The Women Living In Hugh Laurie's "House"

Dime store psychology is always fun especially if you get to shrink the head of a fictional character. Today I'm going to analyze one of the great head cases on TV, Dr. Gregory House, and more specifically, how the women in his life have shaped him into the man we all know and sort of hate...but, not really. The FOX medical drama "House," stars the talented Brit, Hugh Laurie.

***Warning Spoilers Up Ahead***

Laurie plays the insulting, yet brilliant Dr. Gregory House with a spot on American accent and in a take no prisoners fashion---right down to his crippling leg injury and his irascible disposition. We found out more about where that disposition came from in last week's episode, "Birthmarks," when House was literally forced to return home for his father's funeral.  By the end of the episode, we learned the man in the casket wasn't really House's father.

Though House appears to minimize his mother's betrayal in favor of the acute hatred he had for his "father," my dime store psychology says, Mommy's indiscretion is the key to House's lack of healthy relationships with women.

And yet the damage Mommy did was nothing compared to the betrayal by the love of his life, Stacy Warner (Sela Ward).

In the excellent second first season episode, "Three Stories" we find out House's disability and severe chronic pain were caused by Stacy's decision, against House's wishes, to have doctors try to save his leg from amputation with a procedure that left him a cripple.

It was that duplicity that severed House's emotional ties to women for good. As proof: he gets his sex from prostitutes and his closest female associate, his boss Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein pictured left) is a woman whose power he has to try and blunt every chance he gets.

Cuddy in turn uses House's own unorthodox methods against him to get what she wants and what she thinks he needs. Remember his Dad's funeral? Well, Cuddy drugs House so that his estranged friend, Wilson can kidnap him and force him to attend the funeral.

Then there are House's female underlings. The original was the vulnerable Cameron (Jennifer Morrison, pictured above with Hugh Laurie), whose obvious crush on House gave him the kind of power he loved. She might as well have been a puppy snapping at his heels with a "Kick Me" sign plastered on her back.

To her, House was a wounded bird who needed the nurturing and care of a good woman and for a long time she thought that woman was her. But since House is an expert at discerning people's weaknesses and using them to his advantage, Cameron's history as the widow of a man she only married because he was dying of cancer was all House needed to make sure she stayed in her place. Eventually Cameron toughened up and smartened up and when House fired her, she made the best of a good situation.

Last season, two new women were introduced into House's magnetic orbit during his "Survivor" style competition to hire three new assistants. First there was the fabulous Cutthroat Bitch (Anne Dudek), who lived up to House's name for her, in the most wonderfully entertaining ways possible. She was a female version of House, at least when it came to playing by her own rules.

By the time we learned her real name---it was Amber---and discovered, right along with a shocked House, that she was seeing House's best friend Wilson, she was a highlight of the show. Her presence threw a wrench in the Wilson/House bromance and watching her manage the two of them like a nanny managing small children was great fun. That's why it was all the more heartbreaking when she died, partly due to House's actions, in last season's finale.

Because her death also took Wilson away from him, it was one more woman who'd taken House's precious control out of his hands.

Finally there was the other woman in last season's competition. Thirteen (Olivia Wilde, pictured left), as House dubbed her, actually won one of the three slots in House's "Survivor" competition. At first glance she appeared to be another Cameron in training, but it turns out she's a lot tougher than she looks.

In a world where House sees women only as sex objects or patients, or a combination of both, Thirteen's a mystery to House. Though he's already discovered and exploited her secret, the fact that she has Huntingtons Disease, and will eventually die from it, Thirteen plays House's game without being totally drawn in to his psychic dramas.

She's got many layers we've yet to see, and I suspect we'll see plenty during tonight's episode which focuses on her character.

At first Olivia Wilde didn't make much of an impression on me. Anne Dudek's, Cutthroat Bitch commanded so much attention, Thirteen often paled in comparison. But over time, Wilde got into the role and her clashes with Amber, subtle as they were, showed she too wasn't above using a few House-like tricks herself.

She's since grown on me and I'm very interested to see if where House is concerned, Thirteen is truly an unlucky number.

"House" airs Tuesdays at 8PM on FOX.

