#I could see like wilson and kutner

[mortally-beloved]

one of the most wilson the cure songs

[realbeefman]

i don’t really like omegaverse that much (absolute lie) but i DO think that house md would fuck *that* much harder if it was set in the omegaverse

[bardoftheshire]

Goddamn It, House

James Wilson x Reader (truth serum fic)

Summary; House has had a history of drugging Wilson, but what happens if he drugs both Wilson and Y/n with sodium thiopental? Seems like an amazing plan to him.

Notes; I love these things, but I would be horrified if truth serum was a real thing. (Nvm I looked it up, Sodium Thiopental is the closest thing.)

Warnings; Drugging, drugs, "prescription" drugs, foul language, sexual innuendos, mentions of vomit, House in general, and more drugs..

James Wilson Masterlist

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You did NOT want to go into work today.. you were groggy, dressed half assed, and overall looked like shit.

God, I need coffee or an energy drink..

"L/n! Hey, do you- woah. Are you okay, man?" Kutner asks with genuine concern, despite his use of words.

You look at him with your eyes half lidded, there were most definitely dark circles under your eyes.

"Yup, I'm doing fantastic," You say flatly.

"Okay, man. Do you want a hug, or something?" Kutner offers.

You dismiss him, but thank him for the kind offer, and go up to the meeting room with him alongside you, where Thirteen, Foreman, and Taub had already been in, sitting down and talking amongst eachother.

"Holy shit, L/n. You look like death.." Foreman says, definitely out of his character. You knew how bad it was when he commented like that.

"Thanks," You say sarcastically, throwing in a fake smile as you sit down, placing your head onto the table face down, your arms dangling.

You were about to fall asleep despite only had being in the hospital for at the most 10 minutes.

"Is L/n finally dead?" House says, poking your side with his cane.

You let out a groan, too tired to even react to the poke.

House hums, knocking your head with the end of his cane. "Anyways! What do we have today, Thirteen?"

"Ow! What the hell?"

"A 27 year old man began to get pains in his lower leg. He's perfectly healthy but has an unsteady heartbeat, and has had 3 strokes since he got here," Foreman explained.

"That's interesting, I thought I asked Thirteen, but I guess I must be going insane." House says sarcastically, looking at Foreman.

"It could just be atrial fibrillation. That would explain the irregular heartbeat and strokes," You say.

Thirteen shakes her head, "But what about the random pain in his leg?" she argues.

"And the fact that this man has had a healthy diet and lifestyle his entire life. He wouldn't be getting the strokes if he's had this healthy lifestyle the entire time." Kutner adds on.

You think to yourself. "Are his bones brittle? It could be atherosclerosis,"

"Are you okay, or are you just getting dumber?"

"I'm just tired, House.. And I'm being serious about the atherosclerosis."

"Whatever. Go run a bone biopsy or something," House dismisses. "but you, stay." He says, pointing at you.

You sigh, you just wanted to take a nap at the least. Maybe if you beg him, he'll let you sleep in his office on the floor or something. Or maybe Wilson would let you..

"Coffee run. Want some? It was supposed to be for Wilson but I haven't seen him yet. You can have his,"

"Wow, is this the real Gregory House?" You look at him, nearly falling asleep where you stood.

"No, I'm actually an extraterrestrial robot clone of this "House" character you are talking about."

You laugh and walk with him to his office where two to-go cups of coffee sat on his desk. "I think the one on the right is the black coffee, the other has creamer in it." House says, pointing to the cups with his cane.

You figured it would be best to check. You couldn't do dairy, coffee was already not good for you, dairy added to that would make it so much worse. You open one of the lids and see completely dark brown coffee, so you put the lid back on and take it.

"Thanks, House. I appreciate this very rare and odd gesture." You say, raising your cup.

"No probs bro. Now get out of my office and do something for once."

You roll your eyes and leave his office, spotting Wilson just walking into his own.

"Oh, morning L/n. How are you?" Wilson greeted.

He was always the one that never commented about your appearance like how Foreman and House just did moments ago. It was a kind thing to do, but it was also "dangerous" at times, especially if you had something wrong like messy hair, only half of your makeup done when you were wearing any, undone or messily knotted tie, or a wrinkled shirt.

You still appreciated it, though.

"Morning, Wilson. I'm just a bit tired is all, but other than that I think I'll be fine." You smile.

"Ditto," He laughs.

"I'll see you later though, alright?" He finishes

"See ya, Wilson." You say, with both of you parting your ways.

House walks (barges) into Wilson's office as soon as he saw that you were gone, two coffee cups in hand.

"I got you coffee, just the way you like it. Diabetes added into it and everything." House says.

Wilson sighs, already being used to his antics to the point where he isn't affected by them anymore. "Thanks,"

House hands him the one from his left hand.

Wilson remembered what happened when he took the opposite one last time, so he took the one that House presented to him and took a drink.

It wouldn't have mattered which cup he took, because House drugged both.

Manipulative bitch.

"So, you and L/n?" House asked.

Wilson choked on his coffee at House's random comment. "I'm sorry?"

"You and L/n, I see you two are still friends again, right? Cameron told me that you two got into a big argument and had a falling out,"

"That is not in the least bit true but the fact that me and L/n are friends. When did Cameron tell you this?" Wilson asks, clearly baffled that Cameron would say something like that.

"Tuesday. I asked why you two were avoiding each other the whole day, she said you two stopped being friends the day before because of an argument," House replies. Or, more so, lies.

"The both of us were busy that day? She didn't even have time to eat lunch with us, House."

"Oh, well that makes a little more sense," House acted clueless, something he tended to do often.

He knew something that Wilson didn't. He overheard you talking to Thirteen one day, asking her for advice on "how to stop loving someone," or something like that. Stupid, right?

Wilson wasn't too hard to figure out. House could practically read his mind at this point after knowing him for as long as he did.

So, House being House, he decided to come up with a solution, or more so a plan. A opioid cocktail if you will. It's surprising that this didn't kill the two..

House's pager beeps, indicating that the team had either something, or something going on.

"Gotta go! The children need tending to,"

"House-" Wilson starts, but is cut off with House walking away.

--------------------------------------

You enter the room where the patient and team were in. The man was laying down, his bed messy and a tired and dazed look on his face, most likely from another stroke.

"Another stroke, I assume?" You sigh, drinking more of your coffee, which was now already mostly finished.

"We came in and he was already having one, but apparently more aggressive than the last ones according to the nurse, and his leg pain is only getting worse," Thirteen responds.

Then it's atrial fibrillation. You decide before yawning.

"Do you need an energy drink or something? I've got one in my locker," Kutner offers.

"Kutner, she already has coffee. Don't you think that'll give her a heart attack or something," Taub whispers.

Kutner shrugs, "She's in a hospital if worst comes to worst at least," He whispers back.

"Oh my goodness, if you could do that, it would totally be awesome," you praise.

You knew that so much caffeine wouldn't do too well for you, but this is definitely not the most you'd have.

