Music and Lyrics
Thoughts on House's Soundtrack for Season Five
The music that we hear in a scene is as powerful as the words spoken by the characters - sometimes even more. One cannot ignore the significance of these songs, as they are handpicked by the creators to convey the most appropriate mood that the scene should be interpreted. In a show as complex as House MD, the song choices are also as complicated as the episodes themselves. This is my attempt to find meaning and enlightenment for the first half of season five through the use and interpretation of the songs which have been well used this season.
First, allow me to go back two episodes from the past season. House's Head and Wilson's Heart are two of the most emotionally grueling yet entertainingly satisfying episodes the past season. So much so that given the time, they have the right to warrant their own review. But let me just borrow a few of the scenes from these episodes in order to give light to the recent events.
One of the most powerful scenes in House's Head was the final bus scene. House - after having ingested too many Alzheimer’s pills in order to solve the dying person mystery suffered a heart attack. In a scene that follows, we see Wilson and Cuddy saving his life. Wilson was restarting House's heart while Cuddy was offering all the air she could have to bring House back. It was one of the most powerful resuscitation scenes in television. Wilson being aggressive in pumping his best friend's heart and Cuddy so gentle in offering her kiss of life. I don't mean to sound too cheesy so please give me the benefit of the doubt. I think this scene will become the basic foundation of what House MD will be in the future. As House is being brought back to life, two of the most important people in his life will be there. One who will always ask him to take a chance on his heart, and the other who is willing to share a life with him by giving away a part of her own.
But the tragedy of all tragedies was that House was finally able to figure out who would be the dying person but he cannot save her, what's worse is that she is his best friend's girlfriend - and probably his one true love as well? Now House, who have undergone an extremely dangerous operation and risked his life to find out the truth has just woken up from a coma and is now recuperating. And at the end of Wilson's Heart, we catch a glimpse of a sad but angered Wilson - the one who a few hours ago was fighting to save House's life pumping his heart was now wishing he didn't do so. And we see a tired yet determined Cuddy, now, the only one left putting the pieces of House's life together, holding on to him, and not leaving his sight. She's there for him - she has always been there for him.
We heard the sounds and lyrics of the song Passing Afternoon - a sad yet joyful song - so full of conflicting emotions:
There are things we can't recall, blind as night that finds us all
Winter tucks her children in, her fragile china dolls
But my hands remember hers, rolling around the shaded ferns
Naked arms, her secrets still like songs I'd never learned...
The song tells a story of how time passes by, how life changes so fast we barely notice what happens amidst us, and how, in just a moment, things can be taken away from us.
And now a new chapter in House's life begins, although it starts a bit dreary. Set two months after the bus accident, House now faces Wilson back only to find out that he's made up his mind about resigning and leaving PPTH. And to make matters worse, Wilson even admits that they were never really friends. And he was only House's enabler.
We can also feel some sort of awkwardness between his scenes with Cuddy. Two months after we've seen a hint of intimacy between these characters, we go back to where we were before and yet somewhat different. The looks are more meaningful, more awkward, yet interesting. He was also taking her advice resisting in words but not in action to her demands. One can't help but wonder what happened within the months of Wilson's absence. But alas these issues weren't addressed and were buried deep in the annals of the show, perhaps the writers decided to keep this a mystery for now - a rather smart move for them especially since they will be delving into the relationship of these characters in the future.
And so we have witnessed how time passes by so fast, how things changed and yet remained the same, how their lives have all been affected by the previous experience. We see Wilson retreating, House questioning and imposing, and Cuddy standing still and steadfastly trying to mend things.
On the road to reconciliation - this bromance was never meant to be destroyed. As such, a perfect plan for the reconciliation has been perpetuated. The long journey home was the perfect metaphor for these guys to go back to their roots and show us how the elaborate beginnings of such a long-standing friendship. We also came to know a different side of Gregory House, one who helped a stranger out of prison just because he finds him interesting, and for a moment there, we also felt his appreciation for someone who even though caused him so much pain in life, also helped mold this man in becoming a genius later in life. And yes, although we are fooled by his actions, we have definitely seen a hint of truth in his emotions, he must've loved his father even though how miserable his father made him feel, and in that moment we have learned that House is capable of loving, capable of feeling, capable of being human, even for just a moment.
Wilson now realized - after a very climactic moment - that he does enjoy enabling House, he finds comfort in his company, and somehow his enabling may not be as bad as he thinks it is. He welcomed House back into his life after admitting that he's never had that much fun in the two months that they've been apart. I don't mean for this to sound off as gay, I do want to emphasize that friendships like these are the ones that last - because one cannot love something that he cannot accept. And at this moment - Wilson finally accepted that House is and always will be House.
