#bees meta

House is a genius. I’ve written about how Wilson is equally talented.

But Cuddy is, too.

One of three(?) female deans of medicine in the country. One of the youngest. And every time the spotlight turns onto her, she does things no one else can do.

She has a kid by herself. Wilson points out that a man in her position would have a wife, two nannies AND two assistants. (She tries to hire an assistant and the job is so demanding they quit regularly.)

She consistently gets things for the hospital no one else can get and is the trump card only she can play. In 5 to 9, she gets (I think) 7%, which is far and away better than her opponent, her board, or anyone else but her thought she could get.

In season 1, iirc it’s implied SHE brings in Vogler, and she’s the only person who can stop him when he starts tearing the entire hospital apart to get at House.

In season 3, she ends the nonsense with Tritter.

She’s also the only person who can and will keep House on her team (no one will hire House or Foreman, other than her). And she’s the only person who can wrangle him, canonically (I disagree with canon, but Cameron does hand the reigns back to Cuddy with this exact statement). Moreover, she makes House an ASSET. In 5 to 9, she explains that PPTH is on the cutting edge, which includes their world famous ddx department.

And! Despite the fact that House routinely accuses her of being an administrator and not a doctor anymore, she still successfully treats patients from time to time. She helps ddx the babies in Maternity. She saves her patient’s baby in Fetal Position. In s5 Joy, she clocks that something is wrong with the mom when no one else does, and pushes until the diagnosis is made and saves both their lives. She figures out the diagnosis in Joy to the World at the same time as House, and is so kind and respectful to the folks caring for the baby, yet still makes sure she gives the baby what she needs.

I have to admit that I don’t remember s7-8 well enough to go through those, but it’s clear to everyone that Cuddy is a great doctor. Much like Wilson, she gets dismissed in part bc she gets too emotionally involved. And it’s also clear that no one really understands her work or how good she is at it. Everyone only sees their part, and she has to see all of it and make it all fit together, making sure everyone gets what they need. Her ability to flip between caring and hardass undermines her ability to seem tough, but it’s also necessary. If she couldn’t care, she wouldn’t take such good care of her people or patients. If she couldn’t toughen up, she’d let people walk all over her. It’s a unique style, and not without its pitfalls, but it’s all hers.

And like Wilson, she doesn’t get seen as a genius. In fact, she barely gets acknowledged as smart at all. A lot of her successes come from charisma and social intelligence. And those things often get dismissed in women, especially women who care as deeply and obviously as Cuddy does. The ability to juggle so many things gets dismissed as “basically being well-organized,” and also, no one really SEES what she does. It sometimes takes her a minute, but she reads people like THAT. She figures out and outwits that sociopathic drug dealer. She sees through most of House’s lies. She often settles with plaintiffs because of guilt, but she also often talks them out of suing the hospital in the first place.

His dad never tells him he's sick and then cuts him out of the will

His sister isn't *really* up for a reciprocal relationship

The first time he and Cameron have sex, she's high and tells him "don't turn into a good guy on me now"; after that, it's fwb "like microwave pizza." He's steady as the sun for her, putting out healthy boundaries and communication however he can, and in the end, she still leaves him for reasons even SHE can't fully articulate. And he's still so invested in reconciliation.

The lady from the wedding pegs him, accurately, as a nice guy who's lost his way. But they don't connect.

House cares about him, so deeply, but after Chase's stabbing, is unable to come visit him. Chase knows this. Chase *articulates* this. Chase does not FEEL this. He doesn't feel loved. (For the record, I think House does his best with Chase. I think House tries to be kind and supportive in early seasons, in his own way, and again after the divorce. And House pushes Chase, when he needs it. But their relationship is a whole OTHER question.)

He and Foreman care about each other, but Foreman holds EVERYONE at arm's length. Screwing with each other and pushing each other to be more, to avoid the hypocrisy, etc. are the closest they get to *close*.

I think Chase is *absolutely* close with Thirteen. But he's the big brother figure. He takes her out for coffee to talk through the guilt of killing someone. He comes in for the rescue and keeps her from blowing her life up in After Hours. And when she leaves, there's a bit of an implication that they don't really keep in touch (but also this was mid-2000s tv where they did NOT know how to write a character off and still keep them in the other characters' lives).