'Bombshells' Aftermath - Thoughts on House latest plotline twists
Title: 'Bombshells' aftermath - Thoughts on House latest plotline twists"
Status: article
Summary: Supposedly not being jerked around feels even more like I'm being jerked around...
Disclaimer: House, MD is not mine! it belongs to David Shore... and he can have it all...
all insights welcome.
This is probably just going to be another droplet in the ocean of utter frustration that’s been roaring lately among House fans, but I really need to get it off my chest.
I’m a fan of House. I am (was? I’m not quite sure anymore) fond of the House and Cuddy pairing. I completely support the House and Wilson friendship. I’ve understood (at least I think) every step of the journey so far and accepted all the milestones which I viewed as necessary and extremely powerful: Vogler, Stacy, Tritter, Amber, Kutner, Mayfield, Lucas… There is not one story arc that I despise, and I’m not even speaking in retrospect, because I was enjoying them (with different degree of pleasure) while they were unraveling in front of me.
I love House. I love his journey. I love the character and his flaws. I love his intrinsic qualities too, and I love the subtext it creates, and the perspectives it opens.
But then, within this cleverly woven web, I’ve seen a path. In this mindful, creative labyrinth of feelings and suffering, I’ve never felt completely lost because I was always handled an Ariadne’s thread to guide me through the dark and show me where the light was.
And this is what has made this experience so unique from the start. And now it’s gone. Or seriously injured at least. Why? Because I’d been given the impression I was going somewhere (“Everybody knows this is going somewhere”) and then just when I was about to complete a cycle and move on to another level, some irrational event threw me back to where I was coming from, without a significant or valid reason. Just like that. Gratuitously.
I’m not denying the impact of ‘Bombshells’ on my House and Cuddy shipper’s mind, neither am I trying to conceal the obvious correlation between my disappointment and this plot twist. But that’s not what it is about. The breakup, in the end, is only slightly contributing to my overall deception. If it were the most important part of it, there wouldn’t be - as I see it - so many people, coming from so many different horizons in the fan experience, expressing their dismay after Monday’s episode.
What ‘Bombshells’ did is not only about taking aback a part of the fandom with a heart-wrenching and cruel breakup. It’s also about betraying the essence of what defined several characters, rooted into six seasons and a half clear and important clues.
And the first consequence which sadly looks more and more irreparable, is that it significantly altered the past history of the show, but also certainly its future.
FUTURE
“We don’t want to jerk the fans around” - David Shore.
Why is it then that I specifically now feel jerked around the most? Isn’t it ironic?
Don’t get me wrong though, I understand the reasons why David Shore needed to say this. There is a sense of (raw) honesty delivered within this message and it’s indeed a way of not messing with us: “Hey look, we’re being bluntly sincere with you because then the deal is clear and nobody will get hurt” - (add: once the five stages of grief are completed) Yes that’s true. And that’s even almost thoughtful, somehow, from a very, very far objective and unconcerned perspective.
The message delivered is: House will NEVER change. His relapse has sent him back to square one (however far that might be…). Huddy is forever dead and buried. So suck it and ‘Get ready for the judgment day.’
Except, I have to add bafflement here, because I think I’ve been told on multiple occasions (and by David Shore himself who recently reassured his audience about it) that there was some very strong chance there’d be an eighth (and probably last) season for the show; which means 30 more episodes to go till the end to depict House’s journey.
[Pause: Unless… there never was going to be an eighth season and there are only eight episodes left and then we’ve been lied to, or misled, which in my book equals being jerked around.
“But we’re not jerked around, right?”]
And this is where the problem lies; because the thing is, by definition, a fandom is invested. And, while there are millions of regular viewers watching House around the globe, when anyone from the cast or the writing and creative team gives an interview (even more so an online one) they can’t pretend they don’t know they are addressing the hardcore fans, and NOT the casual viewers who will vaguely put one and one together when thinking about the course of seven seasons (should they have watched them all anyway) enough to remember that House is meant to be cranky and a pain in the ass, Wilson is the nice supportive friend, and Cuddy is the neurotic, narcissist boss who has a crush on the hero…
And that’s why it doesn’t work.
No. Mind you, Mister Shore, when delivering your radical, albeit praiseworthy, message to a portion of your most involved viewers, unveiling what’s next with blunt honesty, you have actually triggered the opposite: you have jerked us around. Nobody wants to read the last line of a tragic book before they’ve read the book. Maybe some do, but then I’m pretty sure they’re not real readers, because diving into a storytelling experience is about the journey as much as the destination, if not more.
Otherwise, there would be no point in telling a story with so many highs and lows, hopes and wreckages, twists and turns during six long years of conscientious writing if the endgame were definitely delivered one year and a half prior to its actual release. If the deal is sealed, you know where you’re going and there is no surprise, no interest, and no awe anymore. This is, to me, the very definition of motivation and hope murder.
