there's this interesting thread with chase and agency through the series, isn't there? we're told he never wanted to go to medical school, but that it was his father's wish for him; we're told the main reason he went to seminary was to please his teachers. he is an asskisser towards house, basing his actions on what house will think more than his own ethics or beliefs -- "i'm against the death penalty in principle," he tells cameron in s2, but also that he cares more about not pissing off his boss. he leaves diagnostics not by choice -- like cameron and foreman and everyone else -- but because he is fired.
with cameron, we see chase is also -- not passive, he actually sticks up for himself and lays down a number of boundaries, but she nearly always is the one to make the big decisions of their relationship: she comes onto him, she propositions him, she breaks up with him and then chooses to get back with him. again, i don't want to make chase sound passive, but it's that agency again, isn't it? even in s6, he rejoins diagnostics less because he wants to (chase himself points out cameron has always liked it much more), but because he feels like he has no other options, because he is worried his wife is going to leave him and house is saying he should.
chase is rarely ever given a choice, rarely allowed to make his own decisions. he also doesn't often try. he has his moments of defiance or stubbornness, but generally he seems content to go with the flow, to let his life be arranged for him. he is asked why do you always do things you don't want? but we're also never really told what he does want.
this all comes to a head in s8's post mortem. after a season of this question -- from chase's spinning his wheels and killing time until house summons him back, to his aborted desires to remake his life only to return to old habits after his stabbing -- chase is yet again called out on his lack of agency. you have all this talent, you could do anything, treiber tells him, echoing chase's own words in chase, but he's wasted it. done nothing. is on year seven of a two year fellowship. chase even admits that treiber is right: he's wanted to leave, he tells foreman, for three years.
foreman suggests (trying to provoke chase) that chase needs guidance and adult supervision. this isn't quite right, but i think foreman is onto something: chase is so used to doing what he's told and what is expected of him, that it is his default. house wants him on the team, even though chase isn't all that interested? how's that different from going to medical school for rowan?
at the end of post mortem, chase does leave. he has no concrete plans, but he is eager to figure out what he does want to do, to claim agency for once. it doesn't last: in a month he is back in house's office, for good this time. (chase's ending is a tragedy.)
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so all that raises the question: what does chase want?
we don't really know. i doubt chase really knows.
but we do see him, at least sometimes, act with agency. defy expectations, go out of his way, not because it's what's expected of him but because it's what chase wants. and, well. there's a bit of a theme, right?
he argues with a patient's parents in cane and able and the c word, where normally he keeps his head down, both times when children are being neglected by their parents. he seeks out friendship with park's grandmother; he calls his sister after however many years to say hi.
when chase sees thirteen is upset in after hours, he ignores her telling him to drop it and presses her to open up because he is worried and he cares: while he lacks initiative with cameron, he similarly calls her out on her feelings and makes sure she knows he likes her, wants to be with her, cares. we even see him attempt this at other times: he hugs house in half wit, despite only recently having been punched out by the man. he hugs his father, too. in house training and families, chase goes out of his way to check on foreman when he knows foreman is struggling, and the two have rarely gotten along. in s4-5, chase openly daydreams about his and cameron's future family, spends all his free time glued to her side. when he falls for moira in s8, he begins planning their life together, too: they will travel the world.
chase is eager and proactive in these moments, and they're all the same thing: connection. moments of care and compassion and even protectiveness. chase wants to comfort people, to help them, to support the people he cares about. (he would have been a terrible priest in a lot of ways, but in this one?)
whenever we see chase choose to act, to not keep his head down and mind his own business, it is always in these moments. moments of care. nothing else. he fights for his job only to not be fired; he's never been driven by ambition or praise or knowledge. he's not like foreman or cameron, motivated by ambition and a desire to make a difference; he's not like thirteen or adams, caring making an impact and changing the world. the only thing chase ever fights for is other people. his loved ones. children. people he cares about.
that has always been the only thing he wanted. a family.
gosh thinking about this again after talking with @idrewagiraffe, because it's really much deeper than this, isn't it? chase lacks agency, he lacks will to change or do what he wants when there is a louder voice, but also: there is a louder voice.
a passing observation: chase never once identifies himself as catholic. or lapsed catholic. or any variation thereof. he says he went to seminary; he admits (maybe) he went to catholic school. he wanted to be a priest because his teachers were the only good adults in his life. but he never says and i was catholic, and i believed in god. he's noncommittal: god never spoke to him, he admits; i don't know what i believe, he tells foreman. i always wanted to believe, he tells moira, but he didn't. but nor does chase identify himself as a former catholic or an atheist or … anything.
in seasons seven and eight, chase is given a new identity: he is a Dumb Whore. we learn this actually bothers him, that this is something he doesn't like: he is bothered when he is unable to "connect" with women, and says sleeping around made him hate himself. but he doesn't push back when masters tells him he disrespects women; he doesn't argue when he's called a slut by park.
it isn't just that: chase is called an asskisser and lapdog by house frequently in s2-3. but pay attention: chase actually disagrees with house in differentials plenty; he sticks up for himself and his ideas, he happily screws house over in s1 or refuses to side with him at other times. he isn't all that loyal to house, isn't all that devoted: he's a suck-up, sure, but we see him transfer that trait to vogler, to cameron, to his new boss in s5-6. but house calls him a lapdog as an insult, and… chase says nothing. he allows himself to be labelled, he doesn't fight the perception. he's a lapdog? okay.
so here's the question: are these things true? is chase loyal to house, a dumb slut, a present or former catholic? we are told they are true, but never by chase himself: we are told by foreman that chase is a spoiled idiot, by house that chase is a spineless sycophant, by masters and park that he's a vapid slut. what does chase say? what does chase want?
it's one thing to say, we're told these things because they're true, but just as often we're told and shown they aren't. in s2's the mistake foreman angrily goes on that chase trash talks and doesn't care about patients, but we see time and again he cares a lot, and in that very episode is on close terms with his patient's entire family. house mockingly calls chase a lapdog and blindly loyal, but everyone assumes during the tritter arc that he's going to rat: is he loyal or not? we're told he's a player, a slut, and he does sleep around: but chase tells us he hates it, chase gets bothered when he's judged for his looks and superficiality and not on a meaningful level, and chase shows time and again what he really wants is connection.
but he also doesn't say anything, does he?
chase isn't spineless and passive, which is to say that he sticks up for himself plenty of times, when he thinks there's something to defend: he didn't screw up in cane and able, he thinks house is wrong in resignation, he's uninterested in helping out in last resort. but unlike foreman and cameron, who seethe and fight when mislabeled or wrongly perceived, chase… doesn't. he frowns and rolls his eyes and gets annoyed when house calls him a lapdog, but he still tries to win points. he hates meaningless sex, but he has it anyway.
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i was talking with someone earlier about how chase is, in his own way, a deeply gendered character. he's not hyper-masculine in the way we think of it: he's not super macho or aggressive or leaderly. but he's steeped in the tropes of the good son, the obedient son, the Good Boy in a way that wouldn't come off quite the same if he was instead a woman (who have their own obedience tropes, but in a very different manner). chase is someone who lives up to expectation, who does what he is told, who knows the rules and situation and what he can get away with. he knows he will not be punished for ratting, because he is a Young Attractive White Man and not a woman or minority and his self-serving nature will not be held against him. he knows he can be misjudged and looked down on — and chase often is — because at the end of the day, he's still wealthy and privileged and talented. still white and male.
but in return, he lacks agency. drive. he has nothing to prove, and so he proves nothing: he is misread and dismissed and disliked, and can get away with it, because it won't end his career or social life. he's good looking, so he will do what good-looking people do, even though he admits to not liking it. he is a lapdog? he will take advantage of it to get what he wants. but it's passive. but it's unassertive. we are often told what people think chase is like, but how often does chase tell us?
and when he does, what is it that he says?
what does chase want? what does he strive for? what does he push back against, what makes him fight or resist or go against expectations put upon him?
he hugs his father. he pursues cameron. he rushes to convince moira they will be happy together; he hugs house weeks after being assaulted. he goes to cameron after they split up and tries to logic her into getting back together. repeatedly.