Kutner leaves the room, and you stand with the others.

"It has to be atrial fibrillation, no doubt about it. I mean, that would explain the strokes and off rhythmic beating of his heart," you explain.

"No, he hasn't had a heart attack and said he hasn't had a history of them, ever." Thirteen argues.

Suddenly the vital machine starts quickly beeping, indicating that something was wrong.

The patient starts groaning as he clutches the left side of his chest.

He was having a heart attack.

You were right.

"Stabalize him, he's clotting up, get me some heparin quickly!" You shout anxiously, yet full of excitement that you were right.

Holy shit you're turning into House..

"We don't have any! He didn't clot before so we only have anything to stop the clotting," Foreman says.

The nurse that was in the room with you as this happened suddenly came back with a syringe of heparin, "It's all we had," She says. The syringe wasn't ideal with patients. It's usually preferred through the IV, but it'll work nonetheless.

The patient calms down and pants, "He's stabilized,"

"And I was right." You finish.

"We don't know that yet." Foreman scoffs.

"Yes I do you fuckin' idiot," You roll your eyes.

"What?"

"I called you a fuckin' idiot. Look at the state of this sad sop, why keep him miserable and in pain? He needs the proper medication, and he would have that if you would just fucking listen to me, you idiots, *hic!*" You shout.

You now suddenly realize what you had just said, this was unlike you. "I- oh my gosh I'm so sorry, I- I didn't mean that I promise. I don't know what came over me, just *hic!*, keep doing what you guys are doing right now, youre doing incredible, I'm so sorry," word vomit is what you would explain it to be.

You back out of the door, covering your mouth as to not say anything else stupid.

You bump into someone behind you and turn around to see Kutner standing in front of you with a Nos energy drink in his left hand. "L/n I had- " Kutner tries to say as he hands you the can.

"Thank you so much, I appreciate it tons, I've really got to go, thank you!" You say quickly before rushing off to an unoccupied room and close the door and curtains.

"What the fuck, what the hell just happened why did I say that? Oh my gosh I'm going insane I'm going fucking insane," You pace around the room and take fists of hair in your hands.

You crack open the energy drink and take a big gulp of it, "I'm just tired, I'm just tired is all. *hic!* How am I going to tend to my patients all day? I'm going to say something stupid again, why did I say that?"

Wilson wasn't doing any better. He was going along with his regular tasks as usual, when he realized that as the minutes, minutes, started to go by, he was starting to get more and more.. how should you say, iffy, with certain patients.

Saying things he should never say in his professional place of work, things he would only ever say to certain people, such as House with the "sassy" remarks he's been making.

"Jeez, what's up with you? Telling the patients that you-"

"Shut up, House.." Wilson grumbles before sneezing.

"Okay, whatever. Since when did you have the attitude and temper of a teenage girl?" House teases.

"House, please just- leave me alone," Wilson pauses for a brief moment. This was exactly like the last time not too long ago when he drugged him with that coffee.

"Did you drug me? Again?" Wilson scoffs.

"Probably," House shrugs, picking up a file off of Wilson's desk and examining it. "27 year old female with possible breast cancer. Wow, wonder what you said to her,"

"I- I didn't say anything I haven't gone to this one yet.." Wilson knew that if he went to certain ones, he would definitely get in trouble for them, so he put the ones he knew would cause trouble aside. Aka; the smart thing to do.

"Dr. L/n? You're asked for in Dr. House's office," One of the nurses calls, interrupting your mental breakdown.

You cover your mouth with one hand and give him a thumbs up before he leaves.

You could close the curtains for the main glass window, but you couldn't with the glass door, unfortunately.

The nurse nods and leaves, closing the door on his way out.

You sigh and grab the can Kutner gave you, well, more so that you took from him.

You bit your tounge on the way there and responded only when needed to in nods and shakes of the head. There were some doctors and nurses you pretended to like, just to avoid any conflict and drama, that's what horrified you the most. If you said anything to them, it was over. You're not even sure if Foreman was going to talk to you again.

"What the hell do you want," You sigh, placing the energy drink down on a desk as you enter House's office to see him shaking his magic 8 ball before looking up at you.

"What's got you so snappy today? You're starting to act like Wilson right now,"

"*hic!* What?" You question, your brows furrowed.

"I mean, have you talked to Wilson yet? Because man is he hor-" House begins before being immediately cut off.

"House!"

House looks up and you turn around to see Wilson standing at the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry did you finish verbally harassing those other patients?"

You look back at House with a questioning look, "He's finally the one harassing them now and not you?"

"Did he- did he drug you too?"

"Did he WHAT?" You snap your head back to Wilson.

This back and forth was going to give you whiplash.

"He drugged me with sodium thiopental this morning in my coffee. Along with other opioids I don't even want to know,"

"Goddamn it House! Are you kidding me? Do you know what I just said to Foreman's dumbass?? I can't fucking believe you, how old are you?!" You yell.

That explained it.

"I don't care. Hey, how about we spice this up a little, get some drama?" House says, placing his 8 ball down and getting up from his chair.

You sigh and laugh, "I can't believe you right now! You did this just to stir some drama?"

"Yes and no. Hey, L/n, who were you talking about when you were talking to Thirteen asking about 'how to stop loving someone'? I'm just curious, love the workplace drama if you didn't know," House asks you, getting in your face.

What.

"I-" You quickly place your hand over your mouth.

Wilson.

How did House know? Did Thirteen tell him?

"Who told you that? Was it Thirteen? You *hic!* shouldn't know about that," You blurt.

"Oh just happened to be passing by, but not in time to know who you were talking about. I just want to know, you know?" House shrugged.

"It was-" You slap your hand over your mouth again, this time biting your tounge as well.

"Come on, spit it out already,"

"Wait, what's going on?" Wilson asks.

You shake your head and leave his office with your hand still over your mouth, rushing to another empty room.

"What the hell!" You scream, getting the attention from other doctors on the other side of the glass. Totally not soundproof.

You grab your pager and click on Thirteen's contact, putting a message to quickly come to the room you're in.

"*hic!* This can not be happening right now," You muttered to yourself.

You told Thirteen everything. You knew or at least felt that if you told anyone else what you tell her, they'd blabber it to someone else right away. Just like you were doing against your own will.

The urgency wasn't incredibly needed, but that didn't mean that you weren't anxiously waiting, as each second felt like 5 minutes and your nails were now dug into the skin of your arm.

You paced around before finally settling on just sitting down at the edge of the bed.

"L/n? Are you doing okay? You went a little crazy earlier. I think you hurt Foreman's feelings," Thirteen says with a smile.

You look up and quickly walk up to her, "Oh my gosh, Thirteen, thank god you're here,"

"Are you okay?"

"Uh, well, House is kind of a jackass and laced my coffee with sodium thiopental and god knows what else this morning so now I've just been telling everyone I come across what I think without thinking, so I've just been without a filter since I drank that coffee. I've spent most of my time hiding in rooms until it maybe wears off," You rambled, unable to stop everything that was coming out of your mouth all at once. "He also drugged Wilson." You added

"Wait what?"

