I turned the volume waaaay up and I didn't hear any "Greg" either... but thank you for giving me an excuse to watch it again. :D

TrudyJ One thing that's really struck me after a zillion re-watchings of The Kiss is how surprised/bewildered House looks when Cuddy calls him on the awful things he's been saying to her. I don't think he really believes that people take his snark as seriously as they do -- he always sounds like he's so perceptive and smart when he's needling people, but I don't think he really believes in his power to hurt them. I don't know whether that's because he underestimates other people's fragility, or whether he doesn't believe they take him that seriously, to take his opinions so to heart. But I definitely read in his expression that he was shocked and genuinely sorry at how much his words at hurt Cuddy -- and, of course, that when she asked why he did this, he really didn't know. You could almost see him thinking, "Why do I do that?" right before he said "I don't know." He often is genuinely perceptive about others (although I think he's just as often waaayy off the mark, because he says things just to get a reaction), but I don't think he's as perceptive about himself. OK, this is probably considered bad form but I have been thinking about this, trying to find the words, and then read this at that other board. Since she formulated exactly what I wanted to discuss, I just copied it. :? Sorry TrudyJ. What interested me that House seemed so surprised when Cuddy called him a SOB. I felt to me as if he thought that Cuddy would have understood that he, even through all of the harrassing, never really meant to imply she would be a bad mother, just that he questioned her motives about the whole adoption. Perhaps he thinks that the people who know him best, will understand the way he tries to communicate, so Cuddy should have known he never meant to really hurt her. Or, what Trudy said. :roll: , sometimes it is just so hard to express yourself in a language that is not your own.

She didn't say "Greg". Nothing came after her "Goodnight". But, yeah, another great excuse to study it again. Hee!

I hoped it was Hugh's Burger King Gold Card.

I think it's very sad that I don't like Very Special Cuddy episodes because it's all about her wanting a kid. I remember someone either here or at the Other Place said that this is the longest baby arc ever that never produced a baby. (And this was said over a year ago.) EDIT: As seen below, it was bailey who said that. ;)

weird
TrudyJ, I totally got the same reaction as well, after about 10 times of watching The Kiss. He's genuinely bewildered at her fury; it's like he can't believe he had this effect on her. Which, actually, makes a lot of sense...House isn't used to people *reacting* to his nonsense. I mean, people react to his snarks by snarking back, or backing out of his games, or playing his games, but he's not used to them becoming deeply hurt by what he says AND he's not used to caring that they are deeply hurt. (He snarks all the time to his patients, but he doesn't care about their reactions. Not so with Cuddy.) It's almost as if he's internalized his own dictum, "My friends don't expect anything from me," to the point that he doesn't believe what he says matters or affects his friends. They come to him for medical advice, and that's what he's used to. So, that was a nicely played reaction from HL with respect to Cuddy's outburst at the end of the episode. (I think). On the other hand, you could also take House's bewilderment at Cuddy's anger as (yet) another sign of the man's self-centeredness: how could anyone with as finely-tuned an apparatus for observation and deduction as House miss the fact that telling Cuddy she's a good mother when she's lost the baby is probably the precisely right thing to say if he wanted to set her off?! I mean, *I* wouldn't say that, and I ain't no Sherlock. It's just so weird. It's like House has...these finely-honed powers of deduction and observation...but has a big blindspot as well.

Frankly, *I* was bewildered by her anger, although I can sort of understand it, considering how emotional she was. I thought House was genuinely trying to make her feel better, encourage her not to give up yet. As much as he likes to irritate people and bring them down to a certain level of misery, I don't think he really wants to see anyone broken. When he saw how upset she was, he wanted to make her feel better. Since that's not exactly one of his strengths, he kind of blew it, but I fully believe that it was his intention to build her back up. I loved the kiss. It was awkward, it was messy, it was "what the hell are we doing?" and "aw heck, we both know we want to anyway" all at once - exactly what it should have been, IMO. Maybe in his bewilderment she saw that his intentions were good, saw that flicker of humanity in him that we all know is there, deeply buried somewhere under the gruff exterior. I'm eager to see whether they try to play it off as a stupid moment of weakness or admit that they do have feelings for each other - either way, it oughtta be interesting!

don't get out much
One of the reasons why I love this show is because the language is current, up to date. Yeah, I'm probably dating myself badly here...I work in a really conservative environment, and I don't "hear" a lot of slang at work, so it's fun to watch a show that probably has taught me more slang since high school than anything else... Like in the newest episode (spoiler), House says, "I kinda hit that, and now she's on my jock." :) I had to resort to the online Urban Dictionary to figure that one out. Or, what about House's use of that phrase, "Oh snap!" :) "Oh snap, Foreman's playing the dozens. You're at a huge cultural disadvantage here." (bonus points if someone can tell me which episode it came on). *** You're surprised that Cuddy's bewildered and angry when he said she'd be a good mom? I was surprised she didn't knee him in the you-know-where like she threatened to in the beginning. Did you get her veiled joke? When House was insulting her maternal instincts in the beginning of the episode, she warned him that he'd better stop "or else your urologist will be able to buy himself a new yacht." I cracked up at that point. Nice, witty writing: oblique, not obviously vulgar, funny. ** At the same time, I agree with you completely. House is trying to offer her some comfort. It goes badly awry. But he is trying. For someone with genius-level reasoning skills, the observational acuity of a surgeon, poker-playing skills of a Vegas card-shark......he's almost functionally illiterate in emotions <grin> which makes him fun to watch.

After several days that kiss remains piquant. But about House's surprise at Cuddy's fury toward him... I had the impression that his surprise was also the inspiration for a House epiphany about Cuddy. It must have been an emotional realization because after the surprise he had such a look of longing mixed with fear on his face. I can imagine House concluding, "Cuddy's anger must mean she cares as deeply for me as I do for her." (That romantic dynamic is immortalized in the screwball comedy classic "My Man Godfrey" which is also about ditzy insanity, futile romantic obsession and someone who is not who he claims to be, like House) And I think Cuddy also knew, at that moment, that she had revealed her feelings to House. There was no place to hide for either of them. They were like two deer caught in the headlights of their uncovered attraction. Add to that the pain in her eyes which reflected his own and she became irresistible to him. So he stepped up and kissed her without hesitation or restraint. Sublime. I think from Cuddy's perspective, unlike the emotionally dead PotW, she is awakened from her dark hole of grief over losing Joy by her vital connection to House, first in anger and then in passion. And House glories in that very profound connection to Cuddy by showering her with equally passionate kisses. No wonder they were both so shaken up afterward. Now all that's left for them is a sleepless night and the inevitable denial of their connection. Please excuse the length...

That is a very interesting post jim. It brings to light another reason for the kiss. At a moment when Cuddy has just lost so much and she lets House see not just her hurt but her anger she is at her most appealing to House. He feels connected to that loss and disappointment it mirrors his own and he literally embraces it. It’s similar to his gleefulness about 13’s downward spiral, her rejection of a healthy partner and his earlier telling her he liked her better now that she was dying. Even his work puts him into contact with people when they are at their most hopeless a comfort zone for House. The exception is Wilson. In that relationship it is their ability to make each other laugh, along with calling each other on their bullshit, that House cherishes. He doesn’t really want to see Wilson unhappy because it would get in the way of that. At the end of L13 when House realized that Wilson was not in fact in the midst of another inappropriate and doomed to failure relationship but had instead pranked him big time that House was finally convinced and comforted that Wilson was back. That is a reason House has wanted to guard Wilson from any more relationships. They have all ended badly and hurt Wilson so they interfered for a time with Wilson’s ability for he and House to have their fun and that is the only real fun in his life that House has.