God's complex? :wink: I think it has to do with her narcisistics tendencies. It's all about her and she is always right. Funny thing is when someone actually puts some doubts about her way of living her life, like that guy in Hunting and Foreman in Insensitive, she goes and does stupid things...

She didn't have any problems judging the husband in Fidelity for not staying with his cheating wife. That was for me the point where I started to dislike her.

She started to bother me even earlier... In Paternity when she accused House of didn't accept the case to humiliate her. Since the second episode it was all about her!

Ahhh, okay, I'm in the severe minority here, but I actually like Cameron. (ducks rotten fruit) :sweatdrop: And NO, I don't think she's perfect, and no, I'm not a House/Cam shipper, mostly because the power imbalance in that relationship would be scary in the damage it could do to both of them. I'm also probably in the minority in blaming the writers above all. I tend to respect Jennifer Morrison for trying so hard with all of the crazy-ass shite they hand her each season. She reminds me of an actress in one of those thirty-second improv sessions: "Okay, you're uptight and moral! No, you're a slut! Wait, you get all fluffy over sad patients! No, hold on, we want you to torture them!" My belief is that the poor girl is dancing as fast as she can, and if she stumbles now and then--well, anyone would, in her shoes. But back to the character points. Jesse Spencer once gave the reason for Chase's betrayal of House to Vogler as the fact that Chase was getting a little too perfect: pretty boy who cared for his alcoholic mother, stood up to his deserting father, went to seminary school, prayed with patients, got insights as to diagnostics--yeah, the halo was definitely starting to shine, and the writers wanted to shake it up by giving him a dark side. The fact that we're still trying to figure out why Chase implemented such a lose-lose strategy shows that they bollocked it up, but...the fact that there's a great majority of female forum-ers might play a role in why he was so quickly forgiven. From what I've read online, he's still pretty much hated by a lot of male House fans. So onto Cameron. Once again, I think the writers tried to shake up the character, but they were even more incompetent with the females (yeah, the same goes for Cuddy suddenly losing her sharp intelligence in Season 3 in favor of overt vamping and over-the-top emo.) They made Cameron so inconsistent that any sane female would stay far away from such a mental weather vane. So why do I like her? One perverse reason is that I don't want to fall into the same sexism that obviously permeates the writing team. Another, more real, reason is that yes, Cameron almost never smiles, but when she does (in an honest, not a vampy, way)...Wow! She lights up the screen. Finally, there are these few moments that make me hope for more: When Cameron goes to House in Control and pleads for him to stop terrorizing Chase over the messed-up angiogram, (and by doing so, shows prescience of the disaster Chase's fear of being fired will precipitate). The "I'm quitting"--rejection of handshake scene in House's apartment in the Vogler arc. No tears...just humiliation and pain on her face. The way her entire expression crumpled from vampy flirtatiousness to near tears at the end of Airborne, when she told Chase, "It's over." Her fear and nervousness as she jittered on Chase's doorstep at the end of "Human Error." There are many others, and yes, they're just moments, but they keep me thinking that Cameron is essentially a good person, that JMo does have the acting chops to pull off a truly touching scene, and that I'm right to keep hoping for more of the good stuff. Sorry for the teal-deer, but after reading through 10 pages of Cameron-dislike, I thought that someone ought to say she's not so bad. :oops:

Mental weather vane. Hee. I like Cameron too, or rather I want to like her more than I do. But she is flawed (who isn't?). Essentially I see her as someone who wants to be a good person, and IS a good person, but is very immature. Maybe in ten years she'll be awesome. Another Cameron moment I liked was her suggestion for how to avoid firing a fellow by everyone taking pay cuts. I thought it was clever, really. From what I've read online, he's still pretty much hated by a lot of male House fans. I think that's because he's a pretty boy. The Volger thing is simply justification. I completely understand what you mean by needing to give Chase a flaw because he was too perfect, though: I find myself struggling not to dislike the character because FANS insist he's a genius angel in a lab coat.

