Figuring It Out: My confused and ultimately unsuccessful analysis of House 7x03, "Moving On"
I've been trying to figure out lately why the House finale bothred me so much. Yes, it was asinine and stupid and short sighted and the shitty end to a lackluster season that was full of promise and empty of reward. But there's more to that. I don't understand how people could think that what happened in the finale was completely representative of the character we've come to know and love/hate, Gregory House. So, this blog post will be me attempting to understand what that's about and figure out exactly what my problem with it is.
1. The Argument
Those who liked the episode seem to be looking at it as the culmination of, at the very least, months of frustration and anger waiting to burst out, and at the most years of the same. House is an emotional cripple, as much as a physical one, and was getting himself into more and more dangerous and destructive situations in the months prior to the finale, and that somehow seeing Cuddy touching the arm of another man was the spark that lit the fire that destroyed everything in his life for the sake of releasing all those pent-up emotions that he was desperately trying to smother with alcohol, drugs and Vicodin.
I get that. That makes complete sense.
But my problems with it are two-fold. First of all, there was all this pent-up frustration arguably as a result of Cuddy breaking up with him, when the relationship, as it stood, didn't seem deep enough to warrant such alarming and destructive behavior. They spent most of the relationship walking on eggshells around each other, not touching on anything, not delving into anything, not really even committing to anything - at least (definitely) on Cuddy's part, although admittedly more on House's part. One could argue that this was the realization that this was the culmination of his entire 26 year relationship with Cuddy, but that then implies that something as simple as the woman he's known for 26 years holding onto another man's arm was enough to destroy such a long and storied and intricate relationship in one burst of anger. I don't buy that. The simple fact that he did not seem to regret in the least his actions, as evidenced by the scene on the beach, indicates that he is content with their relationship ending in such a destructive and permanent manner, and I, for one, cannot believe that the House we've seen for seven years is capable of doing any such thing with anyone he's cared about that deeply and for that long.
Second, if this was, indeed a reaction to the breakup, the final straw, as it were, why have we never seen this type of behavior from him before? Stacy broke up with him at arguably the lowest point in his entire life - just after the infarction, when he was in massive amounts of pain - and while we know that he wen to a dark place, we know that whatever that place was was not damaging enough for Stacy to never want to see him again or be with him again, as evidenced by Season 2. So, why this time? What was so special or important about this particular breakup - one brought on by a relationship of only 8 months, when he was arguably happier in general than he'd been in a while - than one brought on by a relationship of five years which ended at his lowest point ever? That doesn't make any sense to me.
2. The Abuse Angle
House, one could argue, has always been abusive, to an extent. He's treated his fellows poorly, he's been a horrible employee and an even worse best friend. He's stolen from them, stalked them, invaded their privacy, ruined their relationships, etc. People put up with him because people knew he was damaged and they knew he was brilliant. What doesn't track for me is that he's never resorted to physical violence directed at anyone but himself. He's broken inanimate objects, he's pissed people off like nobody's business, but he's never done something so damaging in a fit of anger or frustration that could have resulted in the death of the two people whom he holds most dear.
Also, he's never EVER hurt someone just because they've hurt him. He's hurt people because he's in physical pain, or because he is preoccupied with a patient. And even then, that was always pain with words, never with violence. He's about petty revenge, yes, but he's never been about seriously hurting someone else JUST because they hurt him. His actions in the finale screamed, to me, revenge. He's angry that she's moved on with her life and he's unable to move on with his, so in a fit of anger, he destroys something of hers so he can feel better? And, according to David Shore, doesn't CARE if he hurts or kills anyone in the process? That is completely unbelievable. That is also the mark of an abuser. Someone who lets their anger dictate the rest of themselves, regardless of who gets hurt in the process, is someone for whom I have little sympathy. I'm sure Jeffrey Dahmer or, hell, even Josef Stalin had plenty of anger and frustration, but that doesn't excuse their behavior or in any way justifies the lives they've taken or the damaged they've caused.