Now, since I admitted in preamble that I was fond of the House and Cuddy pairing, it must seem hard to believe that I’m not just simply bitter because ‘my favorite couple’ has been broken up. Yet, I’m not. I can go beyond this fact and still find reasons to be upset. As proof of that, let me explain what kind of House and Cuddy fan I am:
I do not root for the couple to get married. In my opinion, this is completely out of character and unrealistic, given the background history of both characters.
I, therefore, do not root for them to have a baby either. Let’s get real. Cuddy’s character is supposed to be 43. House is 51. They’re both living one hell of a complicated life so (no disrespect here) whoever envisions them gently rocking a baby into sleep sitting by a crackling fire is watching the wrong show.
I should also add that, being a Huddy, does not necessarily mean being a fluffy, delusional fan incapable of picturing the real nature of a character’s fate. I perfectly know (even if a slight part of me still struggles to admit it) that the end has to be flamboyantly dramatic because it is deeply scarred into the history of the show as in the mind of its creators. I am aware that there is no “happy ever after” future for House because I am able to consider the pith of what makes him be who he is.
[Pause: please, writers give some intellectual credit to your fandom and it will ease a lot of the relationship’s tension we both have to suffer from this nonsensical way of handling things - we are not all just angry, mindless teens fuming their anger with no grounded arguments, except for pure hormonal frustration needing release. Thank you.]
To be honest, I’ve long ago anticipated the end of the show would equal House's death. Anything other than that would be a surprise for me; one that I would welcome with a smile though, but not one that I would beseech to receive like it was some kind of logical reward for my faith as a viewer. I’m not expecting a show which has “You can’t always get what you want” as its motto to give me some happy ending.
I am not hoping for House to heal. To be frank, I don't want him to. I love him the way he is, though only to a certain extent. I know he's screwed up and not going to suddenly become a good, well-adjusted man! But, knowing, and accepting that House will most certainly end up alone, probably dead, doesn't take away my wish of having him thinking over and over again that he can redeem himself in the process, and thus trying to. Yes, in spite of me anticipating the end, in the meantime, I am still having some hopeful expectations for the characters I've learned to love and undersatnd throughout the years and that's what I want to be able to see.
The story being told which has been unraveling in front of our eyes for six and a half years is paved with enough meaningful steps, significant to ANY kind of fans, to not be so easily and conveniently dismissed when time has come to turn the table and shake the audience a bit.
We are watching a drama. Hence, this is not a game. Planning some shocking twists along the process that, I can understand. Not wanting the storyline to be linear (ergo boring) I understand too. But sacrificing the continuity of several characters and slaughtering the intrinsic value of their entwined history to serve a timely point, thrown carelessly in the middle of an ongoing, intellectually valid progression is CHEATING. This is disrespectful too; not only to the fans who are not puppets on a string that can be manipulated with improbable plot twists shoved down their throats whenever the mood strikes, but also to the writing process itself and the attention that should be given to it.
The reset button is a (convenient) safety device, but deciding to push it cannot be argued as a valid reason to supposedly go back to what is the reality of a creative project. Because reality IS where you are at when you press the reset button. Not six years before! Otherwise it negates the entire creation in itself and renders it completely useless.
That’s also one of the many reasons why, while we're supposed to not feel jerked around, we definitely are…
PAST
Giving House/Cuddy relationship a go was a bold decision to make. As a House and Cuddy fan, I applauded when they made it. But I was also very aware of the extremely high potential risk of screwing that gem they had IF they were going to just "experiencing" the stuff and then move on to something else, like you move on to the next course during meal. I had faith though, because I thought it was so deeply tattooed under House’s skin it would be undoubtedly taken seriously and most of all, with respect for its background history.
Stop right here, this is not me saying I was hoping to see them cuddling happily until the last minute of the show. I was expecting them to break up. EVERYONE was expecting them to break up. After ‘Bombshells,’ not all the wave of discontentment that’s ensued has been caused by the event itself. It’s also, and mainly, rooted in the mean that leads to its occurrence.
So here, “The end justifies the mean.” could be an objection; expect it’s not a war and there was no combat to be fought. And admitting, almost as a cancellation clause that House and Cuddy won’t end together, isn’t an excuse to NOT do their relationship justice for as long as they’ll exist together. And by the way, the duration you’re willing to grant to the experiment matters just as much when you decide to put together two characters that supposedly have 20 years of romantic build-up behind them. No matter the (poor) excuses given to justify that it had to end, 15 episodes, ergo a few months, is the most ridicule concern put into a storyline in that show, considering the importance it had been given before.
It however quite blatantly demonstrated that the once bold decision of getting them together was not so serenely assumed as the rushed break up felt nothing other than a coward, sudden move in fear of having to suffer the Moonlighting curse.
Eventually, why does it not ring true? Why is a large majority of fans, disrespectfully dismissed as whimsical and grumpy, incapable of digesting that event, as just another normal turn of events in the storyline? Why can’t it be as simple as that?