"House drugged me and now I won't shut up!" You shout.

Thirteen furrows her eyebrows and crosses her arms, "So he basically gave you a 'truth serum'."

"Yes? Is that what you'd call that? *hic!*"

"And House did this just to be a jackass?" Thirteen questioned. She knew that was most likely the answer.

"*hic!* Probably! I mean, the guy is miserable so he makes others even more miserable for his own entertainment so, *hic!* yeah!" You raised your hands up in the air and shrugged.

The thing about House, was that he never did something for no reason. Everything was always for a reason, like the last time he drugged Wilson...

Wilson.

"You said he drugged Wilson too, right?" Thirteen questioned, knowing exactly where this was going.

You nodded quickly.

Thirteen smiles and walks out of the room.

'What the fuck was that?'

You were going to to crazy! Why did she just leave? Is she coming back?

Then you suddenly realized just what House was planning, and what Thirteen knew would happen.

"*hic!* Oh my god.."

--------------------------------------

Your pager beeps coming from Kutner, if you could guess, it was most likely due to the patient, something that should've been much more important.

"Shit.." You look at it and bite your tounge as to not say what you were thinking out loud about patient's, nurses, doctors, etc. on your way to where the patient's room was.

Only to find that he wasn't there with the rest of the team.

"Where the hell is Kutner? He paged me for no goddamn reason or what?" You shout, clearly frustrated.

"He went to the break room," Cameron responds, focused on putting a new bag of saline.

"*hic!*"

"Goddamn it. I hate this fucking job sometimes," You groan and leave the room without saying anything else, not even bothering to bite your tounge around them as you've already said your worst.

You mumble all sorts of profanities and insults to the people you saw around you as you made your way down into the break room where stood House, and Wilson.

"What is this, some interrogation? Haven't you already had your daily dose of your dumb shit for the day or *hic!* are you going to overdose on that shit, too?"

"Oh, no I'm addicted to it. Maybe more than the Vicodin, though it might come close," House says carelessly.

You ball your fists up, nails digging into your skin.

"I'm going to kill your crippled ass," You say, gritting your teeth.

"That's cool, but first, tell me how you feel about good ol' Wilson here," House says with a coy smile on his face.

"Wait what do you mean?" Wilson asked cluelessly.

"Shut the hell up, what the hell did you give us House!"

"Hard question, next one please,"

You groan and go to the nearest wall to lean against it. Whatever he gave you was DEFINITELY not helping you.

You actually felt sick. You were so tired too, because the coffee that was supposed to be helping you, did the opposite.

"*hic!* god fucking damn it why can't this shit stop!?" You were getting sick and tired of the hiccups, it's all that's been happening to you the whole time you've been here.

"Achoo!"

And apparently Wilson's had been sneezing. Gross..

You slide down the wall and curl up once you meet the carpeted floor.

"House, I need to know, was this really nessasary for you to do.. both me *hic!* and Wilson have jobs here and I can't hide in a room all day.." You ask, rubbing your temples.

"Yes. Yes it was." House gets up and towers over you, "Have fun!"

Unfortunately, the door locked from the outside. The one House now just locked judging by the click you heard after he left.

You run to the door and attempt to turn the door handle, but to no avail, it didn't open. Meaning, you were now stuck in a room with Wilson, and only Wilson.

You take a deep breath in and out, "I'm keeping my mouth shut, don't take it personally.." backing away from the door, you take a seat on the floor next to the foosball table.

Wilson shoots you a thumbs up.

Minutes pass, then an hour, and more minutes. You hadn't even tried to busy yourself, you just sat in the same spot the whole time.

The lock clicks open and your head shoots up along with Wilson. The both of you rush to the door in hopes someone would let you out.

Only for it to be House.

"Have either of you still not said anything?" House scoffs.

You make a zip movement over your mouth, indicating you hadn't, and wouldn't say anything.

He turns to Wilson, giving him the same look and getting a shake of the head from him.

"Fine then. If you won't say it, I will. Alright, how should I go on about this? Wilson?" House hobbles over and taps Wilson with his cane.

Wilson shakes his head once more, though quicker.

"What about you, Dr. L/n? What do you have to say?" House whips his head around.

You slap your hand over your mouth and pinch yourself to stop from saying a single word.

"Okay, if you want it that way. Wilson, L/n, or should I say Y/n, has a total-"

You quickly cut off House, tackling him to the floor with your hand over his mouth. "Shut the hell up, House! I'll murder you I swear!"

"Do it then, coward." House challenged you.

You pause, suddenly unable to form a coherent sentence, let alone a single word.

"L/n totally has the hots for you, Wilson." House says, pushing you off of him with a big grin on his face.

Your jaw practically fell directly onto the floor, a million thoughts going through your mind yet despite the drug cocktail, you still stayed quiet.

The three of you stayed silent. Not one of you making a peep for what felt like hours. You felt like crying, throwing up maybe?

"Well! Have fun with this. I'm going to go bother Foreman." House dismisses himself and leaves, locking the door as you could hear from the other side.

"I- I'm so sorry, Wilson." You apologize, shutting your eyes tightly closed.

"Do you..?" Wilson asks after a couple seconds.

You open your eyes and look up to see Wilson giving you a look of sympathy and confusion.

Giving him a look of confusion yourself, you question, "what?"

"God, this feels like middle school," Wilson lets out a chuckle before continuing, "do you like like me?" He raises an eyebrow.

Furrowing your brows, you respond, "What do you think, James?"

He smiles sheepishly, now suddenly shy. "I wish I would've known sooner."

Wilson was typically a quiet man, kept to himself and usually stuck with House, so seeing him like this wasn't surprising, though that didn't mean you didn't find it a little silly.

A guy with a title such as his? Shy? No way.

"Do you?" You asked the same question, causing him to rub the back of his neck and mumble with a nod.

You smile. Maybe House being a dickhead wasn't too bad of a thing sometimes. Sometimes..

--------------------------------------

Has no clue how to end this. *But* finished it nonetheless!

