#house md meta

[housepilled]

i don't know if anyone has talked about this before but i've been thinking about the symbolism of cancer in connection to house and wilson and. i am going insane.

wilson has a stage II thymoma and he's given a 5 month sentence. from my (limited — i am not a doctor nor particularly good at science) research, this seems unrealistic; everything i've read about them says that thymomas are rare and slow growing. it seems incredibly unlikely that a stage II thymoma could only be treated by chemotherapy and would only give wilson 5 months to live. so why did the writers decide to do that? it's like the medical version of an anachronism — something (in the real definition of an anachronism, historically) inaccurate used to make a specific point. so what is the point?

well, thymomas are cancer of the thymus gland, which is right in front of and above the heart.

and then that got me thinking about house's (faked) cancer in season 3 (e15 half wit). he pretends to have brain cancer.

so their cancers are literally in the heart and head.

cancer in HOUSE'S HEAD AND WILSON'S HEART.

david shore i am in your walls

[my-lover]

i think the whole "god doesn't limp" / "i was afraid your wings would melt" dichotomy is absolutely insane, because house is so adamant that he IS stuck being human. he knows that he is not immortal or better than anybody, no matter what his actions would lead the majority to believe. he's convinced that he is no better than anybody, because he has such a deep physical flaw. and i think as someone who's also chronically ill (+ a cane user), it really does set you apart from everybody else in your own head - and to everybody else. there is no possible way that he can be the best he can be, this idea of godhood that he has for himself, because he is marred by this perceived flaw

and then you have wilson who sees house as this shining icarus with wings made of gold, soaring above the sea. and he knows that perhaps house's infatuation with his own talent and ingenuity may lead him to his doom (read: his wings melting). but i think house does not see himself as icarus at all: there is no possible way for his wings to melt, because he does not believe he has them. he is in no way "above" everybody else through these supposed wings, he is no god. if anything, he is automatically below everyone else, because he limps, he's flawed, he's in some way an imperfect creation

but wilson ? wilson thinks so highly of house, wilson loves house so much that he cannot comprehend the idea of house as somehow "lesser", because of his leg. and i think, as a disabled person, it's absolutely remarkable to have someone see you that way. and the way this is constantly portrayed across their relationship makes me absolutely frothing-at-the-mouth insane

[imagopersonal]

How can people watch a show in which the very first shot is two characters standing side by side, with the episode’s core being Character 1 asking himself if Character 2 really loves him and realizing that even if Character 2 doesn’t express his love with words, he does it with actions,

and the very last shot, 8 seasons later, being said two characters running away together, with Character 2 pretending to be dead and renouncing to everything he has to stay with Character 1,

and think: “nah… their relationship is not what this show is about… you’re reading too much into it”.

It’s literally their story.

Everything else is background.

[housethemd]

So in the episode where House is on methadone

Everyone is trying to figure out what’s going on with House, why he’s being nice, etc etc and eventually Wilson is just like “he’s on heroin.”

The surety with which Wilson says this really struck me. Like Wilson doesn’t just suggest House must on drugs that aren’t Vicodin, doesn’t even merely suggest House could be on heroin. No he says with absolute certainty that House is on heroin.

The only way Wilson could be so sure, would be if he’s seen House on heroin before.

Now while I’m quite convinced that House was an occasional recreational drug user prior to the infarction, heroin usually isn’t a drug you might take just for fun at a party every now and again. This leads me to believe that sometime in the early days post infarction is the most likely time House used heroin.

I’m imagining Wilson showing up after work to check on House. Stacy left weeks ago and House is still dealing with that on top of healing and being newly disabled so he’s been in a pretty god awful mood that only Wilson seems to be able to tolerate.

But when Wilson gets there House is in a better mood. Not just a better mood, he’s happy. Wilson knows immediately something is going on.

“What did you do? What did you take?” He’d ask. He knows people’s moods don’t change overnight like that, so either House took something or he’s planning to kill himself. Both are equally possible given his recent trauma and mental state, and Wilson needs to figure out which.