Because…
“House is an addict, ergo House can’t change. House is a jerk, ergo House is incapable of displaying emotions. House is not a good boyfriend, ergo House is not romantic. House has no empathy and no humanity, ergo House doesn’t care…”
Those are samples of the crap that’s been shoved down our throats in recent interviews by the writers of ‘Bombshells’ to make us digest the inanity of its entire concept.
And I have to strongly disagree with all of them.
Still, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate Bombshells. Artistically, I can’t dismiss its boldness, or the very creative aspect of its visual. The storyline, in its premise: Cuddy being sick and thus testing the emotional implications of House in the relationship was also, I thought, a good idea.
But then the way it deals with the consequence of that drama, and worse the reasons invoked for it, are just betrayal to House the character, his quest, his doubts, his efforts, and his entire journey.
House - “If you take the pill you don’t deserve her, if you secretly take the pill you don’t deserve anyone.”
So that should be it? House took a Vicodin to be able to overcome his fear of losing Cuddy (and I guess, consciously aware of flushing two years of detox down the toilet by the way, which is strangely something that nobody seems to grant him as the most immense gesture he could have done for Cuddy… but well, it’s all a matter of perspective) and that’s why it shall forever be doomed?
Ok. Let’s admit it was. Does that mean we then have to also assume it's all due to every bit of doomed and dark aspect on his persona as well? Is taking one pill what constitutes the proof he’s not empathic? Or that he has no humanity? Or that he doesn’t care?
That's strange because, I was given quite the opposite impression throughout the previous seasons, and even more so, with some undeniable crescendo hints in the process (but maybe that's what should have constituted the warning signs. The better it gets, the more likely it is to be ripped apart? How original...)
>> Where did I get that preposterous idea that House is empathic and a man with huge humanity?
‘Three Stories’: he accepted to treat Mark (Stacy’s husband) despite the obvious emotional conflict he had to face in the meantime, even admitting to Stacy he was ‘wishing him to be dead.’
‘Wilson’s Heart’: House was willing to risk his life to help his friend save the woman he loved. He put HIS life after the feeling of relief for a friend, with no guarantee that it was even useful. What can be more selfless than that?
‘House’s Head/Wilson’s Heart’: He forced Thirteen to face the shocking reality of her disease instead of denying it. One could argue it’s cruel but I think, in House’s book, it’s what humanity should be: no pretense, no treachery, no lie. In the same spirit, he also test Cameron for HIV when she refused to do it herself, denying the risk she was facing for herself and others. Forcing her to know was House’s humane way of not messing with people’s lives.
‘Joy’: He’s the ONLY one who went to Cuddy’s to console her. Of course that was not with the intention of hugging her friendly to absorb her tears but the awkwardness of just his stance in her hallway was proof of how much it cost him to be there, and yet, he WAS. And there is no lie in his gaze when he sheepishly confesses he doesn’t know why he’s a jerk: deep inside he probably feels the empathic vibe, he just don’t know how to display it.
‘Broken’ & ‘Lockdown’ he stayed with Nolan at his dying father’s bedside, and in the ‘Lockdown’ dying patient's room until the end (even after the lockdown has ended) absorbing their pain and angst while being himself in a clearly fucked-up state of mind at that time, thus risking to endure a severe emotional fallout. But he did it just the same. Again, if that is not pure empathy, I don’t know what is.
‘Remorse’: He signed a $5000.00 check for Wibberly and slipped it in the mail slot, unbeknownst to the guy, in a pure anonymous, selfless gesture. No credit requested. Just generosity. To me, but who knows what I’ve been learning all this time, this, is humanity.
‘Help Me’: House prayed with Hannah to comfort her even though he’s an atheist.
‘Recession Proof’: He hired a Mariachi band for Cuddy, just because (and by the way he apparently was the only one concerned enough to know) he knew she would love it.
‘Family Practice’: He yelled at Cuddy to shake her back to her senses and gave her one of the very few opportunities she seemed to have had in life to stand up to her mother.
And the list could go on...
>> Why should I believe that House isn’t a romantic?
First of all I think the writers who claim that House is not romantic should maybe clarify what is their definition of ‘romantic’ so that we’re all sure we’re talking about the same thing.
Being romantic is being ruled by emotions over the idea of rationilization. At first sight, one could argue this is not exactly what defines House, and even quite the opposite actually. House likes to solve puzzles. He’s obsessed by the truth and can never stop the reasoning process even when the solution seemed to have been found.
But then, let’s not forget, he numbed his mind with pills, and that certainly wasn't - and never has been - to improve his intellectual skills. Drugs numb the mind and they, in fact, have the exact opposite effect. So, let's say, at most, it helped him view things from different angles and put aside the exhausting effect of constant reflection. But if House deflects, throws cynical barbs and avoids dealing with feelings it’s probably because, intrinsically, he’s constantly invaded by a brewing flow of emotions that he has to struggle against to be able to focus.
