Character Musing
Friday night turned into a random House-Episode-Marathon for me. I will not disclose the amount of episodes I watch, as I fear it's indicative of a serious obsession problem. (Let's just say it was enough.) Since this community has shown interest in discussing things again (yay for bettina!!), I thought I'd share some notes and speculation I had after last night.
My musings concern Wilson's character and actions; the differences/similarities between Wilson and Cameron; Wilson and Cameron's role as a caretaker to House; what makes Foreman different from the rest of the team, and from House; my rambling on Chase, who is such an interesting character if the writers would spend time on him.
And other stuff, but those are the main points.
I'd love to hear other opinions, too!
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WILSON
-- Is he or is he not a “serial cheater”? We can surmise that he has had more than one affair from that conversation he had with Cameron at the end of “The Socratic Method,” when he says, “I always told them [my wives]” about cheating. Wilson has been married three times, but we know he never cheated on Julie. That means he has to have cheated at least twice, once with each wife.
-- Who was the affair with? It’s interesting that he only ever alludes to one person who made him feel “funny/good.” Regardless of the identity of that person, perhaps we can take the view that Wilson’s affairs have been only with this one person. This actually seems much more like Wilson’s character. He may be attracted to needy people, but he does not come across as someone who thinks sex can solve the entire problem. (Although it does play a role in how he expresses care and affection.) For example, Grace: he saw vulnerability and need, but he didn’t just sleep with her; he bought her groceries, moved in, made her a part of everyday conversation. His affairs do not seem like they are dalliances; they appear to be a physical and emotional relationship that Wilson has committed himself to.
-- Could the affair have been with House? This speculation has been beaten to death and I won’t list all the evidence that supports this theory. However, I will add that in “Fools for Love,” House says, “I didn’t break up your marriages; you did that yourself”, to which Wilson replies, “My marriages were so crappy I was spending all my time with you.” This cause-and-reaction can be reversed just as easily, i.e.: House is responsible for the erosion of Wilson’s marriages, even unintentionally. Wilson mentions that Julie “already hates” House for reasons we are never fully made aware of. It may be as simple as House being rude when visiting; or more complex: Julie feels House is usurping Wilson’s time and responsibilities to her and their marriage.
-- How does Wilson view the affairs and what does that say about his character? When reflecting on past relationships with Cameron in “The Socratic Method,” his reasoning for the affairs (he liked how the person made him feel) is solely selfish; it does not mention or even try to convince Cameron that he had done it in the selfless pursuit of trying to make the other person feel better. I personally feel that Wilson is aware of this contradiction in his life, and how he can come across as two-faced and manipulative. He tells Cameron that “You can’t control your emotions,” and Wilson’s empathy and ability to sense emotional connections with patients and people thus leads him to more problems. One, he has developed (according to House) a “pathological” tendency to love; and two, he does not separate his job or patients from the rest of his life, which makes him emotionally vulnerable-especially in a field with so much death involved. Now, that logic can be taken back to the affairs: We have reason to believe that, for Wilson, the emotional connection is the impetus for a physical relationship, not the other way around. In “Sex Kills,” amidst House’s badgering, Wilson stands on the principle that “It’s not all about sex,” which does not paint him as a serial womanizer, either.
--Who has Wilson been seen flirting with or showing interest in?
1. Nurses (I want to say in “Fidelity,” but I think there have been at least two times when a scene starts with showing him chatting with young, blonde women. There was also that specific nurse during the same episode that he met for a meal because her transition into the department was giving her “a hard time-emotionally,” Wilson says.)
2. Woman at cafeteria crying about her ex-boyfriend. In “Failure to Communicate,” Wilson sits and listens with folded hands and sympathizes with her story; personally, however, this gave me just an insincere vibe, though the scene was too brief to allow us a clear view of his actions here.
3. Grace (“House vs. God”)
4. Cuddy? I throw this out there with a question mark because I see very little attraction in the Wilson/Cuddy pairing. Cuddy is too strong, composed and independent; Wilson has no one to “take care of” in that relationship. I also believe that Cuddy distrusts Wilson, who can lie and deceive just as well as House but conceals it behind an innocent façade. There was the dinner date in “ Forever,” but that was solely a sperm donor audition of Cuddy’s making. She may value Wilson’s intellect, looks, health for genetic material, but does not make an emotional connection throughout the course of dinner; in fact, she does not reveal her attempts to become pregnant to him until “Finding Judas”-House has known for much longer, and Cuddy trusts House enough to ask him to give the twice-daily injections. She does not turn to or trust Wilson with that information. There was also the flippant “unless you wanna make-out” comment Wilson threw to Cuddy in “Lines in the Sand.” Wilson’s attraction to women, however, is never that blatant; on most occasions, he connects emotionally. But with Cuddy, he shows sarcasm. Why? One, she is his boss; which relates to Two, she does not need taking care of, which is why Wilson does not have to keep up his “good boy” actions to win her over.