Speaking of "House MD as a product of its time:" an exchange I think about a lot is in S1's Fidelity:
HOUSE: Huh. I didn't know it was possible for a woman to be unusually irritable.
CAMERON: Nice try, but you're a misanthrope, not a misogynist.
I'm not kidding when I say I think about it a lot. I'm a bit obsessed with it. Because I think this exchange is two things at once: blatantly false, and intended to be true.
I think that the show, the writing of the show, and the intention is that this is correct. House might make jokes, be edgy, but he's equal opportunity. He doesn't single out women, or Black people -- he hates everyone! It's very of the era: the early 2000s were peak snarky jerk antihero, but also peak edgy humor of the time on the left: we're not actually racist/sexist/bigoted, we support those values, we're just joking. It's ironic. House isn't bigoted, he's joking, trying to get a reaction. He hates everyone equally -- hate is fine, as long as you're not biased. And besides, we know he doesn't actually hate people at all, deep down.
That's the intention, right?
But also: of course House is misogynistic. But again: I don't think the show knows it. Or put another way: sure, he hates everyone. But when was the last time he made fun of a man?
Sure: he'll call women emotional, idiots, hormonal, weak, assume they're unfaithful, disloyal, and manipulative. He calls them bitches and not in a reclaimed complimentary way: he makes fun of Cuddy and Cameron's "feminine" traits. But it's equal opportunity, right?
He makes fun of Foreman for being Black, poor, a criminal, dangerous, violent, and less intelligent -- not to mention his many slave jokes -- but it's ironic! He doesn't mean it! It's equal opportunity!
What jokes does House tell about men? Wilson or Chase? When does House make fun of men? Oh, sure: he does make fun of them both. Usually by calling them gay, or implying Chase is feminine or a child or in other words: not a man. Because to be womanly is to be insulting.
I'm not writing this to say, House is problematic, House-the-character is a bad person and you shouldn't enjoy the show. It's just so emblematic of the culture of the time. It's ironic. He doesn't mean it. He's not a racist or a misogynist -- he's equal opportunity! And everyone in universe knows it, too, so they don't really get offended -- it's just House being House, just a guy doing a goof, and never mind that for all we're told it's equal opportunity, his jokes are only ever aimed at minorities.
another example of this dynamic is season four games arc. in 97 seconds, when a woman contestant (not house!) suggests men v. women, amber tries to join the men's team (and subsequently starts beefing with thirteen) because she believes house will not hire more than one woman. the viewer doesn't truly believe that about house--at least i don't. but i do believe that the show would not bring on more than one woman as a series regular (and that said woman must be incredibly attractive and very likely white).
in fact, 97 seconds is clearly trying to engineer a situation to whittle the women candidates down to amber and thirteen, while not writing an episode that implies women are worse doctors. (same with ugly and the attractiveness angle.) but the way the writers accomplished this also reflects their unintentional misogyny: the tertiary female candidates are given zero characterization, compared to Old Fraud, who had a similar amount of screentime but benefitted from superior writing. and the women's team had only one brief scene together at the start, in contrast to the men's team who had repeated scenes in which to develop group dynamics, including one where they were forbidden to discuss the case. and amber and thirteen both survived the round by, essentially, being Not Like the Other Girls, literally in amber's case and by being right in thirteen's case.
so the misogyny is on three levels:
house, the character, not intended to be misogynist;
the network, intentionally demanding a misogynistic outcome, reflecting the values of middle america;
the writer's room, trying to accomplish the above, unintentionally injecting more misogyny
Speaking of "House MD as a product of its time:" an exchange I think about a lot is in S1's Fidelity:
HOUSE: Huh. I didn't know it was possible for a woman to be unusually irritable.
CAMERON: Nice try, but you're a misanthrope, not a misogynist.
I'm not kidding when I say I think about it a lot. I'm a bit obsessed with it. Because I think this exchange is two things at once: blatantly false, and intended to be true.
I think that the show, the writing of the show, and the intention is that this is correct. House might make jokes, be edgy, but he's equal opportunity. He doesn't single out women, or Black people -- he hates everyone! It's very of the era: the early 2000s were peak snarky jerk antihero, but also peak edgy humor of the time on the left: we're not actually racist/sexist/bigoted, we support those values, we're just joking. It's ironic. House isn't bigoted, he's joking, trying to get a reaction. He hates everyone equally -- hate is fine, as long as you're not biased. And besides, we know he doesn't actually hate people at all, deep down.
That's the intention, right?
But also: of course House is misogynistic. But again: I don't think the show knows it. Or put another way: sure, he hates everyone. But when was the last time he made fun of a man?
Sure: he'll call women emotional, idiots, hormonal, weak, assume they're unfaithful, disloyal, and manipulative. He calls them bitches and not in a reclaimed complimentary way: he makes fun of Cuddy and Cameron's "feminine" traits. But it's equal opportunity, right?
He makes fun of Foreman for being Black, poor, a criminal, dangerous, violent, and less intelligent -- not to mention his many slave jokes -- but it's ironic! He doesn't mean it! It's equal opportunity!
What jokes does House tell about men? Wilson or Chase? When does House make fun of men? Oh, sure: he does make fun of them both. Usually by calling them gay, or implying Chase is feminine or a child or in other words: not a man. Because to be womanly is to be insulting.
I'm not writing this to say, House is problematic, House-the-character is a bad person and you shouldn't enjoy the show. It's just so emblematic of the culture of the time. It's ironic. He doesn't mean it. He's not a racist or a misogynist -- he's equal opportunity! And everyone in universe knows it, too, so they don't really get offended -- it's just House being House, just a guy doing a goof, and never mind that for all we're told it's equal opportunity, his jokes are only ever aimed at minorities.
i wrote this forever ago (november) with the intention of it being a whole thing. and then 6 months passed so whatever, have a random and somewhat smutty camchase top secret drabble:
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The sleep lab bed is lined with a plastic mattress guard that crinkles loudly the entire time they're screwing. Chase finds it distracting, an anxious prickle in the back of his neck: it must be obvious what they are doing, even with the camera covered by Cameron's blouse. Imagining Foreman or, worse, House storming in does nothing for him; being caught, hauled out naked and fired makes him think uncomfortably of seminary, of the past -- for a few seconds Chase feels himself faltering, losing the thread entirely. Horrifying, and Cameron would never forgive him --
He changes their position, and it's pointless anyway: Cameron laughs, enthusiastic and uninhibited and oblivious, and tries to toss her hair back: a sexy, porny move that she doesn't quite manage gracefully, that endears him nonetheless: her crooked grin and flushed cheeks and the strand of hair stuck to her lip, her fringe in her eye. She is suddenly all Chase can think about, and between the hot rush of fondness and lust and the lingering worry about being caught, he doesn't realize he may soon be in a different sort of trouble.
follow up to this: pre-series, chase's hiring to diagnostics. "sometimes i forget why i hired you."
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Presently, House has two fellows: three, counting the unfortunate son of Dr. Rowan Chase, and House does not yet know if he does. Martinez and the other one are relatively interchangeable: arrogant after completing their residencies, convinced by their parking passes and the words Diagnostic Medicine on their badges that they're hot shit.
House finds his reputation bemusing. It's earned, of course: he is not modest, he knows he's a hell of a lot smarter than most doctors in this or any other hospital, and feels generally that acclaim is welcome if it stops people arguing with him. But irritating, too. He never asked for prestige, or for every kid out of med school to think working for him makes them any better or more capable than his cleaning lady. House also employs her, and she barely speaks English.
Once House's irritation over Cuddy doing his hiring for him fades, he starts to find the concept of a nepotism hire in his department intriguing. It's hard to imagine someone more useless than his current fellows, and yet the possibilities are astounding. An Australian moving all the way to New Jersey for a job, needing his father to make the call for him. The young doctor Chase must, House thinks gleefully, have some serious personality defects. Cuddy had handed House an employee file, presumably containing within the kid's CV, medical history, and letters of recommendation: House cannot wait to start digging.