Now, make no mistake, House has always been willing to do the above in the name of medicine, or science, or solving a puzzle. But there was always an aim to his actions, a goal. And we, as the audience, have stuck by him because of this. This had no goal other than to HURT. And that, my friends, is unusual for him and it is the textbook definition of domestic violence, especially when it's directed to the woman he used to and probably still does love.
So, what is it, then, that people aren't seeing? I think people are so concerned about House's feelings and thoughts during those final scenes, they forget what's ACTUALLY happening in them. Yes, he's hurting and he's releasing anger and frustration and all that stuff and it all makes sense, but in the context of the world he's created, he's acting in a manner that is far and away the worst thing he's ever done.
I don't know if I'm making sense. I mean that, for the first time, the audience cannot sympathize with his pain and his anger and his frustration because the outside factors - the other people involved, the issues surrounding it, the act itself, were so violent and damaging that they took the audience out of his head and made us realize that there are more important things than what he's feeling. Because I, for one, completely get what he was feeling and understand it, but that doesn't excuse his behavior or even justify it. People have pent up feelings, anger, frustration, etc., all the time. It's how we release those feelings that counts, and the way he released these feelings was so bad and, yes, destructive, that it completely overshadows any sympathy we have for him as a character.
3. What's Left
So, where does that leave everyone? It leaves House with seemingly no regrets about the lives he's hurt or the relationships he's severed. He went from loving someone deeply to making sure that there would never be a possibility of reconciliation. He went from valuing his friend so much that when his friend tried to leave, he had him tailed by an private investigator until they had their big, window-smashing conversation to actively breaking his arm and then walking away, a smile on his face. He's effectively severed his relationship with Rachel, Cuddy's daughter, PPTH, and almost guaranteed him up to 10 years in prison.
Cuddy, even if she weren't leaving, would never trust him again, certainly, and possibly never trust anyone else again. The man she's stood by for 26 years has destroyed her home and threatened her safety and that of her child. How can she ever rely on him again, or trust him not to do something like this in the future? Why would she ever let her child go anywhere near him, or, for that matter, anyone? We already know she has bad taste in men, and now we add that she's an abuse victim? How is she ever going to trust ANYONE that she loves again? Her last boyfriend DROVE HIS CAR THROUGH HER HOUSE. That causes intense emotional scars. He not only severed his relationship with her completely - something which, again, is out of character given their 26 year history - but possibly ruined all of her future relationships.
Wilson, someone who has pushed and pushed House to release his anger, will probably feel guilty about what House has done but he will, I would guess be as hurt and disappointed as Cuddy. He feels that House has crossed the line, we can tell that by how he gave him up to the police, and any progress their relationship has made since House's roll in Amber's death has been destroyed. I wouldn't be surprised if Wilson is as angry as - or even angrier than - he was in the months following her death.
And us, the audience? Well, I for one, am done. I have the summer to get over this damn show, and I intend to use it. Because there comes a point at which one simply doesn't care how much pain and frustration and anger a person feels. It's like having a drug abuser in the family. You try to understand, to sympathize, to feel their pain and help them through it, but at some point, when that person damages themselves or others for no reason other than to release their emotions? No. That's when you say ENOUGH. I have supported House through his relapses, through his ketamine treatment, through his breakup with Stacy, through Amber's death, Kutner's death, his team leaving, his hospitalization and therapy, his love moving on, his long-awaited relationship, the subsequent breakup, through the hookers and the sex-slave-wife, the stupid ass self surgery and now this? I am DONE. At some point, you just have to walk away because no matter what happens, no matter what he does or says, nothing ever changes, nothing ever gets better, and in the end you just can't care about him anymore because it takes too much effort and causes too much anxiety. Just like Cuddy, I suppose, some of us have to just walk away in order to protect ourselves.
Yes, it is sad that everyone leaves you, House, and yes, it is sad that you are in pain. And up until a few weeks ago, I still sympathized with you, even though you were making stupid decisions, because of that pain and that sorrow. But at some point, I just want to say, "For fuck's sake. Kill yourself or get over it." If you want to change, quit falling back into the same old patterns. If you want closure, be constructive, not destructive. Because pretty soon there won't be anyone left to care enough to understand your heartbreak and your sorrow. They'll just hate you for the monster you've become.