5. House’s masseuse. (“Detox”) Though Wilson, looking a bit flustered, acknowledges how “beautiful” she is, he also tells House that he’s “married and can’t do anything.” This is further evidence that, while his eyes may rove, he does not have frivolous affairs that mean nothing. I don’t quite see him as a serial character. Every relationship or commitment he is involved in (House, Grace, his practice), he dedicates time and energy to-except, we are given reason to believe, when it comes to Julie, who is probably “getting healthy” and doesn’t need Wilson’s care anymore, as House suggests in “House vs. God.”
6. Stacy? Again, I follow this with a question mark. They are obviously friends and on a first-name basis (“Spin”), either through House’s relationship with her, or perhaps Wilson was the one who introduced Stacy to House originally. Wilson tries to keep his dinner with Stacy secret from House in “Sports Medicine.” Again, though, I believe Stacy falls into the same category as Cuddy-she is a confident, self-possessed woman, and Wilson does not see a place for himself beside her. I also think that his loyalty to House comes first and foremost, before any other relationship, as he has shown, and wouldn’t jeopardize that friendship with a serious relationship with House’s ex.
-- Is Wilson’s promiscuity exaggerated? Or not? In “Fools for Love,” Wilson says to House, “Remember when you used to weave elaborate conspiracy theories about my love life?”, suggesting that perhaps House has taken Wilson’s quickness to show love and blown it completely out of proportion in order to mock it. In fact, Wilson is visibly annoyed when House lingers on the subject too long. During the “we can rule the world!” discussion (from a Season One ep I can’t recall the name of), House rambles on about how much Wilson still loves his wives, and all the women who he didn’t marry as well, and the joke quickly grows old. “You can be a real jerk sometimes, you know that?” Wilson replies snippily. House also harasses him about how long he can go without sleeping with someone in “Sex Kills,” to Wilson’s growing irritation. BUT Wilson comes across as a bit wily during “Love Hurts,” when he gives his DHA and “panty-peeler” advice to House, then offers him condoms (which House points out is suspicious given that Wilson is currently married).
-- What do Wilson’s three marriages indicate about him? House has said that Wilson “agonizes over moral choices” (“No Reason”), yet according to House, Wilson also “sprinted through three marriages” (“Fools for Love”). If Wilson views friendship as an ethical responsibility (“Control”), one would assume he’d give the same weight of importance to another union with a person and not fall quickly into a marriage. Yet it seems he views marriage as the last step in fixing someone, a way to “close the deal” or “complete the project.” Given House’s choice of verb (“sprinting”), Wilson’s marriages have not been long-lasting; the care he gave girlfriends while dating fostered a stronger, secure wife, which eventually leads to his feelings of boredom with the relationship and his unnecessary role as husband, now that his wife does not need support.
--How has the absence of Wilson’s brother affected Wilson’s character? I know a lot of people view Wilson as the youngest of the three brothers, but I personally see him as the middle child. There may have been a larger age difference between he and his oldest brother, so that they were not as involved in each other’s lives as what they could have been. Wilson could then become an older brother figure to the youngest (missing) brother. Wilson failing to help him is paralleled with Wilson developing an almost indiscriminate martyr complex subconsciously out of guilt. He may see House as this younger brother. (House is older, but childish and erratic.) This idea is captured well in the “How to Save a Life” video.
-- What are the similarities and differences between Wilson and Cameron? Both marry needy people, or at least people who need some form of care. But Cameron shows a tendency to attach herself to hopeless cases: She married a man she knew was dying of cancer; she befriended a patient after learning the young woman had only a few months to live, yet avoided telling her the grim diagnosis as long as possible (WHICH EPISODE WAS THIS? IT’S SEASON ONE); and her attraction to House also falls under this category. (However, she also showed significant interest in Dr. Sebastian Charles, the patient from “TB or Not TB.” His seemingly moral crusades attracted her, yet Season Three Cameron appears much more skeptical of motives and patients in general. [i.e., Wilson.] I’m not completely sure she would find him as attractive now as she did early in Season Two.) Unlike Cameron’s gravitation towards the unfixable, Wilson accomplishes his healing of those he loves. He does not seek to keep them sick or needy, even if that means losing interest in them. His failing marriages stand as a testament to the success of his healing ability.
