House - Anatomy of a Relationship: Now What? 7x01

This will be a continuing editorial on the Huddy relationship. I do not go into episode detail. This is not a recap. There will be spoilers. Please be kind with reviews. Slamming my opinions really doesn't solidify your opinions with me..... :-)


ANATOMY OF A RELATIONSHIP
An Episodic Examination Of Huddy In Love

Welcome back, House fans, to Season Seven. Wow, and what a long summer it has been. When last we left our fearless hero he was finally macking on the woman he loves, much to his delight and surprise. We actually return seconds after that moment as House and Cuddy stand in his bedroom holding hands.

I have to say I was a bit worried about this season premiere. Excited, but worried. See, as a hardcore Huddy (hey, backoff, anti’s) I was thrilled that The Powers That Be (TPTB) had finally let nature take its course. After all, you can only dance around the subject so long before the dancing, in and of itself, is jumping the shark. So, I was happy to have them together. But I was worried that our season premiere would be an hour-long fanfiction. Now, I don’t have anything against them. In fact, I have been known to publish a few myself, but fanfiction is there because it portrays aspects of the House universe we normally don’t get to see: namely House and Cuddy together. And most fanfictions are highly romanticized and end happily ever after. And that’s not House. My concern was that Katie Jacobs and David Shore would bow down to the very vocal Huddies out there and give us a fanfiction episode. I shouldn’t have worried. Although KJ and DS may have given a slight curtsy, they certainly didn’t bow down. House and Cuddy, may be together, but it’s definitely not going to be a happy ending any time soon.

The opening reeked of fanfiction, but I loved it. I needed to see those two finally get not only what they needed but what they wanted, too. You lie, Mr. Jagger. The two mature adults who have known each other for 20 years and know everything about the other took the time to sweetly enjoy each other. Oh, sure there were a few other fanfic-y moments, but they were balanced out with true House moments.

See, even from the first moment of afterglow, there’s an emergency at the hospital. House doesn’t want to share Cuddy and “handles” the situation for her. When he realizes it’s a bigger issue than expected he manipulates and maneuvers Cuddy and his team into making his day of nakedness still happen with Cuddy. He knows that the hospital and its reputation is hugely significant to Cuddy. It’s her other baby, but he still decides for the both of them that they are more important. That’s what House does. He decides the importance level for people around him based on his own ranking of importance. The thing is, I don’t think House even realizes that he’s manipulating Cuddy as he goes behind her back trying to solve the crisis at the hospital. This unawareness of that habit does not bode well for a successful relationship.

Both confront the fact that maybe neither is ready to announce their union just yet. Wilson tries twice to contact House before finally breaking in to the apartment. House won’t answer Wilson’s phone call, telling Cuddy Wilson will cramp their style. Also, House explains, he wasn’t sure if she wanted to go public yet. Cuddy realizes that maybe it’s House who doesn’t want it to get out. Cuddy admits she wouldn’t have come to House’s apartment if she wasn’t ready to go public, but then when Wilson breaks into the apartment she hides from him. I think they both know the risks of going public are equal to the risks of staying private. The fact that they even have a relationship to hide now is enough to deal with let alone involving others.

We also learn that House knows A LOT about Cuddy. He’s been watching for years; gathering information to be used at a later date. We knew he did this. He knew that the pharmacist was a psychopath by watching her open the mail. He was saving that info for manipulations in the future. But we learn that he’s been collecting information about Cuddy just to collect it. He knows her dream vacation location. He knows how to tell when she’s lying. He admits to “being intimate” with a photograph of her. Cuddy has been a larger part of his world then at first suspected.

I was disappointed that the super-strong Cuddy didn’t completely return. She’s been a bit timid recently due to guilt, love, whatever, and I was hoping that by bravely making the first step toward House she would again be able to stand up to him. She did at times. She boldly asked him why he never told her and still hasn’t told her he loves her. She puts her foot down on postponing the dream vacation. She also refused to let House deflect or shut up after he brought up his belief that their relationship was doomed. She sat him down and made him talk. She is now fully vested in this thing and is insisting that House be the same. Yet, her backbone didn’t fully return. I wasn’t all that happy when after House tells her he’s still a jerk, that all of their day together was the result of high emotions from their recent experiences and that he will still be a jerk and do jerky things to her she says, okay. I mean, really, she deserves better than that. She could have asked for a bit of leeway; a small amount of sensitivity from her lover. Instead, she tells him he’s the most incredible man she’s ever known and even if they crash and burn and he remains a total jerk he’s still the most incredible man she’s ever know. The Huddy part of my heart sighed heavily, but the “I am Woman” side yelled at her to go dig out her spine from under the love bed.

But I haven’t seen the timeline for the episodes to come. I’m hoping that TPTB remember that Cuddy knows House and his ways better than anyone else. Cuddy has the skills and knowledge to work House the same way he works her. She’s also got the extra advantage of having funbags and a squish mitten. Maybe, just maybe, Cuddy realizes that right now the best tactic is to be positive and build up her man; help him to recognize and be comfortable with being happy and in love. Then she can edge House to the ledge so he can take the leap to becoming a bit more of the “ideal companion” she and her daughter needs. It worked to get him to admit his love for her at the end of the episode, didn’t it? Whew. Can you smell that? It’s the smell of manipulation. And again, that’s not a great way to build a relationship.

BUT THAT’S HOUSE. See, readers. The snarky, sneaky underbody of the House universe did exist in that soft-focus, low-lit fanfiction-y episode. It was actually pretty smart to get this stuff out of the way. The entire episode deftly set up the bigger issues of how they could make the relationship work, why they wanted the relationship to work and if they wanted to make the relationship work. By the end of the episode we knew that these two screwed-up people really do love each other. They really want to make this relationship work, but they both realize that the odds are heavily against them. The final scene of Cuddy and House on opposite sides of the door told the whole story: first happiness; then confusion; and finally worry. House does not have a successful history when it comes to happiness. It has never been lasting for him and he has no reason to believe this time will be any different. House will need to commit to either making the changes to ensure the relationship works or enjoying the relationship until it crashes upon the rocks of reality. It’s all up to him. That’s why the show is called HOUSE.

The medical drama played second banana definitely, but we’ll forgive them this time. If you take a minute to find the links between the medical drama and the personal drama, as all House episodes have, we might have a sneak peak of the future. The doctor gets sick and leaves the hospital, but is dragged back to the hospital because of duty. The disease and/or meds make his high and happy for a while, but the cause is figured out and he goes back to being the “boring” person he was before, dedicating his life to his work. Hmmmmmm.

Thanks for reading. I will be continuing the dissection of the Huddy relationship after each episode this season. Any comments can be left here or sent to beforeitwascool@cox.net.