house_wilson_ghc | NOT FEELING THE H/W LOVE

Entry tags:

NOT FEELING THE H/W LOVE

Well, watched "Top Secret" a couple of times, feeling bummed.

WARNING! Long rambling dissertation under the LJ cut! Possibly TL;DR! Also, spoilers inside!

It’s undeniable now. House and Wilson got divorced.

They were happily, wonderfully married throughout all of Season One (even during the Vogler mess!!). They were totally married throughout Season Two (balcony scenes anyone? House deleting the apartment message from his answering machine anyone? Still the gold standard of H/W love!).

Then along came the "Euphoria" two-parter, and then Season Three, and all my happy slashy dreams were shattered. SHATTERED.

"Euphoria" had open hostility between House and Wilson (or, more likely, hostility from House toward Wilson—here I’m thinking specifically of the scene where House snarls at Wilson, "I’ll bet you you can even have unprotected sex with your patients without even catching a damn thing. Boy I wish I had your job." YEOWCH!), and here we see House considering packing up his things and asking for his magic decoder ring back. Sad. Really, really sad. I started getting a queasy feeling in my stomach right then.

Then, somewhere after House got the ketamine treatment and Wilson started manipulating him (withholding information from House about his paralyzed patient, refusing to prescribe Vicodin, etc), House got a separation from Wilson.

The lovely sexy sparkly chemistry onscreen between House and Wilson just shuddered to a halt. Sad, sad, sad!

Then somewhere after Tritter finally got booted off the show, House filed for divorce from Wilson. Looks like the trial separation didn’t go too well.

Where’d the chemistry go? Where’d all the jump cuts focusing on Wilson and House giving one another sexy, significant looks go?

What the hell is going on, here?

In "Half-Wit," I felt more depressed. Here House is DYING OF BRAIN CANCER, and what do we get from House and Wilson? One half-assed scene with the upright piano in the patient’s room and one sneering, hostile scene in House’s office at the end. Gah!

House actually looks simmeringly angry with Wilson in that last scene. Man. It almost felt to me, on watching that scene, that House has filed for divorce in a fit of betrayed fury—and Wilson didn’t even know they were married in the first place. Bizarre! That scene actually reads to me like House is still furious with Wilson, and Wilson has no freaking clue that House is even mad. Wilson gets House flowers. House throws them out the window. Wilson cluelessly gets House chocolates. House throws them at his head. Wilson’s all like, "Pizza and a movie?" House is all like, "Choke on that pizza and DIE!!!"

Am I the only one who saw that? Just how crazy am I?

Is anyone else not seeing the chemistry?

It’s like the actors are no longer comfortable playing scenes together. It’s awful. I don’t see House and Wilson interacting on the screen any more; I see Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard pretending to be House and Wilson on a set. Awful.

And so now we come to the latest episode, "Top Secret."

I would have enjoyed this episode much, much more if there had been ANY chemistry between House and Wilson AT ALL. And I’m not even being greedy and asking for sexual chemistry. Just plain old "House and Wilson are bestest buds and Platonically LUV each other!" chemistry would have made my day.

But no. Nothing.

The banter in the bathroom? Not feeling it. Feels forced and half-assed.

The fights about House’s drug use and House’s patient? Feels like the bickering of a divorced couple, sad to say. Seriously. This is how my mom and dad used to fight/argue/bicker with each other, after they got divorced. I know firsthand how post-divorce arguments sound and look, and House and Wilson in "Top Secret" fit the bill.

But maybe it’s not just House and Wilson, HL and RSL.

The scenes between House and Cuddy weren’t all that sparkly with chemistry, either. Or, at least not the sexual kind. The scene in House’s office where Cuddy gives House the patient file for Riley (or whatever his name in the show is), I see ZERO sexual chemistry between Cuddy and House. House looks tired and distracted. He doesn’t even leer at Cuddy’s cleavage. In return, Cuddy looks tired and concerned. More maternal than anything. Odd. It’s that way in the end scene, too, where we finally get confirmation that Cuddy and House had been up to sexy shenanigans years ago, in what appears to be a one-night stand.

Sexual chemistry? Zip.

Cuddy’s still looking and acting motherly towards House, not sexual at ALL, and House acts like Cuddy is a sister or something.

This is so weird.

So maybe it’s not just House and Wilson that’s lost its zing. Maybe it’s ALL the grownups of the show.

