Just so we're clear, just because I'm intrigued by these characters and try to get into their heads and understand their motivations, it does not mean that I either agree with their actions or condone their behavior. The possibilities regarding Blythe are: 1. She was abused by John too and was therefore powerless to stop him. I do not believe this. 2. She agreed with the way John treated Greg. 3. She was a stereotypical 1960s housewife who didn't believe in contradicting her husband. 4. John was the disciplinarian in the family and she was the one who made nice-nice. 5. She felt guilty about the affair and therefore did not oppose John's treatment. And I think Poeia's number 5 possibility is the Occam's Razor explanation for a lot of Blythe's motivations with a little bit of number 4 mixed in (and it also lends itself as to why House doesn't hate her for failing to protect him).

Every time House spoke, his father corrected or chided him. He was a professional in his mid-forties. His mother dismissed his feelings too. She was nicer about it but she went to PPTH when she knew he didn't want them to go and she didn't stop the dinner even though House repeatedly tried to get out of it. She won't accept letting Greg set the boundaries for his relationship with his parents. Blythe is a woman who let her husband discipline her child as he chose and who lied to her son about the man he hated was his biological father refusing him even that small bit of comfort. She knew that her son hated her husband and yet after he refused to come to the funeral she not only made him come, calling his best friend to get him there, but she made him deliver the eulogy and told him to make it a positive one, not caring what it cost him or whether it re-traumatized him. No wonder House doesn't trust women. She's not a sweet thing swayed by a stronger man or acting out of guilt for an affair, she's a fitting mate for John House. I fear Wilson is back to his 'saving the damsel in distress' ways and Blythe is tough, she doesn't need to be saved. And what would be appropriate treatment for the former was abusive in the latter case. Not that appropriate. Studies evaluating that kind of abusive treatment on army recruits shows that it helps some but about half the people it hurts and some it breaks. That half would be better left to experience harsh treatment in context where there is a reason for it and they would be better able to deal with it. Don't tell the Marines. :? Like an abused child who grows up to be an abuser himself, it's ironic that House, for all his hating his father's way of teaching, uses much the same style with his fellows. It worked for Foreman but I think Chase and Cameron would have learned better and faster with someone with Wilson's teaching style. Tangentially, it strikes me that while both Chase and Cameron were shown to be damaged by the middle of the first season, as were House and Wilson, I don't see any damage in the new team's behaviour. I know Kutner lost his parents but he doesn't show any effects in his behaviour. I'm told Thirteen was affected by the death of her mother and her genetic inheritance but she's so gruff and dismissive of others, it's hard to see the damage there.

Like an abused child who grows up to be an abuser himself, it's ironic that House, for all his hating his father's way of teaching, uses much the same style with his fellows. It worked for Foreman but I think Chase and Cameron would have learned better and faster with someone with Wilson's teaching style. I don't think House does share his teaching style with his father, though it's far from warm and cuddly. His father had no tolerance for mistakes and always had to be right. House is actually very accepting of mistakes as long the person learns from them and encourages his students to take risks and to challenge him. He supported Chase with Kayla and Cameron with two separate incidents of having difficulties dealing with a patient because of her personal grief issues, and Foreman's overidentifying with patients from a tough background and with deflecting his own issues onto House and judging House. He supported 13 in 97 seconds and Kutner when he set the patient on fire and later zapped himself. I think the make up of House's funeral would be the exact opposite of John House's: very few people of his own station, all of his former students. And neither Chase nor Cameron would have gotten far with Wilson: Wilson thought House should have fired Chase after Vogler and redirected Cameron to a different career after she couldn't deal with whatever patient it was before CLW. Since what was holding Chase back was dealing with his need for approval and Cameron back was her projecting her grief issues on her patients, House's approach worked pretty well for them. Tangentially, it strikes me that while both Chase and Cameron were shown to be damaged by the middle of the first season, as were House and Wilson, I don't see any damage in the new team's behaviour. I know Kutner lost his parents but he doesn't show any effects in his behaviour. I'm told Thirteen was affected by the death of her mother and her genetic inheritance but she's so gruff and dismissive of others, it's hard to see the damage there. Why are you seeing 13's gruffness and dismissiveness as not indicative of damage? It seems to me to fit into her profile of keeping others at a distance because of her fears. Taub pretty clearly has issues with how he deals with stress, since he uses cheating while still loving his wife. That's damage and we're seeing him dealing with that now. We've now seen what shaped Kutner and that he has a basically positive attitude arising from that horror, but I don't think it's safe to say we'll never see him having to deal with his past.