“What? Nothing. Well Vicodin but you know I’ve got a prescription for that.” House would reply, waggling his finger in Wilson’s direction like this is all some kind of joke.

Wilson frantically searches through everything within arms reach of House. Thankfully even with his better mood House can’t move very quickly, and Wilson manages to unearth a bag, and dashes out of House’s reach to open it. It’s filled with powder and syringes and Wilson has done enough ER shifts to know what it is.

“No, House. No. How did you even get this?” He’d ask, shocked.

“It’s easy when you know the right places to go.” House would say, not looking at Wilson anymore.

“The right places to… House you can barely get from the couch to the bathroom how the hell did you get this?”

“I guess I was sufficiently motivated.”

And Wilson’s heart breaks. He doesn’t have it in him to be mad at his friend. His life is upside down and House has never been good with change. Wilson does throw away the needles and flush the drugs and it pisses House off (“Do you know how much I paid for that?”) but once House calms down he makes House swear never again, that he won’t go down that road. Wilson says he’ll do anything, even write him more Vicodin prescriptions if he just promises not to use heroin again.

And House promises.

So when House is suddenly in an unexplainably good mood years later, Wilson thinks he knows exactly what’s going on. He’s angry, House promised. Wilson held up his end of the deal for the most part, so he comes up with a plan to catch House and make him admit to it.

But we all know how that plays out.

[realbeefman]

house is all id, impulse and reckless behavior and selfishness, and wilson is all superego, overthinking and moral judgement and selflessness, and together they act as the other's ego. house wants to biopsy a patient to stop his own pain, wilson tells him he's going to cross a line if he does. wilson wants to tell the world how he's justified the taboo of euthanasia, house steps in to tell him he'll ruin his life if he does. ultimately, this is why they fall apart when separated from each other, why wilson is miserable when he tries to cope with amber's death without house.

wilson will always try to be more selfish, to care less, wish that he was more like house, and house will always wish the inverse, that he is capable of caring as deeply as wilson does, that his own empathy ran as deep as wilson's. but in the end, they are both incapable of embodying those traits they admire in the other on their own. they can only truly function together.

this is the point in the show, for me, where it becomes clear that house and wilson have been set up as star-crossed lovers. it's only here, in 8 x 21, that they both accept fully who they are to each other. they have both accepted that they will only be able to be happy together, that only through acknowledging how they complete each other will either of them be able to be fulfilled in life. the tragedy is that they have only been able to find life at death. the price for their happiness together is the looming inevitability of wilson's death

anyways. rest in peace sigmund freud you would’ve loved analyzing house md yaoi

[what-thisiscrazzzy]

“Everything’s the leg? Nothings the pills? They haven’t done a thing to you?”

“They let me do my job and they take away my pain”

This comes after a conversation/argument where House admits to being an addict.

Wilson mentions how House has changed, how he was there and he sees the difference. And I think part of his wanting it to be the pills is because that is the easy answer. His friend got addicted and that can be fixed. He can join a program, find a new solution. But the pain can’t be fixed, not without drugs. If it’s the leg then it’s forever. Then his friend is never going to be the same again.

House admits to being an addict but it’s not the issue. Sure it’s a problem but nothing in comparison to the level of pain he experiences. They let him work, they let him live. He’s miserable, but they make him a little less miserable. He’s changed, he’s a worse person but with the drugs he’s still a person.