Cameron and Chase were kinda hot in the supply closet together. Foreman was fun and engaging in the ep. Has the end of the world come about? Am I actually enjoying the scenes with the kids more than the scenes with H, Cuddy, and W?

Please counter my ~~arguments~~ ramblings if you can. Please let me know if you DID see any chemistry between House and Wilson in the last few eps. Really. I’d like to know if anyone agrees with my view, that the chemistry is alarmingly absent from H & W these days. I’d also like to know if anyone disagrees, if they DO see chemistry. That would make me feel a lot better.

So. Anyone else with problems with the show and the H/W relationship? Anyone else thinking the thrill is gone? Or do I need to start going to therapy to resolve my issues with over-analyzing a stupid show? (I mean, seriously. It's just a show! This much obsession can't be healthy.)

........send help!

ETA: Removed a few refs to "Top Secret" outside the LJ cut just in case.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know, I totally don't agree. I liked 'Top Secret,' I thought that their bickering during the DDX in the middle of the ep was so telling - Hugh Laurie and RSL stole the screen in that scene. Hell, even my straight, male best friend thought it was the slashiest thing this side of legal. So... Maybe you just got high expectations during the break, 'cause I, for one, do not agree. Sorry.

On the contrary, I think the H/W has finally picked up the last few episodes compared to the Tritter trash we had earlier in the season. And I really liked the "Wilson would do house before you do Chase" line. I'm pretty sure the writers are aware of the H/W subcontext in the show, and they're still paying attention to it. After all, H/W still has quite a significant fanbase (even though it's probably not as deranged as the HAM fans).

I think what's going wrong is the characterisation. Wilson and Cuddy are both losing their backbones whereas the writers are seemingly trying to make House seem a bit more soft and fluffy as some kind of "character development". And once characterisation is screwed, the chemistry and relationship between characters will be affected too.

The problem I see with Season 3 is that the show's turning more and more into a soap opera rather than the medical drama it was in Season 1 (and most of Season 2). The writers are replacing the medicine with more soap opera and drama, which they don't necessarily do very well. For example, they don't exactly know what to do with the entire House/Wilson relationship. For example, their friendship (and love) obviously got strained during the Tritter!arc, and the thing is that it's very difficult to a) change the nature of the relationship between House and Wilson; b) making sure that they're still best friends; c) keep most things pretty much the same way as they were before.

Besides, I think they're trying to play up the Chase/Cameron these few episodes. What I'm really afraid of is Season 4, which is purportedly the HAM season.

I agree with this. I was feelin' the chemistry.

I can definitely see your concern, and I'm sure as characters, their hostility towards each other signals that they know the same thing is going on.

But.

House and Wilson have ~~loved~~ known each other for a very long time, and the fact that they're having a dry spell (honestly, I was only put off by Wilson's nonchalance about House's peeing problem...not peeing for three days is definitely fodder for at least MOCKERY, if not medical attention!) and are tense with each other about it only signifies that their chemistry is STILL there. Their actions during this tumultuous season are saying, "Hey, I still love you but I kinda wanna punch you in the face...wanna fuck later?" If the spark was gone, they wouldn't be doing anything at all. We wouldn't notice the obvious discord. House doesn't go out of his way to be with people he doesn't want to be around, except maybe patients ~:)

Have faith, my dear! Couples aren't always puppies and sunshine. Once Wilson has his breakdown (like we don't know it's coming?) House will hobble to his rescue and things will be merry again.

Maybe it's their mutual pee-scenes. I wonder if House times it, or Wilson times it.

I think they just hang around each other so much that they do the girly tagalong thing. XD

What I'm really afraid of is Season 4, which is purportedly the HAM season.

SHH!! If you don't say it, it can't possibly be true!! But it would make sense...Cam's been quiet about House for awhile, and now all of a sudden she's like I'M OVER HIM, WTH? Which means she's not, at all. And that makes me sad.

Ham makes me want to go vegetarian. Lol.

Which just further fuels the genderswitch crack.

BREAK THOSE GENDER STEREOTYPES, BOYS! BREAK 'EM SO THEY CAN'T BE FIXED! hee

I wholeheartedly disagree. I kind of like their banter more this season than any other. It's different because there's a lot more tension in their friendship, and I love that.