Other than that, when he’s not strictly in control, House is THE romantic by definition, doing crazy, desperate grand gestures that reek more of emotional outbursts than pure rationalization of facts.
‘Both Sides Now’: him shouting that he has slept with Cuddy from the balcony is the best illustration of that. Even though he tries to rationalize his attitude with strategic motivations, it’s just the opposite of anything rational, knowing that the risks he’s taking are not even going to ensure him a positive outcome. This ‘all of nothing’ desperate way of going all in is romantic. Just like, in the same spirit, was him wanting Cuddy and he to move in together right after their first night together.
Then of course, the objection is that it was based on hallucinated facts, and ergo wasn’t true. But I think that’s the very reason why it’s also exactly the most raw access that can be given to House's real personality, because there are no barriers in those moments… and that’s why the emotions flow freely.
Finally, and I admit most shockingly for me, we were told that House doesn’t care; and (conveniently for ‘Bombshells’ endgame) that he specifically doesn’t care for Cuddy. Isn’t it strange then that the only real, blatant (and even so, arguable) proof of that is seen in Bombshells itself?
>> On what ground should I base the assumption that House doesn't care for Cuddy?
‘Who’s your Daddy?’: he was there for her through her IVF process. He kept her secret safe. ‘Joy’: he was there for her after the adoption had fallen through. ‘5 to 9’: he was there to comfort her in her moments of doubt. ‘Family Practice’: he was there for her mother even though it absolutely contradicted one of his strongest medical principles: not treating relatives. 'Two Stories' He did most of what he did - however clever people might think it was - to give Cuddy's daughter, Rachel, a chance to be accepted in a good school...
And finally, ‘Bombshells.’
I completely disagree that House didn’t care for Cuddy in that episode. He did, all the time, but in his own unconventional way: he hacked her computer to know about her reactions to the news. He bribed a doctor so he could have access to her scan results. He sent Chase to be with her. He made Masters search through every patient files to find the results of her biopsy. He tried - clumsily but still - to reassure her that it was nothing. He dug deeper into her results to explain the cause of her lung abscesses and gave her full reassuring closure on her disease. And he took the immense risk of relapsing just to be with her, like SHE wanted him to, while knowing it was interfering with his case, his emotions and his ability to cope.
He sacrificed himself, in the most romantic way, candidly heading toward his own destruction…
Cuddy - “What you want, you run away from. What you need, you don't have a clue."
To top that whole mess, we’re also told that Cuddy should NOT have given that relationship a try in the first place and by saying so, we’re asked to close our eyes upon six years of very specific actions and declarations which have all tended to prove that Cuddy was not going to give up easily on a man like House.
Cuddy was depicted as a strong woman, with a stubborn character.
Instead of preserving that continuity within the challenge of a relationship, almost right the minute the writers decided to give House and Cuddy a chance, they turned her into a whining, insensitive bitch, cracking the whip and forgetting every empathic promises and gestures she’d had for House in the past.
For any fan, and even the ones who do not ship House and Cuddy together, it’s impossible not to see the evident disruption that Cuddy’s profession of faith to House in “Help Me,” “Now What” or “Unwritten” causes in regard to her later incomprehensible intolerance for very insignificant things like toothbrush, garbage, and toilet seats. And it leaves me wondering WHY? Why did the writers feel the need to build Cuddy’s character that way, slowly and conscientiously adding stones after stones to give it meaning and consistency, if it was to head there?
>> Significant quotes that Cuddy's said throughout the show in regard to her relationship with House:
H: ‘Pick someone you like.’
C: ‘Someone like you?’
“Everybody knows this is going somewhere.”
“All I can think about is you.”
“It’s your choice if you wanna go back on drugs.”
“Why do you have to analyze things to death? Why can't you just... let it be nice?”
“I don't want you to change. I know you're screwed up. I know you are always gonna be screwed up. But you're the most incredible man I've ever known. And you are always gonna be... the most incredible man I have ever known.”
“Who cares about common? Common is boring. It's... common! I like being with you. You make me better. Hopefully, I make you better. What we have is... uncommon. And I've never been happier.”
“Shut up! You’re too drunk to end this relationship.”
So, ultimately, it’s not just about breaking her up with House - which in itself, and at this point of the story, is already inane enough - but it's about killing the strength of her character. The faith she always had towards House. And, her will to fight adversity no matter what.
I don’t know what the writers have in store. But the fact that they’ve dismissed all hope to see House, a) trying to change and b) Cuddy giving him another chance in the future (seeing how they’ve messed it up enough to ensure that’s how it's gonna be) is simply stupid. It doesn’t make sense. It is not the story I’ve been told for almost seven years. It feels like an irresponsible disruption of characters’ continuity, even if the final destination has to be House in the darkest places of his soul. House is not linear! David Shore said in his interview that it was a challenge to write House and Cuddy together while not changing who their characters were. And that’s exactly what I was used to seeing this show do: take up challenges. That's, therefore, exactly what I was expecting them to do again. I guess I was being naive...