[ariemfox]

hc that chase had a self-destructive spiral post-s8. inspired by this foreman quote:

i'm talking sex as self-harm. over-indulging in alcohol. more medical malpractice & impulsive decisions than usual. disobeying foreman.

his wake-up call would either be crashing his car whilst drunk-driving & getting injured, or exacerbating his old injury from the stabbing through his reckless behaviour & causing permanent damage. or both.

since we never got to see him really, honestly confronting his trauma from the stabbing; is in complete denial about his issues about it throughout the episode of 'chase'... well.

the thing is, the narrative forced him into inheriting house's position as head of the diagnostics department. bro got dommed by the narrative.

like cameron, whilst he's on paper got a good thing going for him post-s8... chase is alone in that final shot. he's got a good job, his own team - but is he really, truly, honestly happy? he never really got what he wanted - a life with cameron, a found family. plus he's not really the type to enjoy ordering people about as a boss - that's more foreman's role.

which is why i don't think only work + sex + physio will solve all his issues. they're just superficial treatments in comparison to what he needs - people who he lets care about him. like foreman says here, work will provide him with just enough interest to keep him surviving - from going batshit insane - but he'll never be truly living. one bad event could throw him under the bus.

speaking of buses, i also like this hc for the parallels to house's mental breakdown arc in s5 too:

house's began narratively with amber's unexpected death from an accidental bus crash but was triggered by kutner's suicide 6 months later (with depression as his illness). & chase's would begin narratively with house's unexpected 'death' from a fire explosion, but be triggered around 5 months later by wilson's death from cancer (also an illness).

the mental breakdowns would both be initiated by substances - house with taking too much vicodin, chase with too much alcohol.

both have their medical decisions impacted, become impulsive/take risky decisions & eventually stop trusting their gut instinct.

both rely on another doctor to check whether their decisions are medically sound - wilson for house, maybe taub for chase.

both involve an event with alcohol + a car/bus crash.

but... i think the difference with chase is that the drunken car crash would be a turning point. he'd be like, 'shit. i'm worse than house' because he not only chose to drive whilst drunk, making reckless decisions, but he could also see that he was going down the same path as house with his self-destructive tendencies.

so he's kick-started into working on himself. he breezes through physio, takes up jogging as a hobby, goes to the gym.

he starts opening up to people: having bi-weekly game nights & church on sunday with popo, movie nights with park, watching football with taub & the taubettes/sophias, drinks with thirteen & amy every friday whenever she's back at princeton plainsboro in her travel breaks...

(which park sometimes tags along to. bc i'm self-indulgent they also sometimes go to lesbian bars & this encourages park's very slow gay awakening. park & thirteen drunk together are also absolute riots. especially on drag night <3).

chase starts actually trying to maintain his relationship with his sister.

and his life isn't everything it could've been pre-shooting, pre-dibala - he'll probably always stay a bachelor & i feel like cameron was his one & only love, he may not be happy & wholly content - but at least he has his purpose, his people & isn't just drifting.

[oriley42]

Serious question but no need to answer if you don’t want to

I see a lot of talk about Amber’s portrayal being sexist in the show, but I’m not quite sure why? To me her motives always seemed really well-defined (high pressure = “I’m only worthy when I’m successful”) so she puts on this sharky mask with a feminine facade so she is feminine enough to get a certain amount of approval but never shows how much she cares (which could be used against her but also could be used to undermine her “oh you’re too soft”). I thought the show did an excellent job of showing a mask for her

But a lot of people talk about 00s sexism and how it impacts her characterization. The sexism… Is it that she gets called a cutthroat bitch? Or how her story revolves around a man after she leaves House’s team? Is it the fridging?

Any of those could be it I guess but it just sounds like you and others are talking about something a little more fundamental to her personhood so I thought I’d ask if I’m missing anything.

Very interesting question! I think you're getting at exactly the trickiness of the issue, which is that sexism always operates systemically. It's not that any key aspect of Amber's character "is" misogynist, it's that every aspect of her character is automatically filtered through a lens of sexism.

In today's world where "bitch" has been very de-clawed, turned into a more casual and way less gendered insult that's used without cruel intention in queer slang, I think it's hard to understand just how violent the term was--and was meant to be--in the aughts. House in canon is not calling Amber a bitch in a cute, almost self-deprecating, friendly way (though I think it's valid to re-write it that way in fic to defuse the term!). He is calling her a bitch to contain and belittle and dehumanize her. We see the term mobilized this way against Cuddy in 5 to 9 as well: calling a woman a bitch was an extremely powerful rhetorical tool to turn any dangerously competent, brilliant, threateningly accomplished woman back into a harmless, debased, controllable object. So, "CB" reflects how easily the fact that Amber is the "female House" gets turned against her--it doesn't mean she's an eccentric genius like him, it means she's an evil copycat who needs to be put down. And this kind of structural logic applies to her whole characterization--it doesn't matter that House does it all more frequently and worse, if she does it, it's unacceptable because she's a woman. (There are parallels here with how racism means that when Foreman acts like House, he also gets the axe instead of the narrative bending over backwards to make what he did alright.) That's why she was fired, after all!

And her death. Woof. Classic case of killing a woman for man-pain. Everything supposedly about her death is actually about how her violent destruction can be used to fuel Wilson and House's character arcs. The narrative is occasionally conscious of this, for example, Wilson saying "none of you even liked Amber" is an almost metatextual reminder of how cruelly she was disenfranchised in every way (including the sexism of her trying to "defect" to the men's team early on, having no female friends, because unlike House who has so many people orbiting him, she is truly alone). Comparing her death to Kutner's is instructive: Kutner gets a whole episode that's about characters desperately trying to know him better. They trace their relationships towards him. Amber, on the other hand, is nearly absent from her own death. The characters trace away from her and towards the way male characters feel (Wilson's loss, House's guilt). Amber becomes just an imagined figure of House's guilt. Even her ghost is not her own. (Though I think many fans do a more feminist read and reclaim the way she haunts the narrative--but imho that would be a negotiated if not fully oppositional reading, to use Stuart Hall's decoding/encoding terms.)

One easy way to see that gendered difference is in how the show refers to these characters after death. Kutner is always "Kutner," never just "House's dead fellow" or rarely "our dead colleague." Amber is often referred to as "Wilson's dead girlfriend." Kutner is his own person, Amber rhetorically gets reduced to an object belonging to a man.

In conclusion: sexism operates structurally, which can make it hard to identify! And one of the funny effects of contemporary fandom doing so much good work to un-fridge women and give marginalized female characters richer personalities and more chances to grow is that canon's intended message of sexism gets obscured. Which, is awesome? Keep up the good work! Let's make misogyny unintelligible 🎉

[knife-em0ji]

The really unfortunate thing about House, MD is that even with how fucking unhinged it is it's genuinely a very good show. Sometimes the writing is dated, but it's dated in a way that holds up. The amount of malpractice and crimes and HIPAA violations that go on pretty much continuously is laughable, but in a way it's also believable that the hospital never gets sued because House successfully diagnoses and treats conditions that would have otherwise caused his patients to die if they had been at any other hospital, since, in my experience, very few other doctors do B&Es as a regular part of their practice. House never gets fired because he has tenure and also he seems to be his boss's only friend other than Wilson. (Because as much as people say Wilson is House's best and only friend. We never see Cuddy have any other people in her personal life either.) .

Characters are rife with various -isms and casually participate in -phobias that seem natural and true to the time period and the type of person they are. But also they explicitly say the word bisexual in like every episode Thirteen is in. That would be considered a coup today. There are multiple main characters who are explicitly Jewish and all have different relationships with Judaism. The sense of place in that this hospital couldn't exist anywhere than Central Jersey (which yes, does exist) is incredible.

