One of the Hallmarks of House, which also makes it ever so slightly annoying sometimes, is that most of the episodes center on somebody trying to psychoanalyze House. It’s either Cuddy, Wilson, one of his team, or a patient who has just met him yet delivers a cogent, perfectly formed two-bit analysis of how House is so miserable that he wants everyone else to be miserable too.
Okay. We get it. House is an ass.
We do also get insights into everyone else on the show, but last night we got to play in Wilson’s head. This doesn’t happen very often — at least not in the depth that we got this week. This week’s episode actually delved into one moment in Wilson’s life that has led him to become the ultimate People Pleaser ever since.
Before I talk about Wilson, though, I just want to mention one part of the writing that irritated me. Independently of each other, Taub and Wilson both use the term “Social Contract.” Taub is talking about the patient, who has frontal lobe disinhibition, causing him to say every asshole thing on his mind. Wilson is talking about his relationship with House. Because the term “Social Contract” isn’t bandied about in casual conversation, it stood out to me that the only reason both characters would use the term is because of the link between them: One writer. It’s not a big deal — it just sort of bugged me.
We finally get to know more about Wilson’s younger brother who vanished into a life of obscurity and homelessness. He has told House that he last saw his brother years ago; apparently, his brother’s disappearance has haunted him ever since for more than just filial love reasons. For Wilson, the single occasion in which he rebuffed his brother in order to “selfishly” study for a medical school exam, his brother ran away, unmedicated for schizophrenia. Therefore, Wilson has attributed a cause-effect relationship: The cause is Wilson’s selfishness. The effect is literally losing another human being.
Now that Wilson’s pathology has been identified, will he be able to overcome it? He mentions that he likes his “social contract” with House because House won’t sugarcoat. However, this is also the reason he seeks to avoid House at times. I don’t think Wilson is capable of changing any more than House is, but it’s nice to uncover one of Wilson’s quirks for once instead of constantly analyzing House to death.
Clacked by Jen Creer
on Mar 10, 2009 @ 14:08 EST5EDT
Okay – I figured out my issue with House this year. His schtick is old and tired. Yes, he’s an ass. Every episode shows how much of an ass he is. Frankly, I think I’ve reached my limit. It’s not fun watching the intelligent, kind people in his life vie for his attention or feel good/bad based on something he says or does. It was, once, but now it’s clear he’s getting meaner and there really will be no growth of character. No growth. That kind of sucks. And it keeps everyone around him acting like teenagers instead of the incredible people it seems they really are.
That the patient of the day brought that home only made it worse. How incredibly awful. Too bad someone can’t operate on his brain. If not to fix it, at least to change things up a bit.
Do I seem a bit too disillusioned?