Small sacrifices…the little things we engage in on a daily basis. Depending upon the sacrifice we make, the result can either be favorable or a disaster. For example, you've been offered tickets to a concert you've been dying to see only to realize that this is your parents 25th Anniversary dinner and your entire family will be there. For some the sacrifice is simple…you turn down the concert tickets since your parents have only one 25th Anniversary. Yet, you may get those who chose the concert over the dinner. I assure you, the latter choice will not yield very good results. How about the in-law you can't stand, but sacrifice any confrontations because your sibling is happy with that person? Yes, sacrifices…they happen everyday and cannot be avoided.
In House's eighth offering of the season, it wasn't just about the act of small sacrifices, but the very ideals of faith, hope and love. These very examples were displayed through the POTW, Taub and his wife Rachel, Wilson and Sam and House and Cuddy. I find it incredibly interesting just how much religion played a part in this episode from the POTW to the wedding the staff attended. Let me give you a few quick verses of the bible from the Corinthians, Chapter 13, verses 2, 4,5,6,7, 11, and 13.
"If I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love]is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek it's own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child: when I became a man, I put aside childish things. So faith, hope and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
So, how does this all tie into the episode? Let's explore by situation, shall we?
In the situation involving Taub and his wife, you have a case of emotional infidelity. Although Rachel is truthful about seeking solace from a man she met via an online support group for philandering spouses, she refuses to make the small sacrifice of ending the online chats. This is much to the surprising dismay of Taub who understands he's done terrible things to her but finds her actions hurtful. According to his assessment on the situation, he apparently took for granted the fact that she forgave him for everything, when apparently all the hurt feelings never dissipated. Rachel's reluctance to make that small sacrifice for Taub not only increases the tension between them now, but also illustrates how the trust they may have once shared is fading. It exemplifies how they've lost faith in each other, since neither seems to trust the other again. As a result, the hope that once may have been apparent when Taub ceased his philandering ways is all but lost due to Rachel's lack of faith in communicating her feelings to Taub. She seems to pour her heart to a man online in a different state. Therefore, love cannot sustain if Rachel and Taub have lost all faith and hope in each other. Makes the sentiment from the Corinthians about love not seeking its own interests and enduring everything interesting, doesn't it? Right now Taub and his wife need to take stock in the relationship and quit being selfish. Either they need to finally end things, go into counseling or agree to make some sacrifices, because sometimes offering the superficial just isn't enough. Contrary to popular belief, two wrongs don't make a right. It just makes for a bigger mess. In my opinion, an affair is an affair whether it is a physical one or an emotional one. Love is not based on revenge but communication and work. These aspect are seriously lacking in the Taub marriage.
Sam and Wilson have a different kind of situation that in a sense also involves trust issues. Sam enlists Wilson help to look over some files of hers for her boss who's doing a clinical review on her. When both Wilson and House discover that Sam's facts don't seem to be adding up, they question each other about her motives. Wilson tells House that Sam told him nothing was wrong about what she put down in her files after he questioned her. Wilson and House think that she just made a moral decision and exceeded dosing protocols as a last ditch effort to save five of her terminal patients. As House said, it would be something Wilson himself would do. This angelic ideal Wilson has of Sam now fuels his ambition even more to propose to Sam at the wedding the staff is attending, since he is now taken with her sense of morality. At the wedding, Wilson proposes to Sam saying he came to realize what made him love her even more. Puzzled by this, Sam wonders what exactly it is that made him suddenly realize he loved her even more. Rather than just making some romantic thing up, Wilson brings up her sense of morality and the five cases. (That's pretty much when I slapped my forehead, going Wilson you babbling idiot.) The good part about it was that Wilson was being truthful to himself. He believed that she didn't really do anything wrong morally. And in a sense, Sam is being truthful by believing that her facts were not altered in any way. (Okay, so I admit….either Sam is really a horrible doctor and an idiot, modest, has lied so long about fudging the facts that even she believes it or is just a plain liar. Not all of these things can be true. If she wasn't lying to do a moral thing, then she's a horrible doctor.) How did sacrifice come into play here? Wilson sacrificed the art of lying to Sam in favor of what he believed to be the truth. Yet, had he not extended it to a point that made it look as if he didn't trust her, perhaps the outcome would have been better. Sam sacrificed the relationship in the end. It may have seemed bigger than a small sacrifice but not to Sam. Rather than sacrifice her beliefs that she isn't a liar or cheat, she put her principles first before the relationship. For Wilson and Sam faith in each other was lost when Wilson didn't quite believe Sam and when Sam felt she lost Wilson's trust. Since both had been down this road previously, the idea of hope in a second chance at love was diminished. However, Sam gave up too easily. Her action is in contrast to the biblical theory that love endures all, is patient and rejoices with truth, since none of these happened in the end. Sam wasn't patient and did not rejoice in the beauty of Wilson's truth of her moral character. The only thing she saw was the negative. With that love can never survive.
