Thirteen, House

Thirteen (Olivia Wilde)
Dr. Remy Beauregard Hadley (“Thirteen”) was a major character on medical drama House from season 4 onwards. In Season 4, episode 12, it was suggested that Thirteen didn’t share personal information about herself because she was bisexual. She refused to confirm or deny the rumor, but after that House and rest of the team teased her about it. In Season 5, episode 5, she had a one night stand with a woman in bar, but it was shown as being part of a self destructive, promiscuous behavior. While the (steamy) sex scene was featured in the previews, ironically, most of the footage wasn’t even shown in the episode.
In Season 8, Thirteen was demoted from the main cast and made a recurring character, and she only appeared in 3 episodes. In 8×03, Thirteen showed up at the hospital and told House she wasn’t coming back to the team, and was not a doctor any more. House tried to figure out why she was not practicing anymore, and figured she had fallen in love with someone whom she’s moving away with. At the end of the episode, she departed from the hospital along with her girlfriend on a trip to Greece.
She returned to the show in two further episodes at the end of Season 8 for House’s funeral, and in both episodes she was alone.
Her girlfriend only appeared briefly and never spoke, in both “Charity Case” (8×03) and “Everybody Dies” (8x21b).
In contrast, her relationship with main male cast character Eric Foreman lasted from Season 5 (when they also moved in together, in 5×10) until they broke up in late Season 6, though its ramifications extended well into Season 7. He appeared to understand her, and was the one who correctly figured out Thirteen’s secrecy was an attempt to keep her bisexuality private. Foreman clearly enjoyed Thirteen’s sexual nature, as is shown in “House Divided” (5×22) when Thirteen was about to do body shots off a stripper: Wilson: “Are you sure you’re comfortable with this?” Foreman: “Are you kidding? I’d pay $50 to see this!”
Appearances:
- 81 episodes. 4x02 - 8x02
Female love interests:
- Unknown girlfriend (5x05 'Lucky Thirteen', off-screen)
Relationship story arc with a woman: No
Male love interests:
- Eric Foreman (Omar Epps, main cast 174 episodes)
Relationship story arc with a man: Yes
Filter Relationship Arc:
Storyline during sweeps? Yes, episode that confirms her bisexuality by showing her having sex with woman was aired during November sweeps period. Also episode where her bisexuality was first hinted was during February sweeps period
[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.
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1 Comment on "Thirteen, House"
Yeah….13 kept things to herself because of Huntington’s not because of being bisexual. And it makes more sense for 13 to have a relationship with a main character rather than a background.
She wasn’t demoted down the cast list because she was bisexual, she was demoted because she had been main for 4 seasons and they rollover new casts (Chase and Cameron were main for 3) so equal treatment there.
You are right that it was a cheapshot of the marketing team to feature the love scene in the previews for shock value though.