a limp down memory lane

[flywoman]

I've been catching up on the second season of Castle, and I just saw an episode that featured Marc Blucas (Riley Finn on Buffy) and Anne Dudek (Amber!!!!) as a divorced couple about to get a second chance at making things work because Marc's character has lost his memory and with it the fifteen years of emotional baggage they'd accumulated. Aside from eliciting a squee of recognition, this made me think of the Buffy episode "Tabula Rasa" and the interesting dynamics that occur when the regulars all find themselves in a room together with no memories of their established relationships.

So now I'm thinking that, in addition to "House M.D. the Musical," I'd enjoy seeing a similar exploration of the effects of amnesia on our favorite show, and particularly with regard to House himself. Who would he be if he still had his brilliance and musical/linguistic talents and eidetic memory, but he couldn't remember his childhood or the infarction or his previous interactions with his colleagues? Any thoughts? Has anyone read a really good fanfictional take on this?

Comments

[jezziejay.livejournal.com]

I've never read such a fanfic, but I did once have an idea of writing a long fic where Wilson is in some kind of an accident and when he regains consciousness, he has lost the last three years worth of memory. So, he doesn't remember starting a relationship with House, nor does he even know that he's gay now. (This admission/realisation comes much later.) As far as he's concerned Amber is till alive and they're dating. So he has to go through the whole grieving process again and he doesn't feel as though he can be in a relationship with House again, and poor House has to try to make him fall in love with him all over again. Someone once did an excellent job with this in a Goren/Eames Criminal Intent fanfic.

Which, of course, has nothing to do with House losing his memory. This would be a very intriguing idea...maybe you could try it?

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's such a sad and compelling idea, especially given House's own memory issues surrounding his exact role in Amber's death. Poor Wilson and poor House! Any chance that you would want to pick this up?

I was thinking more of playing it for the bittersweet humor - House being a brilliant, sensitive guy with lots of things going for him, whose psyche got sort of deformed and twisted along the way. I could see him trying to conceal his amnesia and being smart enough to figure out who he's supposed to be and relearning medicine on the side, but not realizing that he's historically been a pain in Cuddy's ass or a mooch when it comes to his colleagues and employees. And also being less guarded about his feelings, which would allow him to finally get together with Wilson ;).

[jezziejay.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like where you could go with this, especially the deformed/twisted psyche aspect, and House forgetting this about himself. I've often wondered whether House's personality is more nature or nurture...and it would make for a great exploration!

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! There are a lot of interesting ways to go with this, and big questions include how open-ended to leave it, how much House is able/willing to learn about who he was and why, when/whether he learns the reason for his memory loss, whether his memories return and if so how he responds... gah! Strikes me that this would be a great challenge fic to produce all kinds of intriguing takes on the situation. But I think I'm starting to get a handle on mine...

[flywoman.livejournal.com]

ZOMG, THANK YOU, I totally have an idea. But also work to do and family to call and... yeah. Still, I'm very excited! And the best part is that it's going to push this damned 13/Cam fic right out of my head, at least for a while!