this must be it. welcome to the new year.
Nov. 2nd, 2008 02:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swatkatThis post is long. There are spoilers.
this must be it. welcome to the new year:
'And I wanna be like that. I don't, I don't wanna be a loser.'
The slow dawning of horror in this scene is probably one of the best things Lisa Edelstein has done on this show. Becca's unaffected charm (and slight 'ew'-face when she heard Cuddy's 'Joy') made her a genuinely pleasant character, and the bond between her and Cuddy was done beautifully. She looks up to Cuddy with admiration, right from the beginning, and Cuddy takes on a mentor-ish role, partly out of self-interest and partly because, as I said, it's so easy to like Becca. And that's why the end is so tragic, because Cuddy inspires her into keeping the baby and trying to have a better life, a better future. And I can't fault her for wanting that, this poor messed up girl. It's just that my heart breaks for Cuddy, denied again of that one thing she wants so badly:
'You've got, like, this perfect life.'
'Not yet.'
I will take a minute to cry now. Excuse me. It's not that I'm not used to Gloom and Doom shows and don't enjoy watching them – I enjoy them as much as I enjoy comedies. I don't, for instance, expect anything happy happening in a Joss Whedon show. I expect BSG to end in a flood of tears. Hell, I don't think Michael and Nikita should have had a happy ending in La Femme Nikita, no matter what the crazy HRs say and if there's one good thing about the way the show ended was that. In the same way, I don't believe, even for a second, that Barney and Robin will not live happily ever after at the end of HIMYM, I just don't. You can't make me. House is a deceptive show. There's something about its tone that just leads you on to want happiness for the character (because there is happiness in the Houseverse – just not for our heroes) and then pulls out the carpet from under your foot. Again, and again. *weeps*
But coming back to the episode here: Cuddy. It comes back to the House/Thirteen scene in 'Dying Changes Everything' (have I mentioned how good the show has suddenly become with foreshadowing? career-woman in her late thirties; pregnancy – ring a bell? of course the difference here is that she didn't want the child, and Cuddy did, and this show's theme is 'you can't always get what you want'):
'She's a 37-year-old woman who deserves…'
'People get what they get. It has nothing to do what they deserve.'
She deserves happiness and that baby (and Wilson deserved to be happy with Amber; Amber deserved to live). She's not going to get either anytime soon.
after all these years, look at me:
I'm not a House/Cuddy shipper. No, let me explain – I love House/Cuddy and I even ship them together and the HOT KISS WAS HOT and it made me squee. But I'm not a shipper. I'm not interested in them for the romance, though it's definitely an enjoyable thing when done well. Their relationship is weird: he's her employee; they're friends; they've done terrible things to each other; they bicker like an old married couple and occasionally even siblings; they make each other's lives difficult; they have an undeniable chemistry; they are flirty people who flirt; they are almost never unguarded around each other, unlike House and Wilson; she needs his friendship and his support; he always has her support and needs her to be his boss/friend/nanny/playmate/object of lust and freaks out when he fears that he will lose it. It's all these things, and I love ALL of it. I'm greedy that way.
This episode made me love them even more, if that's somehow possible, despite House's asshattery and Cuddy's heartbreak. Or perhaps because of it. Because you cannot convince me for a second that House was acting like an asshat because he sincerely believed she needed to rethink her decision to adopt the child for the child's sake. That entire song and dance routine? Was about House, and his obsessive need to keep his playthings in his sandbox. It's freaky, how well he can rationalize, how beautifully and accurately he can put his arguments, as in the 'I didn't come here to get jerked around' scene, where he tells her oh-so-rationally that a part of her wants to kill the baby. *stabz*
And oh, how much do you love that she said, 'When I was getting a baby, you said I'd suck as a mother', quoting him ad verbatim from 'Finding Judas'? This show is not very good with fallouts, and I've waited for this confrontation for two years. Because again, you cannot convince me for a second that this was just about House needling her in this episode and had nothing to with what he told her during 'Finding Judas'. It's the cruellest thing House has said on the show, and that's kind of a record, even by his usual standards. My heart almost went out to House when he said one genuine word of comfort, only to have Cuddy respond in anger (and, oh incredibly awesome is righteously angry Cuddy?) and House looked bewildered, because he is socially and emotionally a 12-year-old with no idea what the hell he's doing – I'm usually always on House's side. Unless, of course, I'm on Cuddy's side, then he's on his own.
