Oh, House, I have missed you so. At least I had Sherlock‘s second season to keep me company while you were away. After all, you and Wilson are second only to the great Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. But interestingly, your interactions with Wilson tonight reminded me nothing of the great detective and his sidekick, which wasn’t what I was expecting … but I digress.
Tonight’s case of the week also delivered something I wasn’t expecting, and that was a bittersweet story of a romance that could have been, cut off by early onset Alzheimer’s. About ten minutes into the episode, when we met Joseph, I thought for sure the wife or her boyfriend was poisoning the Alzheimer’s patient. In fact, I felt pretty smug that I called it so early in the episode. I mean, this is House, and it’s a little early for Valentine’s Day. It was fascinating to watch, though, because you know everyone was thinking that it would have been better for all involved if the patient had died. Telling this simple, yet complex story about some good people that Alheimer’s happened to felt real and honest and I really liked it. No one butt in, or tried to fix anything really, it was just a story that was told.
Juxtaposed to this relationship was that of the asexual couple, another case of the unexpected. They were happy without sex and will continue to be happy with sex and it was just a story to be told.
Which leads me to wonder, based on the theme of “The Better Half,” if there wasn’t a bit of foreshadowing about Adams perhaps being Chase’s better half. There have been hints throughout the season that the two may wind up a couple, and she was clearly the impetus for his calling his sister. Is Adams softening the cynic in Chase?
If you had asked me after just about any other episode, I would have told you unequivocally that Wilson was House’s better half, proven throughout the nearly eight seasons in an almost infinite number of examples. After tonight’s episode, however, I’d vote Foreman, temporarily anyway. The two really do have to find a new footing for their relationship this season, with Foreman being House’s boss. The dance they danced tonight set that up beautifully. It doesn’t happen often that House is one-upped, but I love that instead of anger or resentment, he feels a reverence for the person that can do it.
This and that:
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 23, 2012 @ 22:07 EST5EDT
I couldn’t help but wish that the Alzheimer’s patient was played by Charlie Sheen!
*POST AUTHOR*
It took me two days to get this joke, LOL — the wife was played by the same actress who played Rose on 2.5 Men. Funny! :-)
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Finally got around to watching this episode. I think we actually watched Foreman become “Cuddy Dark.” At the end when he told House to go away and House deliberately spilled the pencils on his desk, the look on House’s face was something akin to adoration, it was just so affectionate. His face said, “Yes – you are my new Cuddy.”
I’m not suggesting any romantic undertones; only that Cuddy served as a sort of playmate for House and he genuinely enjoyed the pigtail-pulling aspect of their relationship, and in that moment when he knocked over Foreman’s pencils, House was revealing that he expects to enjoy pulling Foreman’s pigtails now.
*POST AUTHOR*
Wonderful insight! Foreman becoming House’s better half is indeed like Foreman becoming House’s new Cuddy. He’s always played with him, but now it will be different. Great episode!