Last year after “Help Me,” I jumped off the couch and started screaming and running around my house forcing one of my roommates to re-watch the last five minutes with me. The year before that, I sat, glued to the couch, tears running down my cheeks, fully moved by House’s plight and Cameron and Chase’s walk down the aisle. This year, my jaw dropped, my eyes widened and I screamed at my television, “Are you kidding me?” Don’t forget to insert the most convenient expletive.
Finally, the moment I’ve been waiting for since “Bombshells” has arrived. House and Cuddy have a real conversation! And House admitted he was hurt! Gasp! Is this the kind of groundbreaking writing that’s supposed to make me ache for next season? Because I had low expectations for this finale, and most of them were met and exceeded. “Moving On” is just as literal as it sounds. Cuddy’s moving on — right off the show in fact. House is moving on, to Hawaii, and with the Losties apparently. And of course, our Patient of the Week is making choices that will impact the rest of her life as well. Stick a fork in this finale: it was over before it even started. And what’s so incredibly frustrating is that this show is capable of so much more than it’s producing. More on that later. First up, our Patient of the Week.
POTW
Had this week’s patient had less obvious, glaring parallels to House and everyone in his life, maybe I would have had more fun in this episode attempting to read into what she and House were saying. Unfortunately, it was the same argument as always. Clear head and isolation verses love, support and less intelligence. We’ve seen this before in episodes like “Ignorance is Bliss.” I thought that the patient was entertaining and I wish that she was not the last patient of the year, but perhaps someone we could have seen closer to “Bombshells” where this kind of perspective would have had more impact.
Luca, Afsoun’s ex-boyfriend/assistant was the Wilson and Cuddy in this situation. When he said, “I can’t watch you die. Not when you can save yourself,” he was channeling Cuddy and Wilson very clearly. I enjoyed the actress, especially when I keep picturing her on 24 bellowing “Ferouz!” over and over again. But in all seriousness, if it weren’t this late in the game and during the finale, I would have enjoyed her more.
Tiny Taub and his Future Maury Povich Appearance
No one’s going to believe me when I say it, but I had a feeling this might happen. Rachel’s persistent phone calls didn’t feel like just ones pertaining to booty. And might I ask, again, does anyone really care about Taub fathering two children from two baby mamas? Perhaps if the writers attempted to draw deeper parallels between House and Taub, I could see room for analysis, but in all seriousness, why should any average viewer care? And all poor Foreman can do in this episode is say things like, “Oh, boy. Better tell Rachel what’s going on!”
Don’t get me started on how underused his character was this year. Not that he’s my favorite or anything, but still. Additionally, how about throwing in a little romp between Thirteen and Chase? That would have been a fun little shock that could have spiced this finale up! And not only that, it would have made sense given last week’s events! Such is life. I suppose the writers have to have something to look forward to next season considering there is but one female left on the show.
Goodbye, Huddy
Well, the positive thing about this episode is that it made me too angry to get truly depressed about Lisa Edelstein leaving the show. The ending was cringe-worthy. But let’s back track to some rather good Huddy scenes. Finally, after waiting 8 episodes for it, I got what I, and apparently Cuddy, wanted. Cuddy claims that House and her never had a real conversation about the break-up. After attempting to dodge any real emotional conversation, House says what he needs to after shoving Cuddy against a wall: “I feel hurt.”
The moment that passed between them, with a tangled mess of hands, was very emotional and I could feel for both of them. Probably House more at this point since his capabilities for moving on are so stunted. In this episode, their hand-holding was mangled, disjointed. In episodes like “Wilson’s Heart” and “Help Me,” their hands are intertwined, in sync. It’s sad to see how far they’ve been driven apart.
Anyone notice that after any scene with Cuddy, House popped at least two or three vicodin? His mental anguish is pumping through him at all times and for the first time this season, Wilson and Cuddy are both honest with House, letting him know they acknowledge how he feels and they’re worried. Doesn’t appear to do much good by the end. Nice parallel to “Now What?” with Wilson knocking on the door, calling House and telling him he can hear his phone. Wilson’s concern for House hasn’t changed, but what’s going on in House’s apartment certainly has. House has come full circle yet again, needed to press forward and change something so he can move on from his personal pain.
This episode felt similar to the season 5 finale, “Both Sides Now.” We’re given an interesting patient, but we know that this isn’t just your standard episode of House. In both episodes, there are shocking endings. The difference, however, lies in the writing of these endings. While “Both Sides Now” shocked its audience with a delusion of grandeur and House attempting to kick his Vicodin habit with a psychiatric institution, this season ended with House driving through Cuddy’s house (perhaps a self-destructive play on words?) and sipping a drink in some exotic local. We know you’re angry, House. But are you really violent to the point of crazy? And if an umbrella in your drink can cure what ails you, why didn’t we just send you to the Caribbean after the pilot episode?
In all seriousness though, I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what the writers wanted us to deduce in the final scene. Has House really moved on? He’s expressed his anger and he’s chosen a lighter bar instead of the dark, depressing hole Wilson predicted. Well, I’m sorry, but it’s not enough for me. House walking on the beach next to the tide might have looked refreshing, but after the finale, I was the one who needed a drink.
I think the real point of contention between myself and this series that I’ve loved and invested in for years now is how they’ve destroyed the relationship between House and Cuddy. I know I may just appear to be some embittered Huddy fan, but in all seriousness, I never bought the reasoning behind the break-up, and all these great Huddy scenes in the finale are too little, too late. The honesty House and Cuddy are giving each other doesn’t need to exist in so few episodes. Granted, I don’t need an outpouring of emotions weekly, but seriously, the conversations they had should have happened weeks ago!
This season started with such promise. A refreshing new relationship, new challenges, new potentially sexy scenes, and then because this series appears to have such a challenging time facing change, it became the same show it has been in the past. We’ve seen House try and fail rehab, try and fail to fix his leg and try and fail to be honest with himself. I don’t believe that House and Cuddy needed to be broken up as quickly as they were, and to me, that’s where the season lost its steam.
So, in the end, the last Huddy scene we’ll ever see (unless Lisa Edelstein comes on to guest star, please please) is a silent one with a stunned Cuddy looking on as House climbs out of the car he drove into her house. Not thrilled, to say the least. And Cuddy, who last season couldn’t “move on” from House without exploring her love for him, is now ready. Such wasted potential.
How many of you will be “Moving On” from House after this finale? Was I the only one who disliked it with such vigor? Comment below and follow me @TVTherapy and @BuddyTV on Twitter.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