Before I get to House and Cuddy, I think it's important to mention the POTW first as I think he ties into House and Cuddy's situation and its resolution. As a bargain to God, the POTW sacrificed himself via crucifixion for each year his daughter remained cancer free. Unlike House's belief that faith is "communicable" and has "killed a lot of people," the patient views faith not as a disease but as something inherent and essential to the way in which he lives his life. By not accepting treatment for his condition, the patient feels that he wouldn't be insulting God. To the POTW, his act of being crucified has nothing to do with showing God his physical pain, but just how deeply his faith runs and how much he is willing to go through for his daughter even if it means sacrificing his life for her. The atheistic House knows that the patient is refusing treatment, because a cure means costing the patient his faith. As a result, House argues that the patient will be like the rest of us "alone and afraid." To the patient, this is not a valid argument because hope isn't something one can prescribe. Therefore, the POTW was staying true to his beliefs disregarding the consequences.
In that very conversation, we secretly get a view of House's life. House has faith in science and medicine. As a result of these beliefs and his conviction to save lives, he is willing to face the consequences of his actions no matter what they may be. Any diversion of his belief he may view as an insult to his profession and possibly his character. In a way, House's convictions aren't for show, but a display of what he is willing to go through for his patients. For House, giving up this part of himself leads to a fear that maybe he will be alone and afraid because he will be stripped of his perceived identity. Before Cuddy came into his life on a personal level, the one belief he could always count on was his success at the art of medicine. He stayed true to his one sure thing by lying to Cuddy in order to save the patient. He stood by his convictions, because the only hope he could count on was the survival of his patient. On a personal level, House may still be uncertain about his own future with Cuddy, because hope was never tangible to him on a personal level previously. Yet, this is only part of what I felt contributed to House's decision regarding his situation with Cuddy.
Later on, Masters brings in the patient's daughter in an effort to bring forth honesty in his relationship with her. Masters wants him to tell her why he's dying…because he doesn't want to take the medicine they want to prescribe him. The patient tells her a lie in that he is not afraid to die for her when he really is. His reasoning to Masters about lying to his daughter is that our beliefs define who we are and that dying and going to heaven are part of his beliefs. He tells her that beliefs help us to see the right thing to do when we're "blinded by doubt and fear." If those beliefs are lost, then we question who we are.
This is in parallel to House I think in that House is blinded by doubt and fear as to whether his relationship with Cuddy can last. Thus, he defaults to his medical beliefs because they are what define him. House still hasn't found what has defined him personally, because those things which did are no longer present in his life such as the Vicodin, booze, his father, his misanthropic nature, his lack of remorse… House's fear may be the personal layers that Cuddy can reveal about him through their relationship and House's fear that he may not live up to what he believes her expectations of him could be. Perhaps there is a fear of disappointing her. Maybe who he really is won't be what she wants. This leads to what I think is the third phase of House possibly processing his situation through the POTW.
House lies to the patient telling him he ran a PET scan on his daughter and that she still has cancer. Adding basically that the patients sacrificial efforts were all for naught and God broke His part of the deal. Angry with House for his self-righteousness, the patient gives in to the treatment. Later, House confesses his lie which angers the patient as he feels that he will be punished for falling under House's temptation. Yet, House shows the patient that he's getting better and his daughter has no cancer. To House this only proves that there is no God. But to the patient, this only proves that there is a merciful and loving God. The very thought has House rolling his eyes, because how can there be punishment then no punishment. House jokes that it's an "ingenious argument" to justify the presence of God. However, House is made to think a minute when the patient informs him that faith isn't an argument. This leads to what I think was a very Housian apology. Yes, part of it was a lie but I also think it held more truth than we realize.