--What are the differences between Cameron and Wilson concerning their role as caretaker to House? Cameron is still under the impression that she can help House by herself. When she tends to his self-inflicted cuts (“Merry Little Christmas”), she does not tell him that he needs to go to rehab, that he needs to get help; she merely says “stop this,” as if it’s a decision he can make on his own. She sees Wilson’s deal with Tritter as a blatant act of betrayal. She believes that Wilson’s actions were wrong and that the end result (House getting better) cannot justify the way Wilson went about it. This is a sheltered and naïve view of addiction, however. Perhaps Wilson originally felt the same as Cameron when trying to get House help, but he has since seen more of House’s behavior than Cameron has. Wilson knows what will work and what won’t, and he is desperate enough to risk losing their friendship if it means saving House’s life. Given time, Cameron may come to this conclusion as well. But at the moment, she has not known House long enough to effectively understand and take care of him. Furthermore, it was not until Wilson expressed disappointment/anger/frustration with House and left during the OD scene that House realized he did indeed need help. It can be suggested that this was a rather quick wakeup call as well. House called his mother at night and wished her a Merry Christmas, so it can be assumed that it was close if not after midnight. Wilson finds and leaves House drugged out on apartment floor afterwards. When House is next seen at Tritter’s office, the clock in the background reads 2:25am-so House changed, cleaned up and sobered up remarkably soon after Wilson stopped by.
THE TEAM as INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERS
--How did each react to Wilson’s deal with Tritter and what does that say about them?
Cameron (see above)
Foreman feels that forcing House to detox “might not work, but it’s not wrong.” However, he disagrees with Wilson’s actions and tells Wilson none-too-cryptically, “But we always want to respect patients’ wishes and not shove things down their throats.” Foreman values loyalty but he is practical and does not hesitate to look out for himself first (i.e., stealing Cameron’s article).
Chase never really formulates an opinion, other than whatever secures their jobs is the right route to pursue. (I’ll go into his character later on.)
Both Foreman and Chase are concerned about their jobs, but Chase has shown willingness to sell-out in order to secure himself; whereas Foreman will hold his ground and take out whoever/whatever necessary. (Again, Cameron’s article, getting House pills [covering his ass in “Detox” and breaking into Cuddy’s drawer in “MLC”], jumping at the opportunity to head the department in a few post-“The Mistake” episodes.)
SPECULATION/QUESTIONS ABOUT CHASE (who the writers have sadly neglected)
--What role did religion play in Chase’s life prior to entering the seminary? Was his mother religious, or did he discover it on his own and see it as a source of strength given his alcohol mother and absent father? He quit seminary school, however, for unspecified reasons. (In “Damned If You Do,” he commiserates with the nun patient about how he didn’t pass the test God gave him.) Did religion not give him the answers he needed? Did he feel betrayed by religion? Has that reverted him from worship of unseen, metaphysical icons to hero worship and materialistic security instead, which faith failed to provide? To follow with the hero worship train of thought:
--Why has Chase still not developed a backbone when dealing with House, and yet he stiill has shown the nerve to betray him? Having an absent father perhaps leaves Chase still seeking the approval or praise from an older, supreme male figure. House fits that as Chase’s boss. Now, while Chase hasn’t experienced the father-son bonding relationship, he has also never experienced the breaking away from this bond in pursuit of his independence and self-preservation. As a result, his interactions with House are a convoluted mix of submission and rebellion.
--What role does religion still play in Chase’s life? While Chase is wishy-washy at times, he never belittles faith or goes along with House’s mocking of religion. (“Damned If You Do”; “House vs. God.”) In “Forever,” Chase prays over the dead baby before performing the autopsy. He tells Boyd, the patient in “House vs. God,” that he’d “like to believe” that he is truly a faith healer. His relationship with religion is still a work in progress-perhaps it has seemingly failed him in the past-but he does not hesitate to return to it in times of need.