When has House turned into this cowardly exploring well-known territories for the safety of it show?
Status: article
Summary: Supposedly not being jerked around feels even more like I'm being jerked around...
Disclaimer: House, MD is not mine! it belongs to David Shore... and he can have it all...
all insights welcome.
This is probably just going to be another droplet in the ocean of utter frustration that’s been roaring lately among House fans, but I really need to get it off my chest.
I’m a fan of House. I am (was? I’m not quite sure anymore) fond of the House and Cuddy pairing. I completely support the House and Wilson friendship. I’ve understood (at least I think) every step of the journey so far and accepted all the milestones which I viewed as necessary and extremely powerful: Vogler, Stacy, Tritter, Amber, Kutner, Mayfield, Lucas… There is not one story arc that I despise, and I’m not even speaking in retrospect, because I was enjoying them (with different degree of pleasure) while they were unraveling in front of me.
I love House. I love his journey. I love the character and his flaws. I love his intrinsic qualities too, and I love the subtext it creates, and the perspectives it opens.
But then, within this cleverly woven web, I’ve seen a path. In this mindful, creative labyrinth of feelings and suffering, I’ve never felt completely lost because I was always handled an Ariadne’s thread to guide me through the dark and show me where the light was.
And this is what has made this experience so unique from the start. And now it’s gone. Or seriously injured at least. Why? Because I’d been given the impression I was going somewhere (“Everybody knows this is going somewhere”) and then just when I was about to complete a cycle and move on to another level, some irrational event threw me back to where I was coming from, without a significant or valid reason. Just like that. Gratuitously.
I’m not denying the impact of ‘Bombshells’ on my House and Cuddy shipper’s mind, neither am I trying to conceal the obvious correlation between my disappointment and this plot twist. But that’s not what it is about. The breakup, in the end, is only slightly contributing to my overall deception. If it were the most important part of it, there wouldn’t be - as I see it - so many people, coming from so many different horizons in the fan experience, expressing their dismay after Monday’s episode.
What ‘Bombshells’ did is not only about taking aback a part of the fandom with a heart-wrenching and cruel breakup. It’s also about betraying the essence of what defined several characters, rooted into six seasons and a half clear and important clues.
And the first consequence which sadly looks more and more irreparable, is that it significantly altered the past history of the show, but also certainly its future.
FUTURE
“We don’t want to jerk the fans around” - David Shore.
Why is it then that I specifically now feel jerked around the most? Isn’t it ironic?
Don’t get me wrong though, I understand the reasons why David Shore needed to say this. There is a sense of (raw) honesty delivered within this message and it’s indeed a way of not messing with us: “Hey look, we’re being bluntly sincere with you because then the deal is clear and nobody will get hurt” - (add: once the five stages of grief are completed) Yes that’s true. And that’s even almost thoughtful, somehow, from a very, very far objective and unconcerned perspective.
The message delivered is: House will NEVER change. His relapse has sent him back to square one (however far that might be…). Huddy is forever dead and buried. So suck it and ‘Get ready for the judgment day.’
Except, I have to add bafflement here, because I think I’ve been told on multiple occasions (and by David Shore himself who recently reassured his audience about it) that there was some very strong chance there’d be an eighth (and probably last) season for the show; which means 30 more episodes to go till the end to depict House’s journey.
[Pause: Unless… there never was going to be an eighth season and there are only eight episodes left and then we’ve been lied to, or misled, which in my book equals being jerked around.
“But we’re not jerked around, right?”]
And this is where the problem lies; because the thing is, by definition, a fandom is invested. And, while there are millions of regular viewers watching House around the globe, when anyone from the cast or the writing and creative team gives an interview (even more so an online one) they can’t pretend they don’t know they are addressing the hardcore fans, and NOT the casual viewers who will vaguely put one and one together when thinking about the course of seven seasons (should they have watched them all anyway) enough to remember that House is meant to be cranky and a pain in the ass, Wilson is the nice supportive friend, and Cuddy is the neurotic, narcissist boss who has a crush on the hero…
And that’s why it doesn’t work.
No. Mind you, Mister Shore, when delivering your radical, albeit praiseworthy, message to a portion of your most involved viewers, unveiling what’s next with blunt honesty, you have actually triggered the opposite: you have jerked us around. Nobody wants to read the last line of a tragic book before they’ve read the book. Maybe some do, but then I’m pretty sure they’re not real readers, because diving into a storytelling experience is about the journey as much as the destination, if not more.
Otherwise, there would be no point in telling a story with so many highs and lows, hopes and wreckages, twists and turns during six long years of conscientious writing if the endgame were definitely delivered one year and a half prior to its actual release. If the deal is sealed, you know where you’re going and there is no surprise, no interest, and no awe anymore. This is, to me, the very definition of motivation and hope murder.
