time for a truly excessive entry entirely about House.
HAI GUYS. Life remains boring, work remains full of fail (so full of fail I cannot even believe it, to be honest), but TV? TV HAS CONTINUED TO BE MY BEST FRIEND. After letting House fall by the wayside for the better part of the last season, I kept getting spoiled for the finale on LJ and Tumblr and, after a point, the rabid House/Cuddy fan that still lies somewhere inside me - beneath the Broadway and Emil and Bones and Housewives and Delany flail of the past couple of years - COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. So, on Saturday night, I fired up the TV, and pretty much watched the last 13 episodes of Season Six in the space of 24 hours. FUN TIMES.
Now, I am back in full-on flail for this ship, I want to stare at pictures of Lisa E and Hugh all day, and feel like re-watching all the House/Cuddy scenes there have ever been forever. Also, I want to write fic. Someone needs to discourage me from this. As it is, I've already started to make silly things for Tumblr...
OMIGOD EXCUSE THAT FINAL EPISODE. SERIOUSLY. GUYS. WHAT THE FUCK WAS HELP ME. LIKE, FOR REAL, I CANNOT GET OVER THAT LAST SCENE, OR THE ENTIRE EPISODE LEADING UP TO IT, OR THE FACT THAT HUGH LAURIE IS POSSIBLY THE MOST INCREDIBLE ACTOR IN THE UNIVERSE AND HE AND LISA EDELSTEIN ARE JUST SOME KIND OF MAGICAL COMBINATION OF SEXY AND SMART AND JUST OMG.
Okay, no more capslock because you all get what I mean, I'm sure, and have surely flailed to death over this ALREADY. But, honestly - I am so incredibly excited to see where they're going to go with this in Season 7. I don't expect it to be a smooth ride full of kittens and rainbows and unicorns (real unicorns, not the donkey kind with plungers on the forehead), because hell if House and Cuddy aren't a pretty damn fucked-up, dysfunctional couple. (In the same breath, she FINALLY admits she loves him and then promptly says that she wishes she didn't? NICE.) But I'm intrigued ANYWAY. I want to see them explore the sex, and the snark, and the people discovering they're together, the fighting, the bickering, and some actual LOVE and AFFECTION, even if it all ends up going south eventually. MY LEVEL OF EXCITEMENT FOR THIS IS VERY HIGH RIGHT ABOUT NOW. LIKE, EPIC EPIC HIGH.
It's so weird trying to settle back into the fandom though - a lot of the people I knew are still around, I guess, but it seems that a lot of them drifted away through the estrangement of Season 6... we had a lot of good, rich House/Cuddy stuff in the first few episodes of the season (I went back and read my flail for Known Unknowns and MAN, WAS THAT EVER A SHIPPER'S GIFT OF AN EPISODE... well, beyond the fact that Cuddy got with Lucas, dang), but it was... the wrong kind of rich? I mean, it established beyond a shadow of a doubt that House was in love with Cuddy and hellbent on getting her... but also that Cuddy was pulling the fuck away from him. I admit I lost interest and drifted... I'm kind of GLAD I did though, because watching the entire second half of Season 6 at a go, I could appreciate it for what it was. I actually REALLY enjoyed most of the episodes (the ones that jump out in particular being the Hugh-directed Lockdown and, of course, Help Me), and I love the epic amounts of House/Wilson that went down. So I wound up enjoying Season 6, in my fashion, though parts of it... I must admit... did make me miss cranky, ornery House who did not get stricken by a guilty conscience at the end of every episode. Don't get me wrong, I think he needs to effect all these little changes - it's because of these changes, actually, that you feel he's kind of fought his way towards deserving Cuddy - but it's still kind of weird to see him getting an information packet on Sam and tossing it in the trash. Um. NO, INVADE HER PRIVACY, HOUSE. SHE'S EVIL. YOU NEED WILSON TO REMAIN IN A STRANGE, CO-DEPENDENT, TRIANGULAR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND CUDDY.
Ahem. Got carried away, there.
How about some flailing over Help Me specifically? OMIGOD. I thought that it was just... superlative television. Brilliantly brilliantly played by Hugh Laurie in particular. I don't think they could have sold the redemption scene - the one in which House admits that he made a mistake and he wishes now that he hadn't saved his leg because it ruined his life and left him all alone and miserable - anywhere near as effectively without Hugh's complete mastery of the part. FUCK BUT HUGH LAURIE IS A GOD. I don't think it can get anymore hyperbolic than that... AND YET IT'S NOT HYPERBOLIC AT ALL, JUST PLAIN TRUTH. Really he had me with every single scene of this episode. At the beginning, when he gives that book to Cuddy (THAT BOOK HE HAS KEPT FOR YEARS, FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION, OH HOUSE YOU BIG SOFTY ROMANTIC, YOU), and then when she confronts him, and lashes out at him in such a hateful, truthful, REAL way. Goddamn, my heart broke the way they yelled at and insulted each other - YEAH, MY SHIP IS AWESOME WITH THE VERBAL ABUSE - but Hugh managed to make every decision taken by House ring so beautifully, awkwardly true. The way he refused to give in and amputate Hanna's leg, through to how he stayed with her, and remained his usual brusque self, the way he wound up fighting for Hanna as much as for himself... and how he did it all even though he thought he'd lost Cuddy for real (both to the engagement with Lucas, and after Cuddy's whole "I'm done" speech).