--How does Chase not fit this role as a believer? Chase of course has his flaws. Most noticeably, he is quick to judge, which isn’t exactly a hallmark of Christianity. In both “Heavy” and “Que Sera Sera,” he makes snide comments and dismisses the seriousness of the patients’ illnesses and their medical responsibility towards them simply because they are obese. Chase’s repulsion at overweight people could stem from multiple causes, but I will only suggest two here. One, perhaps this is a defense mechanism of sorts. Obesity may run in his family, or he may have negative memories of himself or someone close to him being mocked about their weight. Two, this may have less to do with his repulsion of obesity and more about his repulsion of lack of self-control. Does eating compulsively remind him of his mother drinking compulsively? Perhaps he struggled with self-control as well (he mentions he experimented with drugs as a kid in “Poison”). I am not proposing he had a drug problem; I am saying that he might have experimented with drugs because his life was seemingly out of his control and he needed an outlet with which to deal with it. He may look down on those who have turned to addictions in order to forget their problems, because he sees that same negative trait in himself. (NOTE: The one argument [yes, I have arguments against my own arguments, humor me] with the compulsive drinking point is that Chase has never expressed disgust when confronted with patients who are alcoholics. He didn’t judge the son in “Son of a Coma Guy” or say anything disparaging about the non-dwarf daughter in “MLC” when he suggested she might have a drug and alcohol problem. In fact, he almost condones it, saying that if anyone has an excuse to numb pain, it’s a teenage dwarf.)
--Is Chase’s insecurity/flip-flopping well founded? While I believe that childhood plays a key role in the development of a person, I at times find it hard to understand Chase’s inability to present himself as a strong character. He worked with House six months longer than Cameron or Foreman did, which should have given him a sense of superiority over them early on, although that never materialized. Instead, it seems he seeks acceptance by being the slightly oblivious, funny “little brother” (re: the beginning of Season Three; that random “yo’ momma” joke, for instance). In Season Three, he’s been coming across as the last one to “get it,” providing only comic relief, no great ideas. This defense strategy supposedly saves him from disappointing those around him, and he has gotten the reputation for making absent-minded mistakes. (I.e.: His lack of attention led to the death of a patient in “The Mistake”; he MRI’d the wrong foot in “Control”; he was accused of screwing up the bleeding test in “Cane and Able”; originally held responsible for the baby’s death in “Forever”). However, “Finding Judas” saw him again thinking critically and solving the medical case-although he did not receive praise or reinforcement; in fact, the opposite happened: House punched him. If Chase was steadily encouraged by a strong, preferably male influence, I believe he would be much more likely to establish himself as a stronger character as well.
--Some Thoughts About Foreman
He can be just as brusque and calculating as House, but he’s also shown emotion and idealism, particularly towards patients, and even when House or the rest of the team disapproves. (Foreman defends the incestuous marriage in “Fools for Love,” he’s considerate of the obese girl in “Heavy,” etc.) Foreman admires resolve and resiliency, and is not afraid to identify and praise that (like Wilson and unlike House). House knocks it because that much strength in a person is intimidating, and it disrupts his theory that human beings are selfish and inconsiderate (which allows him to be selfish and inconsiderate as well), which Foreman points out in “Whack-a-Mole.” Foreman is also open-minded (has rarely, if ever, criticized a patient’s lifestyle; dates interracially) and yet still practical and realistic (medically and personally), which can be seen in his conversations with House.
--What makes Foreman unique from the others on the team? Foreman, unlike Cameron and Chase, has the ability to separate a patient’s qualities/actions/characteristics from the patient himself. As previously stated, he does not judge the person based on their reason of admittance into the hospital. This can be applied to his relationship with House. While he can admire House’s diagnostic skill, he still does not refrain from opposing House or letting him know when he acts idiotically or is a “self-absorbed ass” (“Role Model”).
--As a sports junkie, I’m reminded of NFL wide receiver Donald Driver’s story when I think about Foreman. Foreman, as is established in Season One, has a stolen car on his record. Tritter brings up Foreman’s brother Mark, who is in jail, and who Foreman says did not take advantage of the opportunities given to him. I read in Sports Illustrated a couple years back an article that discussed the catalyst for change in Driver’s life. He and his brother, living in a bad area, used to steal cars, and they were so quick hotwiring them that they were always gone before the cops could follow and arrest them. On one occasion, however, Driver-a young teen at the time-was being chased by the police and it looked as if his luck had run out. To spare you my pathetic attempts at paraphrasing, the brief article is here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/rick_reilly/news/2002/12/09/reilly/ It’s interesting to speculate what exactly acted as the catalyst for Foreman to stay out of trouble. That car is the only thing on his record, and he tells House that he never did drugs (“Poison”). What was the difference between him and his brother? I think there’s so much more than could be explored with Foreman.
Finally, to briefly categorize relationship issues among the characters:
Problems with
Mom: Chase, Foreman
Dad: Chase, House
Siblings: Foreman, Wilson
Significant Others: Cameron, House, Wilson