**this is just my 3rd post in this forum. i hope i'm not out of order or out of sync with the rest of you.** on House/Cuddy being an unhealthy relationship: House's conversation with the patient in season 7's "Unwritten" makes it clear that House understands the kind of desperation that could drive somebody to self-destruction and suicide. more importantly, House understands that one must grab on to a reason -- any reason -- to want to go on living. House chooses to grab on to Cuddy, to reciprocate love and to allow himself to be happy even though he is convinced that love is conditional and happiness transient. i am convinced that the House narrative is not about health or medicine. it is about "life," choosing life along with it's complexities, complications and compromises. House may have assisted patients who are beyond medical help into committing euthanasia, but he is not beyond brow-beating patients into allowing him to save their lives. House of course does not see what he does as saving lives. in his mind, he is merely solving puzzles and a life saved is simply side benefit. he lies, of course. House has on many occasions been moved to go beyond the puzzle-solving and to put everything in line for his patients. In season 1's "Control" for instance, House risked his license and practice to find a heart for his patient even though he was done with the diagnosis and has already solved the case, so to speak. The confrontation scene with the patient in this episode illustrates the core of the House narrative. Carly: Why are you here doing this to me? What do you want? House: I want to know what’s right. Carly: Am I worth it? You think I’m pathetic. Has a good job, everything in the world, but she just doesn’t like the way that she looks – House: Oh, stop hiding! I’m asking you if you want to live or die, you can’t even say that! Carly: What do you want me to do? Cry? House: Yes! I want you to tell me that your life is important to you, because I don’t know! Because that’s what’s on the table right now: your life. Carly: I don’t want to die. I don’t. i'm glad it took six seasons for the House/Cuddy romance to finally come into fruition. in terms of story-telling, an early hook-up with Cuddy wouldn't have worked and it would have been redundant since there were already the Stacy and Cameron characters to show where House was in terms of romantic love. the House/Stacy hookup in season 2 was about closing the book on that relationship, while the House/Cameron almost hookup was about showing that House was not ready for (and did not want to be in) any serious romantic entanglement. on David Shore saying that House/Cuddy has always been on the writers' agenda since the beginning: of course my huddy shipper side did a backflip when David Shore said that the House/Cuddy romance has been part of the agenda since the beginning. i want to believe Mr. Shore because i did see something in the pilot episode in the very first scene of House and Cuddy together. i remember thinking during that scene in the elevator that those two must have a history because they sounded like a divorced couple. but then promo after promo, and episode after episode the show seemed bent on peddling the House/Cameron pairing and laying on thick with the House/Wilson subtext. we can never really be sure what the writers' motives are, and as a reader i don't really care what their writing intentions are. it's what i read and how i read that matter to me. so far, Mr Shore and the other writers of House have been relatively circumspect in their responses to questions about their storytelling agenda and objectives. i'm glad because if writers have to explain to death what their writing intentions are, then they're not writing clearly.

i am convinced that the House narrative is not about health or medicine. it is about "life," choosing life along with it's complexities, complications and compromises. This is very well put, binarysoup. That is the journey we've seen House on since the end of season four when he declared, "I don't want to be miserable." 13's season five arc paralleled his struggle and expanded on this theme when it took the hostage situation to make her realize that she didn't, in fact, want to die. We saw this theme touched on again in season six with the PoTW in "Braveheart". And, as you already pointed out, more recently in "Unwritten." Oh, and you are most definitely not out of sync! Insightful and clearly presented posts such as yours are a pleasure to read. So, please do keep sharing your thoughts as and when the urge strikes you.

of course my huddy shipper side did a backflip when David Shore said that the House/Cuddy romance has been part of the agenda since the beginning. i want to believe Mr. Shore because i did see something in the pilot episode in the very first scene of House and Cuddy together. i remember thinking during that scene in the elevator that those two must have a history because they sounded like a divorced couple. Same here. They sparked together from the beginning and I loved the gradual build-up to the inevitable. It's been fun to watch.