Now, since I admitted in preamble that I was fond of the House and Cuddy pairing, it must seem hard to believe that I’m not just simply bitter because ‘my favorite couple’ has been broken up. Yet, I’m not. I can go beyond this fact and still find reasons to be upset. As proof of that, let me explain what kind of House and Cuddy fan I am:
I do not root for the couple to get married. In my opinion, this is completely out of character and unrealistic, given the background history of both characters.
I, therefore, do not root for them to have a baby either. Let’s get real. Cuddy’s character is supposed to be 43. House is 51. They’re both living one hell of a complicated life so (no disrespect here) whoever envisions them gently rocking a baby into sleep sitting by a crackling fire is watching the wrong show.
I should also add that, being a Huddy, does not necessarily mean being a fluffy, delusional fan incapable of picturing the real nature of a character’s fate. I perfectly know (even if a slight part of me still struggles to admit it) that the end has to be flamboyantly dramatic because it is deeply scarred into the history of the show as in the mind of its creators. I am aware that there is no “happy ever after” future for House because I am able to consider the pith of what makes him be who he is.
[Pause: please, writers give some intellectual credit to your fandom and it will ease a lot of the relationship’s tension we both have to suffer from this nonsensical way of handling things - we are not all just angry, mindless teens fuming their anger with no grounded arguments, except for pure hormonal frustration needing release. Thank you.]
To be honest, I’ve long ago anticipated the end of the show would equal House's death. Anything other than that would be a surprise for me; one that I would welcome with a smile though, but not one that I would beseech to receive like it was some kind of logical reward for my faith as a viewer. I’m not expecting a show which has “You can’t always get what you want” as its motto to give me some happy ending.
I am not hoping for House to heal. To be frank, I don't want him to. I love him the way he is, though only to a certain extent. I know he's screwed up and not going to suddenly become a good, well-adjusted man! But, knowing, and accepting that House will most certainly end up alone, probably dead, doesn't take away my wish of having him thinking over and over again that he can redeem himself in the process, and thus trying to. Yes, in spite of me anticipating the end, in the meantime, I am still having some hopeful expectations for the characters I've learned to love and undersatnd throughout the years and that's what I want to be able to see.
The story being told which has been unraveling in front of our eyes for six and a half years is paved with enough meaningful steps, significant to ANY kind of fans, to not be so easily and conveniently dismissed when time has come to turn the table and shake the audience a bit.
We are watching a drama. Hence, this is not a game. Planning some shocking twists along the process that, I can understand. Not wanting the storyline to be linear (ergo boring) I understand too. But sacrificing the continuity of several characters and slaughtering the intrinsic value of their entwined history to serve a timely point, thrown carelessly in the middle of an ongoing, intellectually valid progression is CHEATING. This is disrespectful too; not only to the fans who are not puppets on a string that can be manipulated with improbable plot twists shoved down their throats whenever the mood strikes, but also to the writing process itself and the attention that should be given to it.
The reset button is a (convenient) safety device, but deciding to push it cannot be argued as a valid reason to supposedly go back to what is the reality of a creative project. Because reality IS where you are at when you press the reset button. Not six years before! Otherwise it negates the entire creation in itself and renders it completely useless.
That’s also one of the many reasons why, while we're supposed to not feel jerked around, we definitely are…
PAST
Giving House/Cuddy relationship a go was a bold decision to make. As a House and Cuddy fan, I applauded when they made it. But I was also very aware of the extremely high potential risk of screwing that gem they had IF they were going to just "experiencing" the stuff and then move on to something else, like you move on to the next course during meal. I had faith though, because I thought it was so deeply tattooed under House’s skin it would be undoubtedly taken seriously and most of all, with respect for its background history.
Stop right here, this is not me saying I was hoping to see them cuddling happily until the last minute of the show. I was expecting them to break up. EVERYONE was expecting them to break up. After ‘Bombshells,’ not all the wave of discontentment that’s ensued has been caused by the event itself. It’s also, and mainly, rooted in the mean that leads to its occurrence.
So here, “The end justifies the mean.” could be an objection; expect it’s not a war and there was no combat to be fought. And admitting, almost as a cancellation clause that House and Cuddy won’t end together, isn’t an excuse to NOT do their relationship justice for as long as they’ll exist together. And by the way, the duration you’re willing to grant to the experiment matters just as much when you decide to put together two characters that supposedly have 20 years of romantic build-up behind them. No matter the (poor) excuses given to justify that it had to end, 15 episodes, ergo a few months, is the most ridicule concern put into a storyline in that show, considering the importance it had been given before.
It however quite blatantly demonstrated that the once bold decision of getting them together was not so serenely assumed as the rushed break up felt nothing other than a coward, sudden move in fear of having to suffer the Moonlighting curse.
Eventually, why does it not ring true? Why is a large majority of fans, disrespectfully dismissed as whimsical and grumpy, incapable of digesting that event, as just another normal turn of events in the storyline? Why can’t it be as simple as that?
