Campfire Chat #1

[srsly-yes.livejournal.com]

Howdy Campers!

Do you know what time it is?! Why it's time to break out the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars, and raise our conversation to an all-time sugar high.

Today's topic: The Saddest Man in New Jersey

That's what RSL called Wilson during the series. Now that it's over let's revisit the concept. What is it about Wilson that makes him sick!fic fodder? Is it built into the character or does RSL bring that "certain something"? What makes us pick up on it? With the finale we know even tptb saw and wanted to exploit it. Is it because Wilson is House’s sole support system, and the key to House’s vulnerability, or is it intrinsic to Wilson?

Bonus questions:

• When did you first discover Wilson was a prime candidate for suffering?
• Was it unfair what tptb did to Wilson?

As in years past, please feel free to air your opinions and discuss amongst yourselves.

And don't forget to pass the bag of marshmallows to your neighbor.

Comments

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

House cares more about the puzzle
I'm wondering about that. He certainly wants us to believe that, but is it really true? I can remember him lying at the transplant committee during the Vogler arc to save the life of a young woman. He had already diagnosed her, there was no puzzle anymore. And he was risking his career.

In two big cases (Esther and the dead boy in S8) he does solve an old puzzle, but it's always a puzzle with a name and a face, and the final aim is always to save further lives, to make for those which were lost. Everyone knows about Wilson's "thank you for the death sentence" skills, but House's ability to find kind words describing to describe to a grieving father the corpse of his son have staid with me.

To me, this caring for patients in an insane way is a large part of the bond between House and Wilson. In this respect, the turning point in Transplant, the moment when Wilson starts going back to liking House, is when House pushes him to have a Wilson epiphany on how to convince the patient to accept treatment. Only House can do that.

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

House cares more about the puzzle

Oh yeah, I don't mean to imply that he *only* cares about the puzzle - although that is what he'd like people to think. Especially in the first three years he did form attachements to some of the patients and clearly cared about them. He was the sort of doctor who would do *anything* for his patients.

But I think in the case of Esther tweleve (or whatever it was) years later he only remembers that he failed her, failed to find the solution. Whereas Wilson would remember that she was a grandmother who left seventeen grandchildren, two dogs, a fish and a bird behind, and never got to make that trip to Paris that she always wanted. House has the file in his drawer, Wilson would have the jumper she knit for him while she was dying.

Houses failures are also in diagnosis whereas Wilson's are in treatment which might also illustrate the difference between them. House wants to find out why people are sick, Wilson wants to cure them once he knows why they're sick. Wilson's own illness is in that way a turn around for House who has never cared much about treatment before. Now he has nothing to diagnose he has to focus on the treatment.

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

Whereas Wilson (...) dying.
So true. [It read like a bonus minific, LOL.]

And I like your comparison, in that Wilson carries the responsibility of both diagnosis (if usually an easier one) and treatment, plus he tends to be more involved with the human side of his patients - which is why in Transplant he knows that female-Biff can be convinced to accept treatment only by male-Biff.

a turn around for House
That's true. A pity that they had Wilson refuse treatment, since it's clear that House was more than willing to deal with that (down to the more humble services, as we both know). But then, fanfic is there to fix canon ;).

[menolly-au.livejournal.com]

I suspect that it really can't be good for Wilson to know so much about his patients and to get so involved in their lives, it's great for the patients of course, but must be very hard on their doctor. No wonder he feels each death so personally.