[starjunkyard]

A scene of foreman telling house in ep21 s8 that "persevering through pain for loved ones... isn't that what life is?" before being followed up by a scene of house screaming at taub in the middle of the hospital hallway that life is pain. Life is pain. His entire life is pain. How he wakes up everyday and thinks about ending it. And yet hes still fucking here and what is that if not a confirmation that house's entire life is lived for wilson

Its so like. Because from an outsider's perspective its so childish. Its so out of bounds though thats completely in character for house; you don't tell people whether they should live or die, least of all if they're diagnosed with a terminal illness you know will suck the life out of them every second they aren't in the ground. You don't get to tell people that you dont have that right but. But. but

House is here and house is in pain. He's hurting and he's been hurting and he wants that to end but its been an unspoken agreement for years that wilson would never forgive house if he just gave up. Wilson would never let him do that. He would never ever forgive house for that not ever

So house is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He is alive!!!!!!!!!!!! Because wilson is his best friend and house cannot live in a world where wilson hates him even if he isnt around to feel it. So house persevered through the pain he grit his teeth and just kept fucking Going because wilson hating him is a worse fate than any infarcture any perpeptual state of chronic pain, a fate worse than anything

Before stacy before cuddy before everything it was new orleans and wilson in that cell. House has been living for wilson. House's entire life past the infarcture and the pain and the pain and the pain has been for wilson. He has been living in unimaginable pain for 20 years because its been an unspoken agreement that i need you i want you you need me you want me. I need you here you cant go anywhere You cant leave me

20 years of being in a perpeptual unending state of chronic pain. Years of living under this unspoken agreement, being bound to this contract that keeps you screaming keeps you hurting keeps you gutted and emptied out but you never minded it, you never left. you let it take you because you love him. Because you love him he loves you and he lets you love him and thats enough

So can you imagine what a slap in the face it is to have him tell you outright that he wont live for you.

That his life, his death: it'll be about him. All this whilst your entire life has belonged to him. Your life your death everything you've ever done its been about him for him. For him. And you feel furious and cheated to tears because its then that you realise he never even asked. You gave it to him handed your bleeding beating heart warm and fresh to him on a silver fucking platter and he never even asked for it. But you're asking him now. You're actually asking him you're begging him, you are begging him you're telling him that you love him, and he's saying no? He's saying no?

Can you even begin to imagine-- just a fraction of that betrayal? That humiliation? I've fucking grit my teeth weathered 20 years of pain i stayed alive because i knew that you wanted me to-- because i knew that you loved me and you wanted me to stay, and that was fine, because i loved you too. And i never even made you say it. I never made you say the words because i thought it was something we both understood intrensically, down to the bone-- and still im telling you now that i need you that i love you and now the deal's just off?

I weathered through 20 years of pain because surely you would have done the same for me-- and you're telling me now that your life is going to be lived on your own terms? when my entire life has been lived for you? When ive been in hell for 20 years just so i could keep loving you? You; you looked at me in the eyes, led me on had the gall to keep me alive-- just to sit here now and tell me that the agreement ive lived my whole life around was a one-man deal? That you cant be bothered to stick your heels in the dirt a little, grit your teeth and go through a quarter fraction of the hell ive gone through so that you stay here! can be here Be Here and keep continuing to love me when ive been doing that wordlessly thanklessly for 20 years? How could you make me ask? How could you tell me no?

How could you keep me alive and breathing if you knew that this was even remotely in the realm of possibility? You kept me in the dark-- knew this whole time that leaving this friendship could actually be an option for you-- and you kept me alive?

[oddlittlestories]

Not me rewatching s5e1 to remember The Argument properly

“We’re not friends anymore, House. I’m not sure we ever were.”

It rips every time but I loved getting to rewatch it in context. He’s saying—it’s not your fault per se. It’s other people’s fault for enabling you. Including me—but I’m done with self-pity. I want to learn from this, because if I don’t have some takeaway, any takeaway, then I learned nothing from her death.

And paired with the funeral episode, it’s saying—I desperately need to find any way to be prepared next time. And to make this mean something.

Ouch.

[imagigine]

im interpreting this as textually bi!house

on 8x13 we have this life coach dude as a patient and the team suspects at first a low level of testosterone, so house makes chase and adams bend down to pick stuff to see how the patient would react and when he didn't, this bi autistic gaslighting man said this

[stars-anon]

I keep watching 3x15, Half-Wit, which has a B plot of the team thinking House has brain cancer. I’ve got a lot of thoughts about it, mainly that I wish it was an arc not a B Plot, but I digress.

