Random Fandom Questions: House's Childhood?
I think I've asked this question before with regards to Wilson's childhood, and may have asked it before with regards to House's childhood, but I feel in both cases, the series ended with so many questions left unanswered.
The Blythe from Season 2 and Season 8 was vastly different. I know that the prevailing argument (and a logical one, at that) is that the immense change in her character was due to different writers. In all honesty though, I feel as if what we were seeing in Season 2 was Blythe's persona. The demure, dutiful wife, trying to keep the family together. The woman we see in Season 8 could very well have been the Blythe behind the scenes, the absent mother we didn't get to see. If I am correct, she wasn't aware of John's treatment of House? Perhaps, in her generation, she was expected to be a wife and mother, with no allowance for more liberal and sexual expression. Perhaps that caused her to try and escape the life she felt she was forced to have. Of course, I'm not entirely sure. What do you all think is the truth about Blythe?
And I was never really sure what to make of House's relationship with his father. He stands up for him, to Thomas, in Season 8. In Season 6, he's talking to his father, as Wilson talks to Amber, and says something like "there were good days." Of course we never get to see him talking to Dr. Nolan about his father, because with such a strict upbringing, strained relationship, and feelings of uncertainty with regard to whom his biological father was and his trust issues, it's something that would have never logically come up in theapy. In Season 5, he expresses frustration that no one told him he wasn't John's biological son. In Season 3, we learn about the fact that House's father punished him severely by forcing him to sleep outside and taking ice baths when he misbehaved. In Season 2, when we first meet John, it's obvious that the relationship is strained. Both Blythe and John seem concerned that their son is miserable, and John expresses that House's leg injury "isn't that bad," which clearly illustrates a disconnect in understanding between them. Did John know that House wasn't his biological son? Did that affect his treatment of him?
Honestly, one of my favorite explorations of what the relationship between John, Blythe, and House may have been like in House's childhood is in yarroway's brilliant fic Unforgotten. If you haven't read it yet, you definitely should, because it is amazing.
I also have to wonder what House was like in his adolescence. In "Son of a Coma Guy," when he mentions the Buraku, I think he said he was looking for help for his sick friend? If I am remembering correctly? It sounds like he ventured out a lot on his own. He certainly has a wide variety of knowledge, knows many languages. I wonder if he explored the places where his father was stationed. I wonder if he made friends easily, or at least knew how to command a crowd. He certainly knows how to be charming and flirtatious. I have to wonder if he had a string of girlfriends, boyfriends, sexual partners, or if he didn't. I wonder if he ever had a friend like Wilson. We do meet House's old high school friend Crandall in that one episode. And he seems a bit...sort of goofy, frat boy-ish. But he did hang around House. Were those the sorts of friends he had? Perhaps not ones he really connected with intellectually but who shared his need/want for alternative, artifical forms of stimulation such as drugs and alcohol? I mean, he said he liked Crandall because he had a car but he could have very well been being sarcastic. I'm not really sure.
What are your thoughts on House's childhood and adolescence?
The Blythe from Season 2 and Season 8 was vastly different. I know that the prevailing argument (and a logical one, at that) is that the immense change in her character was due to different writers. In all honesty though, I feel as if what we were seeing in Season 2 was Blythe's persona. The demure, dutiful wife, trying to keep the family together. The woman we see in Season 8 could very well have been the Blythe behind the scenes, the absent mother we didn't get to see. If I am correct, she wasn't aware of John's treatment of House? Perhaps, in her generation, she was expected to be a wife and mother, with no allowance for more liberal and sexual expression. Perhaps that caused her to try and escape the life she felt she was forced to have. Of course, I'm not entirely sure. What do you all think is the truth about Blythe?
And I was never really sure what to make of House's relationship with his father. He stands up for him, to Thomas, in Season 8. In Season 6, he's talking to his father, as Wilson talks to Amber, and says something like "there were good days." Of course we never get to see him talking to Dr. Nolan about his father, because with such a strict upbringing, strained relationship, and feelings of uncertainty with regard to whom his biological father was and his trust issues, it's something that would have never logically come up in theapy. In Season 5, he expresses frustration that no one told him he wasn't John's biological son. In Season 3, we learn about the fact that House's father punished him severely by forcing him to sleep outside and taking ice baths when he misbehaved. In Season 2, when we first meet John, it's obvious that the relationship is strained. Both Blythe and John seem concerned that their son is miserable, and John expresses that House's leg injury "isn't that bad," which clearly illustrates a disconnect in understanding between them. Did John know that House wasn't his biological son? Did that affect his treatment of him?
Honestly, one of my favorite explorations of what the relationship between John, Blythe, and House may have been like in House's childhood is in yarroway's brilliant fic Unforgotten. If you haven't read it yet, you definitely should, because it is amazing.
I also have to wonder what House was like in his adolescence. In "Son of a Coma Guy," when he mentions the Buraku, I think he said he was looking for help for his sick friend? If I am remembering correctly? It sounds like he ventured out a lot on his own. He certainly has a wide variety of knowledge, knows many languages. I wonder if he explored the places where his father was stationed. I wonder if he made friends easily, or at least knew how to command a crowd. He certainly knows how to be charming and flirtatious. I have to wonder if he had a string of girlfriends, boyfriends, sexual partners, or if he didn't. I wonder if he ever had a friend like Wilson. We do meet House's old high school friend Crandall in that one episode. And he seems a bit...sort of goofy, frat boy-ish. But he did hang around House. Were those the sorts of friends he had? Perhaps not ones he really connected with intellectually but who shared his need/want for alternative, artifical forms of stimulation such as drugs and alcohol? I mean, he said he liked Crandall because he had a car but he could have very well been being sarcastic. I'm not really sure.
What are your thoughts on House's childhood and adolescence?