There were lots of interesting things to think about in tonight’s episode of House. So, when I was watching it, even though I wasn’t sure whether or not I thought it was a good episode, I’ve now decided that interesting definitely equals good.
Let’s start with the focus from the title of this post. At what point should Cuddy just call the police? Far from thinking that House’s behavior is romantic or otherwise tolerable, it is really starting to creep me out. I find it interesting that the writers are taking him in a direction that makes House refuse to back off no matter how clearly Cuddy says, “Not Interested.”
I can’t believe I actually used to root for House to get together with Cuddy. House is traversing territory that is honestly making it difficult for me to like him. I can reconcile this with saying that tonight’s episode was good, because I think there are people in the world in these situations, and because we don’t always have to watch things that make us feel comfortable.
It’s not even that I think House is dangerous or deranged. His dogged refusal just to stop talking to Cuddy and leave her alone, though, is bullying, cowardly, and controlling. It worries me a little bit that the writers are taking House (the character) down this road — mostly because I think at this point, for Cuddy to be in a relationship with him would be subjecting herself to emotional abuse. Yes, I do. And no, I don’t think that is an exaggeration.
Two other points of interest, which I’ll touch upon later this week in more detail:
1) Chase punching House to get everybody off his back. Brilliant, and not a move we usually expect from Chase. It’s great to see layers there getting peeled away.
2) The medical case itself was interesting this week, thank God. What did you think of the genius who decided to dumb himself down with robotripping cough syrup? In order to stay with his dumb, happy wife? Do you think he’s living a lie, or do you think he’s finally, in his estimation, living? And why take the ethanol to prevent permanent damage? It’s all very interesting. I love it when the complexities of House defy easy explanations.
Clacked by Jen Creer
on Nov 23, 2009 @ 22:15 EST5EDT
House needs to go back to the crazy house because he is nuts! He used to be an evil genius, now he is just a loser.
However Cuddy and what’s his name date for like a month tops and they are planning on moving in together?
Yeah, I don’t think it is so much that the are trying to make House a creepy stalker as much as remind us that he is wacky while giving him a way to still be an ass with a capital A. He can’t quite slip all the way back to the way he was before his stay in the nuthouse, but they also can’t have House become an actualized, balanced person either.
Late to reply, just found this and wanted to add my 2 cents worth.
The problem for me with House these days is that it’s moved from being realistic people with problems to Desperate Housewives/Ugly Betty territory, a place where no one acts realistically but then you don’t expect them to, that’s part of the trope of the show.
The writers need to decide what they’re going for. Are they doing deep fried Twinkie crazy with House and Cuddy? In that case they need to say so so that I can enjoy the craziness without trying to see it realistically.
But if they mean it in realistic terms, it’s possibly the most dysfunctional relationship in TV drama today. With Stacy, he was immature but loving, with Cameron in season 1 he was wounded and a jerk but behaved like an adult, with Wilson he is annoying and screwed-up but caring, but with Cuddy, House has crossed the line past manipulative into abusive (Joy) and dragged her down to his level (The Greater Good). I find them very unpleasant to watch because they are such a train wreck, there is no way they could end up without ripping each other to bits. I’m not watching this show for Dexter.
It didn’t make sense to me that a genius would dumb himself down that much to be with someone with such a lower IQ (with an IQ of 80 she wouldn’t have finished high school). He would have been bored with her in a few months no matter how sexy she was. Lots of very intelligent people are also happy, loving people. I got the feeling that they wanted to show how brilliant people must be unhappy in order to justify House himself being unhappy but it’s just not true.