What I’m most interested in is going back to the scenes between Chase and House in that episode. They could easily have had Cameron be the one to come in and be emotional while trying to hold it together thinking House is dying from brain cancer but they didn’t. They had it be Chase. In both the major Chase&House scenes Chase is holding back tears. In the second one, he’s blunt about the fact he’s not going to give platitudes House doesn’t want to hear - he just wants to hug him. And he does.

Regardless of how you think Chase loves House (familial, platonic, romantic) the love is very obviously there. He’s emotional, but keeping it tampered down because he knows House doesn’t want to deal with it. Not that he cares any less - he doesn’t. Obviously so. If anything I think it shows that he cares more. He’s not trying to get something out of House (like Cameron) or say what he thinks he needs to (like Foreman). You could argue he’s searching for physical affection because he needs it granted he never got it with his father who also died of a cancer, but you could just as easily read it as him doing it to try and give House some level of comfort. Chase does think House has six months to a year to live, after all,

I just have so many stupid little thoughts about Chase and House. Someone come yell about them with me, I beg.

[scintillatingshortgirl19]

i'm struggling to even put into words how i feel about these two scenes.

i honestly wonder how much of house's facial expressions in these moments were hugh laurie's choice and maybe weren't necessarily scripted, because the episode doesn't really offer any kind of conclusion on how jealous and, more importantly, how deeply fucking sad house looks after realizing wilson has been talking to amber.

first off - this happens a lot in this show, but this is one of those huge instances of "oh, how differently this situation would look if one of these characters was a woman." if that were the case, this whole thing would really be quite simple. if house was a proper Opposite Sex Love Interest, him standing at the door hearing the proof that his unrequited crush isn't over his last girlfriend...well, that would make perfect sense. The level of hurt and jealousy house seems to feel about wilson still being in love with amber is. well. it's Something.

so anyway - house gets that genuinely hurt look at three separate points: #1 is when he realizes wilson is talking to amber (and this moment is especially fascinating bc house's main emotion should arguably be relief at the knowledge he hasn't been hallucinating...but that appears to be taking a backseat to his jealousy for a woman who isn't even alive anymore)

#2 is when wilson tells amber that he wasn't able to go for a run tonight because house is having issues. now, this speaks to the broader problem that - even though house knows wilson feeds off neediness - house is still worried about being a burden to wilson and that eventually wilson will not want him anymore.

Then #3 - when wilson says to house's face that talking to amber makes him feel better when he misses her, and house doesn't. This moment is so painful and interesting to me because house inviting wilson to confide in him feels like a pretty big step in terms of growth! So for wilson to say he'd rather talk to his dead girlfriend than house...well, judging by house's face, the remark cuts pretty deep. (disclaimer: ofc wilson is completely valid for talking to amber; it just also makes sense that house would be hurt by this, especially in the context of him already feeling like a burden and trying so hard to be a better person)

anyway idk where else to go with this . . . i just feel like the episode sort of started to delve into this issue and then never really went deep enough or concluded this aspect - hence my theory that house's level of hurt may not have been scripted and it was just hugh laurie choosing to Do That with his face.

[buckysoldatbarnes]

Not only does House being autistic and queer make sense, it thematically and emotionally fulfills the heart of the show. Firstly, almost every aspect of House's character makes more sense through the lens of him being on the spectrum, and the fact that they literally pointed this out in the autism episode but refused to commit to confirming it is emblematic to a misunderstanding and disrespect to what autism is (the show thinking oh house has autistic traits but he has to be his own unique thing, or that an autistic character couldn't be as complex as him). But we knew that.