It's often stupid in a very fun and engaging way, and better yet, they're willing to break form to achieve maximum impact. The two episodes that end with Amber's death were actually phenomenal episodes of television. The reasons behind Kutner's death/suicide remaining unresolved felt poignant instead of lazy, especially since this is a show primarily about getting answers (also lol the meta reason for Kal Penn leaving because he was suddenly summoned to work in Obama's White House is hilarious, and I think they truly did the best they could with writing him off all of a sudden, and I'm not even mad with his permadeath since it would have been ~4 years until Penn could have returned, and by that time the show was done). The two episodes with him landing in a psych ward that have NO medical mysteries and end with him actually seeming to resolve to get better were genuinely uplifting.

Just! Hm! Much to think about. No wonder this show was so fucking popular, and no wonder that it's had such a resurgence the moment it landed on Netflix. Also I know they're hell to shoot but bring back the 22 45-minute episode TV season. I'm begging.

[globmacerton]

House MD hot takes

-Transmasc Chase > Transfemme Chase. Obviously everybody's headcanons are VALID AF but I feel like the only reasons people give is that "he likes to be pretty" when trans dudes can be pretty too :(. I can see both sides but transmasc chase just makes a lot more sense to me. I could write an essay.

-Wilson isn't autistic. He didn't "match House's autism UwU". Don't get me wrong there's definitely something going on up in that man's brain, but I'm thinking more on the mental health condition/personality disorder range than autism/adhd/etc.

-Foreman is sort of the least compelling member of the original team? I'm almost to the Taub/Thirteen/Kutner arc and so far I just haven't seem that much from him? I think House only hired him out of genuine respect as a doctor, which great obviously but not as interesting. He remains the same stoic, respectable doctor the whole time which is fine but not as interesting to watch as Cameron and Chase, with their "moral compass so strong it explodes" and "opportunistic traumatized yes man attitude" respectively. He's great as a guy, but just okay as a character. tbh I think the Euphoria episodes were made for the sole purpose of adding interest to the character.

-House was probably exactly the same before his injury, just not high all the time. I feel like that actually been emphasized in the show, but I always hear people talking about how he was probably much sweeter and a more lighthearted asshole beforehand and I think he just wasn't? People are allowed to have congenital jerkassery. I think he would still be a jerk even if he had a perfectly normal childhood.

-In a similar manner, I don't think House is as manipulative and cunning as people who view him as an edgy sigma tumblr sexyman like to think. I mean, obviously he is, but I think some of the stuff he says isn't with manipulative intent. I think he just genuinely lacks a social filter. He isn't Light Yagami for gods sakes.

-I doubt House and Wilson have ever fucked. SORRY. I'm a huge Hilson shipper but I just don't think it happened. pre series ending (yes I do know how it ends), even when they were living together, there was more important things for both of them, both in and out of their relationship. Also, at this point I'm guessing they both considered themselves heterosexual. It could have happened after the series ended I suppose because at that point I'm pretty sure they realized they were in love with each other, but Wilson was probably too busy dying of cancer.

-Start with Chase, end with Chase. I don't think Chase was very religious after he left the Catholic church. I mean he still sees himself that way which is valid and on the wiki and stuff, but I think most of his actions that point to that, like delivering last rites to a dead baby, are a byproduct of trauma if anything (trust me because religious trauma)

[marc--chilton]

house md/saw crossover where lawrence transfers to ppth and adam comes with, on-record as an orderly but really it's just that he and lawrence aren't doing so hot if they're separated for too long quite yet.

wilson and lawrence become easy work friends, obviously, and lawrence appreciates how easily wilson accommodates him without being pitying about it (adjusting his stride when they walk, tentatively asking about his foot not for the gory details of his trap but out of medical curiosity; aspects he's clearly picked up via being friends with house)

adam, naturally, turns out well-liked by a Lot of people bc like.... it's adam. he'll chat up patients, nurses, doctors..... if he can remember sometimes he'll take the time to sit with some patients who don't get many visitors because he's all too familiar with the feeling himself of being hospitalized and left to heal alone in a sterile room since no family nor friends found him worth seeing. he learns about house through befriending ducklings (kutner and thirteen are his pals for sure; kutner asks to see his photography, totally unfazed when adam jokes that his most recent stuff is stalker shots, and adam likes to flirt mostly unseriously at thirteen both as a compliment to her and so he can get a listen on her insane dry wit) (actually adam/thirteen would go crazy. there could be a whole subplot where ppl find out they hooked up but they're both super chill about it bc they were never aiming for being a Thing, they just wanted to check out sex with each other. and it was fine so it's not even a deal to either of them, let alone a big deal)

he's not happy to admit it but adam is a little terrified of house. just a bit. just based off the things he's heard from literally All Over the hospital. so when house corners him and demands to know what he's heard (he's annoyed bc adam can be slippery when he wants to be and house wanted to try to needle out jigsaw info on him; house is almost positive he could catch jigsaw before the cops could) adam is quick on the draw. "that you're funny as hell, scary as shit, and way smarter than me. hey, while you're staring me down like this, you wanna use your x-ray vision and see if i still have bullet fragments in my arm? i've been starting to think they missed some back at angel of mercy"

after that house seems to?? approve of him?? he's funny, he's got snark, he's got problems..... he ticks all the boxes for someone house would find himself befriending. adam is wary on returning the sentiment, too suspicious from all the conniving things he's been told house has done in the past, but he does take house up on the offer of destressing in his office if lawrence is busy/he's afraid of annoying him (recurring fear particularly at work) so. yea

[iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife]

About to go on a random tangent but i feel like the s5 house finale with houses very real, very serious mental breakdown really changes the way foreman sees him....when john house died foreman took houses disinterest 100% at face value,even went to chase and cameron to complain about how disconnected from humanity house is. Chase was the one who had to tell him that House is probably a mess under all the fake bravado and foreman didn't seem to believe him.

When house first starts losing it fr, (s5 ep23) he locks himself in his apartment for an unspecified number of days. Cuddy sends foreman to find him. House opens the door looking haunted and disheveled, he tells foreman that he is taking a day off, that he can't come to work. Foreman dismisses all of it, he tells him to sober up, to send the hookers home and come to work or cuddy will fire him. When does house not look haunted and disheveled? He is house. He can't be any worse off than usual. Foreman doesnt take him seriously.

House goes to work and foreman is the first one to get suspicious of his behaviour. He can tell that something is Seriously wrong this time. He pries the same way house would have because why wouldn't he? Noone in this office can let anything go. A lot of things happen.

House drops out of a case. Wilson says he is unavailable, full stop, no negotiations. And after the aftermath of it all, when house goes to Mayfield the team must have heard at one point or another about what happened. The details of what was going on. Did foreman connect the dots? The red bloody dots that connect Ambers accident, Kutner's suicide, John House's death to houses deteriorating mental state? House told Wilson that he was seeing Amber. He told cuddy that he hadn't slept through the night since Kutner shot himself in the temple with his own gun. Did foreman go looking for answers? Did they tell him more than they should have? Did he realise that the reason why his boss was looking haunted that morning he ambushed him in his apartment was because he was literally seeing ghosts?