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zorana84 and I were talking last night, and she thinks that the kiss was random and a bit abrupt. To which I said yes, it was, and that WAS the point – it was random and abrupt and desperate. Remember 'Adverse Effects' and House's failed attempt to get a very important point through to Cuddy? He wanted her to see him in a different light, to quote the PI – he wanted her to see what stupid, epic things he is capable of doing for people he really cares about, and she didn't see it, she didn't believe it was possible and trusted Wilson with her biggest secret instead. And all throughout this episode, House behaved in his usual 'hurt the people I love most' mode, refusing to give her the support she clearly wanted, until the very end, when the damage has already been done. 'You would've made a great mother' is probably an honest statement, but as always, he has cried wolf too many times ('Not Cancer' – the confrontation between House and the nurse? not entirely random) and now his truth-telling can only backfire on him. So he does a stupid desperate thing, and then TURNS and FLEES. AGAIN. I know I'm repeating myself at this point, and my biases are clearly showing, but if I can't have my fun House/Cuddy fling, I'll take desperate kissing that cannot end well instead. /shallow
I think the episode demonstrates very well why House can't have a relationship with either Wilson or Cuddy in the show (fanfic, though – anything is fair game in fanfic). Here he has just had Wilson back after a long, bitter break-up – you'd think he'd happy with that. But no, he wants more, Cuddy has to be there too. If any House relationship will work in canon, it's some platonic version of the OT3. He's the long distance runner of neediness – no one person should have to deal with him on their own.
you get what you need:
'This doesn't need you. I do.'
'There's no such thing as unconditional love. There's only unconditional need.'
It was interesting to hear needy declarations from House in this episode. I'm sure fandom is very busy explaining away the kissage ('It means more to Cuddy than it does to House!' 'He wanted to shut her up!' etc.) or the importance of Cuddy's presence in House's life, but I think this episode kinda sealed the deal. He needs her around, and he cares for her enough to go and make a pathetic effort at comforting her, even after the danger has been averted and he's numero uno in her life again. Which of course brings up the question – what does Cuddy need from House? There was someone in a board expressing bafflement over why Cuddy puts up with House, because Wilson at least gets to go out bowling with him – what does she get out of the relationship? To which again there is no simple answer, because you cannot separate their professional and personal relationship in that manner. I think both the final scene in the previous episode (her FACE!) and this episode displayed that Cuddy does need House's support in this big thing that she's trying to do.
Equally intriguing was the 'you're quitting' discussion: I can understand why she's giving up on this, and god, I wouldn't wish such a thing on anyone, ever, but now I'm wondering what this scene was trying to say about Cuddy. She's a stubborn person and she has pursued her ambition to the top. She's a loyal person, and in spite of everything, she has not given up on House so far. But she's given up JDate ('can't handle a relationship with an adult'). She's given up IVF. She's giving up any bid at adoption again. She will quite probably rationalize the kiss in the next episode and keep working more and more. Cuddy/PPTH is the real ship, guys, and I heart how screwed-up this woman is.
In conclusion: ♥
ETA: This post in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
house_cuddy is awesome and thought-provoking: The show is still about House. Cuddy is only one aspect of House. She has been an aspect of House since day one and has become more of an aspect of House over the seasons. Especially as his team and friend deserted him and she had to sit in the hospital and hold his hand so maybe he wouldn't remember that he was lonely and miserable when he woke up.
this must be it. welcome to the new year:
'And I wanna be like that. I don't, I don't wanna be a loser.'
The slow dawning of horror in this scene is probably one of the best things Lisa Edelstein has done on this show. Becca's unaffected charm (and slight 'ew'-face when she heard Cuddy's 'Joy') made her a genuinely pleasant character, and the bond between her and Cuddy was done beautifully. She looks up to Cuddy with admiration, right from the beginning, and Cuddy takes on a mentor-ish role, partly out of self-interest and partly because, as I said, it's so easy to like Becca. And that's why the end is so tragic, because Cuddy inspires her into keeping the baby and trying to have a better life, a better future. And I can't fault her for wanting that, this poor messed up girl. It's just that my heart breaks for Cuddy, denied again of that one thing she wants so badly:
'You've got, like, this perfect life.'
'Not yet.'
I will take a minute to cry now. Excuse me. It's not that I'm not used to Gloom and Doom shows and don't enjoy watching them – I enjoy them as much as I enjoy comedies. I don't, for instance, expect anything happy happening in a Joss Whedon show. I expect BSG to end in a flood of tears. Hell, I don't think Michael and Nikita should have had a happy ending in La Femme Nikita, no matter what the crazy HRs say and if there's one good thing about the way the show ended was that. In the same way, I don't believe, even for a second, that Barney and Robin will not live happily ever after at the end of HIMYM, I just don't. You can't make me. House is a deceptive show. There's something about its tone that just leads you on to want happiness for the character (because there is happiness in the Houseverse – just not for our heroes) and then pulls out the carpet from under your foot. Again, and again. *weeps*
But coming back to the episode here: Cuddy. It comes back to the House/Thirteen scene in 'Dying Changes Everything' (have I mentioned how good the show has suddenly become with foreshadowing? career-woman in her late thirties; pregnancy – ring a bell? of course the difference here is that she didn't want the child, and Cuddy did, and this show's theme is 'you can't always get what you want'):
'She's a 37-year-old woman who deserves…'
'People get what they get. It has nothing to do what they deserve.'
She deserves happiness and that baby (and Wilson deserved to be happy with Amber; Amber deserved to live). She's not going to get either anytime soon.
after all these years, look at me:
I'm not a House/Cuddy shipper. No, let me explain – I love House/Cuddy and I even ship them together and the HOT KISS WAS HOT and it made me squee. But I'm not a shipper. I'm not interested in them for the romance, though it's definitely an enjoyable thing when done well. Their relationship is weird: he's her employee; they're friends; they've done terrible things to each other; they bicker like an old married couple and occasionally even siblings; they make each other's lives difficult; they have an undeniable chemistry; they are flirty people who flirt; they are almost never unguarded around each other, unlike House and Wilson; she needs his friendship and his support; he always has her support and needs her to be his boss/friend/nanny/playmate/object of lust and freaks out when he fears that he will lose it. It's all these things, and I love ALL of it. I'm greedy that way.