The thesis of House MD is, what happens when someone refuses to follow societal rules? When someone is brutally honest, goes against authority, has no filter, and does everything their own way? House tests this in every episode- when the stakes are high, will he still push the boundaries? Will he self destruct? Will he get away with it? and also in every episode, the PATIENT is also outside social norms in some way. They have an unusual lifestyle, career, personality, or sexuality, and usually their "difference" is making them sick, or they have an underlying medical condition that is causing it. It usually destroys their personal lives, but ultimately the "thing" they commit to is what makes them happy.

This is the medical, or "main plot" core of the show. The emotional "B Plot" answers the question- When someone (House) refuses to follow societal rules and can never be "normal" (his addiction and disability), can he still have a lasting relationship? Can he still be happy? Every single season tries to answer this question. For a while Cuddy is the answer, until the show disproves this. But from the first episode to the last, Wilson is there, always emotionally pushing house to be vulnerable, to improve his life. Every season tests their relationship, but wilson always comes back. Just like House, he's not normal.

Being queer and autistic explains much House's  difficulties with conventional norms and conventional (heteronormative) relationships. When we do see House have sex, it's a weighty moment of emotional vulnerability, because most of the time sex is a mechanical act for him. He rarely has a girlfriend, never dates. We barely ever even see him have sex, but he makes a big deal out of hiring hookers for companionship (and comphet) because he cant form a meaningful lasting relationship with anyone but wilson.  The thesis question of the show is "Can House be happy?". Wilson is the answer.

[my-lover]

wilson as a character is so interesting to me, because you have this guy who, on the surface, seems so fundamentally loving and sweet and giving. he adores his patients, treasures each one and their gifts to the point his office is a museum for them. he gives all he has to house, and is so desperate to be loved back that he married three times

and i think it's really interesting to dive deeper into his character, because he thrives off this neediness and being needed. he throws himself into his work and his patients, because they need him. he got married three times because, at some point or another, these women desperately needed him. his best friend, and lover, is the neediest man on the planet. i am not discounting his sweet and kind nature, because i think that's so integral to wilson, but i also think it's really interesting to look at the flipside of it, and the ulterior motive he has

his neediness to be needed is so crucial when considering him as a character, a plot device, and, most importantly, a foil to house. we all know how much they're head & heart, two sides of the same coin, etc. and one may think that wilson is incredibly selfless, and house the reverse, but i think that's so .. wrong, and a bastardisation of their characters

house can be selfish, sure, but at his core he selflessly pushes everyone away to "save" them from putting up with him. it's a trauma-addled response, of course, but one that has a selfless nature to it. and then you have wilson, who constantly and consistently gets into relationships with women he doesn't truly love, because they need him, and that's what he loves. he ignores them for house, because he will never not need wilson, and wilson himself needs that. sure, wilson is generous and kind, and i will never not love that about him, but considering that to come from a place of selfishness is really interesting i think, especially as a foil to house & his behaviour

[atomicradiogirl]

house md dog motif where house is a dog but not in the cute way. he’s a dog in the fact that he begs for love like he begs for food and bites the hands that feed him in hopes that they’ll stop giving in to him. he only lets his guard down around one person. the person that has him on a leash. he snarls and whines and bites but deep down he’s afraid of losing the small bit of comfort he has. wilson’s dog hector was named after house since it would nip at people’s ankles and it wasn’t house trained. ironic. house acts like he’s god but really he’s just a dog. an abused dog, whose been abandoned and dropped by people he loved (stacy) once his problems, his pain, was too much. house is a desperate dog feeding for scraps of love under the table, only enough that he could stomach until one day the only thing he’ll have left is himself because that was his destiny from the start.

[housethemd]

Thinking about what would have happened after the crane collapse if it was Wilson who went after House and confessed his feelings instead of Cuddy.

What if the rest of the general storyline stayed the same? And Wilson had a health scare (could be the same as Cuddy’s, or maybe in a happier world they discover his thymoma earlier so it’s easily treatable) which causes House to use Vicodin to be there to support Wilson.

Because Wilson would have done so much better by House in that situation. Instead of breaking up with him over it Wilson would have done his best to get House the support he needed to stop his slip from becoming a full relapse.

