House - Anatomy of a Relationship "Moving On" 7.23

Anatomy of a Relationship
An Episode Examination of Huddy in Love
“Moving On” – 7x23

Wow. It’s official. My job is over. What with the recent news that Ms. Edelstein is leaving the show AND the fact that House drove his car into her house and now has a warrant out for his arrest I am thinking it’s safe to say I will have to take a different approach to my House reviews next season. I’m open for suggestions. Obviously, the first posting will be entitled “Where’s House-o?” The only bright side is I have a lot of material for this week’s posting.

So, first apologies to the five people that read my blog. Other commitments first kept me from watching the season finale live and then from sitting down to compose the blog. Thanks for hanging in there and tuning in late. Now, let’s begin.

In this episode a performance artist has lost all hope due to what she believes is a incurable brain tumor and has focused her life into one last piece of work: filming House and his team re-diagnose her. Taub avoids his ex-wife, Rachel’s, phone calls because he isn’t man enough to tell her he’s knocked up the nurse only to find out that Rachel is pregnant too. Taub has dodged the bullet so awesomely til now, eh? And “The Escape Song?” Really? House…or Foreman, had to have programmed that for Rachel’s calls in Taub’s cellphone and then locked it somehow. And finally in this episode Cuddy JUST HAS to talk about the breakup with House and thinks that him being stuck in a hospital bed is the perfect time to do it. Wrong. Cuddy and Wilson both encourage House to express his anger over the whole situation instead of letting it eat him up inside. They are gonna wish they hadn’t offered that advice by the episode’s end.

House has decided to be a grown-up about his miserable life. He wants to make changes. He’s asking for things rather than just taking them. He’s actually interacting with the patient. He’s calm in his interactions with his coworkers, best friend and ex-lover…oh, well, until that scene where he grabs Cuddy and shoves her against a wall. Or the scene where he almost runs over Wilson. Oh, and then that car through the front window thing. Hmmmm. He was doing so well. So BEFORE those last scenes he’s trying to make changes. He realizes he hit rock bottom with his DIY Tumor Surgery and he’s ready to move on. He has his wife/maid gather Cuddy’s things and bring them to the hospital. (Ah, Dominika, we hardly knew ye.) Cuddy sees this action as a good sign and feels the need to find closure for them both. She pesters House into bringing him lunch the next day. She’s happy. House stands her up. She’s not happy. She corners him the next day in his hospital room again. Closing the privacy curtain, which we all knew BEFORE this does little for privacy, she rips House a new one. She actually thought he would carry this through and talk it out. Now, both you and I know that House does NOT talk things out. We have known this for seven years. I think Cuddy was hoping House had actually changed. Oh, how naïve Cuddy has become. House reminds her that his method of overcoming the past is burying it in a deep dark hole never to dig it up again. She again convinces him to meet and talk. He does but only 20 minutes into the conversation he runs. She chases him down and we finally get a look into why House tries to keep his emotions in check. After she demands he tells her how he feels, House roughly grabs Cuddy’s arm and pushes her back into the wall. We know he has a streak of violence in him, but it’s always been towards things not people. The Huddy Love Theme begins as House softens and tells her he feels hurt. The camera angle mimics the final scene of the season six finale “Help Me” as we look over House’s shoulder to an emotional Cuddy. She takes his hand, again as in the past and holds it. “I know. I’m sorry,” Cuddy whispers in response, true regret in her eyes. After all, she was the one that initiated the relationship and then eventually ended it. House looks at her and whatever emotion he was feeling quickly evaporates. I watched Mr. Laurie extinguish the look of betrayal and pain in a split second and replace it with emptiness. Mr. Laurie deserves more acting awards, people. “It’s not your fault.” House murmurs and then walks off. I don’t think House was just trying to deflect Cuddy’s concern there. Obviously, a lot of his recent behavior is Cuddy’s fault, but I think he actually knows his problems (meaning his behavior, his pain, his instability) stem from other things. House knows his psyche was damaged long ago by his parents’ treatment of him. I have repeatedly stated that House must have experienced some major abuse/neglect at the hands of his father and/or mother. House told Wilson and the Coma Guy that he became a doctor because of the respect the Japanese healer received when everyone knew he had the answer. House tells them that he wanted to hear his dad say, “You were right.” There’s always been a fear of failure in House. He was never able to impress his dad and his mother offered no support either. That’s why his mind and his work are so important to him because he is usually always right when it comes to those things. He focuses on his work because it won’t ever disappoint him. As long as his brain is solving a puzzle successfully House has a measure stick for his happiness. He digs all the other emotions deep in the ground because they ultimately lead to more hurt, disappointment and sadness. House took a risk and ventured out into the world of love and commitment, hoping this time, with Cuddy, might be different. In fact, House not only made the commitment to be with Cuddy, but he did it with the knowledge that it could rob him of his gift; his mind and his ability to diagnose. House gave up everything to be in love and happy with Cuddy. AND TOLD HER IN ADORABLE FASHION. Let’s all take a moment and review that scene in our heads. It’ll make us happier. Okay. But in the end he was right, as usual. He couldn’t live up to the expectations other people had of him. He failed. Again.

