house_wilson_ghc | NOT FEELING THE H/W LOVE

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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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I agree with you up through "Half-Wit" -- mostly. I thought in the end of S2 House seemed none to pleased with the Wilson/Grace thing (and please, someone give me a reason that is not slashy, because I can't think of one) but it seemed like something they'd get over. Eventually.

But then Tritter happened and all the way up until this very last episode, I was pretty damned convinced House and Wilson were breaking up. In fact, House not accepting Wilson's invite for pizza clinched it for me -- they broke up (platonically, more-than-platonically, whatever). And I was sad. Because there is no excuse for Wilson just walking out when he thinks his best friend has brain cancer -- NONE. God, I don't even want to think about it anymore.

But "Top Secret"? Totaly H/W chemistry. The fact that House willingly told Wilson about his dream and went to him with his peeing issue; that Wilson felt they were okay enough to (pointlessly) attempt to stand up to House about writing him prescriptions; the DDX scene between them where Wilson goes "Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're idiots. You're point?" (that was so totally S1 Wilson shoving his head back in btw, finally) and House listens to him; and the scene with Wilson in scrubs and House calling him "Dr. Self-Righteous" but backtracking by claiming they were all wrong as soon as Cuddy started harping that Wilson was wrong -- that's H/W back in fine form. Plus all the bathroom scenes and the bantering and the shared looks. Oh no no no. Whatever happened in the time between "Half-Wit" and "Top Secret" House and Wilson worked something out. They're not back to being completely okay but there's definitely hope, me thinks. Definitely hope.

I agree about the lack of sexual innuendo in the House/Cuddy scenes. And frankly Cuddy's "I'm always here" comment creeped me out in a really odd way. I have no clue what's up with them.

And frankly Cuddy's "I'm always here" comment creeped me out in a really odd way. I have no clue what's up with them.

I agree, although the "No you're not" did redeem it a little (bitter about the infarction much?). I had expected the Huddy stuff to be somewhat tolerable, but Cuddy's being written horribly this season, and spoilers for next week just flat-out piss me off. There's no way a woman dean of medicine would behave like this. Edelstein is playing what she's given very well, but you just can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

bitter about the infarction much? Hah! Totally.

I'm not the biggest fan for H/Cu, so I might just be biased, but I agree that the way they've writing it lately (esp. Cuddy) just makes me go, Wha? And LE might just play what they've given her to the best of her abilities, but Cuddy's response to House is still very convoluted and disjointed. I don't get it. Not at all.

I thought in the end of S2 House seemed none to pleased with the Wilson/Grace thing (and please, someone give me a reason that is not slashy, because I can't think of one) but it seemed like something they'd get over. Eventually.

That's pretty much how I saw it, too. Still can't come up with a non-slashy take on the Grace thing. Still thought, back when it aired, and the few eps that aired afterward, that the odd estrangement between H&W would go away in time.

But then Tritter happened and all the way up until this very last episode, I was pretty damned convinced House and Wilson were breaking up.

Me too (natch).

In fact, House not accepting Wilson's invite for pizza clinched it for me -- they broke up (platonically, more-than-platonically, whatever). And I was sad.

Me too (natch).

Because there is no excuse for Wilson just walking out when he thinks his best friend has brain cancer -- NONE.

ITA. Gah. Very upsetting!

But "Top Secret"? Totaly H/W chemistry. The fact that House willingly told Wilson about his dream and went to him with his peeing issue; that Wilson felt they were okay enough to (pointlessly) attempt to stand up to House about writing him prescriptions; the DDX scene between them where Wilson goes "Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're idiots. You're point?" (that was so totally S1 Wilson shoving his head back in btw, finally) and House listens to him; and the scene with Wilson in scrubs and House calling him "Dr. Self-Righteous" but backtracking by claiming they were all wrong as soon as Cuddy started harping that Wilson was wrong -- that's H/W back in fine form. Plus all the bathroom scenes and the bantering and the shared looks. Oh no no no.

Here's where we part ways, I suppose. I do LOVE the fact that H went to W with his dream and his bladder troubles. This looks on the surface like a huge step forward. Unfortunately, I'm just not FEELING it. Odd. The looks H & W exchanged in the bathroom didn't have any real; life to them. It's hard to explain. It felt... tired, almost. Staged. Forced, I suppose.

