House is in Love! (Maybe)

House 5.6 - "Joy"

When last we left House, he had just found out Cuddy was approved for adoption. Though these things usually take longer, it's TV, dammit, and we need some emotional payoff!

Cuddy goes to meet the expectant mom, and of everyone and their brother knows the poor girl will wind up in the hospital. (It totally overshadowd a good Patient of the Week segment, which included 13 and Taub buying cocaine, and 13 testing it and knowing the difference between good and bad stuff!)

Back to babies: poor Cuddy was so completely conflicted about what advice to give the mother, when it turns out the baby has undeveloped lungs, but not delivering NOW threatens the mother.

Of course, it doesn't help that House is being even more cruel than normal to her, trashing her ability to not only handle a new kid, but insisting she will give the child up within a week. Even though House was especially vicious (we find out why later), it was funny to see him throw baby-vomit on Cuddy's sweater and break her lamp, all under the pretext of a preview of what life is supposed to be like.

Well, it turns out the mom elects to deliver now (having "sacrificed" so much already), and the baby is going to be okay. But in the total stomach punch, the mom sees Cuddy with the baby (named "Joy,"), and decides she wants to do something right in the world, i.e.--keeping the baby. (I suppose a mother actually wanting to raise her own child might be laudable--though with this drug mama I somehow doubt it--but you'd think she could come to that conclusion BEFORE Cuddy all bonds with the rugrat and stuff.)

The last scene shows a devastated Cuddy at home, shaken beyond all measure in the nursery room she had so joyfully prepared. (Like how I threw in that pun there?) House shows up, trying to cheer Cuddy up by telling her there "other babies in the sea."

When Cuddy claims she's not going through this again, House tells her it's too bad, as she would have made a great mother. This sends Cuddy into a rage, since House spent all his time belittling her when she was getting the baby, only to turn around and say the opposite once she lost the baby.

I love House, but this is a totally fair point. However, we see that his actions were more than just preparing Cuddy. They were more than just adolescent jealousy. They were actual jealousy, as House and Cuddy start kissing! House immediately pulls away, either because he realizes it's wrong to take advantage of Cuddy in her emotionally drained state, or because he feels too vulnerable having bared himself, but the stage is set for next week! (Well, not next week, since we have that stupid election, but you know, in two weeks.)

One other House point: with the bizarre rain delay Monday night, there was some question whether they would finish it Tuesday, which would have meant a delay for House. As House is FOX's highest-rated show, I can't help but think that the FOX execs helped baseball commissioner Bud Selig make his decision. Considering what we got Wednesday Night: fine by me.

The Shield

I don't think I have ever written about The Shield. I watched the first two seasons in America, before I did movie and TV reviews, and then was in Canada for the next few years, where I didn't have access. I got my dad into the show, and we have been trying to catch up ever since. Well, for the first time in almost six years I caught up!

My dad and I watched last week's pivotal episode "Parricide," and then he stayed up late to watch the new episode at 10. I'm going to hold off full thoughts until the show ends in four weeks, but man, are they screaming towards the end. So many shows end with a whimper, but not the most underrated cop show of all time. When it's all said and done, The Shield has to go down as one of the two or three best police shows of all time, but I will wait until then to say more.