Funny though that although House never wants to change, the people he surrounds himself with are changing, and welcoming change with open arms. Further on with the series, Wilson finally decides to move on. He is now able to move on from Amber's death, and he tries to build his life back, pursuing his own happiness, now moving on, he has even developed a very sneaky plan on getting back at House.
We have also learned that Cuddy has a plan of her own. We were taken by surprise when she finally announced that she was adopting - a fallback to her previous plans of having a baby and needed to become a mother. This was actually not unexpected, although it was left behind for a year or more, we've always known that this topic will come back. However, House's reaction to this news was actually the one that took us by surprise. The look on his face was priceless; a combination of surprise, confusion, sadness, and betrayal was seen all at once. Trust me - there wasn't any hint of happiness in that look.
It's a dark road
And a dark way that leads to my house
And the word says
That you're never gonna find me there, oh no
I've got an open door
It didn't get there by itself
It didn't get there by itself
This song so honestly describes what House was feeling at that exact moment. And as someone may have already mentioned before - it seems like everyone in his circle is moving on except him. We heard him say the lines “If you’re happy, I’m …” twice in this episode. I think the most appropriate continuation here is “I’m still miserable”. That was what House was feeling at those moments. And he felt it was best for him to step aside and not share his misery with the most important persons in his life. And so we’ve seen him run away in both occasions.
The question now is: Where will this Dark Road take House? In the next episode, we discover yet another addition to the complex House and Cuddy relationship. After having previously heard the news relating to Cuddy's adoption, House does everything in his power to sway Cuddy's opinion - and perhaps even himself from the possibility of a Cuddy successfully adopting. One of the intense scenes in this episode happens in the delivery room. For a moment there we were able to experience Cuddy's "joy" when she was able to save the baby - Joy's life and we were led to believe that she'd finally be able to have what she has long wished for. But in the same scene, we also see House, calling on Cuddy - telling her he needs her - at that moment we also see how Cuddy - being House's "shine" was taken away from him.
Happy endings are not famous in this series, especially if you're not the patient for that matter. Becca - the child's mother decided to keep the baby - leaving Cuddy without "Joy" literally and metaphorically. In the final scene of that episode, we see House coming to Cuddy's place - offering his comfort to someone so dear to him, and perhaps taking his shine back? We also see House and Cuddy kiss for the first time. I don't really want to dwell into this scene because I know hundreds of Huddies have dissected this down to the last detail. Let me just say, that what we see in that scene was something so magical, giving us all a glimmer of hope, and telling us that all is not lost.
Don't take away my shine
My shine is all I have
My heat, my love, my beauty and my glad
It worries me sometimes that I want love
And live a life of sad
We felt House offering some sort of “joy” to Cuddy - if only for just a fleeting moment. And then it goes back to reality. What follows is a rather thrilling and gut-wrenching series of events. House and Cuddy were both dealing with what the kiss meant for both of them - Cuddy of course, rationalized while house deflects, focusing all his attention to a mosquito bite. Thankfully Wilson was there to mediate. He even managed to convince House that House does indeed wants to be with Cuddy. Wilson seeks out Cuddy’s reactions and we were all entertained by the humorous cafeteria drabble between Wilson and Cuddy. It was obvious that Cuddy has thought things through, her answers to Wilson’s questions were well thought of - it was as though she rehearsed those lines the night before. But Wilson knows better and has found some loopholes in Cuddy’s arguments and he delivers the ultimate questions people have been pondering so far “maybe novelty and hostility and forbiddenness doesn’t have to end bad?”
Meanwhile, House has convinced himself that he has been bitten by a mosquito and has exaggerated his treatment, bludgeoning his hand to relieve the itch even though he knows for a fact that it wouldn’t do any good - he’s a doctor for crying out loud! Also another scene to note is House’s dream. It seems like a foreshadowing of what House and Cuddy’s relationship would be like. Similar to what Cuddy had been describing to Wilson back at the cafeteria - it would all end up in a mess, a giant explosive mess for that matter. But after a series of confrontation with Wilson and a moment on introspection, House finally realized that Wilson was right after all. And we see him “running” off to Cuddy’s house with the intention of asking her out.
I'm in love with a girl
Finest girl in the world
I didn't know I could feel this way.
Think about here all the time
Always on my mind
I didn't know about love.
All that a man should do is true
I didn't know this could happen to me.