When he shuffles into his office, Martinez and the other one -- cardiologist out of Baylor, House sees no point in remembering the names of employees he's had less than a month -- are huddled in the conference room. "Either of you have anything interesting going on?" House asks impulsively.
"My wife and I just found out we're having a boy," kid-from-Baylor says excitedly. House hadn't known he had a wife to start with, but isn't interested enough to be surprised. He stares at his fellows until they wither.
"Medically," House enunciates slowly. "Has there been a single remotely interesting case anywhere in this hospital."
Martinez jerks up from the conference table, goes to a stack of charts crowding up a shelf of the bookcase. "We had a referral from Brustin," he says hastily, almost dropping the files in his eagerness to find a case.
"Nothing rheumatological," House says, drifting over to the coffee machine and starting a new pot.
"Uh, well... also... Two... three... different referrals from the clinic. Uh, 45-year-old woman with benign cysts, 23-year-old male with neurological symptoms... 9-year-old girl with osteoporosis with no obvious cause..."
"That one," House decides, thinking of the optics: poor little dying child, frantic parents, et cetera. Hopefully it lasts more than half a day: while he waits for the coffee to percolate, he leans on the counter, hooks his cane over the edge and cracks the employee file.
Robert Chase, he reads, then skips the cover letter in favor of education. It's more interesting than House had expected: the kid has floated between several colleges in England and Australia: House immediately assumes deficiencies, a student cherry-picking and enrolling in new schools once the old got wind of his incompetence. Same with the wishy-washy specialty training: Doctor Chase had started out in intensive care, swapped to surgery, and never finished subspecialty training.
House senses a whiff of something interesting here, although he's distracted by the realization Martinez and Baylor are gaping at him. House scowls, and limps back into his office without coffee.
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Picking surgery when daddy is a famous rheumatologist is almost interesting, House has decided by the next day. If Chase Jr. is as useless as his CV implies, picking his father's specialty and practice is so obvious even he couldn't miss it: much harder to coast on name recognition with a scalpel, although House has met more than his share of useless surgeons. On a whole they tend to be arrogant and believe themselves superior than other doctors because they know how to work a sewing needle: House, who is arrogant and believes he is better because he is, is not terribly impressed.
By the time House gets to work the next morning -- 10:15, since Cuddy has been on his ass about it in his emails -- House has decided the kid most likely believes his advantages come from talent and not his father's heavy hand. By the time House gets his first look at the kid through the conference room windows, he knows he's right.
Young Doctor Chase has the hair and sun-kissed tan of a teen idol or swimsuit model. He's smiling, talking, looking engrossed by whatever Baylor is saying, but even through the glass House can tell he's overdoing it: the kid's body language is straight out of the kind of direct-to-video publication that promises to teach losers how to actively listen and get laid. The sort of thing Wilson would rent, he thinks, doubling back and walking straight into that office.
"Fifty bucks," says House. Wilson is on the phone, and gives House a certain expression meant to suggest he's annoyed, but immediately wraps up the phone call regardless. "Fifty bucks," House starts again: "My new employee is in tears by eleven."
hi it’s the anon who originally asked about House and Chase you dont gotta post this i just wanted to say thanks for giving such an in-depth and thoughtful response and it’s really helped with my own characterization of them. And thanks for making such interesting posts in general, im not even that into camchase but all your posts started making me like them and understand them a lot more, you have some great analysis keep being awesome
I'm glad you saw it! It was, as I said, one of those asks where I was like... "I do not have the time to go as deep as I want to here," and it's such a fascinating relationship maybe because it's so underdeveloped. On the other hand, I'm also conscious that my takes (at least about House and Chase) are hot takes for this fandom (ie: "they're not father and son and wouldn't want to be"), so I also was like... gotta cite episodes on this one LOL.
But more importantly, I'm very pleased to have a tentative convert to camchase. That's my agenda: I'm gonna get everyone to appreciate them lmao. Not necessarily ship them, but it should at least be a "it was nice for what it was and they were happy together." Low bar, but when I started posting about them...
it’s totally realistic you’ve posted about this a million times and I apologize profoundly if so but do you have any thoughts on the Chase and House dynamic?
And it got so long that I decided to give it a quick answer at the time and save the Essay for its own post. It's own long, long, long post. So without further ado:
The House and Chase Essay it's 4k brace yourself girlies
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I do!! And it's something I change my opinion on so often, so even though I've written about it before, it's one of those "check back in a month and see what I think now" things, because Chase and House's relationship is... weird.
Like, just the basic facts. House in the first episode of the show has scenes with Foreman, Cameron, Wilson, and Cuddy to set up their dynamics and some plot lines going forward. He doesn't talk to Chase, once, until episode five -- and even then, it's not a conversation but House monologuing at Chase; they don't really have a personal back and forth chat until Cursed. (They interact before then, but usually about the case: never anything personal. Meanwhile House and Cameron are talking about birthdays, damage, her past marriage, her looks...) House and Chase frankly don't have a relationship in season one. Or Season two. Or three. They exist around one another, but House doesn't really care about him. That doesn't mean House necessarily dislikes Chase, but he clearly doesn't like him, either. Chase, alone of the OG3, is never praised or told he's done a good job; is never pushed or challenged by House. Unlike Foreman, Chase gets no episodes where House takes an interest and drives him to do better or learn in a desire to make him better; unlike Cameron, Chase doesn't have episodes where he struggles or founders and House steps in to figure out why and push him on his issues. Chase struggles with a case where there is an abusive parent? House doesn't notice. Chase comes up with a clever idea? House doesn't care.
Again, this doesn't mean House generally dislikes Chase. House will sometimes make fun of him, but doesn't really bully him or go out of his way. He expects Chase to be able to do his job, and Chase usually does, and that's enough.
On the other hand, we have a bit more from Chase's side. He openly admits that he likes House; he's accused, both by Foreman and in the script, of trying to be like House, of emulating him. It's worth noting that Chase isn't very good at this, and doesn't try hard; it's ambiguous if he really does want to be like House or not (Foreman accuses Chase of being fake and not giving a crap, in an episode where Chase very much gives a crap about his patient). We do know Chase is an ass-kisser, although he's more likely to argue and push back against House than he's given credit for: it's more that Chase doesn't have a ton of hills he's going to die on (unlike Foreman and Cameron), and doesn't put up a lot of resistance to House's insanity. (He's also fairly pragmatic, and truly doesn't mind the ethical breeches most of the time: Chase does have lines he won't cross, but they're pretty out there.)
So, House and Chase don't have a relationship?
Well... not quite. It's true that they don't interact much for how often they're in one another's proximity. But they do interact, and I find it fascinating when they do.
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A lot is made in fandom about "Chase is House's son." I disagree, but I see where it's coming from: Chase does, in S1-2, spend some time trying to win points off House. He openly admits to liking him; he's desperate to stay in Diagnostics; Chase is also, notably, one of a very few characters who actually seems to find House's jokes consistently funny. They even go bowling one time!
Chase, in general, is a bit of an asskisser and suck up, although this isn't limited to House: House himself points out in S5's The Social Contract that Chase is "politically gifted" enough to have sucked up and earned a favor or two of his new boss. Chase wants to be liked, in general. He seeks approval. House is the obvious target.
But what gets brushed aside is the way that Chase stops sucking up to House by season three. In Finding Judas, after being assaulted, he angrily tells Wilson he's "done" seeking House's approval, and interestingly Chase seems pretty sincere. He spends the next episode notably quiet and avoidant of the Tritter drama, and falls into a habit the rest of the season of arguing with House's actions or diagnosis's (Resignation, The Jerk) or stepping up and taking the lead as soon as House is out of the room (Words and Deeds, Insensitive, Airborne). While it's ultimately left ambiguous why exactly Chase is abruptly fired, we can probably take House at face value: Chase has learned all he can from the job. He's stopped sucking up; he trusts his own judgement; he is no longer deferring to his boss's opinion over his own. (Notably, House in this same stretch of episodes cites the opposite as why Foreman isn't ready to leave yet.)