Dammit! As much as it pains me to admit this, Namaste was right. Doris Egan says it's Lexington, Kentucky. Regardless, I'm going to ignore that canon fact and continue to think of it as Virginia, because I like that Lexington better. It's beautiful, quiet, and VMI is there. And I'd like to think that John taught there in his later years. And mostly I'd like to think that I've walked the same pretty downtown streets that Greg House has walked at least a few times. :lol:

I really liked Wilson's line about House picking James Bond to be his father. So very House-like. His father had no tolerance for mistakes and always had to be right. House is actually very accepting of mistakes as long the person learns from them and encourages his students to take risks and to challenge him. We don't know how John House behaved when someone made a genuine mistake. We know he had no tolerance for weakness or self-pity (Daddy's Boy). Greg House doesn't either, unless he's the one self-pitying. Look at his treatment of Wilson in Dying Changes Everything, that's very John House. He and Wilson both said that he is the way he is because of his father. We will have to agree to disagree about whether House's teaching style helped Chase and Cameron or kept them from learning faster. With Wilson, Chase wouldn't have spent 3 years looking for approval he never got and Cameron learned more about dealing with patients and keeping your feelings separated from Wilson than she learned from House. Taub pretty clearly has issues with how he deals with stress, since he uses cheating while still loving his wife. Did the show say that's stress or damage? From his dealings with Amber and Greta, it seemed to me to be a roving eye and a high sex drive. Thirteen is written all over the place, at one time she's the caring one, at another she's rudely disregarding their wishes.

We don't know how John House behaved when someone made a genuine mistake. House said that if he was 2 minutes late for dinner, he didn't get any. I think that's a pretty solid example.

What Poeia said.

Even for someone obsessed with punctuality, a reasonable punishment for a few minutes lateness would be something along the lines of having the child apologize properly before sitting down, not having him miss the meal. We know that John House is overly harsh over small things, like punctuality. House is overly harsh too, making Chase take an unpleasant task because he spilled the pills while trying to open the vicodin bottle for House (among other examples). He's also cruel and mocking of personal sensitivities like Chase's parents and Cameron's husband. If it's a really big thing, like Chase being Vogler's mole or missing Kayla's diagnosis or Stacy's debridement decision, he's been forgiving. But I don't know of a comparison with John House except for Blythe's affair and we don't know how he behaved over that. Since they stayed together for 50 years afterwards and they looked like they had a good relationship it appears he forgave her. I think House's point is that we should learn, as adults, that we do NOT need outside approval from other people, and that seeking it out so desperately is setting ourselves up for disappointment. And Chase learned it. I didn't say said that Chase didn't learn it, I said that he might have learned it faster or better from someone who gave him some validation in the process. Different people learn best under different teaching styles (that's well established). House's worked with Foreman but I think Chase and Cameron learned in spite of House's style, not because of it. That's the similarity between the two. John House was cruel to his sensitive son because he wanted to toughen him up. He did, but at what cost? House was cruel to Chase and Cameron because he wanted to toughen them up. Chase seems to have survived through self-protection, by learning not to care what House thought of him as he learned not to care about what his father thought but it may be at the cost of being able to trust in his relationships. Cameron is much nastier and less sympathetic than she was in the first seasons. For all that Chase and Cameron have become good, confident doctors, I think both survival techniques get in the way of being the best doctor they could be, as House's way of surviving John (and Blythe's lack of protection) may have got in the way of his forming healthy relationships now. Maybe that's why he wasn't surprised when Cameron's kiss was going to be accompanied by a stab.

Heh. I immediately thought Lexington Kentucky and then got all excited because I live about four hours from there. (Used to live about three, but that's neither here nor there.) That's a long drive from New Jersey!

If it's a really big thing, like Chase being Vogler's mole or missing Kayla's diagnosis or Stacy's debridement decision, he's been forgiving. But I don't know of a comparison with John House except for Blythe's affair and we don't know how he behaved over that. Since they stayed together for 50 years afterwards and they looked like they had a good relationship it appears he forgave her. We know that he punished House for his guess about his parentage by giving him the silent treatment for two months and we know that not one person who worked under him in the corps came to his funeral and we know House thought that was because of the way his father punished mistakes and always had to be right. All we know about the Houserents' marriage is that it lasted 50 years, which, given the time it commenced in, is not necessarily indicative of it being happy. House seems to think his mother didn't like his father much. There's a lot of reasons a woman of her age did not leave a marriage. House was cruel to Chase and Cameron because he wanted to toughen them up. Chase seems to have survived through self-protection, by learning not to care what House thought of him as he learned not to care about what his father thought but it may be at the cost of being able to trust in his relationships. Cameron is much nastier and less sympathetic than she was in the first seasons. House was not always cruel as a teaching method--he was also supportive. He supported Chase during the Kayla investigation despite it being better for him if he's hung Chase out to dry. He didn't fire Chase when Chase ratted him out to Vogler, even though Wilson thought that would be a reasonable response, and the punch was actually a result of House being in extreme pain, not his usual teaching method. I don't think we've seen Chase learn not to trust House, but rather learn not to look to him for approval and trust himself. Chase still seems to have a relationship with House. And Cameron was always nasty when crossed or judging someone. She's learned to separate her personal feelings from her professional duty--I hope. Wilson is a fine person, but I think if he'd been Chase's teacher, Chase would still be projecting that slacker image, hoping for approval but not quite able to get it, and I think Wilson would have had a very senstive and nice chat with Cameron about going into research because she identified with patients too much. House is the one who identifies the real issues and then is willing to let the person have some time to grow.