House: Games
By fred | November 28, 2007
Anyways, when Cuddy asked for two names to be kept, instead of three, I didn’t like it. Because sure, House made sure to fool everyone into thinking that the final decision was to be made today, on that case, and that nothing else mattered. And maybe what took place on this case had a predominant role into the decision making, but everything that happened over the past few weeks was going to play a part as well.
Maybe it will not be said out loud, but it will still play a part in the process. So if last week it seemed like Taub had clearly won his place on the team, things were reset this time and all counters were back to 100, but in the end House wouldn’t base his decision on that simple number. That’s just a game.
So was Taub safe ? No. Of course not. But this week, his chances of leaving were much higher. And quite frankly, I wanted him out - if one more had to go. Because my personal picks were Kutner and Thirteen, so when House - pushed by Foreman - first fired those two, I got pretty shocked, to say the least ! Thank God they reacted the only way that could have them be “unfired”, because I would have been pissed.
No Amber was the one to leave, and it was her denial of failure, her fear of loosing, that eventually lost her. Unlike Thirteen, who nailed perfectly her description of House last week, Amber was way wrong into thinking that, for House, only results count. Again, House doesn’t really care about the results - saving the patient. What he loves is the game, getting there, and what counts for him is to understand, to resolve the mystery. And while she may be a talented doctor she wasn’t House material in the end.
Speaking of Amber & Thirteen, I thought for some (obvious) reason Thirteen was way more active in the whole case, and at some point the tension between the two girls was rising to dangerous levels, even House had to hide behind his white board.
And in the end, despite the strong and tough face she might put on, Amber isn’t the strongest of the two. House “attacked” both of them, although he was way more gentle with Amber, only asking why she wanted to win all the time, why she was afraid of loosing. Her reaction ? She went overly emotional and started to tear up !
On the other hand, House manipulated and went as far as to drug Thirteen, making her think she was dying and that first sings of a decease that would have her to lost control over her body were showing up already. Her reaction ? She got back at him and drugged him as well !
Thirteen is nothing like Cameron, as some might seem to believe. Cameron is attracted to the wounded, she has a crush on House, Thirteen has no attraction for either the wounded in general or House in particular. She’s way stronger than Cameron, she doesn’t fear House, and she doesn’t need him to love, or like her, and she’s not ready to let him influence her and how she should live her life.
So Amber left, and House picked Taub and Kutner. But he only did so because he wanted to get to keep Thirteen as well, and he knew it was the way to get there. And there were signs of this, like when he asked Cuddy and she went with both of them, it was obviously because she thought being House, he would go the other way around and hire the girls. Why else would she recommend Kutner, the very same she tried to have fired last week !
House tried to negotiate with her to get to keep three of them, and realized he could get that with one of his games. And I think the best indications we had that Thirteen wasn’t “really” fired, at least not for very long, was the simple fact that he did call her just that, Thirteen. When it comes down to firing people, House usually goes back to calling people by their name, as it was even highlighted by Amber herself when she was asked to stand up.
And while she may still be a mystery even for us, since Cuddy too called her Thirteen, both her and House do know Thirteen’s real name, obviously. And we even know House actually looked it up, because he had to in order to access her mother’s obituary. So the fact that he did still call her Thirteen at that point was an indication that he knew she wasn’t really going away.
Though why Cuddy didn’t had him to sacrifice one of the men, suggesting Kutner, obviously, is probably only explainable by the fact that this is actually a TV show.
So here we have it, House new team : Taub, Kutner, and Thirteen. And I am pretty happy with it, because my two favorite are in. Now that this plot is over, the rest of the season will have to show how this new team can operate on a daily basis now that the pressure and competition is off, though House could threaten to fire them and start it all over again any time…
I’m really curious to see how they will do that, and keep having Wilson more time and his own subplot, hopefully without changing one thing as how Chase and Cameron are being used. I like them both, but I want to see the new team at work now. Let’s just hope the strike can be over soon enough so that the show doesn’t have to go on hiatus.