Chase is notably cooler towards House after Finding Judas. Not cold: he still ultimately likes the guy. But he spends S4 and S5 keeping his distance: he's willing to help House and do him favors, but also refuses to get engaged or further involved than needed (opting out entirely in Living the Dream and Last Resort, the latter notable because House's life is at risk). Chase only really comes back in S6 because he is incorrectly convinced it is his only shot of saving his marriage, and once back on the team, we never quite see Chase revert to his "old ways." He continues to take initiative on his own (Private Lives, The Confession, The C Word, Port Mortem, Chase), and never really kisses House's ass or looks for his approval. In fact, by S8, he even seems to be harboring more than a little resentment for the man: understandable, but not exactly in line with "filial love and obsequiousness."
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From House's perspective, it's even harder to define.
As mentioned, House hardly pays attention to Chase in the early seasons of the show. It is six episodes before they have any personal interactions, and several more before they have a conversation. While House is a pretty hands-on meddler when it comes to Cameron or Foreman's issues and drama, we learn for example in The Mistake that House did absolutely nothing (and continues to do so) when Chase's father died.
House never praises or takes a great interest in Chase, unlike the other two: Foreman is called a good doctor, Cameron is told House is proud of her; at best Chase is given a "do what you want." But that also isn't to say House is cruel to Chase. He does tease and sometimes bully him, but not particularly more than any of his other employees. It's hard to say that House dislikes Chase; more than Chase doesn't seem to really register to him either way.
In its own way, House's apathy itself reads as a hint of feeling. House is rarely ever neutral: if he likes or hates someone, it's pretty obvious. Chase doesn't usually upset House, and he doesn't generally treat Chase as a weak link or idiot who needs to be supervised. By the fourth and fifth season, Chase is very obviously House's favorite surgeon -- it is remarked on in 9 to 5 -- and Chase is clearly someone House trusts to be competent and useful. In itself, this is fairly high praise: House doesn't trust many people to be competent.
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House has always hated insincerity and ass-kissing. He's fairly open about it: he refuses to play politics, he hates liars and fakes, and he dislikes being surrounded by yes-men. House wants to be challenged and argued with, not praised. Right off the bat, you can see why Chase would be a problem: no matter how competent and good at his job Chase might be, he's also deeply insincere, superficial, and a yes-man. He's also, pointedly, not someone House "chose" or hand-picked: Chase is a nepotism hire who was given to House.
(A quick tangent: I've seen a lot of takes that suggest Chase was hired "because Rowan told House not to", or in some other subversion of the line. I like these ideas, but ultimately don't think they're plausible. Chase never challenges this narrative, and Treiber in S8 confirms Rowan's call cost him his spot with House. Given Chase's issues with Rowan, I do think he'd say something, for example when Foreman and Cameron are teasing him about it.)
Interestingly, House not only takes little interest in Chase's "damage," but consistently underestimates it. He tells Cameron in The Itch that she must find Chase unsatisfying because he "isn't particularly broken," and later tells Chase in Brave Heart that his damage will take "ten minutes, tops" for a shrink to fix. On the one hand, House isn't wrong that Chase is fairly functional and doesn't wear his issues on his sleeve; on the other hand, this dismissal of Chase's... inner life, shall we say, is consistent enough to be telling. Chase might not be "broken," but he certainly has baggage. And House, who tends to hire employees based in part on just that, seems uniquely unaware or uninterested. It is not until S8 and Nobody's Fault/Chase that House seems to realize his mistake, and takes pains to reach out.
But again: I don't think House dislikes Chase. It's actually more interesting than that, because I think the opposite ends up true. House didn't like Chase, but ends up liking him more and more as the series progresses. As Chase moves on and grows less interested in House, House grows more appreciative of him. And it makes sense, doesn't it? Chase stops kissing ass and becomes more direct: House finds him less annoying. Chase becomes cynical and "damaged:" he falls more tidily into House's interests. It's difficult to be more concrete: unlike Wilson or Foreman, Cuddy or Cameron, House neither states his feelings or allows other characters to state them for him. The closest we get is in Nobody's Fault:
COFIELD: He's your friend, and he's not well.
HOUSE: He's a coworker.
COFIELD: Coworker whom you've known for almost ten years who nearly died and who's still scared he may not walk.
House changes the subject.
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We do, in fact, see signs that House's regard for Chase increases over the years, starting in season three, when House offers Chase some rare, albeit backhanded, praise: Sometimes I forget why I hired you, he says, pleased that Chase is using his observational skills to call him out. House fires him a few days later, but this is actually something of a pattern: Chase will call House out directly, and rather than deny or obfuscate, House tends to reward these moments. In The Social Contract, Chase demands to know the truth before doing House a favor, and House gives it to him unambiguously. The same in Chase. In Blowing the Whistle, House is called out again and doesn't quite reward it, but also allows the accusations to stand.
As mentioned before, House always seems to have believed Chase to be broadly competent, but he becomes more open about this and rewards that competency as time goes on, too. Chase is House's preferred surgeon. In Private Lives, House is very pleased by Chase's initiative; in Massage Therapy, he allows Chase to hire a new fellow, and is willing to keep his unorthodox (and unqualified) pick on Chase's say-so. To be perfectly clear, this is not unique to Chase: House was praising Foreman's initiative back in season one. But it is new to their relationship, and seems to signify a growing warmth. House also begins to take more of an interest in Chase's issues: he spends a decent chunk of time in S7 and S8 calling out Chase's sleeping around as an issue. He is the only one to do so.
Again, probably not coincidentally: this shift only begins once Chase has moved on from Diagnostics, and has stopped trying to win points.
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It is surprisingly hard to say what Chase and House think and feel about one another.
The show is actually not terribly subtle: Wilson and sometimes other characters tend to act as translators for the audience, explaining House's feelings for our benefit. (Interestingly, Chase also sometimes does this, acting as a sounding board for Foreman and Cameron, and House himself likes to do this for other characters.) This is sometimes clunkily done, but the benefit of this open psychoanalysis is that we tend to have a pretty good idea of what is going on in House's mind, as well as the minds of most other characters, and the show tends to treat this exposition as fairly reliable: when Wilson accuses House of wanting to sleep with Stacy, House might deny it, but we are shown Wilson is correct.
I have talked so much about how the show does not care about Chase's perspective, but it truly does not. This doesn't mean the show doesn't care about Chase, but that we very, very rarely see his feelings or events from his point of view. This is especially obvious when it comes to Cameron: how did he feel about their meth hookup? We don't know! We see Cameron running all over the place and reacting to everyone's opinions during the S3 FWB era: did anyone talk to Chase? In Human Error, his firing is mostly shown through Cameron's eyes, and she is the one who reacts to it: when we see him next, he's already moved on. Same with their plots in S5: they are from Cameron's perspective, and she is given agency and a chance to grow and react. Chase remains passive. It is not until S6 that we get inside Chase's head for the first time and focus on his feelings in any depth.
Likewise, Chase is treated a bit shallowly by the show itself. A main member of the cast, but not really worth subplots and emotional depth. In season two, as an example: House, Cameron, and Foreman all have subplots in the first episode; Chase has nothing. House, as main character, has an entire arc with Stacy and additional subplots about his parents, Foreman, and getting shot. Cameron has several episode subplots: TB or Not TB, Hunting, Clueless, Sleeping Dogs Lie, the aforementioned Acceptance, and of course a major role in Euphoria. Foreman has an entire two parter, as well as Forever, Safe, and an entire mini arc about running Diagnostics. Euphoria in itself is an interesting example: Cameron and House both play major roles reacting to and treating House. Chase does almost nothing. This is a pattern. He is in every episode, but compared to the others, he has one feature episode (the excellent The Mistake), and an equally good subplot in Forever. But that is still primarily a Foreman episode. Chase always has something to do, but he is treated as a somewhat lesser character. Cuddy and Wilson also both get one focus episode apiece. This pattern continues in other seasons: he has slightly more subplots in S1 and S3, but not much. And where Foreman and Cameron are given major roles and subplots in S4 and S5, Chase is more or less a cameo.