I completely understand what you mean by needing to give Chase a flaw because he was too perfect, though: I find myself struggling not to dislike the character because FANS insist he's a genius angel in a lab coat. Ah, I have to be careful here and not tread too deeply into boards-on-boards (looks around anxiously for mods), but I've spent some time at Other Places where the Cameron love shades over into rabid fanaticism, and she is a SAINT and Her Love Will Redeem House, Who Is Barely Worthy Of Her But Is Still Galaxies Better Than That Evil Australian Wombat! ....so what I'm saying is, I feel your pain. Cameron Worshippers almost sucked me into really disliking her character, until I came to my senses and realized that her character wasn't responsible for the cult that had sprung up to attack Chase, Cuddy, Wilson, or any other character that stood between Saint Allison and her Twu Wuv. I'm an admitted Chaser, so I'll apologize on behalf of my favorite character for all of his fans that do the same to you. Of course, the wars between the Cameron fans and the Chase fans are hilarious with their hatred of the opposing character...ironic, considering that in canon, the characters seem to like each other pretty well.

Let me just clarify that I didn't choose to dislike Cameron just because I wanted to pick up a female character to hate. When I started to see the show I didn't know anything about any of them. I couldn't love or hate any character. In the second episode she did something that I found silly, but I gave her a pass. Then it came Maternity and Fidelity, my indifference quickly became dislike and annoyance. The crush and the date just made things worst. She was acting smug and bossy around her colleagues and then bitter because things didn't go how she wanted. Then in season two she became reprehensible. Her actions with patients and colleagues were unethical at the best! And she wasn't even a good doctor. Season three just proved everything that I suspected about her: immature, self centered, judgmental. There was nothing to redeem the character for me. I don't think that she sees herself as a good person, she sees herself like a perfect, flawless person! And I think it's suppose to be that way. That's her big flaw. I agreed that JMo probably does her best. The problem is that her best is not very good, specially when she has scenes with HL. The writers write for all the characters, while I agree that sometimes her character is inconsistent, I don't think it's only writers fault, it's also because JMo seems unable to understand Cameron, so all her emotions came the same way with the same facial expressions. Like I said before, it's frustrating.

...my indifference quickly became dislike and annoyance. The crush and the date just made things worst. She was acting smug and bossy around her colleagues and then bitter because things didn't go how she wanted. Then in season two she became reprehensible. Her actions with patients and colleagues were unethical at the best! ...I agreed that JMo probably does her best. The problem is that her best is not very good, specially when she has scenes with HL. The writers write for all the characters, while I agree that sometimes her character is inconsistent, I don't think it's only writers fault, it's also because JMo seems unable to understand Cameron, so all her emotions came the same way with the same facial expressions. Hmmm, we'll probably agree to diagree, but I thought that I'd point out something. Jennifer Morrison writes none of Cameron's scenes. All those scenes in which she was smug, judgmental, bitter, or unethical were written by the House writers. The fact that she convinced you that Cameron was truly any of those things shows that Jennifer Morrison succeeded in acting the part as written. If she'd really had the same facial expression for each of those emotions, you wouldn't have been able to tell what she was supposed to be playing, regardless of the words. Before I drift too much into actor vs. character, I'll try to go back to Cameron the character. I agree that she's inconsistent and shows the worst traits at random times. But given the script, how else could she be interpreted--and aren't the people who are responsible for the script therefore responsible for Cameron's actions, however pleasing or distressing they may be to the audience?