The "We're idiots. Your point?" line was FANTASTIC, and just about the only spot in the ep where I felt like Wilson was kicking ass and the dynamic was fun to watch. Loved that line, loved Wilson delivering that line. Made me happy. Still not sure that this does anything for me on the H/W front though. Still having trouble figuring out why. Once again, I think maybe camera angles, close-ups, etc. made the scene feel like less than it could have been. Dunno. Must ponder more. ;)

Whatever happened in the time between "Half-Wit" and "Top Secret" House and Wilson worked something out. They're not back to being completely okay but there's definitely hope, me thinks. Definitely hope.

This does give me hope. I'm going to watch again (horrors!! the sacrifices I make for this show!) and re-view the bathroom scenes, argument scenes, esp. since you bring up Cuddy blaming W and then H backtracking, something I definitely did not pick up before.

I like the idea of them working something out between this ep and the ep before. I like your take that they're not completely okay again but there's hope. I'll take it. :)

Unfortunately, I'm just not FEELING it. Odd. The looks H & W exchanged in the bathroom didn't have any real; life to them. It's hard to explain. It felt... tired, almost. Staged. Forced, I suppose.

I agree, to an extent, I suppose. I'm not sure why it played that way on screen: if it was poor quality acting (GASP - blasphemer!) or the way it was directed with cameron angles, etc. or if it was because House and Wilson are still tiptoeing around each other. If it was the third option - and that is a highly believable option - I think the important thing to concentrate on was that they were talking to each other. They were both making an effort to return things to normal, which means they want things back to normal, still care about each other, etc. etc. That it was a bit surreal and forced - well. They did almost just break up. Working out the problems that have almost split you up - hard, surreal and awkward at times.

Yet there is hope in the fact that they are trying. Whatever is going on, it is an improvement over "Half-Wit" with no pizza and Wilson disappearing for almost the entire the time.

I'm going to watch again (horrors!! the sacrifices I make for this show!)

Hah hah! I know. I watched "Half-Wit" like 8 times to try to bring the happy and it just wasn't doing. Watching Wilson (ever-so-cutely) ask House out ~~on a date~~ ~~on a date~~ ~~on a da~~ FOR PIZZA was heartbreaking. Oh the sacrafices indeed. :)

esp. since you bring up Cuddy blaming W and then H backtracking, something I definitely did not pick up before.

Well, to be fair, Cuddy seems to be blaming both House and Wilson in turns, but I found it interesting that after ribbing Wilson for a while, as soon as Cuddy started in with blame, House quickly retracted his earlier comments to Wilson. It was nice to see House doing this odd protector-y thing over Wilson.

No wait! One last thing.

This isn't debating the H/W-ness of the last few eps, but it is an amusing anecdote that might cheer you up some:

My friend ships primarily H/Cameron and W/Cameron but in no way ships H/W. Sometimes I beta for her and I was talking to her about the progress of her recent W/C fic and she complained that because of the last episode, she could no longer find a reason for Wilson to touch Cameron's girly bits because he and House are so obviously gay together. It completely destroyed her muse and nearly sunk her ship.

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You did say "please give me a reason why that's not slashy" so... Yes, I did. So please dash my slash goggles to the ground and spit the saliva of truth in my eye!

Sex with a patient is profoundly unethical and morally reprehensible.

Ehh? It's House. No, no. It's House. Proper ethics and morals aren't exactly something for what the man is known. Nothing in the dialogue purports (to me) that House has trouble with the patient part of the ordeal. He seemed most fixated on the fact that Wilson was having sex and lying to House about moving in to an apartment - which is why I want someone to disprove the slashiness (kind of). I don't buy at all though that House would really take issue with sex with a patient and definitely wouldn'y catagory it in his mind as Wilson sexually abusing a patient(whether or not he was). I think if anyone would be fundamentally changed by the incident, it was Wilson - not House.

House protected Wilson from devestating professional and possibly legal repercussions, but Wilson didn't do the same for him.

Interesting connection. I don't really think that House consciously protected Wilson from professional and legal consequences that arose because he slept with Grace - or, at least, I don't think House had ever consciously entertained the idea of turning Wilson into a higher authority on the matter. But. I can see the logic behind your statement (kind of) and find the point it makes interesting if not totally viable.

