ok. Due to the utter amazingness of Taru's transcript site (and her transcripters, props to the third) I have been reading season two episodes. Now, some people may not like knowing what's going to happen in a movie or TV show before they actually see it, but I am the type of person who watches movies over and over and reads the back page of a book before they've finished it... and reads the entirety of a TV series before it airs. Call it the whole experience, not just the one viewing.
Anyway, I have been reading Daddy's Boy, and I was just wondering what people's thoughts were on the dynamics between House and his parents, especially the 'argument' that House had with his dad.

Now. Were they arguing? Why was House's dad angry? Because he got the bike, because he's crippled, because he feels sorry for himself, because he parked in the disabled parking?

btw, i think it's very good, the way that the writers have captured the dymanic of a three-person family... and House's dad, who in my opinion is a bit of a knob.
House and mum share a smile... awww.

hm, reading it does convey somewhat of a different feeling than watching the performances. they were all speaking in normal tones, House probably in a softer than normal one. the lines were delivered by all in a, I guess, weary way, as if they had already been through this many times before. good performances all around. you won't be disappointed when you see it, Armchair Elvis. ;)

I think House's dad isn't necessarily angry at House, just frustrated because he can't understand why House is the way he is. he sees House as physcially healthy, seemingly to scoff at House's use of a handicapped parking space. House literally has to show his dad the cane he needs to supplement his leg to remind his dad where he's broken.

the mother figures into the family dynamics as someone used to getting caught in the middle. she loves her son yet doesn't stand up to her husband when he picks on House. earlier in the episode, House admits to hating his dad (in a roundabout way, saying he loves his mom but letting the implication drop about his feelings for his father).

in the scene immediately preceding this one, set in House's office as Cameron meets his parents, House's dad delivers a telling line about his relationship with House:

sounds like modus operandi for his relationship with House.

the visuals convey a certain background details about House's dad: military haircut, marine tattoos, stern expression. we get the impression that the dad has treated House as more of a soldier than a son, a stern taskmaster and never sparing House's feelings.

Interesting question.

I always thought it was a deep seated House/Daddy House resentment thing.

You know how House is always going on about the 'everybody lies thing', I think he mentions that his dad never did.

Contrast that against our POTW whose Dad lied to him to make him feel better.

House generally hates people lying to make others feel better, but in this case (especially when his mum says he is perfect just the way he is), he reverts to the little boy who just wanted his parents to tell him everything was all right.

I get the feeling that his dad was the one who was always pushing him (which is a good thing), but sometimes you just want to be told that what you are or who you are or what you did was just 'perfect'.

You've probably hit it on the head with the dynamic between House and his dad, but I interpreted his mom's comment differently. While, as with moms everywhere, she probably does think he's perfect the way he is to some extent I believe she was being sarcastic--not in an attempt to hurt House though-- and he acknowledged it. Just like I'll talk with my Mom and complain about my looks, she'll tell me I look fine, I'll say in jest, "and you're not prejudiced or anything, right?" she'll say "of course not" and then we both laugh. It doesn't mean she doesn't think I'm pretty and that she thinks she'd think so even if she were a complete stranger, but we have a laugh over it anyway.

House knows he's far from perfect, somewhere deep down at least, and his mom knows he knows, but having raised him she knows that he also hates having his father get on his case.

I have a whole other theory too as one only child to another on how his parents could be disappointed in him despite House being a doctor, or probably that they're actually not disappointed in him, but he thinks they are, and why he thinks so that I'll share later.

thanks runawayhouse, love the cap!
I think you're right there catlady. The dynamics of a three-person family are complicated even when 'all are for one and one for all', so to speak, and I can see how the relationship between House and his Dad could get very strained, what with his stern militarism.
I notice that House's dad seems to be very thickset, while House is taller and skinnier. They're even different in body type... Perhaps like the writers intended for them to be different in that way.
Thanks again for your comprehensive answer, runawayhouse. If house was speaking softer than usual that seems very interesting... I'd like to see the way he behaves around family. Parents are basically the Final Judges for a lot of people, the people you always strive to please and respect above all others, and sometimes can't. Even House can't please his Dad. When he doesn't want to he makes it worse.
Oh, and he seems to be very warm towards his Mum - when he reverts back to a little boy when he's with them, wanting them to praise him and tell him that everything's alright, he puts up defences against his dad (who seems to have been probably very hard to live with, especially as a child and an adolescent like House) and just wants to hug Mum, basically. Too cute.

I don't think the "perfect the way you are" line was delivered with sarcasm, maybe gentle irony (and a gentle arm pat from Mom) since Dad had just been so critical of House.
(I realize this might be just a semantic difference but I interpret sarcasm as having a connotation of meanness, which I did not detect from Mom.) I think Mom in some ways agrees with her husband about House's need to move on with his life. What mother wishes to see her son living in misery? I agree with them to a certain extent.