I'm going to mention something here I also brought up in the Cuddy thread -- namely that whether or not you like aspects of the character that the writers produce, those aspects still are the character. It's canon. It's who she is. It's one of my pet peeves to see people use the "bad writing" excuse whenever something happens that they don't like. Bad writing is a clunky piece of dialogue or exposition. Not an entire arc or consistent characterization. Yes, Cameron is judgmental. Yes she has chosen to have inappropriate sex. Yes she cares too much as some times and not enough at others. I like to go back to the pilot episode, when we're told via House that Cameron is not who she appears to be. She's chosen the outer skin of Allison Cameron the caring doctor that most people see, yet she's got issues beneath that. Poor Dead husband doesn't explain away everything. It may just be another example of her interior motives, not the reason for it. That said, I like the Cameron who is kind and caring, yet also struggling with these issues of who she is: is she a widow? Is she a young woman who is missing out on life? Is she overly critical? Does her curiosity take her too far? Does she want to save everyone? If she were just another ingenue, she'd be boring as hell.

I completely agree with the interpretation that Cameron is conflicted, and that's what makes her interesting. I'm not a rabid shipper of any ilk; there are plot developments that I enjoy more than others, but I'm willing to go where the writers want to take me arc-wise, then decide later if I like it. It's one of my pet peeves to see people use the "bad writing" excuse whenever something happens that they don't like. Bad writing is a clunky piece of dialogue or exposition. Not an entire arc or consistent characterization. Emphasis mine. Here's the place where we differ a bit. The fact that something is canon doesn't make it good writing, exactly for the words you put there: consistency. I can swear for a fact that a lot of medicine that goes on in House just plain sucks--don't get me started on Cane and Able, and the miraculous development of a human genomic specific antibody in the space of an afternoon. In the same way, I can go for Cameron having motivations that we don't know about, and for her mysterious past experiences affecting some of the inexplicable actions she takes. However, in no universe do I accept that she's STUPID, as she was in Half-Wit with the kiss-and-stab. I would've accepted that the thought of losing House spurred her to the kiss for emotional reasons, but not that she thought she could distract him enough to fasten a tourniquet, pat a vein, get the needle lined up exactly with the vein, then stick it in his arm and do a successful draw with him standing still through the whole thing. That is a perfect example of bad writing, both medically and characterization-wise. In the same way, I didn't like Cuddy's hysteria in Airborne; it was inconsistent with everything the writers had shown us before about this woman's competence. In the interest of plot suspense over Cuddy being ill, the writers sacrificed her medical knowledge and ability to deal with pressure situations (yeah, youngish female dean of a teaching hospital--it's not like the woman has ever had exposure to stress situations before.) This is not to say that House has bad writing ALL THE TIME. I wouldn't have fallen in love with the show if it did. But if certain female characters act "the crazy" so out of nowhere that most other females watching the show go, "Uh, no way. Can't stand that crazy-ass beech," then it's a failure on the part of TPTB which guides the writing of the characters. The men on the show have consistency of motivation; we get to see how their psyche affects their actions, and it all makes sense. However, the women will out-of-the-blue forget their medical training and the years of sexism they had to stand up against (yes, medical school and residencies are very sexist environments), and act the emotional female with little or no intellect guiding their actions.

In the same way, I didn't like Cuddy's hysteria in Airborne; it was inconsistent with everything the writers had shown us before about this woman's competence. In the interest of plot suspense over Cuddy being ill, the writers sacrificed her medical knowledge and ability to deal with pressure situations (yeah, youngish female dean of a teaching hospital--it's not like the woman has ever had exposure to stress situations before.) Except it is consistent for Cuddy when she has to deal with issues and patients that are personal, as opposed big picture. That goes back to "Humpty Dumpty" when she had problems separating her personal feelings for Alfredo with issues as his doctor. Same as in "Finding Judas" and "Fetal Position." I fanwanked over on the Cuddy thread that perhaps she knows that she's better keeping the decisions at arms length, that's why she focuses on administration rather than on-hands care. Give her an administrative issue to solve -- in "Kids" or "Maternity" and she's on top of it. With Cameron, we're told in the pilot that she's not who she seems. In the second season she has an apparently one-night stand with Chase. In the third season, it's FWB. To me, that's consistent. They may be consistent failings, but they're consistent.