Yeah, totally agreeing with the sentiment that the show isn't being nearly as focused on the medicine (ie: what happened w/the tumors on the scan in the last ep? And why did Cam suggest autoimmune, it made no sense?) as it is on trying out every pairing, stunt, and razzle-dazzle action they can. I don't understand why: they've got medicine! interesting characters! daring addiction plotline! really really cool medicine! Amazing guest stars! Hugh fuckin' Laurie! Why the drama? To my mind comes what Woody Allen said of having Scarlett act for him, which was something along the lines of 'All you need to do is hand her a script, make sure she has enough junk to snack on, and get out of her way.' Same here. Damn drama! Oy vey. But it's still one of the best shows on television, so....

Ham makes me want to go vegetarian. Lol.
That reminds me of the time me and my fellow classmate who's also a H/W fan were sitting in the canteen and suddenly shouting, "I HATE HAM" and everyone was giving us "WTF?" stares. XD

If Cameron is truly messing with Chase just to make House jealous, it might actually make me have marginally more respect for her character. Of course, it's so terribly unfair to Chase (who the writers perpetually ignore) and it's also really stupid because House isn't going to care.

Hmm... I don't think they got a divorce. They had a rough time there in between "Euphoria" (where IMO Wilson, along with everybody else, was simply jealous that Foreman got to be the one to get sick) and the end of the Tritter arc. Maybe one or both of them considered a divorce. Then they avoided each other, until Wilson couldn't stand it any longer and confronted House in the last scene of "Half-Wit" (for me, that episode counts among the worst episodes ever from a H/W point of view... the only way I can explain Wilson's absence throughout the middle part is that he knew House was faking. But if that's the case, the scene in the end makes even less sense than it does anyway. Maybe Wilson was just cracking a little because he couldn't stand the pressure in the relationship any longer.). House turned him down, though, because House is House and can't just forgive Wilson.

Yeah, well, but the two of them just can't live without each other. So, now, in "Top Secret", they're carefully circling each other, probing and poking and trying to find out whether there's anything left to save from what they had before the Tritter arc. It's awkward, it's weird, but from the way the episode was going, I think it's gonna get better (and I'm not quoting Foreman again, because everybody knows what I'm talking about ;) ). So, I still have hope for my OTP.

Can't really comment on the House/Cuddy parts. I was too busy staring at Wilson and House to really notice Cuddy ;). I did get the impression, though, that the writers gave us a pretty clear sign that Huddy is not gonna happen. What with ships sailing and everything.

BE LIKE ROMEO AND JULIET. EXCEPT WITHOUT THE EMO.

House was so good back in the glorious old days because it had that perfect balance of drama, humour and medicine! Good medicine! This isn't Grey's Anatomy, this isn't Scrubs; this is House! It doesn't have to resort to cheap drama.

Well, I suppose it's good that the writers are trying to tweak the formula of the show here and there, but I think by now they should realise that the drama isn't doing much. Or at least, they shouldn't sacrifice the medicine for drama.

I agree.

When you're friends with (and married to) someone for such a long time, you aren't going to be lovey-dovey every day of your life. You get arguments, but everything pretty much ends up okay in the end.

I agree that Wilson needs a crisis. He needs to be something more other than a cheap mouthpiece for all the moral lessons House doesn't need to learn in the show.

Whew! Well, this makes me feel better about the whole thing. Just because I'm not seeing the H/W doesn't mean others aren't. Cool.

But it's still better than Grey's Anatomy or Scrubs (even though I like Zach Braff). Thankfully.

Is that an icon of Gong Li? If it is, that's awesome. And, yeah, chemistry.

You bring up a good point about how the whole Tritter thing strained their relationship, and how it's not going to be the same afterward. It's certainly silly to expect things to be the same after that mess.

Still, I tried to see the episodes with this in mind, and I'm still unsettled by the whole thing. Maybe it's just dissatisfaction with the whole show mingling with dissatisfaction with H/W.

This:

The problem I see with Season 3 is that the show's turning more and more into a soap opera rather than the medical drama it was in Season 1 (and most of Season 2). The writers are replacing the medicine with more soap opera and drama, which they don't necessarily do very well. For example, they don't exactly know what to do with the entire House/Wilson relationship.

is dead-on. The drama! The drama! I guess maybe the reason I'm so annoyed with the personal relationships changing this season is because the writer's are sort of... well, bad at them. Sigh. I was actually enjoying the Tritter arc for the pressure it put on H & W. But now, it's kinda.... ick. Oh well. I see now that it's prolly just to-be-expected fallout from the Tritter thing, etc.

I feel better after reading your response. Thanks!

Or at least, they shouldn't sacrifice the medicine for drama.