House has basically been stagnant for the past 5 years since his ischemia. Some of it he can't help (the pain, the limp) but his lack of willingness to participate in therapy (earnestly, not as a Mark-goading activity), his drug addiction, and his pushing away all support structures except Wilson (who he still mildly pushes away) are by choice. Dad's message about House not appreciating what he has but dwelling instead on what he's lost was on-target for me, it's just his delivery that sucked.

Anyway, back to the visual aspects since Armchair Elvis has yet to see the episode. Dad is indeed heavier-looking than House, and according to IMDb, just a shade shorter at 6' even. The way he carries himself did seem to be more macho, sitting with his arms spaced widely at the table versus House's semi-withdrawn pose,

and he had an almost flirty look during the scene where he apologizes to Cameron. It's not like he was making the moves on her but more like how a man talks to a pretty woman he considers attractive. Compare Dad's expression in the two shots of him: with his family and looking at Cameron. Mackin'! Anyway, if we ever saw House give Cameron a similar look (and meant it!), there'd be a whole slew of new fanfics based on that. :P

The parental scenes were pretty sparse but did manage to convey quite a lot of unspoken messages. Thanks for asking the question, Armchair Elvis. It forced me to take closer look.

Nice discussion and I am not adding much here that hasn’t been said more coherently up thread but..

House’s parents were really interesting; I totally agree with runawayhouse, you won’t be disappointed.

The cafeteria scene was awesome, short but superbly done. House looked hugely uncomfortable but the interesting thing was that he made an effort. As far as House does, he made an attempt with his Dad. Based on his earlier comments to Cuddy, I was expecting much more open hostility. Papa House also, I’d argue, made an effort too but they couldn’t manage it. I think he did really think that his comments about House’s leg would help in some way but it was horribly misjudged. He had a valid argument and I don’t think House would disagree but someone saying ‘Cheer up and get over it’ (that seemed to be the gist) never helps.

The conversation House later had with Cameron seemed to reveal some of the problem. House described his parents as ‘normal’ and I think he feels they deserved a ‘normal’ son to fit in with their lives. I also think got the impression that he felt that they lost out too because they didn’t have other kids to compensate for having a son who couldn’t be that what they wanted.

I guess it come back to whether the much quoted Larkin line ‘They f’ you up, your mum and dad’ holds any truth. Do parents shape who you turn out to be and, either way, is it a blessing or a curse? That seemed to the focus of the discussion between Cameron, Chase and Foreman prior to House’s parents arrival- was House the sum total of his parents attitudes/strengths/weaknesses?

As much as the ‘nature vs nurture’ argument is interesting and may shape or factor in to who we become at eighteen, I don’t think that it holds weight after this point. If House blamed his Dad or genuinely hated his father then I don’t think he would have been in contact with them at all and certainly would have totally avoided meeting up with them. His comment to Cuddy about ‘hating’ his Dad was maybe more about hating the fact that couldn’t get on.

The one thing in this episode that I really didn’t get was Wilson going along with Cameron’s ‘dinner plan’. Cameron thinking it would be a good idea didn’t phase me at all but why would Wilson, who clearly understood House’s relationship with his parents was poor, even entertain it? House looking to get out of it by offering to do more Clinic hours was amusing and understandable but I thought he would be more likely to have said ‘I have a cane and believe me, I know how to use it!’.

Great ep though, one of my favourites so far this season and the ‘I’ve been lying to you in increasing amounts’ snark was too many kinds of awesome.

I agree that it was difficult to tell what to expect of House before watching the scenes. Knowing House's easy irritation with patients and coworkers, you expect that to continue. Yet familial dynamics between parent and child can't totally be overcome. So what we end up with is flashes of mixed emotions coming on the heels of each other. It's to Hugh Laurie's acting credit that we get to witness these discrete emotions fleeting over his expressive features.

After Dad pronounces judgement that House just doesn't appreciate what he has, House gives a disbelieving hurt look, quickly followed by a brief flash of anger/disappointment.


Later on, while he's talking with Cameron. It appears House is still thinking about his parents' visit. He's playing his game but not really moving it, letting himself crash repeatedly into a wall. After talking with her a bit, he appears resigned to his unsatisfying relationship with them.

It's pretty amazing to analyze the emotional content of Hugh's acting on a second-by-second basis. These scenes are very brief but so much is packed into them. I can't wait for you to see it. :)

This is the one S2 episode that I don't have recorded, but I do remember being particularly struck by one thing -- House THANKED Cameron at the end, for NOT sitting in on the meal with his parents...