1. The Argument
Those who liked the episode seem to be looking at it as the culmination of, at the very least, months of frustration and anger waiting to burst out, and at the most years of the same. House is an emotional cripple, as much as a physical one, and was getting himself into more and more dangerous and destructive situations in the months prior to the finale, and that somehow seeing Cuddy touching the arm of another man was the spark that lit the fire that destroyed everything in his life for the sake of releasing all those pent-up emotions that he was desperately trying to smother with alcohol, drugs and Vicodin.
I get that. That makes complete sense.
But my problems with it are two-fold. First of all, there was all this pent-up frustration arguably as a result of Cuddy breaking up with him, when the relationship, as it stood, didn't seem deep enough to warrant such alarming and destructive behavior. They spent most of the relationship walking on eggshells around each other, not touching on anything, not delving into anything, not really even committing to anything - at least (definitely) on Cuddy's part, although admittedly more on House's part. One could argue that this was the realization that this was the culmination of his entire 26 year relationship with Cuddy, but that then implies that something as simple as the woman he's known for 26 years holding onto another man's arm was enough to destroy such a long and storied and intricate relationship in one burst of anger. I don't buy that. The simple fact that he did not seem to regret in the least his actions, as evidenced by the scene on the beach, indicates that he is content with their relationship ending in such a destructive and permanent manner, and I, for one, cannot believe that the House we've seen for seven years is capable of doing any such thing with anyone he's cared about that deeply and for that long.
Second, if this was, indeed a reaction to the breakup, the final straw, as it were, why have we never seen this type of behavior from him before? Stacy broke up with him at arguably the lowest point in his entire life - just after the infarction, when he was in massive amounts of pain - and while we know that he wen to a dark place, we know that whatever that place was was not damaging enough for Stacy to never want to see him again or be with him again, as evidenced by Season 2. So, why this time? What was so special or important about this particular breakup - one brought on by a relationship of only 8 months, when he was arguably happier in general than he'd been in a while - than one brought on by a relationship of five years which ended at his lowest point ever? That doesn't make any sense to me.
2. The Abuse Angle
House, one could argue, has always been abusive, to an extent. He's treated his fellows poorly, he's been a horrible employee and an even worse best friend. He's stolen from them, stalked them, invaded their privacy, ruined their relationships, etc. People put up with him because people knew he was damaged and they knew he was brilliant. What doesn't track for me is that he's never resorted to physical violence directed at anyone but himself. He's broken inanimate objects, he's pissed people off like nobody's business, but he's never done something so damaging in a fit of anger or frustration that could have resulted in the death of the two people whom he holds most dear.
Also, he's never EVER hurt someone just because they've hurt him. He's hurt people because he's in physical pain, or because he is preoccupied with a patient. And even then, that was always pain with words, never with violence. He's about petty revenge, yes, but he's never been about seriously hurting someone else JUST because they hurt him. His actions in the finale screamed, to me, revenge. He's angry that she's moved on with her life and he's unable to move on with his, so in a fit of anger, he destroys something of hers so he can feel better? And, according to David Shore, doesn't CARE if he hurts or kills anyone in the process? That is completely unbelievable. That is also the mark of an abuser. Someone who lets their anger dictate the rest of themselves, regardless of who gets hurt in the process, is someone for whom I have little sympathy. I'm sure Jeffrey Dahmer or, hell, even Josef Stalin had plenty of anger and frustration, but that doesn't excuse their behavior or in any way justifies the lives they've taken or the damaged they've caused.
Now, make no mistake, House has always been willing to do the above in the name of medicine, or science, or solving a puzzle. But there was always an aim to his actions, a goal. And we, as the audience, have stuck by him because of this. This had no goal other than to HURT. And that, my friends, is unusual for him and it is the textbook definition of domestic violence, especially when it's directed to the woman he used to and probably still does love.
