“I have the right to walk away from you, House.”

What can I say? I'm stricken by the amount of romance tropes used in House/Wilson storylines on the show - such as the classic moment depicted in my icon - especially starting with Season 4's Amber Arc.

Because I'm too lazy to come up with a list myself, and to make sure I wasn't imagining it, I moseyed on over to TV Tropes. This is what I found House/Wilson storylines fit into...



The Love Triangle
Two characters are in love with the same person. Durr, House/Wilson/Amber. The most blatant use of romance tropes, and coyly referenced as a “triangle of affection.”
See: Don't Ever Change, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Living the Dream, House's Head, Wilson's Heart

I Want My Beloved To Be Happy
Sometimes a part of the Love Triangle trope, where one of the competing characters act against their own interests (winning over the love interest), in order to see the love interest happy. House attempts this once (or pretends to), then really does it.
See: Don't Ever Change, Wilson's Heart

Make Up Or Break Up
Something happens that triggers one half of the couple to decide whether they can deal with this forever. The thing that happens is usually not the actual issue at hand. House killing Amber...less to do with whether it's his fault, and more with Wilson reevaluating their relationship. Show gives this one to them on a regular basis.
See: Vogler Arc, Tritter Arc, Amber/S5 Arc

The Moment Killer
“The moment” does not necessarily need to be romantic, just important. Then some jackass comes waltzing in, ruining it all. Or maybe someone's beeper goes off.
See: Sex Kills, Games, No More Mr. Nice Guy

Unrequited Love Switcheroo
“Bob has a crush on Alice for a long time. At last Alice decides she, too, loves Bob. Too bad Bob has just started seeing Carol. Now the relationship is reversed, with Alice pining after Bob.” Wilson was the one who seemed more invested in the relationship than House for longest time, then S4 shifted it to House appearing more invested than Wilson, especially after Wilson began dating Amber.
See: Tritter Arc, Amber Arc

Skater Boy Syndrome
Overlaps with Unrequited Love Switcheroo. “It is only when one of them gets romantically involved with another character that their not-at-all love interest feels the sting of his absence. [...] Usually, this is what jumpstarts the Relationship Upgrade for a not-quite couple. In TV shows where Status Quo Is God, however, the envious one will still stubbornly refuse to admit her feelings upfront and revert back to her "friend" self once the romantic complication is out of the picture by backhanded means, making it a hidden Aw Look She Really Does Love Him event.”
See: No More Mr. Nice Guy, S5 Arc

The Paolo
“This is the love interest's love interest; the person brought in, either for an episode or an arc, to date the one that the main character (or just a character) is in love with. The smitten character will be jealous, take an instant dislike to the Paolo, and do whatever they can to sabotage the budding relationship. [...] Occasionally the writers step in themselves to engage in Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends.” Which includes, but is not limited to, killing off the Paolo (Amber).
See: Don't Ever Change, No More Mr. Nice Guy, Wilson's Heart

Jumping the Gender Barrier
“A Gender Bender trope, where someone who would have made a good match if not for gender suddenly is a good match, and some version of a Romance Arc (and in the more egregious cases, the relationship) begins immediately. Often, there hadn't previously been one iota of serious thought about a romantic relationship between the two people prior to the gender shift.” Okay, hear me out. This exact trope wasn't used, per se, but was definitely riffed on with the whole Amber=House thing, having Wilson date her and make the “we're a couple speech.” So instead of House turning into a chick, female!House turns up.
See: Don't Ever Change

Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places
“The character indulges in an endless series of one-night stands and impulsive sexual encounters. Consciously or unconsciously they use such promiscuous behavior as a substitute for a lack of parental love and affection (either actual or perceived). Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places differs from Casanova in that the Casanova is a predator indulging his desires and sating himself with his conquests, while Looking For Love is desperately searching for someone who respects and cares for them. This does not mean that Looking For Love is necessarily clingy or "wimpy"; they can appear to be as manipulative and self-centered as Casanova, and the two are sometimes confused for each other.” This is our dear Wilson to a T.
See: House vs God, Forever, House Training, Airborne, Don't Ever Change

She Is Not My Girlfriend (Or rather, He Is Not My Boyfriend)
At the last minute, I realized Wilson is guilty of this one.
See: Hunting

Love Martyr
“A character who is devotedly in love with someone who is highly troubled or dislikable, the kind of person who not very many in real life would stick around with. The love interest isn't merely a Jerk With A Heart Of Gold or even Troubled But Cute: he (or she, frequently enough) has got serious psychological issues and/or an utterly Jerkass personality which wouldn't exactly be indicators of a healthy relationship. [...] The Love Martyr is fully aware of his or her beloved's faults, but willingly endures the insults and troubles he dishes out to her because she believes that her unconditional love is enough for both of them and/or strong enough to reform him into a better person. What separates her from the Mad Lover is that the two do get into a relationship, albeit a twisted one, and the love interest is usually said or implied to love her back underneath it all, but his negative traits outnumber his positive ones to such an extent that his alleged love comes off as more of an Informed Ability than anything. Very often, others will point out to the character that he'd make a bad boyfriend, which she will ignore or argue against.” Ignoring the “getting to together” thing, this sounds very much like House and Wilson in Season 3, and is coming to a head in Season 5...

A House/Wilson hook up would actually fit well into typical tropes – True Love Is Exceptional and If It's You It's Okay cover that pesky gender/sexuality thing. Relationship Upgrade covers the friends-to-lovers thing. And Last Minute Hook Up avoids the jumping the shark thing. It works. See? XD

Just for comparison's sake, here are the tropes I could identify in House/Stacy, House/Cuddy, House/Cameron, and Wilson/Amber. (Please do not get all pissy and make assumptions about my shipping preferences. I'm just calling it as I see it.)

House/Stacy
- False Start
- Unresolved Sexual Tension
- Will They Or Won't They
- Boy Meets Girl
- Married to the Job
- New Old Flame
- There Is Only One Bed
- I Want My Beloved To Be Happy

House/Cuddy
- Unresolved Sexual Tension
- Will They Or Won't They
- Just Friends
- She Is Not My Girlfriend
- Hands On Approach

House/Cameron
- Not A Date
- Better As Friends (*ducks* S4 appeared to be heading in this direction...)
- Hands On Approach
- I Didn't Mean To Turn You On
- Mocked Tropes: May/December Romance, Opposites Attract, Jerk with the Heart of Gold

Wilson/Amber
- Fourth Date Marriage
- Her Heart Will Go On (Or rather, His Heart Will Go On)
- Last Kiss
- Temporary Love Interest