LISA EDELSTEIN WAS ALSO PRETTY ROCKIN'. We knew this, of course. But I am so enormously thrilled how she has come into her own with this show. No one expected this when the show first started, I bet - I know I shipped House/Cuddy the first couple of seasons just because she was so insanely badass and awesome, and somehow this insane badassery became so hugely, honkingly obvious that her supernova amazing just burned everything else out and she somehow became the female lead of the show. A+++ Lisa Edelstein for being amazing. She's proved it innumerable times in all her little scenes (AND OMG I HAVEN'T EVEN THE TIME TO FLAIL ABOUT 5 TO 9 THE WAY I SHOULD/OUGHT), so why am I even singling this out for special attention, but whatever, she was excellentsauce in this episode. I thought she played Cuddy's reactions fantastically - right from the suspicious shock at House's gift, through to her anger and frustration with House for being obstinate, that LOOK on her face when House is baring his soul to Hanna and when House says he'll be the one to amputate the leg - FUCK. And then at the end, when she comes to him, and is just... this beautiful portrait of hopeful resignation. Like, someone giving up in the face of the inevitable, knowing she is going down a path that might not lead anywhere good... but just saying... you know what, fuck it, I'm in love with this idiot so let's give it a shot anyway. Dude. I don't even know how to describe it, it's just... LOOK AT THE TWO OF THEM TOGETHER, I MEAN, JUST LOOK AT THEM:
YEAH I HAD TO PICSPAM THAT FINAL SCENE BECAUSE IT'S SO OBSESSION-WORTHY. LOOK AT THEM. LOOK AT THEM.
Look at how angsty and... RESIGNED she is in the first row, and how much... LOVE just comes through anyway after they kiss. I MEAN, COME ON. LOOK AT LISA EDELSTEIN'S FACE. (Apparently capslock isn't enough for me anymore. BOLD + CAPSLOCK IS THE WAY TO GO. Look what you've done to my abilities to express myself, Lisa Edelstein!) How much can I NOT WAIT to watch that face kiss and snark at House all of next season, omg.
All the flail aside, I thought this was actually an excellent culmination of the soul-searching House has been doing all season. Granted I was a bit sad, because I never thought he needed much redeeming to begin with (apparently I like my bastards misanthropic, rude and slightly evil) - there was always a strange nobility to House's actions and principles (yes, he had principles, in his fashion), and I feel they're why Cuddy (and obviously I) fell for him in the first place. Because he sees and reacts to the world so differently, and makes her see it differently too, and challenges her. BUT I do think that, for the most part, the writers did a good job of keeping him still House and yet inching him ever slightly more towards being... more humane? Sometimes. And the way the situation and Cuddy just forced him to look at his leg, and how it has continued to poison his life and decisions since... I just loved it. Parts of it were too pat, and sold only by Hugh Laurie's convictions and excellent acting skillz. But... yeah, that finale brought me back to the fandom and this ship in a way I now realise I have sorely, sorely missed.
I have fic ideas bubbling, for the first time in years - I haven't posted a House!fic in TWO YEARS, WUT - and of course, the creativity is already being poured into Tumblr. Witness picspam and also this:
I'm clearly on crack. It's in my Tumblr queue and should pop up there soon enough. But I figured y'all might enjoy it first. ;)
p/s anyone have good recs for House-related Tumblrs? Anyone else ON Tumblr??
And omg, I need to bitch about the state of the fanfic right now. I went trawling through house_cuddy to see what it's like now, and you know... when I left, MOST of the fic was still being written by smart, literate people who had a fantastic way with words. WHERE DID THEY ALL GO? All the fics are written by, like, barely literate teenagers now. Is THIS what happens when Cameron leaves the show? The silly people migrate towards House/Cuddy? Urgh. I'm sorry for being such a snob, but it's true. The fics I DID see made me shudder. I'm not saying I'm any great shakes, honestly, because lord knows I am a schmoopy fluff-addict (yes, even when my ship is hardcore screwed-up like House and Cuddy are) but I do appreciate an ability to understand character and nuance and GRAMMAR.