And then of course s6 starts and foremans attitude towards house hasnt really shifted...they spend most of the season "fighting" for dominance over the diagnostics department. But then the s6 finale (help me) happens and house is clearly affected by the death of the woman whose leg he amputated under the rubble. Foreman attempts to comfort him. He doesn't dismiss everything as just house being house. He can tell that this could be it, this could very easily be the night house relapses. He tells him that he shouldn't be alone right now. House ignores him and leaves. First episode of s7, foreman is asking after house. The rest of the team dismisses his worries and he replies with a simple "you didn't see him yesterday".

In s8 when wilson is revealed to be dying foreman again attempts to stand by house. House accuses him of trying to take Wilsons place after he dies. "Dont worry about me, im probably not gonna fall apart." I just can't imagine a foreman from seasons 1-5 understanding house in such a way or making an effort to comfort him. I really feel like Mayfield was a pivotal point in their bizarre employee/boss- boss/employ-friends-antagonists-i don't want to turn into you relationship.

[smaeemo]

Season 5 of House was a genuine fever dream.

So just fyi I watched all of season 5 in one day and I am still not totally sure if I have processed even half of it, but like lets get into it.

So SPOILERS in the next part, so QUICK scroll away!

So, ok.

We start out the season strong after learning that Amber died while picking up House from drinking, and because of that, Wilson leaves and tells House that he thinks "They were never really friends,"

House is already going down a dark path of guilt ever since Amber died and has since been drowning in it. But, because this was "technically not his fault" he continues to tell himself such.

Now I don't remember if it was this season or last season when foreteen becomes a thing, but like yeah.

Taub has that whole thing prior to Kutner about how suicide is selfish and terrible and he reveals that he did in fact attempt suicide in med school.

We see that Kutner starts to decline nearing the end, now yes I understand that Kutner was technically written off because Kal Penn was offered a job in the Whitehouse (thanks obama), but lets analyze this as a whole. Kutner, being one of the prime characters that everyone compares to House. One of the characters that is supposed to have an element that most anyone can relate to, a character with a tragic backstory and a reason for how he acts. Another character that acts like House but for different reasons. Kutner at his core, is an enigma that I suppose we as watchers were supposed to unfurl as the show went on. However, we all know that his time was cut short. And I think that in itself this was an accurate representation of what suicide can look like. As someone who has been suicidal and attempted before, what I can say is that most of the time for me, it was on impulse it was at a random time because something set me off. And for Kutner I think it was honestly the fact that he was constantly compared to House (alongside many other things). Imagine that you were an adopted brown person into a white family after watching your bio parents be brutally murdered. You spend your life with an already complex understanding (or lack thereof) of your identity and personality as a whole. We see that Kutner has always had trouble with that (the bullying as an example) and how he is very frequently connecting with patients who he believed were in similar situations that he had been in. Like many kids who had to grow up too fast, Kutner now in his late 20s is just now discovering this ideation of what it means to be a child/have free will. And with this, we see this personality that comes of it, and his lack of understanding of what that looks like. We see him finally taking accountability of his bullying after years (which could also be interpreted as making ammends) and how when the patient tells him he is really not a "people person,"

Kutner's identity his whole life has been practically decided for him, whether it be being adopted into a white family, growing up too fast, being a bully, not being a "people person," or the most prevalent in the show being like House. While House's character and personality is a complex one and romantized one at most, he is a genuinely miserable person who has the goal of making everyone around him miserable as well (whether that be subconsciously or not) House is one of the most complicated and complex people I have ever seen. He is portrayed by himself mostly as someone who is only there to solve puzzles, an apathetic "monster," someone with no morals, etc. And we as viewers are constantly reminded of this in many ways, such as his treatment of patients, Cuddy, Wilson, etc. but we also get to see his more soft and human side. Which the team very rarely sees, given that he hides that from his employees and is also their authority. If anything, constantly being compared to House was something that one could only assume would start to chip away at you especially if there was truth in it. Take foreman for an example, he tried so hard not to be like house, not to be what he feared most, and that was losing his morals, aka becoming what he perceives as house. Then take Kutner, Kutner his entire life has been put into boxes never truly getting a chance to properly form his own identity, and that eventually builds and builds. And I think that from his last case, or something along the lines of it, he discovered that he was too much like house, or that his attempts that finding his own identity were futile. Kutner has a deep rooted unsolved trauma that effected him in his everyday life no matter what he did. And in spite of that and because of it, he acted the way he did, for better or for worse. And all in all, they had to kill of Kutner not only because Kal Penn's job, but also because they could start to humanize and change House's destructive path or at least divert it a little bit.

Kutner and Amber died for House's character development, which is why when House starts to go down an even deeper and darker spiral of guilt after Kutner dies the episodes start getting even more House-centric. This season we saw more human sides of house than we have ever seen before, and we also see what that does to him. Whether that be the methadone arc, or the flagrant disregard for his life, and of course the hallucinations. Kutner's death effected House in such a deep way that he started taking so much valium that along side his sleep deprivation caused his guilt to surface from repression and give him actual hallucinations. Amber being the one he had repressed for too long, Amber being the dominoe that started this whole clusterfuck.

Then of course we have the nightmare (hallucination) that was the last 2 episodes of the season, wherein the lipstick and Cuddy were both being used as metaphors for his own dependency and addiction. Along with the case that argues his "split brain" one side, the creative side making the hallucination telling him that be should become clean and sober and using Cuddy as an example for that. But then the otherside taking cuddy and her lipstick and using it as a metaphor for his obsession. In this season we see House's everything decline as his world falls apart, Cuddy, Wilson, his team, his dad, everything and then we finally see him snap.

House going to rehab what arguably the overarching point of this season, the point being that they slowly send him down a descending path, and then when he gets to the final step he does something, the one thing he can do, which is admit himself to rehab and admit he has an issue. Amber, Wilson, his dad, Kutner, Cuddy, and the hallucination was a wake up call for him and even he knew that early on, hence the one meeting with his psychiatrist. Even then, he knew he needed help. And his breaking point, was seeing Kutner and realizing all of his growth, his whole perception of his "life story" and character development was fake was his last straw.

House finally broke, and that was this season's point. House's pain and guilt finally winning him over, and eventually breaking him.

[maudlin-scribbler]

amber/kutner headcanons

because i have been thinking about them. A Lot

kutner fell first. he likes amber, he knows he likes her, but he wasn't sure about acting on it. in canon he does shoot his shot off-screen tho (but she's with wilson so what can ya do?). how they get together depends on my mood and the AU lol

i imagine he could ask her out. amber kindly tells him no, but keeps Thinking about it. Thinking about Him.

in an AU where they're both on House's team, he's good at ignoring his feelings and letting them fade into the background until they're just noise.

tbh a lot of my headcanons fall into some vague AU where she's also on the team.

