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

[nicocoer.livejournal.com]

He did stop! And wilson did give him stone cold stare!

but I am so in the same boat as you.

Is it jsut me, or does so much of the wilson/house dialogue this week imply that there was a not on screen lurve thing going down? oh, my heart. . .

~N~

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yes, but House is an ass who pushes and pushes until he gets what he wants, and Wilson's the one who's supposed to give in. House could have met that stone-cold stare and raised an exasperated "Get on the bike, you idiot," after which they could have gone back to House's apartment and had a blazing row. But no -- he accepted the glare and rode on. Sadness.

I think the episodes that don't have at least one moment implying slashy House/Wilson subtext can be counted on one hand, or at most two. :)

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

I know. The pain! Agh. They're trying to give us whiplash, with last week and this week's episodes...

House sure has a funny way of showing how much he doesn't want to push the friendship till it breaks. Idiot.

I'll agree, however, I don't think House actually really did much here. It's all happening because of his original screwup with the Vicodin, but things getting worse this week than they were last week isn't really his fault - that he's not acknowledging his original mistake isn't helping though.

[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!

[nicocoer.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. . . a blazing row followed by steaming sex. . . mmm. . . *dreams/drools*

sigh. . .

This one and the lst one TOP for slashiness I think . .

[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!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Yep -- last week softened us up and this week went in for the kill. I love it.

House may not have done much -- and even that's arguable -- but he certainly didn't help make it better, beyond pimping loaning Cameron out part-time to write Wilson's prescriptions. Now that he's seen that Tritter has no problem targeting the people House cares about, and now that he has a taste of how far Tritter's willing to go to hurt those people within the bounds of the law, House should be revising his original decision not to apologize, back when it was only his pride on the line and not, say, his best friend's career. As Wilson pointed out mid-tirade, the psychosomatic shoulder pain hints that he is experiencing some guilt, and that's a good sign. But how much more damage will be done before he takes some sort of action? Will he ever take action, or will he continue to stick to his guns, refuse to cave to the bigger bully, and argue that anyone else who gets caught in the crossfire had it coming to them?

[theninth.livejournal.com]

House could have met that stone-cold stare and raised an exasperated "Get on the bike, you idiot," after which they could have gone back to House's apartment and had a blazing row. But no -- he accepted the glare and rode on.

House knows he screwed up. He's accepting his punishment. Admitting he really messed things up is one of the things he can do to show Wilson that he cares.

Hopefully Wilson realises that.

[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.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I hope that's what was going on, and that we weren't seeing House decide that right now he can't deal with a troubled friendship with everything else that's going on.

[theninth.livejournal.com]

As much as he needs Wilson? He's going to care more about fixing things with him than he's going to care about anything else.

His ignoring Wilson's request for someone to write a scrip for him had absolutely nothing to do with Wilson and everything to do with the fact that House was consumed by the patient puzzle. He wasn't even thinking of anything else like that, so it wasn't a deliberate swipe at Wilson. Which is why he's kind of surprised that Wilson's so upset about being kept waiting. In House's mind, it wasn't anything wrong. It was just the way he always works. "I always put you off when I've got a puzzle". It wasn't until Wilson really ripped into him that House started to realise that he might have finally pushed things too far and just quietly left Wilson's office.

Did you ever get around to reading my Noir bit? It's completely safe now, after this episode. Which disturbs me a bit.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

And House or Wilson's line, I can't remember whose, in which it was phrased as Tritter attacking "us," together.

It was House's line and it was another statement of denial and a slap at Wilson (albeit unintentional). House says that Wilson can't make him feel guilty for "what Tritter is doing to us." Some people squeal that it means House sees H/W as an "us," but it's actually House making himself out to be co-victim with Wilson. House is putting what Wilson is going through on the equivalent plane with what House has experienced from Tritter (which is a HELL of a lot less at this point). Consciously or not, he's minimizing Wilson's pain/sacrifice, by focusing on himself, and not on what Wilson is going through. It makes me so angry!

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

Hm.. I hadn't even considered apologizing to Tritter as an option. I doubt that would do any good at this point. I feel like House's thinking toward this situation is, "I may have screwed up - it caused a shit-snowball, and now I (along with everyone else) have to wait for it to pass." Not the best approach, but on the other hand, what else is he supposed to do, really? Turn himself in and go to jail?