With Cameron, we're told in the pilot that she's not who she seems. In the second season she has an apparently one-night stand with Chase. In the third season, it's FWB. To me, that's consistent. They may be consistent failings, but they're consistent. Yep. That's what I was trying to say - but Namaste did it so much better! I dislike the character because the writers consistently show me during three seasons that she is the kind of person that I, particularly, wouldn't like to have around.

The men on the show have consistency of motivation I'll grant that with Cameron the motivation some times is lacking, but IMO she's perfectly consistent in terms of her sexual behavior across the three seasons. This is the same woman who makes jokes about sex with Chase to tease him, manipulates her boss into a date, makes comments about threesomes (& asks her patients about that in probably more detail than is appropriate professionally), & then you get the methsex & FWB. And those last two items in particular were pretty darn stupid (closet sex? sex on a sick patients bed? - NOT SMART) so I don't find the "kiss & stab" incident odd at all - its possibly a bit more dumb than the other things, but its not (for me) OOC. And given that this is the same woman who thought the date episode & stealing Kalvin's meth was a good idea, I can absolutely see her coming up with this plan. Do I like what she does? No, not really. Do I think DS has put together a consistent, interesting character? Sure. But I also think its really easy to pretend she doesn't do all these things or they are OOC (IMO JMo's guilty of this too) because they aren't likable & aren't consistent with the stereotype of pretty = good. & I don't even find her that pretty actually, particularly s3 and the refinement of the clothes, with the little vests & ruffles & what have you played up the difference between what's on the surface of Cameron & what's really going on underneath - which isn't so pleasant or naive. Remember, this is the woman who broke into her boss's home to snoop into his personal affairs. Its perfectly consistent with who Cameron is - but its also pretty dumb & the results aren't pleasant or successful for her in particular.

With Cameron, we're told in the pilot that she's not who she seems. True, but I don't see that "she's not who she seems" should give them a free pass to make her do absolutely anything at all--consistent or not with any other thing she has done or we have been told about her--without being judged as doing a poor job in any specific scene. Yes, the methsex and the fwb are consistent. That anyone with the slightest knowledge of what is involved in drawing a vial of blood--let alone a top-notch, certified doctor in a prestigious diagnostics fellowship--could ever actually believe her kissing House would be sufficient distraction to allow it is not consistent--with who Cameron is (a competent medical professional, not a complete idiot) or even with the most prosaic reality. That she is "not who she seems" is not enough to make me discard reality and the established fact that she is a doctor and is not intellectually sub-normal and swallow that nonsense wrt the kiss/blood draw. Unless we are to believe that Cameron knew that couldn't work and no one could possibly believe it would work and she didn't care because she had some secret reason for using a bizarrely transparent gimmick in order to kiss House, I don't see how that can scene can be interpreted as anything other than out of character for Cameron and lazy, disrespectful writing. If the writer are willing to use this ploy in spite of it's blatant lack of believeability just because it's cute or will have House/Cam fans wetting their pants or whatever, I think that's being lazy and an insult to the intelligence of the audience. And that's bad writing in my book. Unless there is some deep meaning to the scene which I am too simple-minded to appreciate--which is always a possibility! :? ETA: Cross-posted with the ever brilliant Ranee. And those last two items in particular were pretty darn stupid (closet sex? sex on a sick patients bed? - NOT SMART) so I don't find the "kiss & stab" incident odd at all - its possibly a bit more dumb than the other things, but its not (for me) OOC. And given that this is the same woman who thought the date episode & stealing Kalvin's meth was a good idea, I can absolutely see her coming up with this plan. Okay, I see what you are saying here and it does make sense the way you put it--BUT--I think only if it was all about the kiss, not about the blood-draw. And what does that mean? In the context of the sexcapades and Cameron's declarations that she is over House? I'm still confused.