Everyone above has covered the dynamics with the 'rents far more eloquently than I could, but this one thing, to me, seemed to speak volumes about how mixed up House's relationship is with his parents... to such an extent that he'd be worn out enough by their visit to let down his guard with Cameron like that...

I have to say that Benj hit on the same things I was going to mention about House and his parents in relation to the only child dynamic. I too am a somewhat odd ball child of normal parents, They love me, I love them. They are supportive of my strangeness and say they aren't disappointed in me, but I often wish they'd had more than one child because they are good people and deserve to have a child that they could really feel proud of--they say they are proud of me, but when comparing with my son/daughter the physician, lawyer, MBA, what have you, my daughter the perpetual grad student and wanna-be writer just doesn't fit in the same class. And at least for me when you're it off-spring wise you do feel an enormous pressure on your shoulders to achieve because there's no one else to bring honor to the family name and all that.

I won't even go into the grandchild issue other than to say, that when you're the only child if your parents are to have grandchildren you are, obviously, the one and only source. Now, on one hand I'd like to have kids some time--but have absolutely no prospects at this point with whom to have them, but enough about my pathetic love life-- but I doubt my skill as a parent and oddball that I am I both wonder how any child could survive 18 years at least partially in my care and not come out of it with serious mental problems, let alone survive some of my more ditzy moments phsycially, and that perhaps the best contribution I can make to the future of humanity is to keep my genetic material out of the mix. However, my parents should get to have grand children to spoil, so there's pressure there. House is somewhere in his forties or so, the exact age depends on the ever fluid time-line and on if we make House the same age as Hugh among other things, so you figure he's got to have heard the whole when are you going to settle down and have some kids thing at least once.

Basically everyone who has commented on this thread has said something amazingly coherent and, well spot on. I know this may sound lazy, but I completely agree with what everyone has said. House is obviously different from his father physically and in terms of certain aspects of his mind-set, you can definetely see that House and his parents have a very complicated relationship, dare I say the complicated relationship that only an only child can have with parents.
When House talks about his relationship with his parents, he almost seems wistful, if that's the right word, at points. Wilson has obviously had experience with the relationship too, but it's in the realm of fanfiction at the moment.
Benj, i think you're completely right - it's almost like house is a little bit guilty for not turning out normal when his parents were so normal, or suburban.

I didn't think that House's mum would be sarcastic, she seems to nice for that. I almost expected her to bring House a little lunchbox full of cornbread, or something.

Runawayhouse, I love what you've said about House and his therapy, or healing, too. I do however think that he hasn't pushed away Cuddy for supporting him either, but that's another discussion.

I agree that, to a certain extent, House curbs his snark when it comes to Cuddy. BUT, I don't think it's due to any close feelings he has for Cuddy (unlike Wilson, whom he lurves) he just knows it's the best way to keep a job he loves. he may be childish and immature but he's no fool. he knows that Cuddy is his last line of defense since she holds the key to his legal fund and has ultimate power over the hospital (yes, technically the board does but she sits in a supervisory postition on said board). so while House takes the cheap potshots at her attire, he ultimately does what she asks in terms of the hated clinic duty and accepting patients he'd initially rather not take (e.g., TB doctor and cycling guy).

so reading over what I said previously and what you said, Armchair Elvis, I guess I would agree with you that House has not pushed Cuddy's support away in a professional sense. but I disagree if your meaning of "support from Cuddy" had an emotional content. I do see that Cuddy cares for House (I extrapolated her guilt over roof guy in Humpty Dumpty to mean that she probably feels residual guilt for House's ruined leg and also her role in House's vicodin cold turkey attempt in Detox shows her caring) but House still seems to me to not accept anything beyond the professional from her (which is not to say he's unappreciative as witnessed by his speech to her at the end of Humpty Dumpty).

the only-child guilt, I have nothing to say about that. I've got plenty of siblings so if anything, we, whose parents chose to have back-ups, probably channel the guilt y'all are talking about into sibling rivalry. everyone's got gripes; they come in assorted flavors. I get the impression if House had siblings, he'd be a lot less idealistic about his relationship with his folks. hey, if your folks tell you they're proud of you, why doubt it? there are plenty of other ways to disappoint them. ;p

okay, so I went back to the transcript to make sure I didn't miss what you guys are saying about wishing he was more "normal." the first sentence: "they seem perfectly pleasant," sort of a challenge to their appearance versus what he feels about them. I see House's despondency over his parents' visit as more of a "why can't they understand and accept me" versus, "boy, I wish I could be as normal as they are." to House, normal=boring. he doesn't accept "normal" cases, why would he wish to be boring, himself? the leg, sure, he wants normal function that but I think mentally, he quite enjoys his superiority. he certainly has the arrogance to flount it whenever he has the chance. note also that he does not use the word "normal" in reference to his parents.