Anyway

Amber fell Harder. boy oh boy. She did kind of like their little rivalry during the games, thinks he's kind of an idiot and impulsive but also kind of endearing (that's where it starts). One day however she wakes up and finds that she kind of likes him and does Not know how to deal with it.

part of their flirting is arguing during differentials and trying to prove eachoter wrong. they probably also make so many bets.

amber makes kutner promise that he'll be a bit less impulsive (like maybe try not to electrocute himself again) for her sanity

he's also really...sweet with her, yknow? looks out for her, they probably like working together on cases, like breaking into the patients' homes together lol. by virtue of understanding house, i feel like he really comes to understand amber as well, can tell when she's genuinely affected or not dealing well with something

tells her terrible cheesy jokes to make her laugh.

it's not something they're very occupied with but they try to find acitivies and hobbies they like doing together. they surprisingly have a lot in common! they both are into sports more or less. he loves musicals, she doesn't like them as much as kutner or at all but they grow on her lol

kutner gets her into video games. she gets really into them and becomes really competitive about it. She's Gonna Win

Before they get together...tbh you can't tell they're into eachoter because they're both more or less good at burying their feelings(besides like some flirting). Amber acts like she doesn't care that much about kutner beyond him being her colleague and kutner has this general genial apathy about him.

so no one sees them coming as a couple. it's kind of funny

[thecicadagraveyard]

More House MD furry doodles,, I'm actually obsessed with them like I REALLY wanna make more of these (they're also helping me practice expressions again) but I especially want to design the rest of the characters! I have ideas for Cuddy, Cameron, Chase, Foreman, and Taub, but I still have to come up with what I wanna do for Thirteen, Kutner, Amber, etc, etc. Anyway!

This one I wanted to do bc I wanted to do some angsty art and also I thought it'd be a good way to explore some anger in his expression. I also just love the last ep despite how painful it is lol

For this one I REALLY wanted to see if I could get that patented Wilson kicked-puppy-dog-stare and I think I did that pretty well here actually ngl.

Anyway! Those are my fun little doodles for the day, I will probably be making a few more as I go because I've been really loving doing these! I rlly wanna see what I can do here :)

Again pls be nice I'm mostly experimenting with these tyvm!! ♡

[wilsons-three-legged-siamese]

My analysis on the House MD final, as i am struggling and this is for my art teacher 🫶

House always knows when hes hallucinating, because its happened so often. When Kutner appeared, he didn't bat an eye, he didn't even question it, he just accepted Kutner was there.

House casually convinces Foreman to try lower the sentence for Wilsons sake, thats extremely un-House-like.

House was seeing Kutner, because he was suicidal, because Wilson was/is suicidal. Also because House is suicidal.

Amber is the medical part of his brain, while Kutner is the personal part of his brain. Ironically, House prefers Kutner over Amber, because he keeps talking about Wilson.

House keeps insisting this man is alive and happe, yet hes dead and miserable. The man is representing Wilson, and House's denial for Wilsons diagnosis.

Houses subconscious finally tells him the puzzles keep him busy, telling him to find a puzzle about Wilson to keep him interested in him.

Again for Wilsons recklessness, breaking into Nolans meeting with people and not caring at all for confidentially and ethics.

Stacy comes back, telling him about signs about how he fell through the floor. Him falling through the floor could show that he was walking on thin ice with Wilson, and maybe in general.

Also not to mention:

"I know you believe in love."

*cuts to house and wilson eating lunch*

You cant tell me that wasn't unintentional.

The truth in both their eyes while eating that lunch and having a conversation, its insane. They're both so genuine and honest with each other at this point.

Chatting to Stacy about love, House refuses the fantasys with Dominika and hookers, yet Stacy says he can love another. This was very much disrected at Wilson.

The fact wilson was so ready to run in that fire and save House, shows the love. Wilson was ready to sacrifice himself, 5 months earlier than necessary.

House decides to save himself, so he can change for Wilson. When they lock eyes, the emotion looking at each other. In despear, denial and everything in between. Grief.

Wilson sat in a blanket says it all, he was broken, shatteted to pieces. Just lost without House. As he thought he just died in front of him.

Wilson was the main speech in the funeral, showing how special they were to each other and how much they appreciated one another.

Wilsons reaction was so real and desperate. He wasn't sad, yet, he was angry. He was furious for House "dying" before him.

Wilsons face, exactly when he looked at that message, it dropped. His eyes were confused, but he knee House was alive. He was too smart to die like that.

The man faked his death for his dying best friend. They really, really cared fir each other. They had each other, and thats all they had. Each other.

And thats all they need.

[arcademorty]

hiiiii!!! heres a little ramble about my OSDID house headcanon because someone wanted me to elaborate and i just adore talking about it!! i just wanted to say, before i start going off, that this is a headcanon, a lot of these traits are due to his substance abuse and i know that logically he does not have OSDID. this is just things he does that we find relatable as we struggle with DID and relate heavily to house!! goshhh hes just so me frfr i cant take it☹️💔

teensy trigger warning for childhood abuse!!alrighty first of all he has MAJOR childhood trauma that clearly started at a very young age. he had an abusive father and a mother who did nothing to call off or stop that abuse and it went on from is childhood to his adulthood. it was so bad that house for real hated the guy, even when he died, despite being upset at his death. thats a deep hatred i fear.. like you don't hate someone like that for no reason even if you're house. ALSO a little off topic but i think his intelligence stems from his childhood abuse because in the episode where wilson and him are going to his father's funeral, house tells wilson that at like the age of 12 house figured out that his father was not his biodad. i think the puzzles being a distraction for house started there. and house knowing that his father, who caused him so much trauma from the start, wasn't actually his biological father gave him an excuse to separate himself from him which is something we have done so gah relatable?? the puzzles to me and how he figures them out is also kind of a dissociative thing? it distracted his childmind from the trauma as it was happening and it distracts him from pain in the future. also just that episode where he's hallucinating amber and he unfocused yeah THAT was for sure dissociation.

SPEAKING OF AMBER!! whenever house hallucinates amber it seems different to how any other hallucination is portrayed in the show and maybe thats just me nitpicking but she strays from her alive self and house himself (despite being his subconscious) while staying consisted each time it happens, but other hallucinations kinda don't? its like shes a whole other person. im backing this up with how house blames her for trying to kill chase when shes meant to be his subconscious. he blames amber, as if amber did it and not him even after acknowledging she was him. which yeah could be a denial thing we all know house loooovvves denial. plus while alters/parts are not other people, they can differentiate from others and their source. actually its very common for parts to differentiate!! its also very common to hallucinate or see different parts when they're co-conscious! anyway i do think hallucination amber AND hallucination kutner can be seen as parts as well as hallucinations cause thats just what they come across as to me!! and their coming about would make sense because both showed up after house was faced with a big traumatic event. a lot of the times when a big traumatic event happens house's personality shifts too, and im not saying thats not normal, it is especially when going through greif but again its just relatable!! anyways amber and kutner's deaths were so big to him and his mind and body take it as such. its a huge dissociative time for him too and that shows IN THE SHOW. again we see it during s5 when he's hallucinating amber sometime after kutner's death and everything gets gray and foggy, his team's voices muffle and he hones in on one thing barely. that was a very close portrayal of dissociation to me.

