Am I the only viewer who did not think Lucas was just being completely clueless in the restaurant scene, but knew exactly how much he was humiliating House? Back when he was previously on the show he had told House that he wanted Cuddy, and he certainly knew how House felt about her. To me, that scene in the restaurant was Lucas rubbing House's face in it, telling him that she was only a fantasy to House, but Lucas is the man who got her. He was telling House that he was pathetic because he had dreamed that Cuddy would not only love him but save him. I found that whole scene so embarrassing that I doubt I'll ever watch it again. :(

I don't think so. Yes, Lucas knows about House's feelings for Cuddy, but his little speech illustrated that he knows Cuddy has feelings for House and even said as much. I think if Lucas meant to humiliate House, he would have made fun of the hallucination or put down House's issues in some way. Awkward and inappropriate as the scene was, I think Lucas was working off of an acceptance and respect for House rather than some sort of arrogance or malcontent.

This is really a minor point, but I can't help trying to picture what happened immediately before the restaurant scene. How did the four of them actually arrive at the point where they sat down together? I would have loved it if we had been a fly on the wall during that conversation. Talk about awkward! I don't write fan fic, but I'd love to see one of you great writers tackle that.

I didn't think that Lucas was trying to humiliate House either. I think he was trying to bring it out in the open. To make out like it was no big thing, so everyone would be comfortable. It in fact ended up making things more uncomfortable. I think his intentions were good, though.

I really want to like this ep, but the writing was so loose and the medicine so horrifyingly bad, that it's very hard for me to generate much love for it. I'm also getting more and more miffed at Cuddy's seriously unprofessional attire. The outfit that smoked was more appropriate to a call girl looking for business than the head of a hospital. The '80s party was so utterly contrived, and though it was cool to see HL in full regalia, they at least could have played "Rock Me Amadeus" :) Do, however, continue to like the Foreman/Chase/Cameron banter and scenes--reminds me of the best of the old days. I keep finding myself praying that Taub and 13 coming back is just some horrible nightmare Wilson cooked up while drugged.

I'll agree that while the episode had many interesting elements individually, it never quite gelled as a complete end product for me. (Trying to do too much in one episode, I think.) I'll also add that I'm glad that they're not doing a "Chase gets drunk every night and follows his mother's bad example" story line. At least at this point. I have no idea what's to come, but I'm glad we didn't see him getting sloshed this time following up on last time. That would be a little too sterotypical, to me. I'd rather he follow his own unique path to hell. Or wherever. One more "also" thought to add ... House said he hasn't been to a conference in 15 years. So does that mean that the last conference he attended was the one where he met Wilson?

Am I the only viewer who did not think Lucas was just being completely clueless in the restaurant scene, but knew exactly how much he was humiliating House? Eh, I think he's just an idiot. The guy bugs me but he's never come across as a deliberately cruel person, YMMV. I'll agree that while the episode had many interesting elements individually, it never quite gelled as a complete end product for me. Agreed. It had moments I loved but on the whole, it fell short for me. I hate to say it because it's DE, but I think this has been one of the weakest of the season

DOB1234 wrote: Am I the only viewer who did not think Lucas was just being completely clueless in the restaurant scene, but knew exactly how much he was humiliating House? No, that is how I read this complex scene too. I don't think that Lucas is either stupid, compulsively indiscrete, or insensitive. In fact his professional success depends on his being the opposite of these characteristics. It is his profession and his natural tendency to pick up on information, piece together facts, draw conclusions and use that information to gain further information, just like House. I think he did all of this in that great speech. I think that Lucas' speech in that impossibly painful breakfast scene was calculated on his part. It reflected his hurt at having been used by Cuddy, who invited him to her hotel room and then kept him there to tend to Rachel and wanted to continue to hide their relationship from House (reminded me very much of House's affronted reaction when Stacy thought for a moment that she could have both him and Mark). Lucas likes Cuddy and likes Rachel. After a distraught Cuddy returned to their hotel room following the dance, I imagine he felt threatened by House's renewed pursuit. I don't think that Cuddy told him much but I bet she did mention that she had seen House at the party. Lucas doesn't feel he has done anything wrong in this situation. But he felt hurt by her keeping him under wraps so when he had the chance he launched a double-pronged verbal shot that wounded both House and Cuddy at the same time. I don't know exactly when Lucas learned the details about House's hallucination. It seems likely that he pieced them together through his own investigation around the hospital and from fragments of what Cuddy said directly to him. As other's have noted, it is not surprising that she would share a skeletal account of House's hallucination: the breakdown was a traumatic event in her life and she has no one to speak with about it. House clearly felt crushed by the revelation of Cuddy's relationship with Lucas and of course by the further revelation of her spilling the intimate details of his mental collapse. But I think that he also recognized that she was struggling with how to let him down softly because she cares for him deeply. And I think that in some little way he admired Lucas' honest statement of the situation which was meant to show that Cuddy was trying to protect House even as it knocked down her protective story. Like House, Lucas values the truth, even if it hurts. The precision in the writing of this scene as well as the superb performances by all four actors make this a scene I will watch again, even though it leaves me squirming every time. I think that it must have been Wilson who shared the details of House's hallucination with Cuddy. That would be why House gave him such a long stare as Lucas started on his rambling expose. In particular the phrase "savior," which Lucas employed to such humiliating effect, strikes me as interpretive vocabulary Wilson would have used in laying out the account for her. So Wilson was feeling guilty and shocked on both scores during that scene: that Cuddy would betray a confidence and that Lucas would use it as ammunition in the romantic competition unfolding at the breakfast. I loved that his guilt and affection prompted Wilson to make the grand gesture of thanking House in the next scene following that disasterous breakfast. He knew that House was deeply wounded and he made the best effort he could: acknowledging that House really is a good friend and a noble character even in tough times. I think Lucas' outburst served to let Cuddy know that he is as unpredictable and unreliable as House. I speculate that House's direct gestures of renewed romantic pursuit combined with Lucas' exposed shortcomings in this episode spell the beginning of the end for Lucas/Cuddy.

