House and Wilson: BFF; Gossip Girl, WTF?

House is almost always at its best when it strays from its formula, and while it didn’t entirely do that last night, at the very least it put that formula into someone else’s hands, namely Robert Sean Leonard’s underused and always appreciated Wilson. In charge of treating Tucker, an old friend and cancer survivor played by the equally welcome Joshua Malina (The West Wing), Wilson goes through many of the show’s usual diagnostic paces, thinking it’s one thing, treating for another, then finally settling on what’s really wrong and going at it full bore.

In this case, the best way for Wilson to treat an unresponsive cancer is to double down on the chemotherapy, an act that ends up destroying Tucker’s liver. Unable to find a matching donor and ever the pragmatist, Wilson donates part of his own liver, only to find that the friend he thought would reconnect with his broken family is instead returning to the arms of his trophy girlfriend. Would Wilson have made such a valiant gesture if he’d known going in that Tucker would do an about face? Knowing Wilson, he probably would have.

Leonard played Wilson’s decision with the perfect balance of the character's need to do this for his friend and his need to do it for himself. And Tucker wasn’t the only friend Wilson helped last night. In a move that is sure to bite him in the ass, he defended House’s honor—an oxymoron if ever there was one—by intentionally outbidding Cuddy on a condo, rationalizing it by saying, “She hurt my friend.” Whether this is a matter of misplaced anger or Wilson's attempt to grow a pair, something tells me this isn’t the last time a friend will be hurt this season on House.

There were more friendship troubles over on Gossip Girl, a show that I haven’t watched in well over a year but thought I would check out again as they offered up a belated Thanksgiving episode. One thing was immediately apparent: these spoiled kids may be another year older, but they most certainly have not gotten another year wiser. Still up to their bed-hopping, backstabbing ways, why these teenagers continue to commingle despite the fact that their feelings for each other are lukewarm at best is beyond me. (I’d say the ratio is about ¼ love, ¼ indifference, and ½ hatred, a perfectly healthy relationship recipe, don’thca think?)

I can’t really comment on everything that happened last night because I’m out of the loop on so much of it, but here are the basics: Serena’s having an affair with a way-too-young-looking Congressman, Dan’s in love with Vanessa, Lily’s been hiding an important letter from Serena, and maid Dorota is preggers. If any of that sounds interesting to you, you’re a stronger viewer than I am, because after seeing the preview for next week’s episode, I don’t think there’s a chance in hell I’ll be tuning back in again anytime soon.

The CW—not to mention the hundreds of magazine covers these admittedly attractive actors have appeared on—would have you believe that Gossip Girl is a huge hit. The cold reality is that the show barely attracts over two million viewers on a good week (closer to three mil once DVR playback is factored in, but still a flop by any measure, though it did win its time slot last night among its young female target demo). There is a way to make a soap opera without having nearly every character be unsympathetic and mean, dull and toothless, or some combination thereof; the original 90210 did it for a decade. Maybe if the writers veered even slightly in that direction, more people would be willing to spend their time enjoying a little Gossip.