2.05 Daddy's Boy
From tv.com: A Princeton student who is graduating suffers a seizure while partying at a frat house. House's parents also drop by to see their son.

Everytime I rewatch this episode, I keep finding myself telling John House to shut the hell up. And...so sarcastic comments are made. Especially after that gem of a question about where House's motorcycle is. Where the hell else would it be?

On first viewing, I thought John House looked like he wanted to make a connection with House and was afraid of putting a foot wrong because House hates him. It wasn't until the second or third time that I realized that every single time House said something, John either corrected it or criticized it. And most of his comments weren't especially bad or mean but the patterns are so set that John probably doesn't even realize he's doing it. But after 45+ years of that, it's not surprising that House is not receptive to a relationship with his father. House says he has to take a rain check. John says plans have been made. House says he asked Wilson to cancel, he's dealing with a complicated case. John says they'll come back when things aren't so out of control. House says his patient is dying. John asks why that means House can't take time for a meal. and so on.

John House came across to me as verbally abusive the first time I saw it, so I'm always a little surprised by fic that portrays him as a good guy. I don't think the opposite extreme is believable, either, but, lor, his comments about the motorcycle and House's leg made me want to throw things at him. In a way, his smiling demeanor and the seeming mildness of his comments just make it worse. There's an analogy there with chronic pain -- even when the comments themselves seem "not especially bad or mean", the fact that they just. never. stop. wears you down. Especially when everyone else sees only the smiling demeanor and tells you he's such a nice guy and you're just blowing things out of proportion. And, with that example, it doesn't surprise me in the least that the nicest things House can think of to say to Chase are "you've either learned everything you can or nothing at all" and "sometimes I forget why I hired you".

Don't forget that he thinks a compliment to Cuddy to is mention her ass or her rack. Constantly. Not to mention, John takes no interest in what matters most to House, that being his job. "So, beside work, whatcha been doin'?" Because I can't be bothered to care for what I don't want to hear about. "Not much." "You always say that, not much." "Because that's always the answer." Your son is a department head at a teaching hospital, you idiot. With only one properly working leg--which you oh so helpfully pointed out that he still had, like he could ever forget. Did you expect him to be scaling Mount Everest in his copious amounts of free time? I wasn't at all surprised by what we later learned in 'One Day, One Room'. I believe John House has always presented two sides of himself within his family. I am firmly of the belief that every bit of the abuse detailed took place when Blythe was out of their home. My feeling is that once his safety net (because that's what I believe Blythe is to John, whether he realizes it or not) was gone, everything, even his son became a threat. House has serious problems and I have no doubt where they started. I think it's only his mother that's the reason he's at all okay. He addresses her directly, willingly making body and eye contact, and she in turn doesn't criticize every single thing he does or says. And, most importantly, she told him exactly how she felt about him and I think I could see how happy she was just being with him. The sigh of relief when John got up and left, of course, is also a big tip-off. Until then, House had been rigid and monosyllabic in his answers, clearly wanting to be any-bloody-where else. I don't blame him in the sligh-*test*-('").

I know I'm very lonely in my opinion, but I never thought about House's father as a "bad father". The first impression I got is that he was a man that had the misfortune (?) to raise a brilliant child. And he was never around for enough time to really connect with his son. He couldn't understand him and they grew up apart. His military background also didn't help. He was a man with a narrow mind - always thinking about duty and honor - and his son had a free, inquisitive mind. It's a recipe to conflict. But they have something in common: bluntness. They say and do what they think it's right, they don't mind how hurtful this could be. That's why I despise ODOR so much. The abuse plot was unnecessary. Their personalities are enough reason to explain why House hate him so much and why John seems so uncomfortable around his own son.

But they went out of their way to make it the kind of abuse that some tough guys in the military likely wouldn't view as abuse at all, just toughening up their wayward kid. House rightly saw it as abuse, but his dad probably just considered it a "code red" of sorts. Yep. This kind of abuse only reinforced my opinion about John House. The problem I have with ODOR is that they presented it in a very simplistic way (IMO) and a lot of people seemed to think it was sexual too, what bothers me even more.