The result of this, besides "tumblr user all-pacas's personal obsession," is that: the show really never bothers telling us how House and Chase feel about one another. We know how House feels about Foreman, Cameron, Wilson, and Cuddy. There are many episodes about all four relationships. We don't generally get the same out of House and Chase. That they have a relationship is undeniable; they have known and interacted for a decade. But where House has entire episodes and arcs about his feelings for the other four (Euphoria, Resignation, House Training -- Role Model, Love Hurts, Que Sera Sera -- Humpty Dumpty, The Itch, Insensitive, S6-7 broadly -- half the show for Wilson), the same really can't be said about Chase in good faith. House takes an interest in Cursed, but stays out of Chase's personal life otherwise. Chase hugs him in Half Wit, but the act is never addressed again. House punches Chase out and not a soul remarks on it.
It simply isn't a relationship the show finds important.
At least, not until Season Eight.
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There are a number of reasons for this, most of them having to do with behind the scenes drama. As we know, Lisa Edelstein quit abruptly after a contract dispute, and the show needed to do some last-second casting to replace her. Edi Gathegi (Cole) was briefly in talks for this role, before David Shore and the writers settled on Foreman. In addition, Olivia Wilde's career had really picked up over the past two years, and she was largely unavailable to return for S8.
This meant that of the cast regulars, the only remaining members of House's team were Taub and Chase, and so Dr. Park and Dr. Adams were created to round out the team. Of these four, Taub was never a super popular character, and very much treated as comic relief. In a real way, Chase was the "last man standing," and he was given much more attention than we'd ever really been given before. I've joked before that we learn more about Chase in S8 than in the years before, and that's kind of true: in addition to him having his very own two parter and POV episode, we learn about his sister, his mother's abuse, meet his nemesis, give him a love interest, and watch him quit Diagnostics (only to return in the finale as the new head).
But the cast reshuffle also means that House's pool of relationships with has been severely depleted. Until now, Cuddy and Thirteen had been major relationships for him (and Cameron before them, although she is long gone). Foreman had been his de facto second in command for years, and while he's still very much a part of the show and House is treating him as more of an equal than ever, he's more distant and removed from the main plot as Dean. There's still Wilson -- boy, is there -- but on the team? House has never been that close to Taub. Adams and Park are new. Chase, though...
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House and Chase's relationship is examined pretty thoroughly in the final season. I don't want to go too much into it, as I'd just end up recapping episodes, but: from the start, their dynamic seems to have flipped in a fascinating way.
House spends weeks telling Park and Adams that Chase (and Taub) will return, long before he has permission to hire them. Chase, however, frames his return a bit more nonchalantly, explaining to Foreman and then Adams that "he was bored" surfing, that he had nothing better to do. Adams is surprised, and doesn't believe Chase had truly spent a year killing time, but Chase says he knew House would call eventually. This can (and has) been treated as a mark of some great esteem or respect or eagerness on Chase's part, but I'm not convinced. House is that clingy, and Chase continues to be fairly blasé: in his first episode back, he ignores House's instructions and does his own thing, a pattern he repeats in Nobody's Fault, Chase, Blowing the Whistle, Post Mortem, The C-Word... House does certainly encourage his team to act independently and back up their ideas, but to this extent? There is also the added wrinkle of Chase in Chase, blaming House for ruining his life, and in Post Mortem, admitting he has wanted to leave since season six. Was Chase really jumping at the bit to come back?
Fascinatingly, House comes off as the one more enthusiastic about this relationship. He praises Chase for his initiative in The Confession, and is clearly horrified and deeply upset by Nobody's Fault, and desperate to make amends in Chase. His "team leader" games in Man of the House seem fairly weighted in Chase's favor, and if Chase's read on Blowing the Whistle is accurate (and Chase's read on things usually is), this was another test set up for him to pass. Towards the end of the season, Chase is unilaterally taking charge when House is out taking care of Wilson; when he chooses to quit, House says goodbye gracefully rather than throw some sort of fit, respecting Chase's wishes.
And sure, a lot of that is because, behind the scenes, the cast was moved around and Chase had to fill Foreman's basic role on the team. But in universe? In S1's Control, House wants to fire Chase because he made a careless mistake that didn't even hurt anyone. In S8, House is eager to have Chase around and unresentful, cares and worries openly, and repeatedly leaves diagnostics in Chase's hands -- long before it becomes a permanent arrangement.
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So what does Chase think about House?
In a lot of ways, we just don't know. We don't know if Chase saw him as a father figure or mentor, if he loved or hated him or both. We know Chase admired and liked House (Sports Medicine), was jealous of House and viewed him as a romantic threat (Fetal Position, No More Mr. Nice Guy), and wanted his approval before giving up in the third season (Finding Judas). We know Chase only returns to Diagnostics when he has nothing else in his life -- but also that he views Diagnostics as a safe, comfortable shelter to cling to, even with a deranged boss (Teamwork, Post Mortem). We know Chase used to want to be like House in S1 and S2 (Pilot, The Mistake), and hated the idea in S8 (Chase).
We know he's always liked House on some level: found him funny, admirable, interesting. We know he resents House, but also trusts him, and feels "safe" around him: someone who will rehire him, give him a place to land, be relatively honest with him.
So what does House think about Chase?
We know House dislikes fake social niceties and suck ups (Control, Role Model... the entire show), tends to dismiss Chase (Euphoria, Cane and Able, The Itch), but at the same time appreciates his observational skills and is willing to be fairly frank with him when Chase asks (The Jerk, Resignation, The Social Contract). We know that House trusts Chase's competence and skill as a doctor, and enjoys when Chase bothers to use it (Private Lives, The Confession, 5-to-9), but shows less interest in his damage and personal life.
We know they've known one another ten years, and that House was devastated when Chase nearly died.
There is a moment at the climax of Chase that I find incredibly telling. It is the moment of the climax, House and Chase arguing, speaking honestly and emotionally for probably the first time in their relationship.
CHASE: This has nothing to do with the truth. You don't like that I'm reassessing my life, that I want to change it, that I can.
HOUSE: Anyone can screw up a life. I never said that wasn't possible.
CHASE: You're incapable of human connection, so you want everyone to be like you.
HOUSE: If I wanted you to be like me… I would be urging you to make a stupid, stubborn decision that blows up your life and leaves you lonely and miserable. You reassess your life when you've made mistakes. You didn't. You just got stabbed.
House, we have learned again and again, likes his fellows to be like him. Foreman is of course the most obvious example, and much of the first three seasons were about House's attempts to shape him and Foreman's attempts to resist. As Wilson puts it in an early episode, you don't like yourself, but you like this. House likes being brilliant, pushing boundaries, breaking rules. He sees himself in Foreman, and likes what he sees. But House also tries to shape the rest of his team. He delights in Cameron's growing moral ambiguity and manipulations, even as it disturbs her. He encourages cynicism and rivalry and breaking rules. Nobody's Fault examines this directly: Adams and Chase were reckless, because House has taught them to be reckless. Is this a good thing?
House admits here that it isn't. That it has left him lonely and miserable, that the prize isn't worth the cost. He has seen Chase go from an easy-going and cheerful kid to a divorced, lonely workaholic. He knows Chase used to want to be like him, used to admire him and look up to him. And House has wanted that for other people, wanted them to be like him and do as he would do.
But that isn't what he likes about Chase. In fact, House dislikes Chase most when Chase is sucking up and imitating his boss.
House has always liked Chase best when Chase has been independent of him. When Chase has trusted his own gut, run tests on his own, pushed his own theories. When Chase hasn't simply kept his head down and minded his business, but pushed and argued and cared: whether in anger (Cursed), or perhaps even love -- House does work pretty hard to get Cameron to marry the guy. Chase is desperate for 'human connection,' for approval and love and family. He's observant and creative and prefers to buckle down and study and deliberate (Cursed, Post Mortem, Detox) to making reckless House-ish (or Foreman-ish) diagnosis's. He's a sharp and good judge of character, a bad liar, and surprisingly sincere.