I totally agree. What they did with the medicine these last few episodes was just... nah. Hemispherectomy? Brain infection disappearing within twelve hours after administration of antibiotics? And what about One Day, One Room? There was no real medicine in that one at all.

But I guess at some point they had to run out of cool medical cases that were also more or less believable.

I don't think they have lost any love for each other, they're going through a rough patch. While the whole Tritter thing was hard on them I think it was the end of Merry Little Christmas that was the breaking point. House scares Wilson to death thinking House is dead. House may be a bit hurt that Wilson leaves him to die in a pool of his own vomit. (Seriously, the hell Wilson?) If you see House's actions at the end of that show as a suicide attempt (even a subconscious one) then Wilson has every right to feel a bit abandoned. When someone you love wants to die it's a bit of a slap in the face. Right or wrong it feels like you aren't worth sticking around for.

So Wilson may have tried to pull back a bit emotionally to save himself. House is clearly a trainwreck waiting to happen and Wilson may not be in a hurry (after his brother) to see someone else he loves self destruct before his eyes.

Then Wilson thinks House has brain cancer and to make matters worse House doesn't tell him. Then it turns out he doesn't even HAVE brain cancer. At this point most sane people would run screaming away from the relationship.

So when House comes to him claiming more health problems it's no wonder Wilson ignores him. If you can fake brain cancer faking a wonky bladder isn't a stretch.

BUT! Anyone who didn't love House to little bits would have abandoned him and his crazy self destructive self a loooong time ago. Wilson still sticks around, can still be prodded into caring (and doling out more drugs) ergo there is still some love there. House still goes to Wilson when something is wrong which is maybe his way of showing the love.

It's a screwed up relationship but it's definately still in tact.

(anon again, this is Greeblygreebly from TWOP someday I'll have a real LJ of my very own, I swear)

Okay, good. I'm putting things back in perspective again.

House and Wilson have loved known each other for a very long time, and the fact that they're having a dry spell ... and are tense with each other about it only signifies that their chemistry is STILL there.

This is a great view, and I'm going to practice using this view for all future episodes. Except...

Have faith, my dear! Couples aren't always puppies and sunshine. Once Wilson has his breakdown (like we don't know it's coming?) House will hobble to his rescue and things will be merry again.

Couples certainly have problems and fights and awful moments and a rocky road together, but since H and W aren't an open couple, I'm worried that this is the show's way of getting rid of all the icky H/W slashy subtext that I enjoy so much. Which is really silly (and paranoid! Yeesh), but it's how I'm feeling lately. It would be one thing if H & W were an acknowledged couple on the show. Then at least their current rift could be addressed. But since they're not, I worry that more of the same is to come. More unhappy tension between the two, making room for Ham, Huddy, or God-knows-what.

And if Wilson ever does have his breakdown (which I personally think has been a long time coming), I'm not so sure that House would even attempt to help him out. I really don't see House doing much to help his friend. At least not in any meaningful or satisfying way. That worries me. But really, I think I might be worrying just a little TOO much.

I need a sedative.

Thanks, though. Your response has put things into better perspective, and I'm feeling better about my favorite TV show couple. :)

I dunno, I'm just not feeling it. At all. But maybe I'm just not feeling it for the entire show, not just H/W (wonky scripts, ludicrous plot holes, bad character development, etc. It's hurting my H/W love!). At least other people are enjoying it, which means maybe the show's doing it right anyhow.

Huh. Our mini-Boston-H/W-Tues-Night-Party just called him "Riley," too.

I've kind of just accepted the fact the non-canonness of H/W, so I make the best of whatever I see and then make my merry way over here after the show to enjoy my OTP. Is that sad?

Also, since the show is written by a variety of people, Wilson's character is ALL OVER THE PLACE. None of the writers seem to know what to do with him, so we've seen a couple asyncronic (is that a word? nm) different sides to him that just don't match up. Moral and upstanding, sex with a patient. Merry and flippant, angry and sad. His own life rarely comes into play while most of his emotions are based on House's goings-on: House gets him upset so he's sad, he enjoys House's company so he's happy--does he even have a personality?

I agree that he REALLY needs to have a breakdown or a huge scandal (not just one patient he screws and nobody ever finds out about; something monumental; I wonder if his affair will come back to haunt him in the show?) If they don't do something soon, the first real insight will be when his brother turns up, and I just know they're going to handle it poorly if they don't build his character a little more.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 6

NOT FEELING THE H/W LOVE

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject