GAH I HAVE TO SCREAM

[deelaundry]

bironic has told me a million times to stop reading this fic and I CAN'T STOP. It's bad for me. BAD.

This fic is by another of the writers who gives House's flaws to Wilson, and then yells at Wilson for being awful while House is AWESOME and AMAZING and SO INCREDIBLE GIVEN ALL THE ISSUES HE HAS TO FACE THAT ARE NOT OF HIS OWN MAKING.

So in the fic, Wilson is a "stress alcoholic" (whereas House's issues with pills were "pseudo-addiction" due to not ever having been treated properly) and cheated on his girlfriend. He then unknowingly gave herpes to the girlfriend -- picked up during the one-night stand -- and she was, unbeknownst to him, pregnant. So he's lived nine months not knowing if the baby has it too. And he's living with his girlfriend but not allowed to have sex with her, on the advice of his therapist (who was House's therapist first, and LOOOOOOOVES House).

When Wilson's girlfriend went into labor early, it was very stressful and scary, and then the baby went into distress. Wilson was afraid the baby had herpes and it was all his fault, so he kissed his unconscious girlfriend goodbye and left to go get drunk.

He turned his phone off, House was pissed at him, girlfriend was hurt, this was the worst thing anybody's ever done to anyone, WALKING OUT ON YOUR FAMILY IS LIKE MURDER, yadda yadda yadda. (Also, Cuddy yelling at her kids due to her own stress is child abuse, and House was going to take the children and leave her, but she agreed to get help. So she's fine.)

ANYWAY, Wilson came back, House punched him, girlfriend hasn't forgiven him but is still living in his apartment and letting him take care of her, cook dinner for her, etc. Baby is in NICU with a complication but not herpes, so nobody seems too concerned about him.

A few days later, it's time for Wilson to have his first session with a therapist after the night Wilson's kid was born. What do you suppose they spend the session talking about?

Wilson's kid who is still in NICU? No.

Wilson's feelings about the kid or parenthood? No.

Wilson's feelings that led him to have a mental break and walk out of the hospital? Ha, no, of course not. He didn't crack under stress and guilt in the face of possible loss of his newborn son. As his therapist says, he made the "decision to walk out in the first place."

How awful it was of Wilson to "walk out on his family" even though he was gone less than twelve hours and girlfiend was asleep for most of them? Yes!

An in-depth analysis of all the mistakes in judgment Wilson made that night and what Wilson should have done that would have kept him from walking out of the hospital ("exits from the road of disaster"), with the added dig that he depends on House too much for emotional support? Yes!

A declaration that Wilson's girlfriend must be notified at all times of Wilson's whereabouts and he is never allowed to turn his cellphone off? Yes!

A conclusion that Wilson is the complete cause of the "damaged foundation" of his relationship with his girlfriend, and the solution is for him to put conscious effort in working on their relationship (with the insinuation he wasn't doing that over the past nine sex-free months)? Yes!

Half the time on House, and how House is a good friend, and how Wilson is too much of a buttinski and should stop asking House anything about House's issues, while continuing to show up all the time and be there for House? Well, OF COURSE.

Comments

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

Wowza, she sounds even worse in one-on-one communication than she comes across through the fic.

House is interesting and fun and to write and has a lot of layers to him -- and Wilson does too. It's scary to me that this author (and others I've read) think understanding House = excusing him for everything he does. And that distorting Wilson's character as depicted in canon = showing Wilson's real flaws. Wilson has a lot of flaws in canon that could be explored realistically and interestingly, as well as some things he feels guilty for that he shouldn't.

In the latest chapter of the fic, the therapist asks Wilson why he turned off his cell phone. "I didn't want to get the call that he had died," he said softly. "I thought it was all my fault." That's in-character! It's interesting! But the fic author doesn't explore that AT ALL. She just has the therapist tell him that turning off a cell phone didn't affect whether the kid died or not, then goes off into "And this is everything else you did wrong." Bleah.