House 3x08 - "Whac-a-Mole"

[bironic]

Oh, my heart.

This is what happens: A series teases me with slashy jokes, I circle it warily until it seduces me with top-notch writing and acting, I let it in, and then it causes me PAIN. Character-driven pain, that is, not poorly-constructed-show pain. Why? Why must there always be pain?

And why is it so much fun to curl up on the couch and wail about the rending heartstrings?

Five quick things:

1. "Love note from Tritter." Vindicating every decent Wilson/Tritter fic that's been written with the angle that Tritter's using & abusing him to get to House.

2. I love pissed-off Wilson. Protesting to the ticketing-by-proxy officer, yelling at the pharmacist (of course he'd know the guy's name and use it even when he's furious), fighting with his lawyer*, snapping at his busom buddy Cuddy, arguing with Cameron, and finally losing it with House. It's taken three years, give or take a few minor breakdowns along the way ("Babies & Bathwater" and "Safe," for instance), to wear him down to this, and man, is it a wonderful, painful thing to witness. FIX IT, HOUSE, YOU MORON.

* Wilson mentioned a Michael sometime during his aborted appointment. I assume he didn't mean Tritter, and another lawyer was mentioned immediately afterwards. Michael = Wilson's usual attorney?

3. Was anyone else amused by Chase in the sauna, looking half-dead? Aren't you supposed to be used to heat when you're Australian -- or at least more tolerant of it than your northeastern American colleagues?

4. "Fight with the wife?" Thus vindicating every decent story that casts Cuddy as the sly slasher. And House or Wilson's line, I can't remember whose, in which it was phrased as Tritter attacking "us," together. And then Wilson ordering House out of his office before that awful, resigned remark about how at least now he knows House isn't going to help him through the mess he got him into. Of all the times House could have chosen to alienate Wilson, this is just about the worst. It's also in character. Which is of course what makes it great drama. It hurts all the more having followed on last week's heels. House sure has a funny way of showing how much he doesn't want to push the friendship till it breaks. Idiot.

5. I was so convinced Wilson would give up and become the titular "mole" for Tritter, and just as relieved when he, at least, held true to the claims of last week's episode and protected House even though it meant shutting down his own practice and having a falling-out with the very man he's sacrificing for. Who knows how long he will be able to hold out? I'd like to think House will cave before Wilson does.


...I'm gonna go work on my post-"Son of Coma Guy" story now for comfort and pretend that it explains why Wilson started out so irritable and how House transitioned from confessing that he doesn't want to lose Wilson's friendship to riding past him on a bus bench in the cold. *sniff* My heart. I love it.


* * *

Commentaries: nightdog_barks, noydb666, Pru, stephantom, daasgrrl, asynca (WARNING: adult content), axmxz, usomitai

Post-ep fic: "None" by savemoony (drabble, Wilson gen), "Wait" by nakannalee (H/W PG-13), "Crossing Borders, or One Way House Could Have Apologized, If He Wasn't Such an Asshole" by ignazwisdom (H/W PG-13), "In Over Your Head" by pwcorgigirl (triple drabble, H/W gen)

Comments

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

I'm ... um ... feeling kind of guilty for absolutely loving this episode. This was HL and RSL at the top of their game, bouncing hard off each other, House falling like a dark angel, Wilson driven beyond endurance, assailed from every side ...

And I can't believe that Wilson would've accepted a ride from House at the end. Why should he? House has been treating him like a doormat, a non-entity the entire episode -- hell, the entire arc.

Maybe Wilson's finally growing a pair. I wouldn't have accepted a ride either. What does that say? Oh, gosh, everything's really okay even though you've been stepping all over me? Fuck that.

For what it's worth (not much) I do believe the friendship will survive. Honest. Fox isn't stupid enough to kill this (no, I really believe that -- call me crazy).

We're just going to see a whole lot more angst before it's restored -- which is what I've been saying all along. Heh!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yes! That's the thing -- I had a fantastic time yelling at the TV. I love these characters, and I love that the show is capable of causing this kind of misery. (As opposed to the kind where you wail about inconsistent characterization or preposterous plots, for example.)

*ponders* House offering the ride, had he actually offered it, would have been the first step in his apology. If Wilson had accepted it, they could have started towards reconciliation, even if they never reached it because Wilson got furious all over again because House hasn't been pushed far enough, or seen those he cares about pushed far enough, to agree to go to Tritter. By refusing the not-quite-offer, Wilson's sending House the message that he's got to do better than that before Wilson will let him in again. Thus drawing out the drama for a few more episodes before they actually do reconcile -- which, I agree, they will do. It's not the end of the friendship, it's only a very, very rough patch -- probably the roughest they've been through except for immediately after the infarction.

Okay. But part of me still wishes House had been more assertive in making Wilson come along, even (or especially) if it led to another big argument.

We're just going to see a whole lot more angst before it's restored

Yep, and it's gonna be grand!

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Well ... see, I'm not entirely convinced that House was offering a ride. Really.

I think House is still so consumed in his ... denial? I guess that's what it is -- that he saw Wilson on the bench and just thought to himself, "Yeah, you're pissed, and I'm pissed, and we're both guys so the air is like totally poisoned with testosterone! Ha!" and drove off.

And even if House had offered, I'm not sure that I would've wanted Wilson to accept.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

I read the last scene quite differently. I didn't see Wilson's stare as stone-cold, so much as resigned and appraising. He wanted to see what House would say (not just do). But House didn't say anything, so Wilson assumed that he had read the situation correctly, that is, that House didn't give a damn about him. In that case, there's no point in getting on the bike.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the both of them have a bad case of "Well if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you." Also the codependence. And Wilson's martyr complex and House's cynicism/abandonment issues ain't helping none, either.