Considering it ran for a total of eight seasons,David Shore’sHouse M.D.must have done something right. Sure, certain aspects of the medical dramadon’t quite hold up to modern standards, but there’s still something about it that intrigued viewers in its day. Three words — it’s the people. The show’s titular character, Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) is a brash, no-filter genius with radical treatment plans who ends up saving more lives than he loses. So, let’s just say that viewers didn’t keep tuning in for his Jersey charm.
There was a strong and layered cast behind him, adding a certain appeal and all-around humanity to each episode. But, if one character didn’t enough recognition, it’sLisa Edelstein’s Lisa Cuddy. While she didn’t appear in every episode or dominate as many scenes as most of the other characters, Cuddy was one of the driving forces of the show. She had the unfortunate role ofbeing the voice of reason against the world’s most unreasonable protagonist. This meant it was pretty easy to antagonize her and overlook her part in making the show work. Needless to say, her tremendous character development to screen time ratio is as impressive as it is significant.
Using a crack team of doctors and his wits, an antisocial maverick doctor specializing in diagnostic medicine does whatever it takes to solve puzzling cases that come his way.
Lisa Cuddy’s Opposition to House Labels Her as an Antagonist
Lisa Cuddy isas flawed as the next person onHouse, but it’s safe to say that her handful of missteps on the show don’t define the entirety of her character. For the most part,Housedoesn’t delve into the intricacies of Cuddy’s administrative duties, it is, after all, more about diagnostics and the human condition. So, what audiences often witnessed was her enabling the titular character’s reckless but effective treatment routes. But, whileLisa Cuddy could go as far as perjuring herself for her resident mad scientist, she drew the line somewhere.
In Season 2, Episode 21 “Euphoria: Part 2,” tables turned on the team when one of the doctors became a patient. The previous episode sawForeman (Omar Epps)contracting an unknown and deadly disease from a patient who had just breathed his last. At that point, the fastest way to stop him from croaking was to do an autopsy on patient X. Instead of the usual back-and-forth-then-yield dance that was characteristic of Cuddy when it came to Dr. House, she followed due process and denied access to the body till the CDC came to pick it up. On a sentimental level, it seemed like it was the worst time for her to grow an ethical bone. However,her decision to save many lives over that of her colleague was noble when viewed through a realistic lens. This leads us to the fact that Cuddy is equally labeled the bad guy whenever she disagrees with House (or anyone else for that matter). What can we say? The lady can’t catch a break.
‘House’s “5 to 9” Episode Is Proof There Are Layers to Lisa Cuddy
Housewas as formulaic as they come, practically every episode started off introducing an “interesting” case. Then the titular character would brainstorm and jot down symptoms on his sacred whiteboard while terrorizing the members of his team. They’d try a range of treatments and then, on the brink of the patient’s death, a random statement would help House solve yet another puzzle. Likewise, Cuddy’s onscreen time mainly involved her shutting down one of House’s ideas, agreeing to some outrageous treatment route, or engaging in a sexually lewd back and forth with him. Right until we got to walk a day in her shoes thanks to the Cuddy-centricEpisode 14 of Season 6.
“5 to 9” allowed viewers to see past all the noise and get a glimpse of how multifaceted Cuddy actually is. While watching her haggle, separate a physical fight, and win a battle of wits against an insurance company,there was more insight into how burdened her day-to-day actually was. Balancing her life as a single mom, a girlfriend, and let’s face it, House’s work mom, while running an entire hospital, revealed in simple terms that she was kind of a badass.
Not to put down House’s contribution to humanity, even if he often played his concern off as curiosity, he did great work. Seeing as he’s portrayed as this larger-than-life character,“5 to 9” gave viewers a sense of how “little” he was in the grand scheme of things. It’s easy to forget that Cuddyruns the entire hospital. Overall, it brings to the surface the fact that maybe, all the House-enabling was just another way to make her tough job easier. It’s hard not to admire her just a tad bit after seeing what she did all day.
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‘House’s Cuddy Is Human Too, and the “5 to 9” Episode Reinforced That
In many ways, this episode delved into what a Herculean task it was to be a hospital administrator and a young, female one for that matter. It also proved thatCuddy was up to the task, regardless of how physically and mentally demanding it was. Perhaps the best part of it all was how much it humanized her. The truth of the matter is that the writers could have slapped a cape on her and portrayed her as this aggressive go-getter in a stressful job, steadily winning. After all, it was just one episode in a sea of 177 — we’d get over it.
However, watching her hang on by a thread and eventually get things right proved that she was just as human and flawed as the next character. Being a strong, independent woman is often interpreted as confidently bulldozing through every task or always having the answers. Some days it involves getting input from others, learning from mistakes, and giving in to the demands of an egotistical but highly competent doctor. Our verdict, “5 to 9” wasone of the best episodes ofHouse.
Houseis available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
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