I'll ship Lucas with Cuddy (does that make me a Luddite?) if it will put this cringe-worthy Huddy story line out of its misery. I don't like Huddy but could sit through it if it were portrayed realistically and not like the love child of "Dawson's Creek" and "Grey's Anatomy." That said, I think they should have gone with a different actor. Michael Weston is 36 but he's so ... boyish. He barely looks old enough to buy beer. Lisa is 43 and looks it. That's not an insult; she's a beautiful, in-shape 43, and she can pass for the 38 her character claims to be (I still think she was lying), but there's no way she'd pass for, say, 33. They look very mismatched -- I almost get a Mrs. Robinson vibe off them together. Just me? And yes, the world needs more stoned, pants-free Wilson.

That said, I think they should have gone with a different actor. Michael Weston is 36 but he's so ... boyish. He barely looks old enough to buy beer. Lisa is 43 and looks it. That's not an insult; she's a beautiful, in-shape 43, and she can pass for the 38 her character claims to be (I still think she was lying), but there's no way she'd pass for, say, 33. They look very mismatched That's bothering me too and it's one of the reasons I can't take them seriously as a couple. They look ridiculous together. Why do they insist on pairing off people who have no apparent chemistry? First we got Foreman and Thirteen, now Cuddy and Lucas... Since I'm mentioning Foreman, one thing I enjoyed during his conversation with Chase in the beginning: He finally acknowledged that House isn't always acting the way he is because he's an ass, but that sometimes his agenda is to actually help people, even if his methods don't look that way on the surface. Or, this could be another excuse by the writers to show us how hip, cool, and street-wise Thirteen is LOL! Couldn't have put it better, and it's exactly what makes me hate her character. The '80s party was so utterly contrived, Agreed! I might have bought it, if it had been a regular dance night, but not this. And what's worse, I feel like the writers think they're being oh so clever and hilarious, and it's just not (IMO). An '80s party? That's so trite. Although I have to admit that I did like the H/C conversation. The House/Cuddy dance. As someone on another forum put it, "I feel as if the writers are pushing Huddy at the expense of House." That was not House on the dance floor with Cuddy; it was Bizarro House who dressed up like that and had a romantic conversation with Cuddy. WTH? I cringed through that entire scene. But keep in mind that House planned and set the whole thing up, therefore it wasn't all that romantic. He purposefully opened up to her, and even though I believe that he was honest about his feelings, it was pretty manipulative. So he actually was his old scheming self. And we've seen House being romantic before, around Stacy, so I don't feel like it's OOC for him. Oh and did anyone notice that House opened the car door for Cuddy? I know that it's a common courtesy, but coming from House even such a small gesture appears considerate ;). Watching the dance scene, I am convinced that Cuddy has been carrying a torch for House all these years. When they were talking about their college days at the dance, she seemed to have remembered pretty much every detail about their short time together. Yes, I noticed that too. And I can definitely buy that she might have been impressed with how insightful and perceptive he was, to the point where she would remember the exact words. What I got from that scene is, that she's genuinely attracted to his intellect. Which makes me happy for House, because hallucination!Cuddy confessed to something along those lines too, so that's what he's longing for. In particular the phrase "savior," which Lucas employed to such humiliating effect, strikes me as interpretive vocabulary Wilson would have used in laying out the account for her. That caught my attention too, because I can't quite believe that Cuddy would have pieced that much together by herself. If it was indeed Wilson who told her, it might have been damage control on his part. He told her the details so she would understand the significance of House's delusion, knowing that she wasn't just some sex fantasy and that he really wanted to change. I think that would make her feel better about herself. I love the fact that Wilson was so serious about taking care of House and didn't want him to spend the weekend all by himself. Although he came across like a patronising parent in the beginning, talking to House like he's a disobedient child, I still loved it (but where was this concern in "the tyrant"?? I guess I'll have to accept that it's the bane of so many different writers on this show...).