Daddy Issues?

[sarah_thane]

Apologies if this is not the right kind of thing for this community (and please remove the post if it isn't) but I have been thinking about McGee (nothing new) and in particular a comment he made about his childhood - that he didn't need to see / read 'The Great Santini' because he lived it.  Wikipedia claims that this is a bad thing - Read more... )

Comments

[badkarma_one]

Yeah, alarm bells went off when I saw that episode the first time. I read The Great Santini when it first came out (I think my husband read it four or five times), and I remember how strict the father was with his kids. It's percolating through my head now for a possible crossover with my Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea universe.

[sarah_thane]

That fic sounds really interesting. Do hope you write and post it!

I find the idea of Tim having a tough time at home heartbreaking - I suppose mainly because we know he was bullied at school too. The idea of baby-Tim not having anywhere safe to go absolutely kills me.

[badkarma_one]

If it does get done (and right now it's just percolating on the back burner because we're moving to Florida in a few weeks) it will probably end up as a standalone printzine novel, or in a collection with a few other stories in that universe.

[schizophrenic0]

No, I think you have a good point. It's assumed that Tim had this idyllic childhood, but that comments suggests maybe not. I actually just finished a fic that partially explores Tim's relationship with his father. I may post it if I get the chance :)

[sarah_thane]

POST IT! Please! We need more McGee fic and I would love to read your take on his Daddy issues.

[schtroumph_c]

In the audio commentary of Twisted Sister, they said there were a scene where Tim threaten to call their dad instead of Gibbs. I don't think their parents are bad, but very, very strict. Mum burned his Mad Magazines, didn't she?

Tim doesn't seem to see his childhood as bad, and he talks with him about everything. Of the team, he's the only one who started with NCIS as career (where for the others, they had Secret Service, Marine, cop, Mossad), and knowing now that Daddy was Navy, I wonder if this choice is because Tim wanted to do the same job that his dad, but it was killed because of his seasickness.

Maybe his one time with a psy was to try to heal that.

I think his dad was a sort of Gibbs.

[sarah_thane]

Ooh - I didn't know that about the audio commentary - actually because I *really* want to believe this show is real I refuse to look at anything which shows that the people are (shakes to say it) actually actors and that there is a (screaming inside) script!

I think why Tim picked NCIS is really interesting - he is so super smart he could have done anything and gone anywhere and so this must be his dream job, But why?

BTW so glad to know other people are DESPERATE to find out why he went to a shrink.

[jack_infinitude]

I think McGee's childhood was less than ideal, but certainly not a hellhole. Ziva and Tony clearly respond very deeply and mnemonically to Gibbs as a result of their daddy issues. Just in 7X02, Ziva remarks that Gibbs is the closest thing she has to a father; Tony's issues are well publicized, though not detailed

[sarah_thane]

this is such an interesting post - thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this.

I think your take on the characters is really spot on. I completely agree about the 'nothing' Tim has going on with his family and the sense of disengagement from them I take from that. I suppose the question is what is going to happen from that - are we going to get a sense of what caused the 'nothing' and does it even matter if we don't?

Oh god btw - watching 'Reunion' at the moment and DYING from the cuteness.

[jack_infinitude]

Always happy to talk about Probie! :D I'm actually really glad you brought it up.

are we going to get a sense of what caused the 'nothing' and does it even matter if we don't?I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that we'll get little more than nothing. It's clearly not important to McGee; he is, as you say, disengaged almost completely from his past. I'd personally extrapolate that he doesn't even know where his parents are currently living, he's so apathetic to their existence. (Of course, that could be Ghost in the Shell affecting my thinking, ahaha.) So if it doesn't matter to him (and clearly it doesn't) then I doubt it'll come up unless they feature in an upcoming episode. Which is a little sad but...McGee already has a family to look after

[newkidfan]

This is a perfectly fine topic for the community. Discussing Tim is more than encouraged. You need to tag your entry though --read the faq to know how. It's linked in the sidebar and the user info.

[sarah_thane]

thanks for the heads-up! LOVE the campfire tag!