I agree. R. Lee Ermey, himself, has talked about discipline that he dealt his subordinates in the military and said, 'Hell, my daddy did worse to me and I came out just fine.' So, yes, this is completely believable. I know I'm very lonely in my opinion, but I never thought about House's father as a "bad father" You're not alone. John House is demonized in fic and I really don't like seeing that. It's always a treat for me when I can find a fic that remembers that he does love his son and while he mishandled their relationship, there is remorse and discomfort that lets him know he was wrong. Even better, when he stops to consider (anything--a shock, I know) how his son might feel toward him and how things got that way.

John House irritated me in this episode. Maybe House does make a point of being miserable (I still can't see it, no matter how much I'm told on the show) and not realizing "how lucky" he is, but nothing he said during the dinner with his parents seemed to provoke that lecture. I especially hate that John House seemed to have more of a problem with the fact that House dared to park in the handicapped spot. Like that very act was a sign of House's bad attitude. It seemed to me that introducing the subject of the motorcycle, House was trying to give them something to talk about -since his job wasn't interesting. He might have done it just because he didn't want his mom to have to sit with two men not talking to each other, but his dad couldn't even try to discuss that. He jumped right to how it was in the handicapped spot. And, then, House bypasses that (because what's the point in harping on it? House is handicapped, ergo, he gets to park in a handicapped spot. It says nothing about his character or misery to do so) and continues on with a perfectly reasonable continuation of the discussion. And, his dad still can't let that one issue go. If he had harped on whether House was too old to be riding something like that, or too irresponsible or something like that, I would have been irritated, but not to the degree I was here. I could have seen where he might think that way. But, he made a big deal out of House doing something that the happiest, most well adjusted, handicapped person would do. I think right up to that exchange, I didn't care one way or the other about John House. But, after that, ugh! Shut up.

For me, the harshest part of the House/Dad conversation was when John asked his son if there were "any new babes" in his life. As others have pointed out above, each line of John's responses to House was aimed (inadvertantly I believe) at undermining House's sense of potency, authority, competancy. In sum, the relationship between House and his father is one in which John House repeatedly undermines his son's sense of his masculine self-worth. This harmful pattern in their lives was exacerbated by the infarction. I think that House was profoundly unmanned by the loss of his leg's major function. It is not far-fetched to guess that he was forced into an extended celibacy after the infarction and that even the sex they may have had during the months that Stacy remained with him was infrequent, limited, radically different from before, and unsatisfactory for both parties. All the continuing pain and Vicodin consumption can't help either. So House was naturally reluctant to get back in the saddle again. The return of Stacy at the end of season one opened up new possibilities and hopes for him. In Cuddy, House faces another woman who has known (and enjoyed) him in better times. Unfavorable contrasts between then and now might loom large in his mind as he tries to imagine a renewed relationship with Stacy or Cuddy. So John House's seemingly casual inquiry about his son's love life serves to bluntly chastise House for failing in primal area of male achievement. It can't be a complete coincidence that House intensifies his pursuit of Stacy in the weeks immediately following his parents' visit.

What annoyed me beyond words was the way John House said to Cameron "I'm just making fun of my son, not of you", why would he think that's even remotely appropriate?!

I think he meant it as "I'm teasing my son, not making fun of you." But considering that House hates his father so much that he pretty much can't stand to be in the same room as him, teasing is also an foolish way to try to connect with him.

For me, the harshest part of the House/Dad conversation was when John asked his son if there were "any new babes" in his life. As others have pointed out above, each line of John's responses to House was aimed (inadvertantly I believe) at undermining House's sense of potency, authority, competancy. I agree it was inadvertent. Asking House about new babes didn't bother me. It came off to me like simply an awkward attempt to find something to talk about without needing to get too deep.

That's how I took it too, that he was trying to connect with his son and of course it failed.