I was a bit surprised that they chose this song for this scene, for me it seems like this is far too much to describe the scene. After a while I changed my mind and finally came to realize that this song might actually work. And I say this because the singer is stuck. Yes there was indeed a realization - but what it lacked is action. At that point House is finally accepting the fact that he does love or at least like - if love is too big a word to describe it - to be with Cuddy, however, he doesn’t really know what to do with it, don’t know how to act on it. And so he froze, he went home - defeated.
And of course he turns to his BFF - the one and only Wilson. In the episode Emancipation, House seeks the Wilson’s advise, told him that he went to Cuddy’s house but did not literally and metaphorically rang her bell. House went to Wilson with this information hoping that his friend will give him some light and help him decide. However, we were surprised when Wilson refused to offer his two cents. He’s gone a long way ever since the first episode. Going back to the first episode of season five, Wilson claimed that he was House’s enabler and that he was always protecting House “You spread misery because you can’t feel anything else, you manipulate people because you can’t handle any kind of real relationship, and I’ve enabled it, the games, the binges, the middle-of-the-night phone calls … ”. Now, it seems that Wilson finally learned his lesson and finally got himself “emancipated” from House.
At the final scene of Emancipation, although House refused to accept Wilson’s parallelisms, his actions show otherwise. Wilson suggests that House will finally figure it out, “You wanna talk about her?” nodding towards Cuddy’s direction, he asks House openly. House being House refuses, but not without showing us his real feelings, his gaze lingers upon a cheerful-and-oblivious-looking Cuddy, of course he wants to talk about her, yet it seems he’s not ready to talk about her yet. Wilson finally announces “You’re gonna be OK House”. I like this statement because it seems like Wilson is finally assured House his loyalty back - “You’re gonna be OK because I’m back on your side now”.
Someone reaching for me now.
Through the dark reaching for me now.
You need someone to hear you when you sigh.
Someone to wipe away those tears you've cried.
Someone to hold you ‘neath the darkened sky.
I believe this episode wraps up the House-Wilson arc. It ends with an understanding that Wilson is finally “emancipated” from House but he still remains on House’s side. He may not be House’s enabler anymore, but he has assured House of his loyalty. I think this episode was able to describe the kind of brotherly love House and Wilson have.
As much as “The Last Resort” explored House’s obsession with medical puzzles, I think this episode also explores Cuddy’s feelings for House. Those worried looks she’s been giving him, and her sacrificial action was more than enough to convey how she feels about House. Even the hostage negotiator calls her for it. At the end of the episode, Cuddy asks House if he wants to have a relationship with her. He answers “God no!” but was he telling him the truth? I think the answer to this one is “Everybody lies”.
I don’t really know what to make of “The Lime and the Coconut” song in “Let them eat cake”. I think it was just a sort of comedic relief amidst all the drama. But the hint of sadness in the final song was really touching. It was supposed to be a happy song. It reminds me of Barbra Streisand’s rendition of “Happy days are here again”. She made a happy song sound so sad by hitting the right notes. All the same at the last scene, when you hear the song by itself you wouldn’t really think of it as a sad song, But at that moment, with Cuddy’s look on her face upon seeing House and his actress, the look of disappointment on her face made the song sound so sad. Cuddy hit the right notes on this one.
For the final episode of the year, we explored the possibility of House being nice to people. House faked a patient’s paternity test and claimed that it was human parthenogenesis in order to win a bet with Wilson. We knew he couldn’t be that nice - or could he? At the end of the episode, Cuddy told House about her plans on being a foster parent to a child whom she just saved, and she also informed him of her plans to adopt the baby. I think one of the best song choices was made for the scene with House and Cuddy and the baby. It echoes the scene in “Joy” only this time, House wasn’t screaming at Cuddy “This doesn’t need you, I do!”, he whispered, “Merry Christmas Cuddy”, his words of surrender perhaps?
If you keep real close,
Yeah you stay real close,
I will reach you,
I’m down to a whisper
In a daydream
On a hill
Shut down to a whisper
Can you hear me?
It was actually in this scene where we see that House being nice - truly nice, and without any other motives. He was finally accepting the fact that Cuddy is moving on with her plans to have a baby with or without his help. But then again, House went to Cuddy, he wanted to be with her, ask her about her plans, wants to be involved with it somehow?
What about Cuddy? Will she be finally satisfied by having a baby? Did she totally ignore House because she already found her answers when she had a baby? Or will she finally confront House and tell him how she feels about him?
So many unanswered questions, hopefully all these will be answered by the end of this season.
The End