Chase has never been House. And House never wanted him to be.
not an ask but just wanted to say that i really love all your posts. i’m wasn’t even a camchase shipper or that into their characters in general but i genuinely eat up anything you write with them from meta to hc to fic snippets because you are that engaging of a writer! (and very clearly multi talented!) you’ve made me have a much better understanding and a greater love for them so ty for that <3
like idk it just feels like you love the show and the characters not a version of the characters (?) you don’t shy away from their flaws or more ‘ugly’ discussions, i saw that one ask asking if you were a chase hater and ngl that just reinforced to me how much you actually love him, because you see and understand all of him rather than flanderising him to be more appealing (same thing w cameron, you talk about her so well). it’s so good, i think everyone or at least more people should love their faves the way you do!
and you give such thoughtful, interesting answers to your asks, like you spend time genuinely engaging no matter the subject even if you aren’t personally ‘into it’ and it’s again something i appreciate🫶🏾
i really do appreciate how you call out racism too wrt foreman too and he’s not even your favourite!!! like idk it doesn’t feel like lip service when you do it because you have actually discussed with genuine care and interest, his flaws and dynamics and all. i adore him so much and it genuinely makes me so happy to see him discussed more than the hate posts, the no posts, or the ‘anti-hate’ posts that sadly don’t really say anything of substance.
im indian myself and it does make me kinda insane how little poc characters in general are discussed / written about fic wise(despite their importance to the narrative and how interesting their dynamics are) ((not just a house issue tho)) kinda makes me feel like i imagined how invested the show was into him with how the fandom is or that i’m odd for liking him so much?
serious apologises for the rant, but yeah that’s why it means so much for you to analyse him the way you do :)
you’re just really cool and you make me love the show so much more thank you so much for posting!!!
Oh, jeez, thank you! I'm actually having a really, really shitty day over here, so you picked a great day to be so nice. 🙂↕️
I wish I had something smart and thoughtful I could say in response besides thank you — and that I'm glad to show people the Light that is the camchase ship, haha.
And I'm joining you in being so insane about how insane fandom is about Being Racist, like — I'm pretty sure (or maybe I'm naive?) it's not conscious, that if you pulled any given member of fandom aside and accused them of it directly they'd be appalled and horrified, right? I've seen it with fandom sexism, at least: I'm literally a girl, how can I hate girls? It's just Cameron who sucks?, and I think that's the same "idea" with Foreman: it's not that they're racist, they just find him boring and dumb and too big for his britches and stuck up and mean and — It drives me bonkers! And Foreman isn't my favorite, like, I like him a bunch but he's not The Guy for me, right? It's not that I think you need to love him or you're a horrible person. But the way fandom will do literally anything except admit he's an important character, and discount everything he says and does…
And purely selfishly, it drives me crazy too, because Chase is my favorite. I love that guy. And so when fandom makes him the Special Boy and gives him all this extra credit, like… I love that Chase is creative and sharp and talented! I love the Chase MD ending! Really! But being all "he was always so special and House's favorite and so great, everyone loved him," it's like. No, I wanna talk about Chase. If I wanted to talk about the prodigal son who struggles against his admiration/distaste for House and House's fondness for him, Foreman would be my favorite. It's soooo insidious; for a while I really did take all this in good faith ("of course they aren't being weird! they just don't love Foreman and that's allowed! he's not your favorite either!"), but at this point I'm like. IDK man. What show are you watching?
… And clearly I'll take any excuse to go on about it lol. Thanks again for your comment!! And if you ever have any requests or… wanna ramble again, whatever, seriously! Hit me up!
This is going to sound like a cop-out: both? Neither?
I'm not really a House/adult trio guy: they're fine, I think House's other relationships are compelling, but neither ship really 'clicks' for me and I wouldn't say I "actively" (as in, am compelled to talk/create about) ship either one. I also think they both have their appeal for what they are on the show: House and Cuddy really do have fantastic chemistry and I enjoy their banter and dynamic (it's pretty clear House really likes someone who challenges and bickers with him as a partner); I also think S7 did them a disservice in a typical TV dog-catches-the-car way.
Hilson meanwhile is undeniable in the sense that Wilson is the most central relationship in House's life; that said, I kind of… find fandom's take on it a bit boring? Flat? Admittedly I don't really engage with it, but a lot of the Hilson I've come across is very… "they're married and in love and it's sweet." I don't really know if I agree with that read of House or Wilson, or with the idea that it is "already" canon, is as much of the show as the Hilson fandom insists it is (I find that really diminishes House's other relationships, you know?); I also frankly think there's room for they really are just friends, just fucked up and codependent ones in fandom. I guess my issue with Hilson is that fandom boils it down to one narrow oddly hetero-normative Thing that I don't find interesting.
In a way, I guess I'd say Huddy appeals to me more: it's canon, but it was canon done badly, and I feel like Huddy shippers generally admit this and work with it as best they can, exploring and admitting the flaws and fucked up dynamic and the way House and Cuddy have hurt one another. That's interesting to me; I want to see flaws and people's flaws scraping one another and making a mess. That should be Hilson, whether they're sleeping together or not. "Wilson, House's true soulmate and the only one House has ever loved," isn't it, you know? Of course, I'm totally generalizing; I'm sure plenty of people write more interesting and true to character Hilson. It's just not something I'm all that interested in seeking out.
i've said this before and i'll say it again: house the show was still mostly fine through s6; i think everyone agrees it went off the rails in s7, and it made a valiant effort to fix itself in s8 but a number of factors (loss of half the regular cast, HL deciding he wanted out halfway through) made it a mess.
which really is all to say that, retroactively, cameron being written off does come across as a canary in a coal mine situation. it didn't ruin the show, but it did mark a shift and the start of the end, regardless of if you liked her or not.
cameron had been a major character since the pilot, and the show took great pains even in s4-5 (when she was no longer on the team) to keep her involve and give her subplots and focus episodes: she's a major player in living the dream, the itch, big baby, saviors, under my skin, and house divided, despite being off the team (compare chase: he has scenes, but no subplots or feature episodes, unless as part of cameron's). she was once a love interest for house, and they were still teasing that concept as late as the end of season five. she was given an arc as cuddy's friend and assistant dean; all of cameron and chase's relationship was seen through her eyes and perspective (we never see chase's pov, or his thoughts: cameron drives the relationship, acts and reacts as it develops).
cameron was a major character. and she was clearly one important to the show and the writers, who had more impact and agency than... a lot of the rest of the cast, frankly.
and they wrote her out.
it's even more interesting when you consider the behind the scenes gossip and information. JMO was let go only after season five had finished airing, when they were writing season six. she was on the record as being blindsided: it was abrupt. as well, rumors of the dibala plot and chase rejoining the team started circulating at the same time that kal penn's exit leaked: chase was clearly picked to fill kutner's spot on the team (which makes sense -- they serve similar roles). and, well, we know chase got rewritten more than a little in s6-8: s7 was an extreme, but chase in s6 is more assertive and the focus of fanservice in a way he never was before; his sexualization and objectification is fanservice. chase was a popular character. JS was winning tabloid hot guy awards, and so chase was made into a Hot Guy: less boyish, more sexual and aggressive, sillier and outgoing and a partier.
it isn't that chase wasn't a flirt before -- he was. but we never got any hint of him being someone who parties and sleeps around before s6 (he could have been; we simply don't know either way). in fact, he had spent half the show at this point in a serious relationship he was serious about and eager to pursue. this is never really mentioned again once cameron is gone: no one, for example, goes "hey, are you on the rebound? it's kind of weird you're dating 4 women at once when we've never known you single." thirteen sleeping around in s5 is considered a red flag; chase's abrupt changes are taken as normal and typical and not retcons. (and yes: you can say "well, it was a rebound/depression over dibala." it even makes sense. but the show doesn't imply that until s8, when pains are taken to have chase stop.) to be clear, i love chase and i'm glad to see him finally have some focus on the show, to get his first ever character arcs. but he is a very different character in the second half of the show, and i don't think you can chalk it all up to "development." you can, very much, attribute it to fanservice.
