House S6 finale... I finally watched it!
Oh... my... goodness.
I finally found the time to watch Help Me last night, and wow. Granted, I'm going to be very biased here, considering I'm a House/Cuddy shipper and have been rooting for some House/Cuddy action ever since I started watching the show seriously (eg S4). In fact, it's Under My Skin and Both Sides Now that have turned my occasional watching into complete and utter obsession. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a good love story, and when you give me a tortured hero and what looks like a relationship that's doomed from the start, I'm in.
Okay, so in that sense, Help Me totally catered to my needs. Mind you, S6 has been aiming for that from the start, with House pining for Cuddy and she getting more and more deeply involved in her relationship with Lucas. Plus House is progressively becoming isolated. Wilson is in a serious relationship with Sam and logically pushes House away. Cuddy is moving in with Lucas (hell, getting engaged!). House is alone, and even more so because the two people he cares the most about have a significant other now. He's not the centre of their universe any more.
In that sense, I think Help Me is a very good finale. House has spent the whole season being off vicodin. As a result, he's appeared to be more caring (in his own peculiar way), and less selfish, like when he saved Wilson's butt on the euthanasy speech, or when he helped Alvie prove he's Portorican, or in Help Me, when he finally gives Cuddy the book that her grandfather wrote.
He's evolved throughout S6, showing more vulnerable sides, being more open at times. I suppose that's why I can accept that he would talk to Hanna about his leg and his pain to convince her to go through with amputation. I was very moved by the scene. I know it's probably seen as cliched, and in a way it probably is: tortured hero admitting he has failures (in front of the person he cares very much about, who claims not to return his feelings) just to save a patient's life.
I had a discussion with yamx after watching Help Me, and I suppose I can admit that the final scene is a bit stereotypical. But... see, House is such a non-stereotypical tv show that any cliché suddenly looks original. Yes, for a bunch of episodes now I expected him to almost fall back into his vicodin addiction. Yes, setting the scene in the bathroom was probably very much expected, too, though I see it as a nice touch, kind of like a nod to his hallucination/fantasy in the S5 finale. And I absolutely adored Cuddy telling him she loves him and that she wishes she didn't. How true that is, too. He *is* screwed up, like he tells her then. Loving him is probably much more risky and uncomfortable than loving Lucas, but she can't help it, she can't choose who she loves, and it's always been him. *Watch the romantic fangirl in me reel* ;)
And my, they're hot together. For real. *fans self*
My only worry is the Moonlighting effect, like I've seen happen on Lois & Clark back in the days: the thrill is in the chase, and once they are together, there won't be any *unresolved* sexual tension left. However, House is such a complex character that the relationship, if it does get forward, shouldn't be smooth and boring. In any case, I can't wait to see Wilson's reaction to the news (if House doesn't choose to hide it from everyone, including Wilson).
Can't believe we have to wait a whole year to see S7!