(no subject)

[swatkat]

hv wtchd ep. fun. drwning in wrk - hlp!

Okay, I actually contemplated writing this entire post in SMS-speak, but I have now decided to spare you the trauma and write something brief instead on the obvious.

* I posted part of this in topaz_eyes's journal:

House: Cuddy…you see the world as it is and you see the world as it could be. What you don’t see is what everybody else sees. The giant, gaping chasm in between.

Cuddy: House, I’m not naïve. I realize—

House: If you did, you never would have hired me.
...
House: You’re not happy unless things are just right. Which means two things. You’re a good boss. And you’ll never be happy.

(2.3, Humpty Dumpty)

Add to this the title 'Let Them Eat Cake', and the reference to Marie Antoinette. I'm not happy she fell for the idea of a relationship with House, because she knows better, she has shown in the previous episodes that she knows better and she certainly deserves better than have her heart broken over House (I mean, the last look was 'I can't believe I fell for that, stupid'). But she did, and it makes sense with her character. We already know that House is a big scaredy cat and we already know House is the King of Mixed Signals and Emotional Ill-Health - but Cuddy is not very brave, either. In fact, she kind of sucks at relationships and emotional issues, things she cannot control, and that she put herself out there was an incredibly brave step on her part (tempered, of course, by a healthy dose of her vision of the 'world as it could be' - delusion, if you will; prompted, probably, by the melodrama in her life, her fear of loss esp. post 'Joy' and 'Last Resort', by Wilson's 'you can make it work!', by House's mixed signals, by the fact that she wants it), given her history of giving up on things and avoiding pain when they scare her (5.06: 'You're giving up.').

If House wants Cuddy, he's going to have to do something about it himself because she's not, the way she's now, going to drag him down the pool with his clothes on - at best, she will tug at his hand. And she's already done that.

* House's scene with Taub: why? Is he thinking about relationships and commitment? Those are some serious terms. Why the Big Romantic Gesture/Apology?

* Office thing was Stupid Plot Contrivance. Will make do, however.

* ♥ Wilson.

* House as Chaos Magnet. Hmm. Think later.

* Thirteen's story brought a lump in my throat. ♥

* There is much to be said about CCF and how they've grown. MUCH. Later.

* ♥ Taub.

* Poor baby Kutner.

* The singing patient was FTW! I couldn't stop giggling after that.

* I also liked the POTW.

Comments

[ijemanja.livejournal.com]

Hell, I think Cuddy's idealism is one of the things House is most attracted to. He thinks it's beyond stupid, and it irritates the heck out of him, but he admires it, too. It's something he's completely incapable of. But occasionally, secretly, he wishes he could hope like that.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Hee. I just wrote this: House also needs her optimism and her loyalty. Cuddy has to temper it down, for her own sake, but the day she gives up on House completely is a loss for House, because that's another person lost right there. That's why he went to her place to comfort her, *after* the child was lost and he was number one in her life again. And I add, House knows very well how easily she can give up. She doesn't give up on people, usually - she gives up on herself. But she can and she might, and I'd like to see where *that* leaves him.

[shutterbug-12.livejournal.com]

I disagree. I think House needs her loyalty in his life, but I don't think her idealism and optimism is something he finds especially attractive. As I mentioned a bit down thread:

While I think House needs her loyalty, I think he also needs people to see all of the aspects of him, and it seemed as though that was what he was pushing her to see. He knows she has a tendency to see the good and excuse or dismiss the bad, so I believe many of his efforts in the past few episodes were attempts to open her eyes, make her see the reality--bad and good, as evidenced by the desk gesture--before he ever were to feel somewhat safe in making a serious move. If she couldn't handle that reality, then I doubt he would seriously consider going after a relationship. I also think House would only want loyalty and a positive approach to him if it was realistically justified, and I think that's part of the reason he "pulls her pigtails" so much. If Cuddy can see the whole picture of him and still be loyal and still believe in him, then it shows that she's looked at him in a rational way, weighed his pros and cons and made a decision. If she only views him in an idealistic sense, that she believes in him because she knows there must be some noble goodness in there somewhere, then it's not a logical thing. (And I don't believe House would ever wish to act without a logical basis, because that's not safe for him.) She wouldn't have examined all the evidence. I don't think House is interested in that kind of belief and optimism, but something grounded in reality. (I also think, however, that he realizes her idealism has worked in his favor, as he said in Humpty Dumpty, and I think he knows that on a professional level, it's good for him, but on a personal level, it's not.)

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I think we're moving onto the shaky domain of individual interpretations again: it's the way HL delivered his lines in the episode. Something about his tone. I got the impression that he admires that optimism, even though he doesn't think he needs or wants it and hell, thinks its very stupid. (A bit like Wilson's 'noble ass' paradox.)

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

Which makes me wonder if House himself is a closet idealist, the way he's a closet romantic. Except he was burned one too many times, so it's all covered by cynicism.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I have wondered that at times, too. There is a bizarre brand of idealism in House's fierce demand for the truth. Or in the manner in which he holds his fellows up to very high standards - the glimpses of teacher!House that we occasionally get. I'm not sure if 'idealism' is the right word to use here, but something like that.