And okay I have legit spent way too long typing that up. I'm crashing. At some point I still need to update my House/Cuddy icons - YOU KNOW, WITH THAT SCENE FROM THE FINALE - but not right now. Bed beckons. I've SORELY missed flailing about House, guys. ♥
Now, I am back in full-on flail for this ship, I want to stare at pictures of Lisa E and Hugh all day, and feel like re-watching all the House/Cuddy scenes there have ever been forever. Also, I want to write fic. Someone needs to discourage me from this. As it is, I've already started to make silly things for Tumblr...
OMIGOD EXCUSE THAT FINAL EPISODE. SERIOUSLY. GUYS. WHAT THE FUCK WAS HELP ME. LIKE, FOR REAL, I CANNOT GET OVER THAT LAST SCENE, OR THE ENTIRE EPISODE LEADING UP TO IT, OR THE FACT THAT HUGH LAURIE IS POSSIBLY THE MOST INCREDIBLE ACTOR IN THE UNIVERSE AND HE AND LISA EDELSTEIN ARE JUST SOME KIND OF MAGICAL COMBINATION OF SEXY AND SMART AND JUST OMG.
Okay, no more capslock because you all get what I mean, I'm sure, and have surely flailed to death over this ALREADY. But, honestly - I am so incredibly excited to see where they're going to go with this in Season 7. I don't expect it to be a smooth ride full of kittens and rainbows and unicorns (real unicorns, not the donkey kind with plungers on the forehead), because hell if House and Cuddy aren't a pretty damn fucked-up, dysfunctional couple. (In the same breath, she FINALLY admits she loves him and then promptly says that she wishes she didn't? NICE.) But I'm intrigued ANYWAY. I want to see them explore the sex, and the snark, and the people discovering they're together, the fighting, the bickering, and some actual LOVE and AFFECTION, even if it all ends up going south eventually. MY LEVEL OF EXCITEMENT FOR THIS IS VERY HIGH RIGHT ABOUT NOW. LIKE, EPIC EPIC HIGH.
It's so weird trying to settle back into the fandom though - a lot of the people I knew are still around, I guess, but it seems that a lot of them drifted away through the estrangement of Season 6... we had a lot of good, rich House/Cuddy stuff in the first few episodes of the season (I went back and read my flail for Known Unknowns and MAN, WAS THAT EVER A SHIPPER'S GIFT OF AN EPISODE... well, beyond the fact that Cuddy got with Lucas, dang), but it was... the wrong kind of rich? I mean, it established beyond a shadow of a doubt that House was in love with Cuddy and hellbent on getting her... but also that Cuddy was pulling the fuck away from him. I admit I lost interest and drifted... I'm kind of GLAD I did though, because watching the entire second half of Season 6 at a go, I could appreciate it for what it was. I actually REALLY enjoyed most of the episodes (the ones that jump out in particular being the Hugh-directed Lockdown and, of course, Help Me), and I love the epic amounts of House/Wilson that went down. So I wound up enjoying Season 6, in my fashion, though parts of it... I must admit... did make me miss cranky, ornery House who did not get stricken by a guilty conscience at the end of every episode. Don't get me wrong, I think he needs to effect all these little changes - it's because of these changes, actually, that you feel he's kind of fought his way towards deserving Cuddy - but it's still kind of weird to see him getting an information packet on Sam and tossing it in the trash. Um. NO, INVADE HER PRIVACY, HOUSE. SHE'S EVIL. YOU NEED WILSON TO REMAIN IN A STRANGE, CO-DEPENDENT, TRIANGULAR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND CUDDY.
Ahem. Got carried away, there.
How about some flailing over Help Me specifically? OMIGOD. I thought that it was just... superlative television. Brilliantly brilliantly played by Hugh Laurie in particular. I don't think they could have sold the redemption scene - the one in which House admits that he made a mistake and he wishes now that he hadn't saved his leg because it ruined his life and left him all alone and miserable - anywhere near as effectively without Hugh's complete mastery of the part. FUCK BUT HUGH LAURIE IS A GOD. I don't think it can get anymore hyperbolic than that... AND YET IT'S NOT HYPERBOLIC AT ALL, JUST PLAIN TRUTH. Really he had me with every single scene of this episode. At the beginning, when he gives that book to Cuddy (THAT BOOK HE HAS KEPT FOR YEARS, FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION, OH HOUSE YOU BIG SOFTY ROMANTIC, YOU), and then when she confronts him, and lashes out at him in such a hateful, truthful, REAL way. Goddamn, my heart broke the way they yelled at and insulted each other - YEAH, MY SHIP IS AWESOME WITH THE VERBAL ABUSE - but Hugh managed to make every decision taken by House ring so beautifully, awkwardly true. The way he refused to give in and amputate Hanna's leg, through to how he stayed with her, and remained his usual brusque self, the way he wound up fighting for Hanna as much as for himself... and how he did it all even though he thought he'd lost Cuddy for real (both to the engagement with Lucas, and after Cuddy's whole "I'm done" speech).
