House - Anatomy of a Relationship: Selfish 7x02

ANATOMY OF A RELATIONSHIP
An Episodic Examination Of Huddy In Love

I send a happy welcome out to new readers and a hearty thank you for returning readers. This is a dissection of the Huddy relationship in “Selfish,” Episode 7x02. We return to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital for this story involving a skate boarder, her dying brother, an OLD man and his son and our two Itch Scratchers all trying to figure just how much selfishness is acceptable in the building.

Our first encounter with Huddy happens in the parking garage. Cuddy emerges from her BMW and is pleasantly surprised to find House standing there. He is flirtatious and takes a hold of her hand. “We gotta stop parking like this or people are going to talk,” he says lightly. Cuddy smiles and then realizing they are at work, lets go of his hand. House is confused by this. Cuddy tells him that she’s going to nip the talking in the bud and she wants him to attend a meeting with the Human Resources Department with her. She is all hospital administrator. House, in typical House fashion, grabs her butt. She’s not amused. They step into the elevator where she grimly stands apart from House and stares out into the parking garage. “I just don’t want this relationship to affect our jobs. Or the other way around,” she says solemnly. The doors close as House stares forward, his own face now a solemn mask of worry. The quiet sounds of irony float around the room as the next scene begins.

We follow Huddy through their first day at work. At first, their combined fears seem unfounded. House continues to disrespect Cuddy’s request to remain silent; openly sexually harass her; boast about being with Cuddy; cause the HR guy to scribble furiously on his HR yellow pad and happily walk through his kingdom as the satisfied King he is. Cuddy still demands specific behavior from House and still expects for him to almost succeed. Things are going well. As House tells a disagreeing Wilson, “Nothing has changed.”

The two are happy and so am I. I know that a good amount of people dreaded this day. The argument being that the grumpy, unhappy House is the show’s allure. However, I feel the allure is watching how a half-empty kind of guy deals with events and emotions that are thrown at him. That’s always been the reason I watch the show. House is who he is and while he’s made some improvement in the way he deals with relationships, he’s still kind of a jerk. Cuddy knows this. She even tells Stacy back in season two that he was the same House after she left him. I think the damage the leg infarction and Stacy leaving him caused is the total lack of ability to connect again with somebody and not worry about rejection. We know he connects with Wilson, but that’s unconditional friendship. Through his experiences, House knows that most people put conditions on their affections. So to avoid the hurt and drama that the inevitable breakup brings House simply refuses to walk down that path. In the season 6 premier, however, House realizes that that path may be the only one that can lead to his being happy and so with the help of Dr. Nolan he starts the journey.

But it’s this fear of conditional love that becomes the iceberg to House’s Titantic when Cuddy refuses to let him do a dangerous procedure to prove the team’s first diagnosis. House agrees not to do the procedure and then starts to walk away to do that very procedure, but capitulates when he sees Cuddy’s look of disapproval. House caves. He says he won’t do it and even calls the team in front of Cuddy telling them to do the test Cuddy suggested. Cuddy smiles and gazes up lovingly and surprising at House. See, the relationship is just fine. He can be a selfless boyfriend.

This first moment of House trying to please Cuddy really isn’t a big deal, but House continues to give in to Cuddy’s demands and then even Cuddy, trying to please House, gives into crazy ideas by House. The episode continues with each one trying so hard to be selfless and put the other one first that House can’t figure out what’s wrong with the patient. With his normal method of recklessly treating and waiting for results (either good or bad) stymied by his desire to please Cuddy, the patient’s health deteriorates. Finally, House figures it out, only after snarking off to the patient’s brother, but the treatment involves shortening the life of said brother, who has CF. They need his marrow and part of his lung. Cuddy refuses to let House give that option to the parents. House again caves. The patient will die.

When House and Cuddy finally talk about the fact that their relationship is messing things up they are both crushed. It had started out so well. House thought only another round of abusing Vicodin could dim his diagnostic genius, but he’s found something else: trying to keep his girlfriend happy; trying to be a selfless partner. It does not bode well. Cuddy quietly tells him that she’ll try to find someone else to supervise House. I laughed out loud. I bet the line for that job doesn’t even have a sign, let alone anyone standing behind it.

Cuddy discovers this fact and comes to tell House that there is no one else who can handle him. We all knew that. House is sadly reticent. He smells the end of the relationship. He can’t continue to work this way but his relationship with Cuddy is perhaps his only shot at happiness. House has a lot more to lose by messing this relationship up. He worked for an entire year to win Cuddy’s heart. We know that he is capable of going back to the Vicodin if he thinks she’s moving on without him. The truth of his impending defeat has the threat of House’s destruction.

Then Cuddy discovers that House already told the dad about his treatment idea, and Cuddy doesn’t even get angry. The spark is gone. The fighting and scrapping that drew them together is gone. The heat was transferred to their sex life, but the lack of it at work is affecting the way they work. Those sparks were used to fuel ideas and diagnoses on a regular basis. How many times have we seen House get his Final EpiphanyTM during an argument with his boss? Wilson was right. Everything has changed.

And here, as the episode seems almost over, a dumb, self-sacrificing family member gets in House’s way and solves the last remaining problem. The father of his patient approaches House and tells him that they’ve decided to essentially let their daughter die because she doesn’t want to risk her brother’s life. The chance to save her life flies out the window and House is pissed. And so House does what he does best: he lashes out at the parents and berates their decision. And then Cuddy does what she does best: she lashes out at House and berates him for his actions. And without thought of what the other one thinks or needs, the two engage in one of their classic verbal brawls. The fire has been relit.

The brother overhears them arguing and demands that he donate his lung and marrow and the case is solved. He won’t live as long, but his sister will get to live. House and Cuddy watch the final scene with its perfect blend of people being selfless and selfish in the right amount. They walk to the elevator and Cuddy tells House they have to be brutally honest with each other. They realize they have to be a bit selfish in their jobs in order to still function together as boss and doctor. In the House world, being selfish isn’t necessarily a bad thing. We know they are moving forward when House grabs Cuddy’s backside and brutally honestly tells her she has a big ass. Instead of anger, Cuddy smiles. She is now the one who takes a hold of House’s hand and walks with him into the elevator. The doors close with Cuddy smiling happily and House gazing at Cuddy, a small grin forming on his lips.

And so the First Day Back To Work Hurdle has been jumped. Well, to be honest, it was knocked over a couple times and set back up before they finally jumped it successfully. House and Cuddy now know that in order for things to function properly at work they’ll need to put work first. House will firmly fight for the treatments he thinks his patients need and Cuddy will firmly fight for the caution and alternatives she thinks are available. It was a great system and really, they still both discovered they loved each other even with all the sparring going on. It only makes sense for them to be secure and trusting enough with each other to not take it personally. House has Cuddy’s assurance that she can’t help loving him. He needs to take that assurance and run with it. I don’t see an easy road ahead for the two of them, to be sure, but at least they are heading down it together.

Thanks for reading everyone. Please leave friendly comments for me. I enjoy reading them and will reply when needed. Until next week!