NOT FEELING THE H/W LOVE

[raietta.livejournal.com]

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.

Comments

[xue-lee.livejournal.com]

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.

[reibish.livejournal.com]

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.

[xue-lee.livejournal.com]

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.

[elva-barr.livejournal.com]

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....

[xue-lee.livejournal.com]

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.

[elva-barr.livejournal.com]

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

[teyla]

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.

[elva-barr.livejournal.com]

Not really - any doctor will tell you there's no shortage of zebras. The writers just have to do more research, and they're gettin' lazy.

[xue-lee.livejournal.com]

Hemispherectomy was actually quite a clever solution except for one thing: it doesn't do anything. And how House can jump from seizure medication to taking out one half of some poor guy's brain is a mystery to me.

Maybe what they could have done is do more of "Needle in a Haystack" - it doesn't have to be something totally rare and out of this world, but they could do something quite ordinary that have very serious complications.

[teyla]

Can you actually do a hemispherectomy without, you know, killing or seriously crippling the person whose brain you're cutting in half? I can't imagine how taking out half a brain could not seriously affect the mental status of the patient, even if he's brain damaged to begin with.

And what did they put it the guy's head instead? Nothing? What did they do so it won't go "slosh" every time the guy moves his head?

I was wondering about that ever since I saw the episode... :P

[xue-lee.livejournal.com]

I know hemispherectomy is a real process. And it is actually done in several cases where there is so much brain damage that it is necessary to remove half the brain. What happens after that, I'm not so sure, but it's a pretty rare procedure. And honestly I doubt that most doctors would recommend such a procedure to someone like Patrick, who would do very well even with a useless right brain.

[teyla]

Oh wow, I thought "hemispherectomy" was just something that the writers thought sounded cool and hadn't been done yet on the show. I didn't think it was an actual procedure. I need to reseach that now...

*off to harrass wikipedia* ;)

[raietta.livejournal.com]

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!

[xue-lee.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I'm glad that you agree that it's impossible for H/W to be exactly the same after all that Tritter nonsense.

I still don't understand why my House characters are undergoing massive personality changes this season! I like House as a jerk and asshole, not as a soft little bunny! And what's up with Cameron being such a slut anyway?

[idonmatrix.livejournal.com]

RSL told us Wilson's relationship with House will be a different thing. Look House hurt Wilson bigtime!! The Wilson told doesn't even come close but I think it had the same effect. They hurt each other. What I see is House and Wilson trying to re-establish some of their old patterns - the gossiping, House stealing Wilson's sandwich, Wilson inviting House for pizza with a friend. Wilson prescribing for House again and House confiding his dreams, secrets to House. At the same time some other things have changed. Wilson is going to so some of House bitchslapping - in public. And House is gonna slap right back. Wilson is gonna confront House about his diagnostic craziness and House is gonna try and humiliate Wilson what he gets it wrong - in public. They're still married. The evidence is that everyone around them has the good sense not to get between them when they're having one of their pissy little moments. Everyone knows that they're still as thick as thieves. House ask Wilson for his car keys in the MIDDLE of their mutual bitchslap and what does Wilson - hand them over without missing a beat in his slapback. I have a feeling (and I could be totally) wrong, but I think the writers are going to put H/W back during season 4. HL and RSL are fabulous actors to be able to make us feel the H/W rift so deeply - cause I feel it and your pain. Here's my silly logic. House is obssessively possessive of Wilson and as a result gets all up in his business. We see that to some extent he does the same to Cuddy. He slept with Cuddy. I assume he also slept with Wilson based on their conversation in H/W bathroom scene 1. Wilson implied that House was just as comfortable with man love as he was with woman love. That scene made my Hoyay heart jump for joy. Wilson is possessive too - his reaction to the TS dream and does anyone remember Crandall?

[xue-lee.livejournal.com]

I remember Crandall all too well. A pity that episode was crap.

I really hope the writers will put H/W back in Season 4. And not just abusive!H/W, but fun!H/W. I agree that House is possessive of Wilson; he's just that kind of person. But because House has a tendency to be a complete idiot, he doesn't exactly know when to toe the line. I really want to believe that that's what the writers are up to this season, and it's simply their fault that they can't do it well.