so what does this have to do with cameron? well... reading between the lines, a lot.
cameron was a major part of the show, a character the writers had invested a lot into and clearly cared about. she was removed from the show during sweeps, in an episode that framed her departure as a plot twist, something shocking, something upsetting to house (and not, for example, her husband). chase, a popular-with-fans character, was brought into a more major role and given new characterization, flanderized but specifically into a character who could provide fanservice. it was all done for the audience. for the shock, for the ratings, for the reaction.
and that's a problem the show had already started to have here and there, starting in season four with the extended meta hiring games and arguably house's head/wilson's heart -- a fantastic pair of episodes, but also a Shocking Plot Twist that the show kept trying to replicate every year after that. and it is a problem that would only get worse. we are getting rid of a main character for the shock value. we are rewriting another for fanservice. there is murder now. there's a serial killer. chase had a threesome and his nudes were leaked! foreman is a joke! thirteen went to jail! house rammed his car into cuddy's home: what next? (it was confirmed, repeatedly, that this was not intended to be cuddy's last episode.) house is in jail!
house s1-3, even 4, even 5, were fairly grounded. sure, the malpractice was wild. there was a hostage/gunman in one episode. house got shot once and we never mentioned it again. but the character stakes were fairly low, pretty normal. it was a job. people did normal things outside work. cameron and chase have been dating for two years; now they're getting married. cuddy is struggling with adoption and adjusting to motherhood. it's all a bit over the top, it's TV, but it's not completely unrelatable, right? people act in largely normal ways to exaggerated but not impossible events.
but at a certain point, the events stop being normal and start being about the shock and twist and reaction. people act in regards to the audience, not their character and relationships. house has a zombie dream and musical number. there's a do-over of a previous episode. cannibal murderer! nude chase dick jokes! it's about the soundbite and preview, not the characters.
and i think cameron is the canary in the coal mine, because i think she's the tipping point. amber, much as i love her, was always intended to only be around for a season: love or hate her death, it was planned. cameron was a main character with 6 years of development and ongoing storylines.
this is a sort of footnote, but i think all the time of an interview with one of the writers i read about olivia wilde's/thirteen's absence in s7. this wasn't planned, obviously: they didn't know exactly when they would be getting her back. so they had her leave mysteriously and not say why. this is perfectly sensible: leave the door open. keep your options open.
but in this interview, which i wish i had saved so i wasn't just repeating old rumors, they admitted: yeah, we didn't know at the time she would be in jail. we debated all sorts of reasons for her to vanish! we considered having her be pregnant, too!
and that one struck me because. thirteen having a never-mentioned older brother she needed to help die: okay. still a retcon, but it works, they pull it off. pregnancy?
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there are similar interviews that @iheartsparklingwater was able to dig up about season eight. hugh laurie only announced he was done after the season started being written; it was announced as house's last right as episode ten was airing. so the writers had already begun planning future arcs, the series finale.
there might have been a plane crash. someone might have died. house might have lost his leg for real, or left ppth for good and become a pharmacist, or, or.
i've said this before and i'll say it again: house the show was still mostly fine through s6; i think everyone agrees it went off the rails in s7, and it made a valiant effort to fix itself in s8 but a number of factors (loss of half the regular cast, HL deciding he wanted out halfway through) made it a mess.
which really is all to say that, retroactively, cameron being written off does come across as a canary in a coal mine situation. it didn't ruin the show, but it did mark a shift and the start of the end, regardless of if you liked her or not.
cameron had been a major character since the pilot, and the show took great pains even in s4-5 (when she was no longer on the team) to keep her involve and give her subplots and focus episodes: she's a major player in living the dream, the itch, big baby, saviors, under my skin, and house divided, despite being off the team (compare chase: he has scenes, but no subplots or feature episodes, unless as part of cameron's). she was once a love interest for house, and they were still teasing that concept as late as the end of season five. she was given an arc as cuddy's friend and assistant dean; all of cameron and chase's relationship was seen through her eyes and perspective (we never see chase's pov, or his thoughts: cameron drives the relationship, acts and reacts as it develops).
cameron was a major character. and she was clearly one important to the show and the writers, who had more impact and agency than... a lot of the rest of the cast, frankly.
and they wrote her out.
it's even more interesting when you consider the behind the scenes gossip and information. JMO was let go only after season five had finished airing, when they were writing season six. she was on the record as being blindsided: it was abrupt. as well, rumors of the dibala plot and chase rejoining the team started circulating at the same time that kal penn's exit leaked: chase was clearly picked to fill kutner's spot on the team (which makes sense -- they serve similar roles). and, well, we know chase got rewritten more than a little in s6-8: s7 was an extreme, but chase in s6 is more assertive and the focus of fanservice in a way he never was before; his sexualization and objectification is fanservice. chase was a popular character. JS was winning tabloid hot guy awards, and so chase was made into a Hot Guy: less boyish, more sexual and aggressive, sillier and outgoing and a partier.
it isn't that chase wasn't a flirt before -- he was. but we never got any hint of him being someone who parties and sleeps around before s6 (he could have been; we simply don't know either way). in fact, he had spent half the show at this point in a serious relationship he was serious about and eager to pursue. this is never really mentioned again once cameron is gone: no one, for example, goes "hey, are you on the rebound? it's kind of weird you're dating 4 women at once when we've never known you single." thirteen sleeping around in s5 is considered a red flag; chase's abrupt changes are taken as normal and typical and not retcons. (and yes: you can say "well, it was a rebound/depression over dibala." it even makes sense. but the show doesn't imply that until s8, when pains are taken to have chase stop.) to be clear, i love chase and i'm glad to see him finally have some focus on the show, to get his first ever character arcs. but he is a very different character in the second half of the show, and i don't think you can chalk it all up to "development." you can, very much, attribute it to fanservice.
so what does this have to do with cameron? well... reading between the lines, a lot.
cameron was a major part of the show, a character the writers had invested a lot into and clearly cared about. she was removed from the show during sweeps, in an episode that framed her departure as a plot twist, something shocking, something upsetting to house (and not, for example, her husband). chase, a popular-with-fans character, was brought into a more major role and given new characterization, flanderized but specifically into a character who could provide fanservice. it was all done for the audience. for the shock, for the ratings, for the reaction.
and that's a problem the show had already started to have here and there, starting in season four with the extended meta hiring games and arguably house's head/wilson's heart -- a fantastic pair of episodes, but also a Shocking Plot Twist that the show kept trying to replicate every year after that. and it is a problem that would only get worse. we are getting rid of a main character for the shock value. we are rewriting another for fanservice. there is murder now. there's a serial killer. chase had a threesome and his nudes were leaked! foreman is a joke! thirteen went to jail! house rammed his car into cuddy's home: what next? (it was confirmed, repeatedly, that this was not intended to be cuddy's last episode.) house is in jail!
house s1-3, even 4, even 5, were fairly grounded. sure, the malpractice was wild. there was a hostage/gunman in one episode. house got shot once and we never mentioned it again. but the character stakes were fairly low, pretty normal. it was a job. people did normal things outside work. cameron and chase have been dating for two years; now they're getting married. cuddy is struggling with adoption and adjusting to motherhood. it's all a bit over the top, it's TV, but it's not completely unrelatable, right? people act in largely normal ways to exaggerated but not impossible events.
but at a certain point, the events stop being normal and start being about the shock and twist and reaction. people act in regards to the audience, not their character and relationships. house has a zombie dream and musical number. there's a do-over of a previous episode. cannibal murderer! nude chase dick jokes! it's about the soundbite and preview, not the characters.
and i think cameron is the canary in the coal mine, because i think she's the tipping point. amber, much as i love her, was always intended to only be around for a season: love or hate her death, it was planned. cameron was a main character with 6 years of development and ongoing storylines.