He would have said that a slip after two years sober isn’t the end of the world, that recovery isn’t linear and that with the right treatments and supports and work he can go back to being sober.

He would not think House’s slip was a reflection of how much he did or did not care about him or their relationship.

He would have made peace with the fact that slips or even full relapses could happen, and gone into the relationship knowing that might be something he’d need to support House through.

He also would have recognized that his health scare was the first majorly upsetting event House was going through since getting sober. Would he wish House used his support system instead of slipping? Yes. But he wouldn’t be angry House slipped.

Because Wilson would have been honest with himself about what he was getting into, dating an addict.

[realbeefman]

your analysis of house md is so fascinating and it makes me wonder, what's your take on the g*od doctor? I find it hard to reconcile that they're by the same person but maybe there's an obvious reason behind-the-scenes why they're so different that I'm not aware of

had a long discussion with my mom (who has actually watched the good doctor in it's entirety, unlike me lol) about this ask.

i think it comes down to the intention with, and context within which each respective series was created. i'm assuming your ask is referencing the way autism is portrayed in each series, so that's what i'll focus on here.

house md is created in 2004, in an era of television where the antihero protagonist is becoming increasingly popular - house is coming out of an era of television that created iconic, enduring characters like walter white, tony soprano, and don draper. house very much belongs to this antihero craze, and he's written to intentionally be an asshole, who acts like an asshole to everyone around him, and continually ruins his own life.

house md isn't created to be an uplifting, heartwarming piece of television, with an autistic main character who is just trying his best in a horrible, ableist society. we, the audience, aren't meant to interpret house as autistic at all.

this is explicitly told to us in 3x04, "Lines in the Sand." (brief summary for context: the team treats a severely autistic 10 year old in the A plot, while in the B plot, house performs shenanigans throughout the hospital in an effort to annoy cuddy into giving him his old, blood-stained carpet back.) in this episode, cameron, acting as the audience, interprets house's behavior as him being resistant to change, which in her (the audience's) mind, is proof that he is autistic. however, the narrative reinforces again and again that no, actually - cameron is wrong, because he really is just doing this to get a rise out of cuddy. this is eventually reinforced when wilson, the voice of narrative reason and in this episode, the voice of our dear showrunner mr. shore, lies to cuddy about house having "asperger's" (autism) before later telling house that he isn't autistic - just a jerk who wishes he had an excuse for behaving like one. the episode ends by reprimanding the audience for having come up with such a theory - the answer is simple, he isn't autistic, just a jerk!

in stark contrast, we have the good doctor himself, shaun murphy.

the good doctor is an adaptation of a k-drama by the same name, and airs it's first episode in 2017. the american television landscape is an entirely different place, and antihero protagonists simple aren't in vogue anymore. attitudes towards disability are, on a surface level at the very least, changing, and america's tastes have changed as well.

shaun murphy breaks out onto the screen as an intentionally autistic character, in an era of television in which our hearts are meant to be warmed. unlike house, shaun's autistic traits aren't something that have been unintentionally included in the writing of his character, the fact that he is autistic is literally his defining character trait. shaun isn't meant to be a standoffish jerk, who goes about the hospital reigning abuse upon those around him and attracting lawsuits like a malpractice magnet. shaun is a severely autistic man, who is incredible at his job, and most importantly, we are supposed to like him.

so, on the one hand we have house, who the creator's didn't intentionally write as autistic, who was written in an era where douchebag's with a penchant for offensive behavior was vogue, and on the other hand we have shaun, whose autism is the reason we, the audience, are supposed to root for him.

while i do think there's a whole other laundry bag of complaints to address in the way in which the good doctor treats shaun as a character, and particularly in how the show itself portrays autism, i think those critiques are best left to somebody who has done more than a cursory overview of the show and a consult with their mother, and fundamentally, i do believe authorial intent is the major contributing factor to the difference in how these shows portray autism.