Photos Courtesy and Copyright FOX

Related Links:

Barbara Barnett of BlogCritics has an interview with Doris Egan and Dr. David Foster, writers for "House."

Dani at C'est La Vie loves the good doctor.

I Like To Watch TV reports on House and Wilson Together Again

Shaunna, a military wife at An Odd Woman's Perspective is thrilled with her new Hugh Laurie portrait.

Cross Posted From BlogHer

Though House appears to minimize his mother's betrayal in favor of the acute hatred he had for his "father," my dime store psychology says, Mommy's indiscretion is the key to House's lack of healthy relationships with women.

And yet the damage Mommy did was nothing compared to the betrayal by the love of his life, Stacy Warner (Sela Ward).

In the excellent second first season episode, "Three Stories" we find out House's disability and severe chronic pain were caused by Stacy's decision, against House's wishes, to have doctors try to save his leg from amputation with a procedure that left him a cripple.

It was that duplicity that severed House's emotional ties to women for good. As proof: he gets his sex from prostitutes and his closest female associate, his boss Dr. Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein pictured left) is a woman whose power he has to try and blunt every chance he gets.

Cuddy in turn uses House's own unorthodox methods against him to get what she wants and what she thinks he needs. Remember his Dad's funeral? Well, Cuddy drugs House so that his estranged friend, Wilson can kidnap him and force him to attend the funeral.

Then there are House's female underlings. The original was the vulnerable Cameron (Jennifer Morrison, pictured above with Hugh Laurie), whose obvious crush on House gave him the kind of power he loved. She might as well have been a puppy snapping at his heels with a "Kick Me" sign plastered on her back.

To her, House was a wounded bird who needed the nurturing and care of a good woman and for a long time she thought that woman was her. But since House is an expert at discerning people's weaknesses and using them to his advantage, Cameron's history as the widow of a man she only married because he was dying of cancer was all House needed to make sure she stayed in her place. Eventually Cameron toughened up and smartened up and when House fired her, she made the best of a good situation.

Last season, two new women were introduced into House's magnetic orbit during his "Survivor" style competition to hire three new assistants. First there was the fabulous Cutthroat Bitch (Anne Dudek), who lived up to House's name for her, in the most wonderfully entertaining ways possible. She was a female version of House, at least when it came to playing by her own rules.

By the time we learned her real name---it was Amber---and discovered, right along with a shocked House, that she was seeing House's best friend Wilson, she was a highlight of the show. Her presence threw a wrench in the Wilson/House bromance and watching her manage the two of them like a nanny managing small children was great fun. That's why it was all the more heartbreaking when she died, partly due to House's actions, in last season's finale.

Because her death also took Wilson away from him, it was one more woman who'd taken House's precious control out of his hands.

Finally there was the other woman in last season's competition. Thirteen (Olivia Wilde, pictured left), as House dubbed her, actually won one of the three slots in House's "Survivor" competition. At first glance she appeared to be another Cameron in training, but it turns out she's a lot tougher than she looks.

In a world where House sees women only as sex objects or patients, or a combination of both, Thirteen's a mystery to House. Though he's already discovered and exploited her secret, the fact that she has Huntingtons Disease, and will eventually die from it, Thirteen plays House's game without being totally drawn in to his psychic dramas.

She's got many layers we've yet to see, and I suspect we'll see plenty during tonight's episode which focuses on her character.

At first Olivia Wilde didn't make much of an impression on me. Anne Dudek's, Cutthroat Bitch commanded so much attention, Thirteen often paled in comparison. But over time, Wilde got into the role and her clashes with Amber, subtle as they were, showed she too wasn't above using a few House-like tricks herself.

She's since grown on me and I'm very interested to see if where House is concerned, Thirteen is truly an unlucky number.

"House" airs Tuesdays at 8PM on FOX.

Photos Courtesy and Copyright FOX

Related Links:

Barbara Barnett of BlogCritics has an interview with Doris Egan and Dr. David Foster, writers for "House."

Dani at C'est La Vie loves the good doctor.

I Like To Watch TV reports on House and Wilson Together Again

Shaunna, a military wife at An Odd Woman's Perspective is thrilled with her new Hugh Laurie portrait.

Cross Posted From BlogHer