And the follow through is there, at least so far, which again, the Tritter arc lacked. I'm hoping I see an acknowledgement on Wilson's part both of his own part in shaping the friendship (he has his own issues) and the good part of what they do have (he's as big a gameplayer as House, not to mention the above mentioned DBS he felt able to ask for), but since the arc is not over yet, I'm not going to assume I won't see something very satisfying when it happens. The writers already avoided shouldering House with the blame for the accident, which would have stuck in my craw rather badly. Now they just have to acknowledge the friendship as real and two sided. That Wilson hasn't yet I can accept--he's in the middle of grieving and he's not thinking clearly, much as he protests that that is exactly what he is doing. I think of it as a parallel to the POTW in Not Cancer. She thought the world was grey and ugly, but actually her brain was not processing images correctly. After the surgery, the world didn't get all shiny and beautiful, but she had a richer view of what it did offer. Wilson is looking at his friendship with House as grey and ugly, but it's really his grief clouding his vision. At some point, I think he'll realise it may not be shiny and beautiful, but it's a lot richer than he sees right now. And when he looks at House, maybe he too will see that House is sad.

I'm hoping I see an acknowledgement on Wilson's part both of his own part in shaping the friendship (he has his own issues) and the good part of what they do have I think he sort of did the former, didn't he tell House that he's the one that let it (House's behavior) go on? That sounded to me like he felt he should have put his foot down and he rarely, if ever did. I'm hoping for the latter too, I really can't imagine (no spoilers, just my thoughts) it ending any other way except Wilson realizing that House is not just a black hole of pain and misery and they were/are friends.

I think he sort of did the former, didn't he tell House that he's the one that let it (House's behavior) go on? That sounded to me like he felt he should have put his foot down and he rarely, if ever did. To me, Wilson saying his part of the dysfunctional friendship was just enabling House's poor behaviour is like Cameron's flaw being described as caring too much--it may be a flaw in one sense, but it's really just saying the world takes advantage of their goodness. I don't think that described Cameron and I don't think it describes Wilson. He wasn't enabling House when he lied to him about his medical prowess, or took that shot at him about not always being right. He wasn't enabling House when he decided to slip him anti-depressants. He wasn't enabling House when he thought up the guitar caper. Of course, he justified to himself why he was actively making up these plans, but doesn't everyone, including House? That doesn't excuse him taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions when they hurt someone. Saying all he did was "enable" doesn't really sum up his part, to me.

That being said, you're wrong about Wilson hating House. He doesn't. He's just grieving right now and wants to stay away from House who caused him a lot of grief in the past. He thinks if he gives in and goes back to this "stupid,screwed-up friendship", eventually he will be hurt again(possibly by House's continued self-destructiveness). Okay, he never actually said "I hate you," just that they are no longer friends and he does not believe they ever were. Also closed the door in his face and said something like 'don't ever darken my doorstep again' or whatever he said ("If I see you knocking, I am not going to open the door" or something like that.) I guess it's more complete indifference and a strong desire to avoid House... perhaps that's merely dislike, not hatred. I suppose all this weepy-weepy stuff shouldn't surprise me - their friendship was never typical of two guys who are just pals, so I guess their 'breaking up' is also not typical. Honestly I don't think any other fictional friendship could pull this off and sustain my interest ... if Holmes and Watson acted this way, I would have stopped reading. I never cared for dramas about couples breaking up and whether they will get back together... I've never watched soap operas, Sex in the City, or any of the other boring television shows that seem to be perpetually about some couple breaking up. Crossing my fingers that House doesn't turn into that. To be fair, I still enjoy the procedural medical mystery part of the show, that's no less well-executed than it ever was. *skulks off to the bitterness thread with the other bitter people*

He wasn't enabling House when he lied to him about his medical prowess, or took that shot at him about not always being right. He wasn't enabling House when he decided to slip him anti-depressants. He wasn't enabling House when he thought up the guitar caper. Of course, he justified to himself why he was actively making up these plans, but doesn't everyone, including House? That doesn't excuse him taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions when they hurt someone. He didn't take complete responsibility, no. And maybe when he gets his head on straight, he'll view things differently, and no, he doesn't always enable House, but I still got the sense that he partially felt guilty because he allowed the whole Amber thing to escelate. He let that go on (he was enjoying it too) and he got her involved in their relationship in the first place, maybe I'm wrong, I haven't watched the scene since it aired.