[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.

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

...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.

Amen to that! I'm desperately hoping that Wilson is not the "Judas" of next week's episode. It just doesn't seem likely, given his character, but he certainly has been stressed enough to crack in unexpected ways. Of course, I don't think Wilson would ever be able to forgive himself if House went to prison because of something he (Wilson) did or said.

[topaz-eyes.livejournal.com]

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

Is the turning point here. House has a decision to make, if he wants to keep Wilson. So, yeah, FIX IT, HOUSE, YOU MORON.

House sure has a funny way of showing how much he doesn't want to push the friendship till it breaks. Idiot.

House is his own worst enemy when it comes to affairs of the heart. I don't think he can help it though. He knows he screwed up with Wilson--just by stopping and looking at him at the end. But somewhere along the line he learned it hurt too much to reach out, at least in the way that Wilson needs.

Man, this show breaks me. Rips out the heart and shreds it into a zillion little pieces.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Excuse me, you don't do heat? *g* The Australian summer is hot, but it's otherwise quite temperate in the southern states most of the time (Jesse is a Melburnian, and Chase almost certainly is as well). Also, the heat is really, really dry, which makes a big difference to how bearable it is. Humidity is a killer. I'm... sure you wanted to know that :)

Aw, it's taken this long for Wilson to raise his voice...

Also, yeah, what happened between last week and this week, anyway?

[thirdblindmouse.livejournal.com]

Yay! For once I can actually read your entry without fear of being spoiled. (I also watched last week's episode, and need to go see if you have an entry on that.)

Thoughts:

-The lawyer! Wilson finds lawyers via his divorce lawyer. Perfect.

-"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.
Cuddy's line had us all gleeful. It hasn't been discussed openly, but it's clear that at least all the girls I watch with are slashers too. But man, I think they're really breaking up this time... I didn't interpret Wilson's look as a "stony glare" but as a last puppydog "maybe he'll invite me on the bike". And House drives away. Cold.

-So why is Chase the one getting punched next episode? We need an episode in which Wilson punches House in the face. Repeatedly. And then they have post-violence make-up sex.

-My money's on Cameron as the one who caves. She was in her unusually cool groove this episode, but she's been rather bi-polar, last week being Cameron-y in all the bad ways. And she could possibly cave in an awesome way. She's the person most sympathetic to Wilson right now, and Cameron's most extreme in the causes of other people (whether those people want it or not).

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

I love to read your posts when you are all passionate like this. Makes me wish I was at the same point in continuity so I could join.

As for me, the weekly report is about "Sports Medicine" and "Damned if you do". Plotwise, the latter was more interesting due to the introduction of religion/faiths versus science/reason.
The former had the squeeful moment of House saying "So, are we breaking up now?" to Wilson and later the two of them going on completely platonic dates with Stacey respectively Cameron. There's also the reveal that House isn't toatlly heartless since he's lived with someone at some point. It sort of follows from the sudden namedrop and Wilson's fear that House will mind, that Stacey was that someone. And this at a point when we haven't seen her yet. Nice.
The latter had the better plot, this time telling us more about Chase, really. But also the very cute Christmas "dinner" of chinese food House and Wilson have at House's place. There has, at this point, already been several hints that Wilson's marriage is not as it should be. This one is just a more blatant one.

[hi-falootin.livejournal.com]

yes! that's exactly how I saw it. I didn't get the "squealing" reaction at all--it actually pissed me off a great deal that House said "us"! because as you said, Wilson has to deal with so much more shit for the Tritter thing than House, and it isn't even his fault. House made the choice to apologize; Wilson did nothing wrong until he lied about the forgery which was far more selfless than anything House has done so far.

hurrah for being angry.

[hi-falootin.livejournal.com]

(hi, I've been lurkily reading your commentaries...)

Was anyone else amused by Chase in the sauna, looking half-dead?

I thought that scene was totally surreal in general. When the camera pulled back, and there was Foreman, and then it pulled back again and there was EVERYONE I was sure for a second it was someone's hallucination/dream sequence a la "no reason." Chase amused me more by looking half dead AND rambling religiously. Guess he's not so lapsed afterall...

I glad you loved the pain of this episode too, because now I feel less like a bad person/slasher for enjoying so much. (and *coff* rooting for Wilson to tell House off)

[(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.