"house's head" and "wilson's heart" to me is a great portrayal of memory loss after a traumatic event. now i know that in the show house's amnesia is caused by the bus crash okay but hush im projecting🙁!! in OSDID amnesia is a big thing in many types of the disorder, we personally have bad amnesia and memory loss, especially after traumatic events and house trying to recollect all his memories again after the crash was just really relatable to us. also the way he replaced amber with another woman that represented her in his mind... yeah that was either a false memory or a split from the trauma either way it was crazy relatable

okay i hope that was a good elaboration im SUPER shit at putting my thoughts into words i apologize!! again this is just a headcanon and i know that logically all these symptoms and traits have different reasonings in the show im just having fun and projecting my disorder onto the stinky old doctor whom i love okay thank you goodnight

[balteredsworld]

season 8 finale thoughts.

i finally finished s8. and yes, it took me a month... I WAS STRUGGLING.

girl it was so on the nose—i'm underwhelmed! i thought it was gonna be a banger like house's head or 6x01 and all but ???? it was kinda mediocre i fear

but yeah omg it was so on the nose with the whole "i can change" since house's whole belief system is "people don't change." i still really enjoyed stacy's hallucination because house could be such a great dad.

i was really happy to see kutner, stacy and cameron return! i literally gasped when i saw kutner. i thought he'd never return, but thanks obama for letting kal penn film the ep 🙏

house and wilson riding off into the sunset was very much a hilson ending! they're textbook definition of ride or die. no other duo could ever !!!!

but my fav moments were of cameron looking at their christmas pic and foreman finding house's id!

I THOUGHT THEY BROUGHT BACK THE BLUE TURTLENECK GAHHH !!!! it genuinely upsets me that we never got to see it after s1

you can't have a man with eyes that blue to wear that and never pull it out the closet AGAIN LIKE WHERE DID IT GO

anyway, i still enjoyed it but i wished it ended with banger. the show deserves it.

time to rewatch and see the ducklings and everyone happy and not depressed !

[all-pacas]

(sorry if youve spoken about this before)

i was wondering if we knew how season 4 would’ve looked if it weren’t for the strikes cutting it short? if not, do you have any theories about potential storylines that would’ve worked?

love ur posts btw!! :)

i think it’s been confirmed that wilson and amber would have been the main beneficiaries of the longer season, as their relationship kind of comes out of nowhere and is suddenly THE be all end all for them both; i wonder if they would have gotten engaged or married, although i’m not sure if i would have preferred that.

otherwise, i’m really not sure! there’s certainly a lot of potential. chase and cameron barely exist in s4, and it would have been great to see them interacting more with the new team, apart or together. foreman also could have had a bit more to do: early on there’s some interesting tension between him and the new team, with the latter not ready to listen to him or treat him as team leader, but that’s kind of dropped. it also would have been nice to see cuddy get a little focused — her quest for a baby comes up in s2, 3, and 5, but nothing in 4 i can recall offhand.

we lost eight episodes to the strike, which happened between episode 9 and 10 of s4. interestingly, episode 10, which aired at the end of january, has a secret santa subplot; i assume it was written and filmed before the strike and meant to air a week after episode 9 (so on december 4th, 2007), so let's say:

episode 11: (12/11) wilson and amber start dating, and this is the episode where house suspects it and tries to figure out who wilson keeps sneaking off to see.

episode 12: (12/18) this would be a good week to remember cameron and chase exist. maybe they're having a little couple's tension over christmas; cameron is planning to spend it with her family and they're both worrying about it -- is it too soon for chase to come with her? are they Serious now? throw in foreman for some fun psychic damage. (you could just as easily have s5's the itch happen now, tbh, and then replace it with a different cam/chase subplot in s5.)

episode 13: (12/25) christmas themed episode! i think this would be a fun time for some new team plus/versus foreman antics; they know where they stand with house now, but foreman is still an unknown quantity. maybe house is preoccupied with amber and wilson, so foreman tries to run a case/step into the slack, and the new team isn't having it. as a christmas present, foreman gets to solve this case in the end.

episode 14: (1/1) the subplot here would be house finding out that wilson and amber are living together now. tie it in with everyone else arguing over whether or not they're moving too fast: foreman and kutner are like obviously yes, taub and thirteen are like obviously no, cuddy is worried in a way she believes is loving, cameron and chase are not making eye contact in the background.

episode 15: (1/8) cuddy episode! she is mysteriously and suddenly uninterested in the wilson/amber drama, and while she claims it's just that she's over it, it turns out she's preoccupied with starting the adoption application process. after a lot of wavering, and in a bit of a twist, she asks cameron if she'll be a reference; this will serve to kick of their bonding and eventual dean cameron arc in s5.

episode 16: (1/15) thirteen is Mysteriously Absent in this episode (she's visiting her brother, but house/we don't find this out yet), and house seizes on the opportunity to "replace" her with amber. it's an amber episode all the way: she can't resist joining the team for a case, and while she's still pretty determined and ruthless, she's also mellowed out a bit, too; she's less insecure. everyone notices this; house only very reluctantly -- and not to her or wilson's faces -- admits that maybe this relationship is good for them.

episode 17: (1/22) thirteen is back. she doesn't explain where she was or what she got up to, and house makes his own fun guessing. thanks to the case, which of course reflects thirteen in some way, she eventually confides in kutner that she was visiting family, and that it wasn't great. he guesses it is something huntington's related, but she does not confirm. again, in s7, we will realize she visited her brother.

episode 18: (1/29) this was when it's a wonderful lie aired, but we moved that up a couple months. in its place, we can give chase something to do: the patient of the week has some complicated surgery thing and he ends up getting a bit involved with the case. house starts poking at chase, trying to get a rise out of him -- remember when i fired you? man, these new kids are way smarter -- but chase is genuinely unruffled; he really has moved on from diagnostics.

we're now at frozen, and back on the s4 track. i'd continue to tweak a few things to account for the new episodes: wilson and amber have been an established Thing for longer, so we don't need house trying to figure them out as much. i think we can tie in a few of these threads into a larger Theme -- s3 ended with everyone moving on from house, and s4? well, he has a new team… but wilson is happy with amber, cuddy is trying to adopt, and chase in his episode proved he is genuinely happy no longer living in house's shadow. nothing huge would come of this, but house is vaguely disquieted: is he being left behind?

in living the dream, wilson would propose to amber. i think she refuses, but gently, and not because she doesn't want to be with him; she simply doesn't want to define their relationship so narrowly. he's upset, but he understands. this would be used to twist the knife in head/heart. all this would also set up s5, as amber's death causes everyone to shut down and "revert" a bit, in particular wilson: this is absolutely what house wants, but, you know, maybe it doesn't feel great, even so.