I believe that Wilson's "We were never friends" is a declaration that he now wonders if the relationship could be described as friendship. Not "we never were close" but "the way we were close wasn't friendship but something else." I also believe the relationship hasn't been a healthy two-way street for a very, very long time. Canon has said and shown that both of them had a hand in that: House by taking again and again and Wilson by enabling House's behavior. Wilson has done crappy things to House, and Wilson has received benefits from the relationship. But overall in canon (before Wilson's Heart) Wilson has done far more to nurture the relationship and protect House than House has done on Wilson's behalf. House has way more to apologize for, and way more to make up for, than Wilson does. Now here is my speculation: If House and Wilson had found Amber dead when they got to the other hospital at the beginning of "Wilson's Heart" and House had never tried to treat her, then few fans would be mad at Wilson for trying to walk away from House. The caring House showed in "Wilson's Heart" has clouded some fans' judgment on the entirety of the House-Wilson relationship, in the opposite way that grief has clouded Wilson's judgment on it.

So much WORD Dee! I agree with you completely! He wasn't enabling House when he lied to him about his medical prowess, or took that shot at him about not always being right. He wasn't enabling House when he decided to slip him anti-depressants. He wasn't enabling House when he thought up the guitar caper. In a way, I think he was. Or at least all those actions were prompted by his need to care and protect House. The problem is, an enabler never seems to realise how harmful are their attempt to protect the other. It creates a vicious circle, the more they enable, the more the other part takes from them. At the end, whatever had started the relationship, is destroyed. That's, I guess, what Wilson finally faced, but it took him so long that he also can't believe or even remember that one day they were real friends. The ball is on House's court. It's up to him to show that it's still possible to keep their relationship and even improve it. But he didn't have a great start...

I think something else that has to factor is that we are only seeing House's side (the show is called House after all) so by the time we get the scene with Wilson the audience has spent 40 minutes seeing House struggling, pining, pathetically trying new friends, etc. The dice is loaded. I made my peace with it during the Tritter Arc, so it doesn't matter much. I know that always the writers will give House an out, a way to come up looking sympathetic. The Lie did that in S3, the DBS did it in S4 (and I totally don't think St.Doris did not forsee the fan reaction, they knew), making sure his grief is front and center will do the same here. So, I'll cross my fingers that eventually MissViolet will find it in her heart to love Wilson again. In my S5 wish list I had the possibility of seeing Wilson sans House, now I know it can't happen. I am not bitter, I just have accepted the rules of the game.

I totally agree with you, Dee! A lot of fans were obviously blindsided by the "We were never friends" comment, but I could definitely see from where Wilson was coming. One could compare it to the the women's rights movement of the seventies -- for millennia, many women were happy to accept their place in the home until seemingly overnight when they wanted to work and be treated as equals to men. Arguments for increased women's rights had always been there, but it took events such as the civil rights movement and figures like Gloria Steinem to make women see that they could live another way. So it is for Wilson. There had always been signs that his relationship with House was unhealthy ("You're... miserable, and you're lonely, and you're going to trap me here to keep me every bit as miserable and lonely too" -- Safe), but it took someone like Amber and an event such as her death, as well as two months alone with his thoughts, to make Wilson see that he could live another way. Which is not to say that he handled it perfectly. I don't think the "'You suck!' and run" method of breaking up is appropriate given a relationship that's lasted at least twelve to fifteen years. House did deserve a bit more than that. And House does deserve to give his rebuttal to Wilson's little speech, but SPOILER I think he'll have his chance in "Birthmarks." END SPOILER

In a way, I think he was. Or at least all those actions were prompted by his need to care and protect House. The problem is, an enabler never seems to realise how harmful are their attempt to protect the other. It creates a vicious circle, the more they enable, the more the other part takes from them. But House was not taking from Wilson in the moments I used and Wilson was not enabling House--he was actively shaping the friendship himself, crossing friendship boundaries and justifying it by saying he has the right to try and change House by any means possible. The lie was probably the worst thing he could have done at that point to House, who not only was struggling with his fear of cognitive damage and the ketamine failing anyway, but also was truly trying to see what this new set of circumstances would lead to in terms of what gave him meaning. Who does Wilson think he is to over-ride that with his own plan to teach House a lesson? And his focus on his plan made him not listen and really House's fear when House came to him--House may not have responded as Wilson wanted over his last divorce, but Wilson did not respond as House wanted over the ketamine failing. I don't call those actions of Wilson's enabling and don't see why his justification of why he did it should give him a free ride over it in terms of what shaped their friendship. "Canon" may give Wilson a free ride, but that doesn't mean the subtext does. Canon doesn't support either man being sexually attracted to each other, either, as many non-Hilsons are so quick to point out. The subtext is a lot murkier.