House successfully comes up the same diagnosis that the patient was previously given, but when another symptom appears he realizes she was misdiagnosed. She actually has a very treatable disease but she refuses treatment, radiation of the brain, because it makes her confused and tired; unable to use her brain the way she wants to. House commends her. He feels as though he’s found someone who understands him. But then 13 and her soapbox convince the patient that she has more than just her work; she has people who care for her and that’s worth more. House is furious and takes it personally. He goes into the patient’s room and rips her apart for her lack of self-conviction, reminding her that her boyfriend left her once he’ll leave her again. The only thing she can count on is herself. This is House’s declaration of independence. This whole episode people have been telling House to just allow himself to feel angry about everything and the patient’s decision to choose the option that has always failed House sends him to the edge. He goes home to drink and pop pills. Wilson comes to rescue him and take him for a drink, but House wants to return Cuddy’s hairbrush to her so they drive to her house. I think because of her tenderness and concern earlier he wants to connect with her again. And this is where House is pushed off that edge and into the abyss. When he approaches the house he sees Cuddy entertaining a new beau. He sees her happy and moving on and it kills him. Telling Wilson to get out of his car, House finally expresses his anger by driving his car through Cuddy’s dining room window. Wow. I bet that’s the last time they tell him to just let it all out. “You’re right,” he tells Wilson, who has hurt his wrist dodging the speeding car. “I feel much better.” He walks away grinning. I gotta say he moves fast on that cane if the police couldn’t find him after Cuddy surely called 911. Apparently, the security staff at PPTH share the same hiring agency and code of excellence as the police department. Hmmmm.

We end the episode with House on a beach somewhere tropical. Happy. Well, superficially happy, but that’s the way House prefers it, right? Has he decided to chuck it all and go native? Is he going to be House MD, Medicine Man? If he is then FOX didn’t really need any of the current cast to renew contracts at all. Hmmmmm. Again. The ending is definitely a cliffhanger except when it comes to Huddy. It’s over. She’s done and wants him arrested. This turn towards violence convinced her. People have debated on whether House was trying to kill Cuddy and her beau but he clearly saw her motion everyone out of the room. They were going to take their coffee in the living room. House did not intend to kill anyone, including himself. He was just pissed off, and having very little experience in expressing that emotion he did the first thing that came to his mind. He did not think of any consequences. He just wanted to vent. So did the act clear his mind of thoughts of Cuddy? Is the fact that he was happier after he slammed his car into the house worrisome? Will season eight take us into a darker, more violent side of House? I guess only David Shore knows. And maybe even he doesn’t right now. That finale was workable as a season finale OR a series finale. And at the time of the filming Mr. Shore didn’t know which it would be. Well, they’ve got some serious thinking to do.

Overall, I enjoyed the Huddy run. I thought it was handled well for the most part. Looking back I can see the arc they took with the relationship and it made sense. Most of the time. Although they did wimp Cuddy out and make her look fairly hypocritical throughout the season I still enjoyed the ride. In my first post I commented on the great roller coaster ride we were all going to go on with this season. And it was definitely filled with ups and downs and twists and turns. The thing I didn’t expect, however, was to get dumped off the ride on a sandy beach in Hawaii. Oh well, as long as House is on that same beach I’ll stick around. Have a great summer everyone. See you next season!