but looking back now I can see the proverbial writing on the wall from the very first episode, when Cuddy put off House's romantic offer to take her to Mont St Michel.

You should have seen my bitching about that episode. It took me three ranty posts to calm down enough to even try to see the good stuff, the Cuddy-character-assassination set me off so badly. And believe me, it wasn't fun to be feeling so negative, when everyone else is all 'woo-hoo, SEX.'