So, what is it, then, that people aren't seeing? I think people are so concerned about House's feelings and thoughts during those final scenes, they forget what's ACTUALLY happening in them. Yes, he's hurting and he's releasing anger and frustration and all that stuff and it all makes sense, but in the context of the world he's created, he's acting in a manner that is far and away the worst thing he's ever done.
I don't know if I'm making sense. I mean that, for the first time, the audience cannot sympathize with his pain and his anger and his frustration because the outside factors - the other people involved, the issues surrounding it, the act itself, were so violent and damaging that they took the audience out of his head and made us realize that there are more important things than what he's feeling. Because I, for one, completely get what he was feeling and understand it, but that doesn't excuse his behavior or even justify it. People have pent up feelings, anger, frustration, etc., all the time. It's how we release those feelings that counts, and the way he released these feelings was so bad and, yes, destructive, that it completely overshadows any sympathy we have for him as a character.
3. What's Left
So, where does that leave everyone? It leaves House with seemingly no regrets about the lives he's hurt or the relationships he's severed. He went from loving someone deeply to making sure that there would never be a possibility of reconciliation. He went from valuing his friend so much that when his friend tried to leave, he had him tailed by an private investigator until they had their big, window-smashing conversation to actively breaking his arm and then walking away, a smile on his face. He's effectively severed his relationship with Rachel, Cuddy's daughter, PPTH, and almost guaranteed him up to 10 years in prison.
Cuddy, even if she weren't leaving, would never trust him again, certainly, and possibly never trust anyone else again. The man she's stood by for 26 years has destroyed her home and threatened her safety and that of her child. How can she ever rely on him again, or trust him not to do something like this in the future? Why would she ever let her child go anywhere near him, or, for that matter, anyone? We already know she has bad taste in men, and now we add that she's an abuse victim? How is she ever going to trust ANYONE that she loves again? Her last boyfriend DROVE HIS CAR THROUGH HER HOUSE. That causes intense emotional scars. He not only severed his relationship with her completely - something which, again, is out of character given their 26 year history - but possibly ruined all of her future relationships.
Wilson, someone who has pushed and pushed House to release his anger, will probably feel guilty about what House has done but he will, I would guess be as hurt and disappointed as Cuddy. He feels that House has crossed the line, we can tell that by how he gave him up to the police, and any progress their relationship has made since House's roll in Amber's death has been destroyed. I wouldn't be surprised if Wilson is as angry as - or even angrier than - he was in the months following her death.
And us, the audience? Well, I for one, am done. I have the summer to get over this damn show, and I intend to use it. Because there comes a point at which one simply doesn't care how much pain and frustration and anger a person feels. It's like having a drug abuser in the family. You try to understand, to sympathize, to feel their pain and help them through it, but at some point, when that person damages themselves or others for no reason other than to release their emotions? No. That's when you say ENOUGH. I have supported House through his relapses, through his ketamine treatment, through his breakup with Stacy, through Amber's death, Kutner's death, his team leaving, his hospitalization and therapy, his love moving on, his long-awaited relationship, the subsequent breakup, through the hookers and the sex-slave-wife, the stupid ass self surgery and now this? I am DONE. At some point, you just have to walk away because no matter what happens, no matter what he does or says, nothing ever changes, nothing ever gets better, and in the end you just can't care about him anymore because it takes too much effort and causes too much anxiety. Just like Cuddy, I suppose, some of us have to just walk away in order to protect ourselves.
Yes, it is sad that everyone leaves you, House, and yes, it is sad that you are in pain. And up until a few weeks ago, I still sympathized with you, even though you were making stupid decisions, because of that pain and that sorrow. But at some point, I just want to say, "For fuck's sake. Kill yourself or get over it." If you want to change, quit falling back into the same old patterns. If you want closure, be constructive, not destructive. Because pretty soon there won't be anyone left to care enough to understand your heartbreak and your sorrow. They'll just hate you for the monster you've become.