Okay, if I come across as stronger than I intend to, please forgive me. This is as much a response to your post as to a lot of comments in a lot of places. Venting, if you will.
I don't quite agree that Cuddy is nearly as good a friend to Wilson as Wilson has been to her.
I… am seeing a lot of remarks of a similar nature in fandom, and well, I don't want to disagree with anyone, but I do think that a lot of the Wilson fans are being very simplistic in their treatment of the scene. And I get why they're doing it, and more power to them, but I can't quite read the scene in a similar way. 'He was there when she needed him during the baby arc and she wasn't when he was upset about Kutner's death, and remember that time she didn't support him during the Tritter arc?'—I'm sorry, but this not an adequate response as far as I'm concerned. Because, first, she acknowledged his rebuke without a word, which meant she knew she was being manipulative and she got his point (instead of the angry 'Shut up' in the couples' therapy scene, where she was doing the very difficult task of managing both House and Wilson). Second, if we really go to the point of weighing things on a scale, as a lot of people seem to be doing so, then Cuddy's trauma in the baby arc does not compare with Wilson's trauma in this episode—a more adequate comparison is Amber's death, and at that time, she was right there for him. I don't mean to cheapen or lessen his grief, mind you—what I'm trying to say is that it's not as simple as 'Wilson was upset about Kutner', because Wilson was not really upset about Kutner.
Third, and this is what is most interesting to me, is that taking care of other people is a trait that they both share, albeit in different ways: Wilson's approach is a lot more personal, whereas Cuddy says 'I'm sorry for you' and hires grief counsellors. I don't think there is any question that between the two of them, Wilson is the more empathetic one, more attuned to other people's need than Cuddy will be ever be—and that's his strength and his weakness, because people who care for other people need to be taken care of too, except that their invincible façade prevents other people from seeing that. And that's the thing with Wilson—he takes care of people, but at the end of the day, there's no one who will take care of him. Because, like Kutner, he's the guy whom everyone likes but no one really knows. Kutner's death didn't just hit home because it's close to the anniversary of Amber's death, but also because Kutner was, in a way, a little bit like Wilson. And the only person who does know Wilson? Is incapable of 'taking care' of anyone or anything.
Pt I
I don't quite agree that Cuddy is nearly as good a friend to Wilson as Wilson has been to her.
I… am seeing a lot of remarks of a similar nature in fandom, and well, I don't want to disagree with anyone, but I do think that a lot of the Wilson fans are being very simplistic in their treatment of the scene. And I get why they're doing it, and more power to them, but I can't quite read the scene in a similar way. 'He was there when she needed him during the baby arc and she wasn't when he was upset about Kutner's death, and remember that time she didn't support him during the Tritter arc?'—I'm sorry, but this not an adequate response as far as I'm concerned. Because, first, she acknowledged his rebuke without a word, which meant she knew she was being manipulative and she got his point (instead of the angry 'Shut up' in the couples' therapy scene, where she was doing the very difficult task of managing both House and Wilson). Second, if we really go to the point of weighing things on a scale, as a lot of people seem to be doing so, then Cuddy's trauma in the baby arc does not compare with Wilson's trauma in this episode—a more adequate comparison is Amber's death, and at that time, she was right there for him. I don't mean to cheapen or lessen his grief, mind you—what I'm trying to say is that it's not as simple as 'Wilson was upset about Kutner', because Wilson was not really upset about Kutner.
Third, and this is what is most interesting to me, is that taking care of other people is a trait that they both share, albeit in different ways: Wilson's approach is a lot more personal, whereas Cuddy says 'I'm sorry for you' and hires grief counsellors. I don't think there is any question that between the two of them, Wilson is the more empathetic one, more attuned to other people's need than Cuddy will be ever be—and that's his strength and his weakness, because people who care for other people need to be taken care of too, except that their invincible façade prevents other people from seeing that. And that's the thing with Wilson—he takes care of people, but at the end of the day, there's no one who will take care of him. Because, like Kutner, he's the guy whom everyone likes but no one really knows. Kutner's death didn't just hit home because it's close to the anniversary of Amber's death, but also because Kutner was, in a way, a little bit like Wilson. And the only person who does know Wilson? Is incapable of 'taking care' of anyone or anything.