really, the way chase is much more ambivilant about cameron than he's given credit for. i don't mean this in an anti-shipping way: he likes (loves) her, he fell for her quickly, he is still very obviously affected by her and the loss of her well into the last season. but it's often framed as "chase is besotted and cameron doesn't care," and i think it's actually much more interesting than that.
first of all: chase is the only character of the original cast who never has had a relationship, let alone a serious one, that we hear about, before cameron. wilson has been married three times; house had stacy. cameron had her husband; foreman dates two women in s1 and a third in s3. chase flirts briefly with two women he doesn't know in s1 and s2: we never hear about it going further. in s7/8, once the writing gets back on track, it's pointed out by chase and house that he struggles to connect with women: he's not actually "sleeping around" as fandom implies. we see he goes on dates. out to dinner. talking to women. and yes, sleeping with them, but chase is transparent about it: he wants connection, not easy sex. (his problem is that he tends to try and use sex as a way of cheating connection, which house points out doesn't work.) he considers moira to be a "relationship," a real one: a pretty major plot point in s8 is chase stopping his sleeping around, in rejecting adams when she asks him out, precisely because he's finally learned to stop "cheating" relationships.
cameron is, in other words, an outlier. as far as we know, she is the only serious relationship chase has ever had. the only long-term one, too. and it's worth pointing out that she's different in other ways: they were friends for three years before they got involved. chase already had a connection to her. there was nothing to "cheat." (not for nothing do we see him briefly try this with thirteen, a woman in a similar situation -- someone chase already knows and likes and is connected with. he even asks her out in the same way cameron did him! demiromantic chase is soooo real to me.)
and yes: chase fell for her pretty hard, as seems to be his MO. and he's fairly open about it: he has a couple quick reactions in half wit and top secret before we (and possibly chase) realize he has Real Feelings in fetal position. but again, we see chase hesitate. he spends a lot of the fwb era dragging his feet in regards to cameron, even after he's realized he Likes her. he doesn't want to have sex at work; he wonders if any of this is a good idea. in airborne chase actually goes so far as to wonder if they ought to stop entirely, which is striking because by now he very much has feelings for her, they are open about their "relationship" and flirting in front of others. chase changes his mind after a speech from the patient about leaving comfort zones and taking risks, but it's striking. chase knows he likes cameron. he knows he wants to make it official. and his first reaction is... "maybe we should break up?"
this is actually something that happens more than once.
after cameron dumps him in airborne, chase confirms she likes him and launches his "it's tuesday" scheme. but the thing is... he also ends it pretty damn quickly. he does it three times, over three weeks. that's it. in human error, he apologizes for it and puts an end to it, calling it "silly." he also says that cameron "was right," which is telling in itself, because most of her objections to the plan were you don't mean this and don't have feelings for me; is chase agreeing? or is he back to the fwb pattern of "yes, i like her, i like her a lot, but this is a bad idea."
nor is this the only time! in the itch, chase admits he's felt shut out by cameron, and that while he understands it isn't intentional, he can't wait for her forever: it's not quite a breakup threat, but it's a boundary line for sure, and cameron reacts accordingly. he does dump her in saviors. he calls off their wedding, less about the sperm and more about what he worries the sperm represent (cameron not being serious about him). most tellingly, while (to my frustration) cameron gets the blame for "leaving him over dibala," she is actually the one who tries to work things out and come up with a way to save their marriage: chase is the one who tells her he's not going to, which is when she leaves.
chase is surprisingly reluctant to be with cameron.
to be clear, i think this is entirely separate from his feelings for her.
we know the guy loved her. he is openly besotted, he spins daydreams about their future together, he tells foreman and house with no hesitation that he wants to spend his life with her, no question. a full half of his dibala crash out was about cameron, about the fear of her reaction. and that's, you know, telling. and that's, you know. the trick.
chase has never really had a positive relationship before. his mother was abusive; his father was neglectful and absent at best, and controlling from afar. chase begins the series at the bottom of the diagnostics totem pole, everyone's least favorite and most expendable colleague, the only one house didn't choose or take an interest in. and he isn't miserable and isn't lonely, but... chase struggles to connect with people. chase isn't good at intimacy. either romantic or otherwise. as late as season eight, we see how much he struggles to accept park's friendship. chase is good at the superficial, but as far as we know, that's the most he's ever had.
chase tends to treat cameron as though she's going to dump him at any moment. he gives up quickly on his tuesday scheme: he breaks up with her before she can break up with him, and wonders repeatedly during s3 if being involved is a good idea. when he finds out about the sperm, chase's reaction is to worry it means he's cameron's second choice, a fear he echoes in lockdown. after dibala, he avoids her and worries openly about her reaction, drowning in guilt and shame. "it would be a burden on her," he tells foreman. in season eight, he tells adams that the worst thing anyone can be is just that.
cameron might leave or reject him someday. so it's probably better not to get involved at all, right?
compare cameron, by the way. who is more reluctant to face her feelings and act on them, but when she does: she rushes to let chase move in the moment she learns he wants to. she starts the process to destroy the sperm before he asks. she decides actually murder is fine and wants to save their marriage. we can debate the logistics and how well this would have gone, but what isn't debatable is that her first instinct was always to fight for and fix their relationship.
a year and a half after house's apparent death, chase's life should be going fine, right? he's head of diagnostics, park's dad makes him lunchboxes, he has friends and a great job. okay: his back still gives him problems. and he's not exactly as happy as he thought he'd be. but he's fine. he's good.
cameron coming back to ppth fresh off her second divorce shouldn't affect any of that.
in fact: it shouldn't matter at all.
[or: it's s2 of house md, and stac— cameron is back in town, babyeee]
"Hey, mom," Sofia says loudly, getting on her tip-toes to prop her head up on the back of the loveseat. "What makes your tummy hurt?"
"Dinner's in a little while," Cameron says, looking up from her novel. She smiles at her daughter's frown. "Does your tummy hurt?"
"No. What makes it hurt?" For her fifth birthday, Sofia had received a toy doctor set: well-made child sized tools in a cloth bag. This had exactly the result Cameron had been hoping for: Sofia's favorite game lately was doctor. However...
"Could be gas, cramps, constipation..." Cameron eyes her daughter, who frowns downward, chin still tucked up on the back of the loveseat, hands framing her cheeks. "Pancreatitis?"
"What's that?"
"Your pancreas helps your tummy digest foods. Pancreatitis is an illness that means it isn't working right."
Sofia hums thoughtfully, raising and lowering herself on her toes. "Can you die?"
"No, a doctor will fix it." Cameron tries not to sigh, closing her book on her thumb.
"What if they don't fix it?" the little girl asks patiently.
"You could die," Cameron allows.
"How?" Sofia asks, looking up at her mother with narrowed eyes.
"The sickness could spread to other organs, which could cause them to fail, and you could die from that," Cameron says slowly. "But that never happens, because doctors like me and --"
"Okay thank you!" Sofia launches herself away from the loveseat, already trotting off towards her bedroom.
Cameron sighs and slowly lifts herself from couch to follow. Sofia's room is a mess of toys and books, and Chase is lying on the floor with a pillow under his head when Cameron makes it to the doorway. Sofia is rummaging through her doctor's bag for a plastic toy syringe. "You have pan-cre-a-titus," she says carefully. "You're dying."
Chase's eyebrows go up. "I thought I had a stomach ache?"
"Yep. You're dying of it. All your organs are failed." Sofia briskly gives him a fake shot.
"So what did you just give me? Medicine?"
"Yeah, but it's not working. My mom said."
Chase looks over at Cameron in the doorway, eyes wide and alarmed. She tries not to laugh as she meets his eye, shrugging as gravely as she can manage as Sofia checks Chase's heartbeat. "There's no treatment at all?" Chase asks the little girl.
"Nope." Sofia gives him another shot.
"But I feel so much better," Chase teases. "I think the medicine's working."
"It isn't!" she insists huffily. "You're dying." Chase closes his eyes obediently, and Cameron laughs aloud. Maybe the doctor's play kit wasn't such a great idea after all.
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