"I've been an idiot. I got this argument stuck in my head…if everybody lies, then trust is not only unfounded and pointless, it's fictional. But trust is not an argument that can be won or lost. Maybe I just have to suspend my cynicism and believe. Maybe it's time I took a leap of faith. I'm sorry. I won't lie to you again."
I believe that House took Wilson's advice in that he still believes that he didn't lie to Cuddy on a personal level but a professional one. Therefore, he's not sorry for lying to her in that way. (Note how he doesn't look her in the eye when he says he's sorry.) But I do believe that he saw her position in this too, and decided that this was not a battle to be won but one in which he needed to make a small sacrifice. What led to this sacrifice? It's in House's own words and in the patient's actions. For House he did find faith, but not in the spiritual sense. His faith lies in Cuddy who in a sense has been both merciful and forgiving towards all he's done in his life. She's never completely lost her faith in him and has been as open and as honest with him as she can. Look at them in their situation. Instead of breaking up with House because he lied, she just got angry with him and made her feelings clear which eventually led him to do the right thing and apologize to her. It was a different kind of faith and belief that got House to this point, I think. As far as trust goes, as was evidenced in "Under My Skin," Cuddy is the person whom House trusts the most in his life. She knows him well. When it comes to her lying to him, we know as viewers that she simply cannot lie to him personally. Even if she does, such was the case with Lucas and even this discovered marriage, there are reasons. Whether it's to prove a point or prevent him from getting hurt, she normally has his best interests in mind. I think he knows that. And given the skeletons in the closet of his past, I think he understands why she would keep a secret from him. Sometimes there are events in your life you simply don't want to acknowledge because of the distress they may have caused. Cuddy doesn't know about House's past either. But if there was anyone who he could trust with it, Cuddy would be it. The same I think goes for her.
In the end of House and Cuddy's situation, House found and put his faith in Cuddy. He decided to put a possible fear of revealing his personality identity aside for the hope that Cuddy will continue to believe in him and really accepts his screwed up personality and whatever truth she reveals in the layers of it hidden beneath. As a result, love will endure. For in this case, love was patient since Cuddy didn't give up on House. Love rejoiced with the truth, since House did find his faith in Cuddy and possibly embraced the value that honesty can bring. As a result of House's love for Cuddy, he bared his belief that he shouldn't be so cynical about trusting other people. House suspended his nature of thinking and being right in favor of faith, hope and love. For these reasons and the small sacrifices that can be made, House and Cuddy's relationship has the potential to endure. House will lie to her again, but I think he'll apologize after the fact. I say this because when House told her he would never lie to her again, he looked her square in the eyes. The last thing he wants to do is hurt the person deeply for whom he has the most faith and for whom returns the faith. Maybe for House he realized that without love, he does essentially have nothing but his intellect and medical skills. Being with Cuddy, I think he realized just how valuable and rewarding love and trust in another human being can be. Maybe the Corinthians are right after all.
Yes, small sacrifices….the very tunnels through which we can find solitude and perhaps peace of mind. They also serve as the means to a relationship that can be balanced. Compromise is essential to the success of a relationship as well as trust. House is correct in that everybody does indeed lie. However, sometimes those lies are part of the sacrifices we make based upon our beliefs. Basically, to keep the peace as it were. Yet, House has also said that truth is based in lies. Makes his apology that much more interesting doesn't it?
Take a step back and ask yourself what's more important….making that small sacrifice out of love or maintaining you convictions which can lead to negative consequences?
As always, thanks for reading and please share your thoughts on this episode in the comments section. What did you think of the situations of our three couples? Do you think House was completely lying in his apology to Cuddy or do you think there was some truth in it? How did you feel about the sacrifices of the POTW?
Over the holidays, I'm going to attempt to write about House and Cuddy's relationship and its history as well as any other fun goodies I think of to get us through the eight week hiatus. Until then, this has been another installment of Diagnosing House. Thanks for reading!
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