve seen Wilson shopping furniture before when he tried to choose a mattress for his and Amber’s bed. Back then he did what he always does: He happily bought the one Amber liked, not the waterbed that he’d secretly wanted since forever. Wilson simply can’t stop caring. And he generally places the needs of others before his own. Instead of accepting his gift as what it was-a declaration of love and Wilson just being Wilson-Amber wanted him to change. To be egoistical, to go for something he wanted. She didn't want his care because she could look after herself. (In the long run Wilson would have realized that she therefore didn’t want him). Her anger and disappointment made him return the mattress and get the waterbed. And he absolutely hated it.
Two years later, same situation. Instead of choosing something he likes, Wilson gets dark furniture that seems to fit House’s taste. Being egoistical is simply not in Wilson’s nature, so he can’t buy anything without considering House’s needs (That is also why his temper tantrum when finding House in his bathtub in “Moving the Chains” doesn’t make any sense at all. Nor does Wilson’s taking the room with the tub for himself in the first place, which marks that episode as AU, along with "Teamwork" and "5 to 9," where House and Lucas go on stakeout like buddies. Nothing in the condo has been damaged despite the sprinkler incident, not the wooden furniture in the kitchen, not the floorboards, not even the orange sofa. And House acts as if Lucas never tripped him in public, which is something he'd not forgive as easily. So none of it has ever happened).
One look at the ugly reminders of the past he’s about to leave behind for good, House decides they have to go again. Rented furniture is not what he had in mind either. Something you pay to have the right to use it means it isn’t truly yours; you can give it away again if you change your mind, your mood, your decision-or the person you live with. It’s not speaking of something permanent but of something temporary. And that is something House doesn’t want anymore.
Wilson isn’t empty inside, not when it comes to people he loves, but he is unable to buy any furniture as a representation of himself. Eventually he gets lost in possible choices the store has to offer and the signals he might be giving if picking a certain piece. Does he want to be perceived as hip and buy something extravagant and stylish? Or should go with plain and practical instead? The personnel are no help either. If he’d listened to his gut instinct, he’d probably have gone home with the quirky rattan roll. But maybe the memory of buying the waterbed is still too fresh.
After a long tiring day, furnishing the loft turns out to be a mission impossible for Wilson. Given his tendency to combine clashing colors and patterns when it comes to ties and suits, hiring the decorator Cuddy suggested was a wise decision. It would have been even wiser if Wilson had talked to the woman before allowing her to knock herself out. Maybe then it wouldn’t just be furnished to her personal taste but to their needs. The result is both, impersonal and perfect-and slightly feminine (actually, it doesn’t look that different from Amber’s place). While the colors are friendly and pleasing, the furniture itself seems unsuitable for them. Too many chairs and places to sit (are they supposed to host parties in the future?), no room for House to maneuver around with his cane, no real room for hanging out in front of the flatscreen. With House’s eating habits light-colored sofas are not the best idea either, and they’ll never use the single armchairs anyway.
But for the moment Wilson doesn’t care whether the new furnishing and decoration is practical or not. He’s just relieved it’s there. And hopes he’ll never have to set a step into a furniture store ever again.
One look at the new living room and House knows Wilson wussed out and went the easy way. But then House sees something still covered, something not picked by a decorator, and his excitement and curiosity are almost palpable. When he uncovers the old church organ and his fingers touch the keyboard for the first time, there’s unbelievable joy and happiness radiating from him, all the emotions running through House at that perfect moment clearly visible. He has got his answer: Wilson wants him to stay, Wilson loves him enough to find something as gorgeous as this old organ for him, Wilson puts him before anything else.
Wilson watches House discover his gift with an endearing smile of his own. Somehow he had known, subliminally, what House truly needed but couldn’t ask for-and gave it readily. It is a beautiful scene. For Wilson, seeing House smile like that, the expense and emotional torment House has put him through was definitely worth it. That little moment between them easily stole the whole episode.
An organ might seem like an unusual choice at first, but House already owns a piano. What he’s been missing most in their condo is a keyboard. So the whole subplot stresses that Wilson isn’t connected to his inner self (yeah, we know, you can’t change a table) but very much connected to House.