LISA EDELSTEIN WAS ALSO PRETTY ROCKIN'. We knew this, of course. But I am so enormously thrilled how she has come into her own with this show. No one expected this when the show first started, I bet - I know I shipped House/Cuddy the first couple of seasons just because she was so insanely badass and awesome, and somehow this insane badassery became so hugely, honkingly obvious that her supernova amazing just burned everything else out and she somehow became the female lead of the show. A+++ Lisa Edelstein for being amazing. She's proved it innumerable times in all her little scenes (AND OMG I HAVEN'T EVEN THE TIME TO FLAIL ABOUT 5 TO 9 THE WAY I SHOULD/OUGHT), so why am I even singling this out for special attention, but whatever, she was excellentsauce in this episode. I thought she played Cuddy's reactions fantastically - right from the suspicious shock at House's gift, through to her anger and frustration with House for being obstinate, that LOOK on her face when House is baring his soul to Hanna and when House says he'll be the one to amputate the leg - FUCK. And then at the end, when she comes to him, and is just... this beautiful portrait of hopeful resignation. Like, someone giving up in the face of the inevitable, knowing she is going down a path that might not lead anywhere good... but just saying... you know what, fuck it, I'm in love with this idiot so let's give it a shot anyway. Dude. I don't even know how to describe it, it's just... LOOK AT THE TWO OF THEM TOGETHER, I MEAN, JUST LOOK AT THEM:
YEAH I HAD TO PICSPAM THAT FINAL SCENE BECAUSE IT'S SO OBSESSION-WORTHY. LOOK AT THEM. LOOK AT THEM.
Look at how angsty and... RESIGNED she is in the first row, and how much... LOVE just comes through anyway after they kiss. I MEAN, COME ON. LOOK AT LISA EDELSTEIN'S FACE. (Apparently capslock isn't enough for me anymore. BOLD + CAPSLOCK IS THE WAY TO GO. Look what you've done to my abilities to express myself, Lisa Edelstein!) How much can I NOT WAIT to watch that face kiss and snark at House all of next season, omg.
All the flail aside, I thought this was actually an excellent culmination of the soul-searching House has been doing all season. Granted I was a bit sad, because I never thought he needed much redeeming to begin with (apparently I like my bastards misanthropic, rude and slightly evil) - there was always a strange nobility to House's actions and principles (yes, he had principles, in his fashion), and I feel they're why Cuddy (and obviously I) fell for him in the first place. Because he sees and reacts to the world so differently, and makes her see it differently too, and challenges her. BUT I do think that, for the most part, the writers did a good job of keeping him still House and yet inching him ever slightly more towards being... more humane? Sometimes. And the way the situation and Cuddy just forced him to look at his leg, and how it has continued to poison his life and decisions since... I just loved it. Parts of it were too pat, and sold only by Hugh Laurie's convictions and excellent acting skillz. But... yeah, that finale brought me back to the fandom and this ship in a way I now realise I have sorely, sorely missed.
I have fic ideas bubbling, for the first time in years - I haven't posted a House!fic in TWO YEARS, WUT - and of course, the creativity is already being poured into Tumblr. Witness picspam and also this:
I'm clearly on crack. It's in my Tumblr queue and should pop up there soon enough. But I figured y'all might enjoy it first. ;)
p/s anyone have good recs for House-related Tumblrs? Anyone else ON Tumblr??
And omg, I need to bitch about the state of the fanfic right now. I went trawling through house_cuddy to see what it's like now, and you know... when I left, MOST of the fic was still being written by smart, literate people who had a fantastic way with words. WHERE DID THEY ALL GO? All the fics are written by, like, barely literate teenagers now. Is THIS what happens when Cameron leaves the show? The silly people migrate towards House/Cuddy? Urgh. I'm sorry for being such a snob, but it's true. The fics I DID see made me shudder. I'm not saying I'm any great shakes, honestly, because lord knows I am a schmoopy fluff-addict (yes, even when my ship is hardcore screwed-up like House and Cuddy are) but I do appreciate an ability to understand character and nuance and GRAMMAR.
And okay I have legit spent way too long typing that up. I'm crashing. At some point I still need to update my House/Cuddy icons - YOU KNOW, WITH THAT SCENE FROM THE FINALE - but not right now. Bed beckons. I've SORELY missed flailing about House, guys. ♥