Those explanations just feel like a stretch, you know? The "House is jealous of Wilson/Grace" thing seems so much easier to buy.

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House does have a history of trying to stop sexual abuse. Hell, the whole reason he saw that Night Terrors kid in the first place was that he was worried the kid was being abused.

Hrm - I don't quite see it that way. House tells the fellows something along the lines of, 'This kid won't give us the answers. Why do you think I took this case in the first place?' during the DDX scene in Wilson's office. I will believe him at face value with that line since that strikes me as being very House. I will admit House does seem to carry a torch for patients being sexually abused, but it seems to be more along the lines of the fact that sexual abuse is usually an appaling idea and House likes the shock value of it. He also has an incredibly cynical view of humanity that leads him to doubt that a parent wouldn't be sexually abusing their child if it looks possible. None of that lends itself to equate to House's view of morals jor says anything about his code of ethics.

He doesn't seem to actively try to stop it. He points it out (and is usually wrong) for, again, shock value, and then leaves it for others to deal with if it ever happened to be true. I think back to the 'Socratic Method' where House doesn't call Child Services even though he knows his patient's son is a minor and the morally legal thing to do would be to set up appropriate housing for him. House doesn't seem the type to be that keen about stopping anything - reaching the diagnosis and then being down with the matter is more his style.

Personally, I don't think it's a stretch to say that a doctor who objects to sexual abuse in general would object to a colleague and friend fucking a patient.

Again, I disagree - at least in the case of House. I doubt very much that House would see Wilson as a sexual abuser. There's an implication there of a 'bad person' and for all that House harps upon Wilson's failings and pathologies, he does not see his friend as a bad or evil human being.

If he truly had a problem with the moral behind Wilson's choice, why wouldn't he report it? It's almost undebatable that House was hurt that Wilson moved out and lied to him; there's enough emotional fodder there for revenge if he truly took opposition to Wilson's choice in an ethical or moral or even legal sense.

Their fight right after House correctly identifies that Wilson is having sex with Grace consists of House badgering Wilson for being overly caring and marry the people about whom he overly cares and then harps that Wilson lied to him. None of that argument consisted of career ramifications or ethical complications.

my interpretation is that his motive is primarily to protect both Wilson and Grace from the consequences of Wilson's actions before those consequences get too bad.

I will agree with that, but only in the sense that House does not want to see Wilson pursue a fourth marriage that will self-destruct eventually - and with a woman who is dying. The question to that is why. Frankly the only answer I can come up with is because House has jealousy and possessive issues when it comes to Wilson - stronger than he did in S1 - and as to why that is true, HoYay seems to be a well-fitting answer (if not the only answer).

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You did attempt to give me one. Thank you for that. Unfortunately for me I don't agree with your theory and slash seems to be the only acceptable answer as far as I'm concerned at the present. Oh woe is me. My life is full of hardships. *g* Thanks for the debate, though. I enjoyed it.

No doctor would marry a patient. Might as well just rape a 13-year old in public.

*eyes widen* Um. Wow. Obviously you and I have very different moral codes. To each his own though, yes?

I will admit House does seem to carry a torch for patients being sexually abused, but it seems to be more along the lines of the fact that sexual abuse is usually an appaling idea and House likes the shock value of it.

I think it has a lot more to do with his dad.

How so?

From ep102(Paternity I think) on, House has constantly been suspicious of sexual abuse from the parents of patients (there's another instance of this in upcoming spoilers as well, but I don't want to spoiler others with details). The reason he didn't call CPS in Skin Deep, as he stated, was in case the father had more information we needed.

Based on his relationships and personality, I pretty much assumed from day one that he was abused growing up. The symptoms fit, as House would say. Daddy's Boy added even more evidence to this. By the time ODOR rolled around, the "big secret" was perceived by many as more of a "no shit Sherlock". In ODOR, House mentioned ice-baths and being kept outside overnight as some of the forms of punishment used against him. This tells us two things, John House was more creative than most abusers in his methods, and two, one of his forms of punishment involve Greg being naked. The second alone makes it pretty obvious.

Huh. I guess I never considered House's history of abuse as possible sexual abuse as well. I suppose it fits. I know from researching (I wrote a play on domestic abuse) that the chances are higher but --

*chills*

Quite creepy to contemplate. Thanks for bringing to my attention. ~~Is it wrong that I want to write fic about it now?~~

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