You know, I'm not a big fan of thirteen, but I did like the way she was also involved in trying to break up the fight. She wasn't just standing ineffectually off to the side; she was in there pulling along with Foreman.

Just watched it. I was mostly ininterested by the insurance bits, and less House on screen means less interest for me. My favourite part, of course, was the House/Cuddy interaction. It was nice to see them from Cuddy POV, and he was really her minor problem. She seems to handle him quite good and he is not as annoying as he usually seems to be. And for years we have been repeatedly they are friends, wihout any onscreen proof of that. After this episode, seeing how House is there when she doesn't know she needs him, how he offers advice, how they can share some quiet moments and how well she know how he works, too, I can believe they are true friends. Oh, and I loved the proud little smirk he had at the end! House pause due to soccer next week in France, and no new episode due to Olympic games....I'm entering withdrawal already. :cry:

vicpei I agree with all you say (except for the insurance bits) :-) It's nice to see that they have found a very civil, kind space to talk to each other in, at least when away from others. They genuinely do care about each other and support each other regularly. And he did seem proud of her when she won her bet. Wonder if he takes a little credit for teaching her as well as his students that standing your ground and betting on yourself can work. March 8! That's worlds away...

It is true that the way House supported Cuddy was terribly nice and friendly. He did not try to bully/guilt her into doing anything; he gave her advice when she asked for it and, most importantly, let her know that he trusted her judgment. On a more trivial note: is it wrong of me to think it was a little funny House was a bit wrong? He asserted that Cuddy could never quit because the hospital needed her. Yet, at the end of the episode, she clearly was going to hand her resignation to the board. The only reason why she did not do it was because the man from Atlantic Net showed up before she could get into the elevator. That made me smirk.

Maybe House already knew the guy was going to cave. Like if he was the dog (or one of the dogs) that the guy asked her to call off. :-)

I think it's more than appropriate that House was wrong. He's a diagnostician. He has many specialties. Running the business end of the hospital isn't among them. As Cuddy pointed out, he hasn't run comparables with other hospitals in the same network, he doesn't know what profit margins are on various procedures (especially since his standard operating procedure is to ignore costs on procedures, since insurance regulations would never let him do what he wants to otherwise for cost reasons). In fact, if House had been absolutely right, it would have diminished Cuddy's story. Running the hospital is her thing. Diagnosing is his.

I just noticed that the revealing sweater Cuddy wears this episode is the exact same one she wore in Known Unknowns (in the "Patty and Selma" scene), except that it's in a different colour. I guess she must really like that sweater.

I just noticed that the revealing sweater Cuddy wears this episode is the exact same one she wore in Known Unknowns (in the "Patty and Selma" scene), except that it's in a different colour. I guess she must really like that sweater. Somehow that style works for her. I can't imagine wearing something like that to work but Cuddy seems to like this style. I believe she likes to show her feminine style, which balances the dominant role she has as DoM. In fact, if House had been absolutely right, it would have diminished Cuddy's story. Running the hospital is her thing. Diagnosing is his. That is exactly right. I think that smirk from House at the end was one of admiration. Cuddy was getting ready to resign because she felt what she was asking for was the right thing and she was willing to go down with the ship because she was going to stand by her conviction. House would do the same on the diagnostic side. They are two peas in a pod. I loved seeing this side of Cuddy.

Interesting. Different interpretations based on the same evidence. :-) I do think House knows a lot about the hospital's goings on because of both his insatiable curiosity about why people do what they do and even more because of his intense focus on Cuddy. He doesn't know about just medicine, he knows all kinds of things because he notices everything, especially what's going on with people he cares about. He knows where she goes to get away and he knows a lot about about negotiating strategy. I think he would find this interesting, even more than interesting because he very much wants to make sure she stays his boss. I read the "calling your dogs off" as a tip that House was butting in somehow to save her job because he knew she wouldn't give up and he knew she'd lose her job and he doesn't want her to. (and that line doesn't really make sense to me any other way.) And his smirk at the end shows he knew exactly what she would do, he did what he had to to help her without her knowing a thing about it and he's proud of her sticking to her guns and also happy his interference helped her keep her job. I don't think that diminishes her strength or competence in any way. But House is usually right in predicting what people will do, since people don't change much or at least not much that he doesn't understand and make allowance for. /my two cents.

I read the "calling your dogs off" as a tip that House was butting in somehow to save her job because he knew she wouldn't give up and he knew she'd lose her job and he doesn't want her to. I didn't see or hear anything that implied that House was butting in. What we did see and hear was that Cuddy had a full on PR campaign going on -- she notified the press -- making sure that everyone knew that they wouldn't be able to access one of the best hospitals in the insurance network all because the insurance company was dicking around with them. She even had a bank of telephone operators calling people to let them know. She brought the heat big time -- which she had told them she was going to do, and which they didn't believe she would. Now imagine all the media calling the insurance company for comment, all the companies that have group insurance through the insurance company, all the individuals in the middle of treatment all calling pissed off? Those were her dogs.

As I said, that's my interpretation of the comment. I get what you say Namaste and that seems like a valid interpretation too. "Dogs" was plural and it seems to me it's likely that it included some action from House as well as Cuddy's efforts.

I had first thought that either House or Lucas were the "dogs," because when the representative asked her to call off her dogs, it seemed as if she didn't know what he was talking about but quickly put on face that she did know. That was just my first reaction to that scene, but it could also have been the PR attack Cuddy set in motion.

Isn't that what's great about this show? They always leave enough room for our own interpretation. I am with Namaste on this one. I think the "dogs" reference was Cuddy's threat of exposing the CEO and his other clowns and leaking it to the media. When you think about it, what could House possibly do that Cuddy hadn't already done? Anyone? I think in this situation (admin), Cuddy is better than House and should be. He was willing to settle for $8. increase. She wanted $12. He also knows when she wants something, she is not afraid to fight for it. His recollection of hearing her argue with teacher to get in that class back in their college days comes to mind & was what probably attracted her to him.