Completely agree, binarysoup. Welcome! I'm watching "Acceptance" on USA right now. Remember the line where House says that Cuddy isn't like Stacy in that she can't pick up her soulmate at a strip joint? I started thinking "No, she can walk into her college bookstore and meet her soul mate."

I love your post, binarysoup. :balloon: Thank you for bringing everything in the right light. I agree with most of the parts of your posting, and I agree that's it's less about having a healthy relationship, because DS doesn't do healthy relationships, it is about the wonder of life and all the key ingredients that let one keep living. And I agree, healthy or not, his relationships with Cuddy (and Wilson) are, what keeps House alive and keep him going. Welcome!

And I agree, healthy or not, his relationships with Cuddy (and Wilson) are, what keeps House alive and keep him going. So true. He loves them both very much, and they are both so important to him. Of course, they both love him as well.

binarysoup, welcome to these friendly confines! Your commentary was excellent and thought-provoking too. I had a similar reaction to yours upon first viewing that opening scene with House and Cuddy in the elevator in the premiere episode. I thought something was going somewhere with those two, but of course I had no idea where or when or if it would pan out. I do find that knowing the writers' and showrunners' intentions is interesting and useful to me. I feel it is my job as a viewer to try my best to get out of the show what they want me to perceive. I am far less interested in knowing or expressing my own beliefs and personal canon. I really am much more interested in seeing how TPTB try to convey theirs. They use all of their considerable arts to tell a story and I just think it is my job to try to get what they are saying as they tell it. I do not think DS is a clumsy storyteller or a lacksidaisical writer/producer. I think he is trying his darndest to get the precise story he wants to tell onto the screen. He is wonderfully aided in this by Hugh Laurie and so I really do want to know what is behind their choices rather than trying to squeeze their artistry into my own pre-determined boxes. I think that this journey of House's that we are witnessing is not focussed on his romantic life as it is on his learning that life deals out the most daunting, unexpected, and strange turns. Occasionally those turns are painful or heartbreaking, but always they are part of life. And as House noted, even the most awful and sucky life is better than the alternative.

Someone noticed that Cuddy is having fresh flowers in her office, every week. I'm too lazy to check past seasons right now. Do you think House is still ransacking the patients' rooms?

I find it interesting, or rather ironic, that since the beginning of this season it has been Cuddy who got all the heat for her approach to the relationship, not House, who everyone would have expected to screw this up. I'm wondering if it's just that we apply different standards to House's behaviour? There's always this argument floating around that "this is who House is" and it seems to justify whatever he does in the relationship and absolve his actions, and it's all or nothing for Cuddy because she pledged to take him the way he is. But I think that in all fairness, House should be held accountable for his actions too and not be allowed to just run rampant because "that's who he is" and Cuddy chose to be with him of her own accord and damn her for trying to change him. And after all, it's not like Wilson isn't nagging House about all of his faults and his bad behaviour on every occasion too, but despite this, I've never seen anyone question their "soulmate status" or the validity of their relationship and I've also never seen anyone accuse Wilson of trying to change House into an idealised version, "the friend of Wilson's dreams".

I think most of the passes House gets on his behavior come when someone posts a criticism of another character and someone else says "House did that too. Why isn't anyone criticizing him." The fact is that Gregory House should not be a role model. The sin in question is usually minor compared to much of his behavior but justifying someone else is a "two wrongs don't make a right" situation. But I don't think that's what's going on now. The only behavioral change House has asked of Cuddy is that he be allowed to stay overnight at her house. Despite specifically saying that she didn't want him to change, she has continually told him to do so. I'm not saying that he's behaved like an angel. Stealing flowers and penguins and combining a date with a break in is "just House." If she expected something else, she's a fool. And lying to get his way is how he practices medicine, that's not going to change and Cuddy knew it. If he had lied withing the context of their personal relationship, that would have been very different. If, however, she found out that he tried to sneak away when she had left him babysitting, I would have relished watching her rip him a new one.