At some point it might have crossed Wilson’s mind to move House’s piano from his apartment to the loft. But truly giving up his old life, moving in with all his personal stuff and countless knickknacks has to be House's own decision. Now that he knows where Wilson stands, he may be ready to make a decision himself.
If they were man and woman (this is Fox, remember), they'd be making out afterwards and no one would doubt the romantic implications in Wilson's lovely gesture (the ever growing to perfect closeness between House and Wilson will make it even more devastating to see it all fall apart-if the rumors turn out to be true).
But beauty must be balanced by ugliness, or as most often in the "House"-verse, balance tips over into utter destruction. Therefore, to contrast the House/Wilson domestic bliss, we are tormented by yet another dysfunctional, unromantic relationship: After Chase&Cameron, Thirteen &Foreman (and House and Cuddy before it even became House&Cuddy) now Taub’s marriage is on the verge of falling apart (actually is was doing that since we came to know Taub, but now we're treated to a deeper look). It’s not easy to sympathize with a character that boring, plain and ordinary. Sorry, but bad handwriting and a few amusing lines thrown in here and there don’t make an interesting personality. It’s also hard to swallow that obviously hordes of women fall for him. He’s middle-aged, short and definitely not what anybody would call handsome. Not exactly material for one-night stands. So beside the doctor's title that has still a certain nimbus of "rich and important" and does attract a certain kind of blow-fly-women, the only thing that actually could make him attractive to women is his being married. Irresistible because he’s unavailable. He can still provide attention, sex, advice, practical help, and expensive gifts but won’t cause trouble with annoying day to day life habits or too much influence on their own lives. So affairs with rich married men have their advantages. For some. But if he were divorced and single again, Taub would lose that bonus and end up alone. Even if he doesn’t realize it, subconsciously it might be what makes him stick to Rachel. And Rachel is not that different from the women Taub supposedly attracts anyway: she sticks to him as long he is said rich and important doctor-and their marriage took another blow when Taub chose the lowly (money-wise) fellowship with House.
He claims wanting to make her happy to be his real goal, but he’s blind for her needs. She misses sharing things with him, he tries to improve their sex life. She wants him to see her as a person, he buys her another ring and asks her to marry him again. Certainly a romantic gesture, but Taub doesn’t have the excuse of being young and stupid anymore, and being married and sleeping together didn’t stop their drifting apart in the first place.
Wilson gave House a church organ, a highly personal gift, speaking of love and affection. In fact, what is missing most in Taub&Taub’s relationship is everything House and Wilson share: wordless understanding, respect and deep connection. And sexuality is the only thing missing in theirs.
House is surprisingly interested in Taub, maybe because of his penchant for secrecy, or Taub's cheating history or because of the underlying trust issues. All three is something he can relate to: After all, Wilson also has an annoying tendency to cheat (at least in House's imagination) and House has a history as a drug-addict-and secrets he guards as ferociously as a dragon her hoard, like all of them.
It’s hard to make people see you have changed when you’ve got a certain past. In most cases words are not enough; you constantly have to prove yourself, to others and-even more difficult-to yourself. House has consciously decided that he wants to live differently, that he needs to stop risking his life physically and begin risking himself emotionally. But day by day he also has to make sure to keep his subconscious at bay and remind himself of that. The inner pull to return to his old habit is probably still with him and especially difficult to ignore when he's facing emotionally challenging situations, in a moment of unendurable weakness, vulnerability or pain.
The power of the subconscious is something Taub hasn’t realized yet. Chatting to a young nurse, allowing her touch and touching her in return seems too intimate to be innocent or harmless. Can Taub resist the temptation? Now that his wife is appeased and probably not (or at least less) worried about possible infidelity anymore, going after other women is a piece of cake for him. Without self-awareness, which-in contrast to House-he doesn’t have, he will fail.
And if he does, House has seen it coming. His gut feeling was strumming against Taub's fidelity, but he tries to trust more in people these days. But this trust turns to disappointment, when House catches Taub flirting again. It might have been harmless-as harmless as most of Wilson's being "friendly" to nurses and patients had been-but House's subconscious sees betrayal and lies and in countertransference is sure these people will betray and lie to him, too.
The ending of the episode is full of foreboding: Taub might cheat on Rachel again, as they didn't fix their enstrangement but just covered it up in actionism. And Wilson might leave House for some woman Wilson believes to need, someone to fulfill his longing for physical intimacy.
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