Comments | petitecuriosity: House M.D. and Sherlock Holmes

petitecuriosity

House M.D. and Sherlock Holmes

Jun 27, 2013 16:40

I'm none too familiar with the latter, but apparently there are characters in Sherlock Holmes with the names "Greg" and "Jim." So...I'm wondering if these were also inspirations drawn for "Gregory" House and "James" Wilson? (I was already aware of Holmes/House and Watson/Wilson.)

Comments 22

menolly_au June 27 2013, 21:01:17 UTC

Huh - I've never made the connection between 'James Wilson' and 'James Moriarty' - the evil criminal mastermind :) That could be interesting :) Greg is the first name of Lestrade - the policeman who appears in a lot of the original stories, and there is also a 'Gregson' who Elementary have co-opted as their police person.

No idea if any of that was deliberate on the part of TPTB though.

petitecuriosity June 27 2013, 22:03:08 UTC

Ohhh. Hmmm. Evil mastermind, you say? Wilson *could* be classified as that on some occasions. ;)

I've heard that "Moriarty" was the name of the shooter in "No Reason." And that "Irene Adler" was the name of the patient in the pilot, and that those were both nods to Sherlock Holmes.

You said you only watched the first season of Sherlock, right? What made you stop watching it?

Or perhaps you enjoy the books/movie version/earlier television versions?

And are you a fan of "Elementary"?

(Loool. Sorry for all the questions.)

No idea if any of that was deliberate on the part of TPTB though.

You mean just like the similarity of the finale to the ending of Sherlock Holmes wasn't deliberate? Or the insinuation that House intended to kill Cuddy by running his car into her home wasn't deliberate?

(Lol, don't mind me, I'm in a bit of a sarcastic and pick-on-TPTB mood. But considering that the similarity of Greg and James is slight, it may very well have not been deliberate.)

menolly_au June 27 2013, 22:32:25 UTC

Yeah, Moriarty was never used onscreen for the name of the shooter if I recall correctly but I think it was used in the script ( ... )

petitecuriosity June 27 2013, 22:46:48 UTC

I find it hard to believe that the similarity of the finale to the ending of Sherlock Holmes wasn't deliberate - considering all the Holmes references in the series. It came out very soon after the Sherlock finale too - which I think contributed to my dislike of that particular narrative device.

If my understanding is correct, isn't it true that the original Holmes was killed off, but that Doyle faked the death due to fan outrage?

The names though - I've never heard, maybe if it wasn't deliberate it was subconcious?

That's my thought as well. (I sometimes wonder if TV writers are in fandoms for other, or even their own shows...)

Thread 8

lieueitak June 27 2013, 22:45:02 UTC

I suppose you could make an argument that Wilson has similarities to James Moriarty. There is a respect for House/Holmes' intellect (and vice versa). Moriarty and Wilson are both extremely charismatic, successful, at least on the surface men who have great lives without much darkness. Doyle even writes in one text that Moriarty seems so good and above reproach that even suggesting otherwise would make anyone criticizing him seem nuts. Wilson at times can take on those qualities as well, I suppose. Moriarty protects criminals in exchange for obedience. Wilson protects House in exchange for friendship. Moriarty likes to create "accidents," and technically Wilson has done this as well when he sawed through House's cane lol ( ... )

petitecuriosity June 27 2013, 22:48:57 UTC

Oooh. Thank you for illustrating the similarities between Moriarty and Wilson. They are fascinating.

And that's interesting that there could be a character that compares to Chase or Cuddy.

And it's very possible that the similarities are coincidental.

Are you a fan of the Sherlock novels? Or the show? Or any related media? Lol. It's my understanding that there are many.

lieueitak June 27 2013, 23:15:54 UTC

I would say a lot of these similarities are coincidental, because a character who likes to investigate rather than think intellectually, a character who dresses well but isn't afraid to get dirty, etc - those things aren't exactly unique.

I am a fan of the Sherlock stories written by ACD, The Great Mouse Detective, and the episode[s] of Wishbone where the book featured was Holmes lol. I also like CSI's arc involving a modern version of Irene Adler, if that counts. I've seen Sherlock with Cumberbatch, which is okay (I can't get past the bullshit that is the Irene Adler storyline). I've seen Elementary, which was okay but not great (the cases felt too simple). But I stopped watching because House PTBs work on that show, and I will not support those individuals ever again. The Guy Ritchie films are embarrassingly bad lol. I don't think I've seen anything else, and I don't read the novels written by other people. There's so much out there that it's difficult to find the time to go through it all XD

petitecuriosity June 27 2013, 23:57:33 UTC

Thread 6

stenveny June 28 2013, 03:07:42 UTC

My version of the series finale would reveal that all along, Gregory House has been a figment of the imagination of a gifted but very troubled recovering alcoholic novelist named Doyle, played by Robert Sean Leonard. His agent (played by Omar Epps), and his publisher, (played by Lisa Edelstein), are attempting to convince him to continue his series of novels, because they are very popular and have become quite lucrative, but he's considering a change, thinking that it's time to write something less intense and depressing. He discusses this decision with his psychiatrist (played by Peter Jacobson) as well as his personal assistant (played by jesse Spencer.) In the final scene we see him with a manuscript, telling his life partner, a sweet British pediatrician played by Hugh Laurie, that "it's done -- I killed him off."

petitecuriosity June 28 2013, 03:52:12 UTC

Wow. That would certainly be a rather unexpected series finale!

yarroway June 28 2013, 11:40:39 UTC

Just a quick note here--the patient in the pilot was Rebecca Adler, not Irene. It was an intentional reference to Irene, or at least I think I read that somewhere and it seems entirely too coincidental not to have been.

Later in the series, Wilson gives House a Christmas gift and the team questions him about it he uses the name Irene Adler intentionally to mess with them.

The book by Cuddy's grandfather (or great-grandfather?), Dr. Bell, is a nod to Joseph Bell, the real life doctor who inspired the character of Holmes.

petitecuriosity June 28 2013, 16:06:28 UTC

Oh you're right, it was Rebecca. *facepalm* Sorry about that! (That's what happens when I mix my Sherlock with my Shore. ;) )

I didn't realize he used the name Irene Adler when he gave House the Christmas gift. (I always thought that the "Greg, made me think of you," was an interesting gift tag, but I never knew if it was meant to be sarcastic.)

And thanks for mentioning Dr. Bell. I had no idea about that. (Bell was the last name of Thomas as well, the man Blythe was sleeping with in Season 8 and suspected to be House's father. But he wasn't a doctor. I think in this particular case, the name Bell may have been coincidental.)

yarroway June 28 2013, 17:11:13 UTC

My turn to be wrong. I thought I'd read somewhere that the book was related to Dr. Bell, but no. The book's author is also named Cuddy, so it has nothing to do with ACD. Sorry!

petitecuriosity June 29 2013, 20:07:20 UTC

No worries! :)

taiga13 June 29 2013, 14:32:01 UTC

I don't know that there were... James seems like a natural alternative to John, but I did always wonder why they chose Gregory for House's first name.
One thing I noticed was that a couple of House patients seemed to be names Jim or Jimmy or James. I never knew if it was intentional or (more likely) they just forgot they'd used the name before. They also had a thing for using men's names for female characters: Andie, Sam, Remy.

petitecuriosity June 29 2013, 20:12:56 UTC

I didn't know Remy was a male name. That's interesting. But you're right, they did have a thing for that.