I love that the writers didn't make House's parents into the monsters that people were expecting to see. great way to keep us guessing as to what makes him tick. too simple and freudian to blame it on an oedipal complex, even if he does profess to love his mom and hate his dad. :rolleyes:

btw, Armchair Elvis, you had me in stitches with the cornbread remark. :lol:

Count me among the people who are glad that House's parents are seemingly normal. It doesn't mean they were perfect, but they were trying their best, like most parents do, and while they may not have been the best parents for House they were fundamentally good parents. It would be an easy out for them to make House have an obviously troubled childhood--no doubt it was troubled, but for reasons besides his parents being a disaster--and I admire the courage of the writers to set themselves up a harder, but ultimately more rewarding, for both themselve and the audience, task.

And I did mean ironic rather than sarcastic when I was referring the HouseMom comment. I really blew the word choice--I guess they should revoke my poetic lisence :D. Glad you got the gist of what I meant anyway.

I sort of commented on it in my rambling post under the all hope is not lost for House thread, but given the impenetrability of that post I'll say it again. I don't think House would want to be normal in most senses of the word, especially now that he's used to being the way he is and there are definitely parts of it that he enjoys. For him to lose all that would be terrible, but all, or at least most, of us want our parents to feel proud of us. They may tell us that they are proud, but we, or at least I, don't really believe them. Afterall, they're our parents, they have to like us, especially, as in the case of an only child, we're all they've got in that department. So while House may not want to be normal, he would like to be someone who would give his parents more cause to be proud--and as odd as it seems there are still plenty of ways that he could feel that they might not be proud despite his prestigous profession and reputation--and as he sees it that person would be someone more normal.

And it's lonely being unique, especially at the level House is. While he may not care much for most people it doesn't make him immune from wanting to belong at least on some level. It's possible that he wonders whether if he had been born different than he is--meaning with no knowledge of what his quirks allow him to do so he couldn't miss it-- he wouldn't be happier.

I agree that it'd be kind of dissapointing to see that House's parents were seemingly normal (because that was the great way that you put it Catlady), just like you'd feel sort of shortchanged to see that House was nauseatingly cheery before he had the infarction. House is not a simple character, and I feel that it would almost be an insult to the intelligence of viewers, and definetely an insult to the writers and the truth of the character to assume that he's the way he is because he had an arguement with his dad in 1975.
I can also imagine (extrapolate) that there was a fair amount of 'What are we going to do with this boy' going on in House's childhood, for whatever reason.
House's parents aren't the best in the world, but I don't believe that he turned out the way that he did because his folks were travelling magicians or something.
House is exceptional because he's very smart, because his social view, interactions and skills land hard down in the left-of-center. He's also exceptional because he's damaged, in some ways a tragic soul. There's a lot of mystery to the character of House, a lot of enigma.
I feel that although House is someone who doesn't gove a toss what people think of him, he will always have that almost childish want for approval and praise that we all have at times. He's stuck between telling himself that he doesn't need anyo
ne, least of all his parents sticking their nose in his business and wanting them to approve of him. Even though he's a world renowned doctor with a good position etc etc, I think that he essentially wants to know that his parents are proud of him, of what he's done, of the way that he's recovered and put his feet back on the ground. Because he knows that they're proud of him being a doctor, he's probably been shushing them (or at least his Mum) when they say that since he graduated.
The praise that House accepts and doesn't shoot down in a ball of flames or discount would probably be very minimal anyway.

do you have transcripts for..later episodes..i love spoilers..lol

Really great discussion of the House family dyamics here. Great insight from everyone. And I loved the caps. :)

If anyone's interested, here are two really superb fanfics dealing with House's childhood and relationship with his parents:

Surface Tension by PWCorgigirl - a short piece from House's Mom's point of view, centered around the scene in "Daddy's Boy," with flashbacks to House's youth up to the infarction

and

Family Housing by Namaste - a longer, more detailed account of Greg's childhood, told through a series of vignettes, up through adulthood

Both are really wonderful, and if you haven't read them already, I highly recommend you do.

Also, looking at House's enneagram personality type (Type Five - The Investigator), I found it really interesting what it had to say about Fivess and their relationships with their parents.

One source had this to say on the subject:

And from another source:

I thought that that went along really well with what everyone has been saying, and what was shown to us in "Daddy's Boy."

(And if anyone is curious, John's type is Type One - The Reformer and Blythe's is Type Nine - The Peacemaker.)