Because…
“House is an addict, ergo House can’t change. House is a jerk, ergo House is incapable of displaying emotions. House is not a good boyfriend, ergo House is not romantic. House has no empathy and no humanity, ergo House doesn’t care…”
Those are samples of the crap that’s been shoved down our throats in recent interviews by the writers of ‘Bombshells’ to make us digest the inanity of its entire concept.
And I have to strongly disagree with all of them.
Still, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate Bombshells. Artistically, I can’t dismiss its boldness, or the very creative aspect of its visual. The storyline, in its premise: Cuddy being sick and thus testing the emotional implications of House in the relationship was also, I thought, a good idea.
But then the way it deals with the consequence of that drama, and worse the reasons invoked for it, are just betrayal to House the character, his quest, his doubts, his efforts, and his entire journey.
House - “If you take the pill you don’t deserve her, if you secretly take the pill you don’t deserve anyone.”
So that should be it? House took a Vicodin to be able to overcome his fear of losing Cuddy (and I guess, consciously aware of flushing two years of detox down the toilet by the way, which is strangely something that nobody seems to grant him as the most immense gesture he could have done for Cuddy… but well, it’s all a matter of perspective) and that’s why it shall forever be doomed?
Ok. Let’s admit it was. Does that mean we then have to also assume it's all due to every bit of doomed and dark aspect on his persona as well? Is taking one pill what constitutes the proof he’s not empathic? Or that he has no humanity? Or that he doesn’t care?
That's strange because, I was given quite the opposite impression throughout the previous seasons, and even more so, with some undeniable crescendo hints in the process (but maybe that's what should have constituted the warning signs. The better it gets, the more likely it is to be ripped apart? How original...)
>> Where did I get that preposterous idea that House is empathic and a man with huge humanity?
‘Three Stories’: he accepted to treat Mark (Stacy’s husband) despite the obvious emotional conflict he had to face in the meantime, even admitting to Stacy he was ‘wishing him to be dead.’
‘Wilson’s Heart’: House was willing to risk his life to help his friend save the woman he loved. He put HIS life after the feeling of relief for a friend, with no guarantee that it was even useful. What can be more selfless than that?
‘House’s Head/Wilson’s Heart’: He forced Thirteen to face the shocking reality of her disease instead of denying it. One could argue it’s cruel but I think, in House’s book, it’s what humanity should be: no pretense, no treachery, no lie. In the same spirit, he also test Cameron for HIV when she refused to do it herself, denying the risk she was facing for herself and others. Forcing her to know was House’s humane way of not messing with people’s lives.
‘Joy’: He’s the ONLY one who went to Cuddy’s to console her. Of course that was not with the intention of hugging her friendly to absorb her tears but the awkwardness of just his stance in her hallway was proof of how much it cost him to be there, and yet, he WAS. And there is no lie in his gaze when he sheepishly confesses he doesn’t know why he’s a jerk: deep inside he probably feels the empathic vibe, he just don’t know how to display it.
‘Broken’ & ‘Lockdown’ he stayed with Nolan at his dying father’s bedside, and in the ‘Lockdown’ dying patient's room until the end (even after the lockdown has ended) absorbing their pain and angst while being himself in a clearly fucked-up state of mind at that time, thus risking to endure a severe emotional fallout. But he did it just the same. Again, if that is not pure empathy, I don’t know what is.
‘Remorse’: He signed a $5000.00 check for Wibberly and slipped it in the mail slot, unbeknownst to the guy, in a pure anonymous, selfless gesture. No credit requested. Just generosity. To me, but who knows what I’ve been learning all this time, this, is humanity.
‘Help Me’: House prayed with Hannah to comfort her even though he’s an atheist.
‘Recession Proof’: He hired a Mariachi band for Cuddy, just because (and by the way he apparently was the only one concerned enough to know) he knew she would love it.
‘Family Practice’: He yelled at Cuddy to shake her back to her senses and gave her one of the very few opportunities she seemed to have had in life to stand up to her mother.
And the list could go on...
>> Why should I believe that House isn’t a romantic?
First of all I think the writers who claim that House is not romantic should maybe clarify what is their definition of ‘romantic’ so that we’re all sure we’re talking about the same thing.
Being romantic is being ruled by emotions over the idea of rationilization. At first sight, one could argue this is not exactly what defines House, and even quite the opposite actually. House likes to solve puzzles. He’s obsessed by the truth and can never stop the reasoning process even when the solution seemed to have been found.
But then, let’s not forget, he numbed his mind with pills, and that certainly wasn't - and never has been - to improve his intellectual skills. Drugs numb the mind and they, in fact, have the exact opposite effect. So, let's say, at most, it helped him view things from different angles and put aside the exhausting effect of constant reflection. But if House deflects, throws cynical barbs and avoids dealing with feelings it’s probably because, intrinsically, he’s constantly invaded by a brewing flow of emotions that he has to struggle against to be able to focus.
Other than that, when he’s not strictly in control, House is THE romantic by definition, doing crazy, desperate grand gestures that reek more of emotional outbursts than pure rationalization of facts.