This episode made me love them even more, if that's somehow possible, despite House's asshattery and Cuddy's heartbreak. Or perhaps because of it. Because you cannot convince me for a second that House was acting like an asshat because he sincerely believed she needed to rethink her decision to adopt the child for the child's sake. That entire song and dance routine? Was about House, and his obsessive need to keep his playthings in his sandbox. It's freaky, how well he can rationalize, how beautifully and accurately he can put his arguments, as in the 'I didn't come here to get jerked around' scene, where he tells her oh-so-rationally that a part of her wants to kill the baby. *stabz*
And oh, how much do you love that she said, 'When I was getting a baby, you said I'd suck as a mother', quoting him ad verbatim from 'Finding Judas'? This show is not very good with fallouts, and I've waited for this confrontation for two years. Because again, you cannot convince me for a second that this was just about House needling her in this episode and had nothing to with what he told her during 'Finding Judas'. It's the cruellest thing House has said on the show, and that's kind of a record, even by his usual standards. My heart almost went out to House when he said one genuine word of comfort, only to have Cuddy respond in anger (and, oh incredibly awesome is righteously angry Cuddy?) and House looked bewildered, because he is socially and emotionally a 12-year-old with no idea what the hell he's doing – I'm usually always on House's side. Unless, of course, I'm on Cuddy's side, then he's on his own.
zorana84 and I were talking last night, and she thinks that the kiss was random and a bit abrupt. To which I said yes, it was, and that WAS the point – it was random and abrupt and desperate. Remember 'Adverse Effects' and House's failed attempt to get a very important point through to Cuddy? He wanted her to see him in a different light, to quote the PI – he wanted her to see what stupid, epic things he is capable of doing for people he really cares about, and she didn't see it, she didn't believe it was possible and trusted Wilson with her biggest secret instead. And all throughout this episode, House behaved in his usual 'hurt the people I love most' mode, refusing to give her the support she clearly wanted, until the very end, when the damage has already been done. 'You would've made a great mother' is probably an honest statement, but as always, he has cried wolf too many times ('Not Cancer' – the confrontation between House and the nurse? not entirely random) and now his truth-telling can only backfire on him. So he does a stupid desperate thing, and then TURNS and FLEES. AGAIN. I know I'm repeating myself at this point, and my biases are clearly showing, but if I can't have my fun House/Cuddy fling, I'll take desperate kissing that cannot end well instead. /shallowI think the episode demonstrates very well why House can't have a relationship with either Wilson or Cuddy in the show (fanfic, though – anything is fair game in fanfic). Here he has just had Wilson back after a long, bitter break-up – you'd think he'd happy with that. But no, he wants more, Cuddy has to be there too. If any House relationship will work in canon, it's some platonic version of the OT3. He's the long distance runner of neediness – no one person should have to deal with him on their own.
you get what you need:
'This doesn't need you. I do.'
'There's no such thing as unconditional love. There's only unconditional need.'
It was interesting to hear needy declarations from House in this episode. I'm sure fandom is very busy explaining away the kissage ('It means more to Cuddy than it does to House!' 'He wanted to shut her up!' etc.) or the importance of Cuddy's presence in House's life, but I think this episode kinda sealed the deal. He needs her around, and he cares for her enough to go and make a pathetic effort at comforting her, even after the danger has been averted and he's numero uno in her life again. Which of course brings up the question – what does Cuddy need from House? There was someone in a board expressing bafflement over why Cuddy puts up with House, because Wilson at least gets to go out bowling with him – what does she get out of the relationship? To which again there is no simple answer, because you cannot separate their professional and personal relationship in that manner. I think both the final scene in the previous episode (her FACE!) and this episode displayed that Cuddy does need House's support in this big thing that she's trying to do.
Equally intriguing was the 'you're quitting' discussion: I can understand why she's giving up on this, and god, I wouldn't wish such a thing on anyone, ever, but now I'm wondering what this scene was trying to say about Cuddy. She's a stubborn person and she has pursued her ambition to the top. She's a loyal person, and in spite of everything, she has not given up on House so far. But she's given up JDate ('can't handle a relationship with an adult'). She's given up IVF. She's giving up any bid at adoption again. She will quite probably rationalize the kiss in the next episode and keep working more and more. Cuddy/PPTH is the real ship, guys, and I heart how screwed-up this woman is.
In conclusion: ♥
ETA: This post in
house_cuddy is awesome and thought-provoking: The show is still about House. Cuddy is only one aspect of House. She has been an aspect of House since day one and has become more of an aspect of House over the seasons. Especially as his team and friend deserted him and she had to sit in the hospital and hold his hand so maybe he wouldn't remember that he was lonely and miserable when he woke up.
