“I need some help with Alice Tanner. She wants a vagina.” – House
“I’m pretty attached to mine.” – Cuddy
Brett mentioned in his ratings post this week that House was beginning to show its age … perhaps the ratings are slightly lower, but I just don’t believe that this show has lost one iota of the quality it started off with seven seasons ago. It’s a pure pleasure to watch these beloved characters grow, change, interact and banter. I love every minute of it.
Like I said when I wrote about the seventh season premiere, House and Cuddy have normal reactions to their budding relationship, something that really shows House’s growth. This week, House struggled to find something he and Cuddy have in common. It’s so House-like to not actually talk to Cuddy about it, and I remember he’s worried in past seasons about being too happy. The difference now is that I think he’s grown enough as a character and a man to let himself enjoy it, as opposed to sabotaging it (or was that what he was trying to do when he took Cuddy with him to break into the patient’s house?). And Cuddy makes it easy for him, by being such an open, giving person: “What we have is uncommon and I’ve never been happier.”
In fact, I like the entire easy way they had as a couple this week. The whole “as your boyfriend, as your employee” thing really worked and they’re doing a fine job separating work from their personal lives, which is worth noting since last week, House thought that would be the downfall of their relationship. He still seems so surprised when they get past something and end up stronger on the other side … again, pretty normal for anyone who’s been burned in a complicated relationship before.
When Cuddy was giving House her speech about how House makes her better and she hopes that she makes House better, I thought it was just going to be a sweet part of her speech, nothing more. The fact that we got follow-through within minutes is what makes this show so great. For a minute there, I really thought that House actually cared about one of his patients. The elaborate lie about her son’s aneurysm was so selfless … until I realized he just wanted to manipulate her into writing more Jack Cannon books. Just seeing Cuddy there waiting for him made House stop confessing the truth to the patient, just to hurt her. Cuddy’s right — she is making House a better person, just by being with him.
So we’ve not only see House grow enough as a person to finally be able to be with Cuddy, but the fact that he is with Cuddy continues to help him grow in a positive way. Can the show continue along this path and still remain good TV? I believe so.
This and that:
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Oct 05, 2010 @ 09:30 EST5EDT
I agree so completely with this review that I have nothing further to add.
It was a really enjoyable episode.
The ratings are slightly down, so are most ratings on TV. There are more choices and you can watch the episode on hulu, or download it or any number of things. So ratings fall a little. 10 million ratings today is still a great number.
I hope they can keep the relationship going and not make it… well not make it like Bones. I fear they won’t be able to for the next 19, never mind 22 more after that, we all know this won’t be the final season.
I agree with almost everything because Season Six, in parts, really sucked. Nobody wanted to see Foreman and 13 together, it was a pain in the ass. But the last episodes of Season 6 and now these episodes here are really back where House always was for me – 30 minutes in I start looking at the clock saying to myself “oh man it’s going to be over soon”, like I always did.
House and Cuddy are an awesome storyline. It feels so good seeing them together like this. I hope they manage to give them problems they can both overcome (like they did now) instead of resorting to adding a problem that is so big they break up over it. I want these two to be together and enjoy them as a couple until the show ends.
House’s growth as a human being should be plenty of story material to get us all through to the end of Season 10 when I think the show will be ending :-)
Okay, I do have something to add. I finally figured out why House is so grouchy. He is constantly constipated all the time (side effect of the Vicodin).