House - Anatomy of a Relationship "Changes" 7.20

Anatomy of a Relationship
An Episodic Examination of Huddy in Love
“Changes” – 7.20

Now, I consider myself an optimistic person. I generally, as a rule, try to find the positive in all things I do. Even with my television. You see, when an House Episode maybe isn’t so good, I still praise the acting or the camera work or something that shone through. But I tell you. If I have to endure one more “Life Sucks: Deal With It” House episode I am seriously going to lose it. This week’s episode was one huge dumping of grumpiness with a side of scorn. Sheesh. Mr. Shore. We need to help you find your happy face. This episode dealt with fate and hope and that mysterious state of happiness. We learned that as long as there is hope there can be happiness. We also learned that hope is in short supply at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.

This episode has a lottery winner, who while trying to find his long lost love, collapses with freaky symptoms. Arlene, Cuddy’s mom, is back with a bunch of seemingly idiotic demands of the hospital involving lawsuits and medical board hearings. And Chase is trying to find meaning in his pathetic life by messing with Foreman’s brain. Oh, and 13 whines and moans about everything. She’s even more pessimistic than House even. Wow. I was never a real 13 hater. Til now. She kind of reminds me of my teenage daughter when she gets grumpy and no one is gonna make her happy or cheerful again ever and she wants the whole world to know it and feel the same way. Really, Muuutheeer. Oh, for the record I do, however, love my daughter. Hi honey!

Okay, but on to Huddy. And here is the ray of sunshine I found peeking out from behind those grumpy clouds that sat on this whole episode: Arlene is a HUDDY! Hooray! My respect of that old bat took a jump. Well, she doesn’t really like House still, but she realizes that he is perfect for her daughter. She flat out tells them both that nobody else will ever put up with the other. They are a match made in “Last Chance at Love Heaven.” It’s a new reality show on Fox next year. I swear. Arlene has been making these stupid accusations and pulling fire alarms just to get House and Cuddy back together. She was willing to put her relationship with her daughter on the line in order to provide House and Cuddy with a common enemy; in the HOPE that Cuddy will find happiness and stability with House. It doesn’t work. House figures it out and sadly, yet firmly, tells Arlene that they aren’t getting back together. Cuddy realizes House is right, as usual, and hugs her mom, telling her it’ll take more than a common enemy to bring them back together. And then Arlene voiced what I’ve been saying since “Toothbrush Gate,” Cuddy is an “idiot with impossible standards.” And there we have it in a nutshell. Cuddy is still alone because no one will ever live up to these unreal expectations she has of her perfect man. She’s totally right.

House and Cuddy were amazing together as long as Cuddy was judging him by the standards she had for friend, coworker or even ex-college boyfriend. But as soon as they started dating she switched gears and put on her “Perfect Companion” eyeglasses and House suddenly looked different. Those eyeglasses, by the way, look A LOT like blinders. Cuddy has never had a real, long-lasting relationship. Ever. So either this ideal image of a boyfriend has ruined all her relationships or has all failed relationships forced her to create the ideal image of a boyfriend. Which came first the failure or the image? Either way it’s not conducive for the lasting relationship Cuddy seeks after. Yet, Cuddy continues to hope that someone who fits her ideal is out there.

House on the other hand has absolutely no expectations. As a person who always thinks the bottom is going to drop out at any moment he now has no hope that he’ll ever be happy. He thought at one time that being with Cuddy could make him happy. And for a while he was. Accomplishing that goal of winning Cuddy’s heart and having her with him satisfied the need all of us have to connect with someone. But it was too hard being in a real relationship and eventually he messed it up; as he said he would in “Now what?” clear back at the beginning of the season. At that moment, however, back at his apartment, long ago, I think he HOPED that his prediction would not come true. But now he tells Wilson in this episode that he’s happier without Cuddy. Wilson gives his raised eyebrow “I-don’t-believe-you-look” and House relents, saying that he now isn’t stupidly expecting her to make him happier. So he’s happier in his unhappiness. House just feels his theory about his nature is truer than ever before; that maybe he’s just meant to be unhappy; that is his make-up, his nature. The entire world could fall at his feet and he would still be unhappy and pessimistic. This last attempt at connecting deeply with someone has stripped him of his hope.

In this episode the patient thinks that he can buy his happiness. He is using the millions he won in the lottery to track down his lost love. He’s gone to a lot of time and expense to try to find her. He thinks that when he does find her he will finally be happy. House could totally relate to this at one time. He thought that by finally wooing and winning Cuddy he could be happy. So House went to a lot of time and expense (well, months in a psychiatric hospital, detox and sobriety) to try to recapture his lost love. Neither attempt at love went well for the patient and House. Both were left with broken hearts. When the real lost love shows up at the end of the episode, House snarks that the relationship will never last. Maybe, Doctor Grumpy the Raincloud of Doom (or 13 if you still want to use her old nickname) points out, but even if it does the patient has hope. And if you have hope you will always be happy. Both House and 13 lack that hope and not just because of their life experiences. According to the people in the writers’ room and Lady Gaga, people are just born that way. It’s pretty sad to think that some people actually do believe that life sucks and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.

We also learn in this episode that House and Cuddy still care for each other. There’s still that spark between them and yes, Arlene was right. They did come together when they were both fighting against her. The banter was back. There’s a new weariness in Cuddy, however. And I think each day she deals with him further confirms Cuddy’s decision to dump House, but she still cares for him. House still craves contact with Cuddy even if it is to oppose her on important issue and tick her off. But those are the roles they have been playing for years. Those are the roles they feel comfortable in. They can’t return to those roles, at least not completely now. They have too much connection and the slights and insults aren’t as funny anymore.

House mocks the patient for lamenting about his long lost love being a fraud. House tells him that the fraud was a fraud. He tells the patient that his long lost love had nothing to do with it and to not blame her for his unhappiness. House also finds 13’s high-school boyfriend, thinking the breakup may have caused 13 to become so cynical. He thinks by reconnecting with the boyfriend, 13 might find happiness. Ah, nope. And who found the long lost love who appears at the end of the episode. House? Maybe House hasn’t lost all hope at finding happiness for others; he’s just lost hope for finding happiness for himself.

One other thing was odd. In this episode we saw A LOT of the vicodin bottle. We haven’t seen it since “Fall From Grace.” Two whole episodes where there was nary a hint at the vicodin habit and now House is practically juggling it in every scene: twirling it between his fingers; shaking it as he’s walking; popping pills right in front of Cuddy’s face. Is this a decoy or a clue? We haven’t left a season with an overdosed House lying on the floor of his apartment (or bar or hotel room) before. Next week’s episode preview had clips of House clearly shooting up meth or crack or something heated up on a spoon over an open flame. Sorry, I’m not up on my drug lingo. Maybe it’s just pixie stick candy. Chase comments that House is on something different. Something has changed. Mr. Shore has said multiple times that House can never be happy; that people don’t radically change. I’m going to start taking votes now in the comment section on whether or not House will OD in the season finale. I’m not limiting the OD’ing to the final scene either. And I won’t limit the outcome to death or coma or recovery. Just to clarify. I’ll tally the results and let everyone know in the next post what the wonderful, highly intelligent readers of this blog think. I’m betting it will happen. Probably. Yes. That’s my final answer. I think. Anyway, I do know one thing for sure: if House wakes up next to Bobby Ewing or heck, even Susanne Pleshette, I’m gonna throw something at my television. And it’s an expensive television.

Thanks for reading! See you next week.