‘Both Sides Now’: him shouting that he has slept with Cuddy from the balcony is the best illustration of that. Even though he tries to rationalize his attitude with strategic motivations, it’s just the opposite of anything rational, knowing that the risks he’s taking are not even going to ensure him a positive outcome. This ‘all of nothing’ desperate way of going all in is romantic. Just like, in the same spirit, was him wanting Cuddy and he to move in together right after their first night together.
Then of course, the objection is that it was based on hallucinated facts, and ergo wasn’t true. But I think that’s the very reason why it’s also exactly the most raw access that can be given to House's real personality, because there are no barriers in those moments… and that’s why the emotions flow freely.
Finally, and I admit most shockingly for me, we were told that House doesn’t care; and (conveniently for ‘Bombshells’ endgame) that he specifically doesn’t care for Cuddy. Isn’t it strange then that the only real, blatant (and even so, arguable) proof of that is seen in Bombshells itself?
>> On what ground should I base the assumption that House doesn't care for Cuddy?
‘Who’s your Daddy?’: he was there for her through her IVF process. He kept her secret safe. ‘Joy’: he was there for her after the adoption had fallen through. ‘5 to 9’: he was there to comfort her in her moments of doubt. ‘Family Practice’: he was there for her mother even though it absolutely contradicted one of his strongest medical principles: not treating relatives. 'Two Stories' He did most of what he did - however clever people might think it was - to give Cuddy's daughter, Rachel, a chance to be accepted in a good school...
And finally, ‘Bombshells.’
I completely disagree that House didn’t care for Cuddy in that episode. He did, all the time, but in his own unconventional way: he hacked her computer to know about her reactions to the news. He bribed a doctor so he could have access to her scan results. He sent Chase to be with her. He made Masters search through every patient files to find the results of her biopsy. He tried - clumsily but still - to reassure her that it was nothing. He dug deeper into her results to explain the cause of her lung abscesses and gave her full reassuring closure on her disease. And he took the immense risk of relapsing just to be with her, like SHE wanted him to, while knowing it was interfering with his case, his emotions and his ability to cope.
He sacrificed himself, in the most romantic way, candidly heading toward his own destruction…
Cuddy - “What you want, you run away from. What you need, you don't have a clue."
To top that whole mess, we’re also told that Cuddy should NOT have given that relationship a try in the first place and by saying so, we’re asked to close our eyes upon six years of very specific actions and declarations which have all tended to prove that Cuddy was not going to give up easily on a man like House.
Cuddy was depicted as a strong woman, with a stubborn character.
Instead of preserving that continuity within the challenge of a relationship, almost right the minute the writers decided to give House and Cuddy a chance, they turned her into a whining, insensitive bitch, cracking the whip and forgetting every empathic promises and gestures she’d had for House in the past.
For any fan, and even the ones who do not ship House and Cuddy together, it’s impossible not to see the evident disruption that Cuddy’s profession of faith to House in “Help Me,” “Now What” or “Unwritten” causes in regard to her later incomprehensible intolerance for very insignificant things like toothbrush, garbage, and toilet seats. And it leaves me wondering WHY? Why did the writers feel the need to build Cuddy’s character that way, slowly and conscientiously adding stones after stones to give it meaning and consistency, if it was to head there?
>> Significant quotes that Cuddy's said throughout the show in regard to her relationship with House:
H: ‘Pick someone you like.’
C: ‘Someone like you?’
“Everybody knows this is going somewhere.”
“All I can think about is you.”
“It’s your choice if you wanna go back on drugs.”
“Why do you have to analyze things to death? Why can't you just... let it be nice?”
“I don't want you to change. I know you're screwed up. I know you are always gonna be screwed up. But you're the most incredible man I've ever known. And you are always gonna be... the most incredible man I have ever known.”
“Who cares about common? Common is boring. It's... common! I like being with you. You make me better. Hopefully, I make you better. What we have is... uncommon. And I've never been happier.”
“Shut up! You’re too drunk to end this relationship.”
So, ultimately, it’s not just about breaking her up with House - which in itself, and at this point of the story, is already inane enough - but it's about killing the strength of her character. The faith she always had towards House. And, her will to fight adversity no matter what.
I don’t know what the writers have in store. But the fact that they’ve dismissed all hope to see House, a) trying to change and b) Cuddy giving him another chance in the future (seeing how they’ve messed it up enough to ensure that’s how it's gonna be) is simply stupid. It doesn’t make sense. It is not the story I’ve been told for almost seven years. It feels like an irresponsible disruption of characters’ continuity, even if the final destination has to be House in the darkest places of his soul. House is not linear! David Shore said in his interview that it was a challenge to write House and Cuddy together while not changing who their characters were. And that’s exactly what I was used to seeing this show do: take up challenges. That's, therefore, exactly what I was expecting them to do again. I guess I was being naive...
When has House turned into this cowardly exploring well-known territories for the safety of it show?