The House Car Crash
Although we love condescending, acerbic and self-destructive House, we always felt that at heart, he was a good (if massively dysfunctional) guy. We could not, however, forgive his complete disregard for human life when he rammed his car into Cuddy's house in a jealous pique. What was that? Did we miss the shark that his car jumped over because this over-the-top action certainly felt like a cry for help — and not just from his character.
From http://www.tvguide.com/special/best-of-year-2011/PhotoGallery/Best-Year-Worst-1039971#1039978
Something many people still may not know is that Season 7, Episode #22 "After Hours" was initially supposed to be the season finale. (And what a great finale it would have been at that!) Not sure at what point it happened but Fox told House execs they wanted a 23rd episode, hence "Moving On". I do not know how early or late TPTB knew this but one thing is very clear, there is a disconnect between episodes 22 and 23. For those who have followed the series, you can clearly see and feel it. You know the House character, you know what he's been through in his life, you know how he feels about his Wilson and Cuddy. He'd never do anything to hurt them, not intentionally, unless he was completely out of his mind and not himself. On one hand, I can see House really wanting to try and change again at end of 22 but then he "loses his mind" (so to speak) in 23. It just doesn't make sense. I remember we all thought it was a hallucination as he sat drinking on that beach in Fiji afterwards. It just wasn't believable.
As you know in "After Hours" House performs self-surgery in his bathtub to remove the tumors in his right thigh. At the end of the episode he's in the hospital and Wilson helps him to the bathroom and tells him something's got to change and House replies, "I know". That left us all wondering what was next but it left us with a positive feeling, like House was finally going to reverse the destructive behavior which took place after the gut-wrenching, heartbreaking breakup with Cuddy in "Bombshells". We knew they wouldn't get back together but at least we thought House would be able to start all over again.
I buy that House was so hurt over losing the love of his life, the one woman he trusted more than anyone else, who he had known half his life and who he had counted on not to break his heart. It was especially difficult for him because he thought she was dying, which made his pain that much more difficult to bear when she was in the hospital. It was a given that he would go on a self-destructive binge but it was hard to stomach this one especially with all the ridiculous crap the TPTB threw into the rest of the season. And I can honestly say that nothing in the world prepared me for the finale.
I think what bothered me most was that in the past, House reacted to his hurt and pain by being self-destructive. He'd lash out verbally against people but never physically, not really. This time House takes it out on the two people he cares about most. Yes, it could be believable but also means the character has changed and we've been told from day one he can't change. So this means either we've misjudged Greg House from episode 1 of season 1 or he has changed. Your guess is as good as mine. The way it's being presented to us, the character can only get more miserable and destructive but he can never get better, at least not for long. Nice. Maybe the problem for me is I didn't want to believe it because it changes his character and screws with the dynamic of the show and I just don't like that. Then again, my philosophy has always been "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and "don't mess with a good thing."
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