ixtab wrote: I think something else that has to factor is that we are only seeing House's side, so by the time we get the scene with Wilson the audience has spent 40 minutes seeing House struggling, pining, pathetically trying new friends Very true. It's not as if Wilson wasn't suffering, but we're never allowed to see his side, we have to assume how he's reacting. It's easy to put House as the victim because we only saw his POV. But when people do that their judgement is blindsided by the fact that House is, after all, the 'hero' and for a lot of people he's never wrong. Strangely, they also are 'enabling' House... Jair wrote: But House was not taking from Wilson in the moments I used and Wilson was not enabling House No, but all those actions were prompted by Wilson's own fear that House could somehow harm a patient, try to fly too high. I'm not saying that he had any right to do what he did, just that from his POV he was trying to protect House - and to protect is what an enabler wants to do all the time. He didn't believe that the ketamine could have failed, but not because he didn't care about House's pain, but because he probably wanted to believe that it wouldn't fail, because House would crash and he didn't want to face this. It wouldn't be the first time that he tried to deny some painful truth to himself and it wouldn't be the last. The same subtext that proves to some that Wilson is a bad, selfish friend, proves to me that he is a good person, with best intentions, and best intentions do count, but they also can be a terrible thing sometimes.

No, but all those actions were prompted by Wilson's own fear that House could somehow harm a patient, try to fly too high. I'm not saying that he had any right to do what he did, just that from his POV he was trying to protect House - and to protect is what an enabler wants to do all the time. But eveyone justifies what they do at the time they do it--I'm sure Wilson justified why he cheated on his wives and I know he justified why he slept with Grace. That doesn't mean he isn't responsible for his actions. The times I mentioned with House were not in response to cleaning up any act of House's--he was not passive. He's done more than just enable House. The series has shown that Wilson is as much in control of the relationship as House, exemplified in Mirror, Mirror but seen elsewhere, and that he's as big a game player--and he likes playing.

Wilson wasn't cleaning up any mess, he was trying to prevent the mess. It's part of an enablers behaviour. They are both players, they are both manipulative and sneaky. I'm sure that House also has rational justifications for all his acts. I'm sure that House is also responsible for all his misguided, selfish acts. But the thing is while I do see good intentions behind Wilson's missteps, I can't say the same about House's. The show has presented from the beginning that Wilson main focus is House well-being, that he tries to protect House, no matter at what cost. I said before and I say it again, in my book, House's still on debt. And yes, MMV. :wink:

What Namaste, dee and Lully said. To add to the last post, I do believe intentions matter. Wilson has done terrible things to House, but every time it was motivated by caring about him and wanting to protect him. House has done terrible things to Wilson, and every time it was motivated by selfishness - by NOT caring about Wilson and NOT wanting to protect him. Why should Wilson be judged more harshly than House is? I saw the "I don't think we ever were friends" line very differently than anyone else seems to have. I saw it as meaning that their friendship has always been this way, that it didn't change with the infarction and loss of Stacy like I'd kind of assumed. That's powerful stuff. How the heck did they get to be friends at all? I also don't think it at all odd that Wilson would question if he and House were ever really friends, if their relationship has always been the way it is now. I always thought it strange that Wilson DIDN'T question it, that he seemed to need so little from House to continue being friends with him. I think of it as a parallel to the POTW in Not Cancer. She thought the world was grey and ugly, but actually her brain was not processing images correctly. Spoiler for Fox description of ep 5.03: Now we'll have a painter whose illness interferes with his artistic vision, and the team will have to look at his paintings to determine what's wrong with him. Perception seems to be a theme here. I think neither House nor Wilson have been seeing things clearly, and that Wilson is seeing more clearly now.

The first POTW's theme was about seeing one's world, as well. She was focused on taking care of her demanding boss, reasonably happy with that position, feeling it was important, until she unexpectedly had time away, during which she found a new perspective. She started thinking she'd be better off on her own, and made some steps in that direction. Ultimately, however, she decided she most wanted to be needed as she had been. Does that sound like any other relationship issue going on? :roll: