Season 7 Survey

[flywoman]

Ganked from petitecuriosity , and since I agree with most of her thoughts already, I am going to try to keep this brief and personal.

1. What frustrated you most about this season?

This could be such a long rant. I think that the main problem for me was that this was the first season of House that I was able to watch in real time, and I had just come off of Season 6 with the conviction that the show rocked because it was all about House and Wilson. The combination of the Huddy storyline, RSL's theatrical obligations, and what I consider to be lackluster and inconsistent writing, especially in the first two thirds of the season, was a terrible letdown. Happily, I had a whole community with whom to commiserate.

2. What did you appreciate most about this season?

That House & Wilson scene at the end of "After Hours." We have been waiting seven years (subjectively in my case) to see that kind of overt support and physical intimacy between them. I only hope that whatever happens on Monday evening doesn't ruin it.

3. What character irritated you the most this season?

God, it's so difficult to pick just one. I'm going to go with House himself, because it has been so painful to see him distort himself out of all recognition, first to appease Cuddy in their relationship, and then to prove (perhaps unintentionally) just how right she was to break up with him and keep him the hell away from her family. But Chase's little foray into nymphomania was a close second.

4. What character did you enjoy the most this season?

I wish that I could say this was Wilson, but alas, his character was so marginalized, inconsistently written, and co-opted as a cheerleader for Huddy that I don't think I really can.

Oh, who am I kidding? It's still Wilson.

5. What was your least favorite episode this season?

I'm going to blame the messenger: "Now What?" Just the first in a long series of examples in which House phoned it in because he was too distracted by his personal life to save a patient and Wilson only put in an appearance for comic relief.

6. What was your favorite episode this season? 

Despite the awesome House & Wilson moments in other episodes like "Out of the Chute" and "After Hours," I think that my favorite episode was actually "Bombshells." I loved the dream sequences and my subsequent interpretations, the title that reflected the POTW as well as the end of Huddy, and, well, the end of Huddy. Win-win-win.

7. What POTW did you like the most this season?

Arlene. Seriously. I didn't like the episode, but at least she was memorable.

8. If you could have changed one thing about this season, what would it be? 

Wow, again so tough to pick just one. I'm going to say that I would have dropped the whole ridiculous House-can't-find-a-competent-female-to-join-his-team storyline, culminating in the forced hiring of Masters.

9. What did you enjoy most about fandom this season?

Well, this was my first season in House fandom, and it was huge for me in terms of finding a fun online community who shared my obsession and also writing fanfiction again for the first time in seven years. (In fact, I have written more for this fandom, both in number of stories and word count, than in all my past fandoms combined. Jeez.)

Meeting cuddyclothes  and petitecuriosity and making plans to meet with blackmare_9 ,  damigella_314 , and with my fabulous mutual beta and co-challenge mod jezziejay 

Meeting RSL with cuddyclothes  after the dress rehearsal of Born Yesterday (squeeing again just thinking about this)

The impressive plethora of post-"Out of the Chute" fics.

The various fic challenges that I organized and/or participated in, generally along with jezziejay .

Spoilers and feverish speculations, including whether this entire season could be a hallucination (crossing fingers)

10*. What do you hope for from the next (probably last) season?

I would like everyone to learn (at least a little bit) from their mistakes. I would like to see more of the House and Wilson friendship. I would like to see less of Taub's love life. I would like to be able to admire House as a doctor again.

I would settle for not being as bored as I was during the first two thirds of Season 7.

*Added, because I can.

What about you?

Comments

[barefootpuddles.livejournal.com]

God, it's so difficult to pick just one. I'm going to go with House himself, because it has been so painful to see him distort himself out of all recognition, first to appease Cuddy in their relationship, and then to prove (perhaps unintentionally) just how right she was to break up with him and keep him the hell away from her family.

You make an excellent point. He was at times hard to recognize. alternatealto wrote a fic the other day where she had Wilson say of House:

There’s always a reason for the things House does, or there was at one time, at least. These days, he admits to himself, he can’t always be sure – and it’s that fact that frightens him.

I think if it doesn't turn out to be a tumor or a result of the drugs then this is the worst bit of character assignation this season.

8. If you could have changed one thing about this season, what would it be?

Wow, again so tough to pick just one. I'm going to say that I would have dropped the whole ridiculous House-can't-find-a-competent-female-to-join-his-team storyline, culminating in the forced hiring of Masters.

Yeah. That was such a failed idea. And the sad thing is they didn't have to play her that way. I hear AT is a great actress. I hated that the writers played to the ridiculous stereotype of a smart young woman - naive, dressed strangely and socially awkward.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

I hated that the writers played to the ridiculous stereotype of a smart young woman - naive, dressed strangely and socially awkward.

I hated the character, but having embodied that stereotype myself, I didn't mind those particular qualities so much.

I do think that the writers really deluded themselves in thinking that viewers would love AT and her character. I don't think that it was a case of intentionally bringing in someone whom we would hate, or love to hate.

[barefootpuddles.livejournal.com]

I hated the character, but having embodied that stereotype myself, I didn't mind those particular qualities so much.

Well, I am not saying that there aren't social awkward geniuses (and you are proof then that there are, though you seem neither naive nor awkward to me. But on the internet it is hard to judge) but rather that the show's men play against stereotypes - House is not your normal boring genius, Wilson is not as nice and normal as he looks, Taub surprisingly is repeated adulterer, Foreman plays against negative stereotypes of African-Americans, Kutner was not the bookish boring Indian guy, and Chase was not the standard rich kid with no conscience. But...Cameron is the whiny kitten curer, Cuddy the hot boss who suddenly wanted kids and a husband as soon as she hit 40, and Thirteen is the emo, lesbian chick. Okay, fine, whatever. But Masters I thought was way over the top. :(

I think also lately I have become ultra-sensitized to the way this show plays women; from Cuddy to Dominika to the hookers/strippers/fantasy scenes etc.. So I am sure that might be part of it.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

Agree with just about all of it but for 3. Most irritating it has to be Taub, Taub, Taub and more Taub. Masters as well but at least she wasn't in the whole season. The only good thing about Taub's domination of the supporting cast is that we got to see a little more about Foreman.

The most frustrating thing for me is just how badly they did the Huddy storyline. It could have been interesting, there could have been some real character growth and conflict (with still the inevitable breakup) instead it was just terrible, each epsiode worse than the one before.

Oh, and Wilson breaking up with Sam - that was just strange and pointless, still don't really understand what went on there.

Is there a theory that the whole season is an hallucination? That would certainly explain a lot of things!

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

I agree that we saw far too much of Taub this season. Ditto the Huddy storyline and the bizarrely handled Samson break-up.

Is there a theory that the whole season is an hallucination? That would certainly explain a lot of things!

There's been a theory floating around for a long time, at least since an alternate version of "Now What?" was leaked. We'll see!

[petitecuriosity.livejournal.com]

I didn't like "Now What" either, although I found it interesting that they kept cutting between the POTW vomiting and the romantic House and Cuddy scenes. ;)

This season was my first season in the House fandom as well, so I definitely share your feelings on how amazing it is to find an online community willing and wanting to obsess and psychoanalyze over minute details.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

I didn't like "Now What" either, although I found it interesting that they kept cutting between the POTW vomiting and the romantic House and Cuddy scenes. ;)

LOLOLOL, just like at my house!

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

I don't honestly feel I can complete the survey, since I didn't even know the word fandom until January :-).
I agree with most of what you wrote. The exception being Arlene, which I disliked for personal reasons. [I keep agreeing with you, maybe the world's end really is near.]

I particularly wish to second your I would like to see more of the House and Wilson friendship and even more I would like to be able to admire House as a doctor again.

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that Arlene is the type of character we're supposed to love to hate ;).

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned there should have been a warning before each episode with Arlene "Dami don't watch this! Don't ask why, just skip it and it will be so much better for your mental health!" Triggers, you know.
I hate Arlene, and I hate to hate her.

[jezziejay.livejournal.com]

Hi - I'm back. Not much I can say really, as I've only seen about eight of this season's eps, and mostly I was just waiting for the H/W bits. But there have been times when I really didn't like House at all this season - and I love House. I hope I like him better in season 8. Also a bit worried about Cuddy's departure - indifferent and all as I am about her, she has been an integral part of the show since the beginning, and her absence is going to be felt.

And I'm especially delighted to hear that I'm 'fabulous' :)

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

But there have been times when I really didn't like House at all this season - and I love House.

I know, right? House is supposed to be the guy we hate to love. I was not feeling the love for him so much this season.

Despite my grievances with Huddy, I'm also wondering how the void is going to be filled with Cuddy gone...