u/Equivalent-Room-4636

Okay, I am gonna step on some toes probably, because Mike is a popular favourite character. But hear me out. I am not saying Mike isn't a good person. Because he is. he is a good person and a loving father.

But he is pretty shitty husband. And I think its because he didn't love Frankie all that much. He just married her because in his own words, "he needed to check the marriage box". He felt she was pretty enough and tied the knot.

He forgets Frankie Birthday, mothers day, anniversary despite numerous reminders. He was told by Frankie what he wanted for Mothers day (in fact she told all the kids, but story for another day) but he still forgot. Now compare this to Hal from "Malcolm in middle". Those who have watched the show knows that Hal didn't sleep for a week because he was stressed about getting Lois a perfect gift. He started sleepwalking because he was worried about disappointing the love of his life.

The difference get all the more pronounced since Mike usually just forgets the occasion and then picks up whatever he sees first & closest to entrance so he doesn't have to waste any more time that he could have spent on watching sports. Case in point : THE YELLOW PANTS

He is good father who sold his business for his daughter, but he isn't a good husband. He at most tolerated Frankie, he doesn't enjoy talking to her and tries to get out of spending time with her.

He didn't share his emotions when he is down with her like the time his cat died etc. He wouldn't comfort Frankie when she is emotional. Granted Frankie is emotional a lot but her mood doesn't really affect him as much as it should have.

The pros/cons list gave it away. Hal would get scared & jealous if Lois even got a bigger mattress but Mike would be jumping with joy if Frankie decided to move in to different room. He would love the space. It is shown that he is introvert but not even buying a rose for your wife when everyone else did at that table, or showing love through a hug or a kiss is weird too. He also repeatedly said he goes to work to avoid family, sits in his car alone after coming from work (Frankie notes it from tracker app and says it used to be okay when kids were little but now it is getting hard not to take it personal), he also actively sees her calling and ignores on purpose (they had a big fight in one episode). It almost looks like he would feel happier being divorced but he kind of feels the compulsion to keep on going with the marriage.

The difference is that Hal felt he was lucky to have Lois while Mike maybe felt, he could have done better than Frankie.He should have waited for 'the one' so he could be happier.

There this dialogue that explains the best:

Frankie (talking about Axl's love life to Mike): You were Axl's age when you met me and I WAS THE ONE. (starts happy dancing)

Mike: Damn near anyway

Frankie was swept up in Mike being a hunk, tall, manly man, sports guy (you could see the way she likes Axl as his favourite kid, that this is her TYPE) to actually see that he didn't really like or love her.

He did however CARE for her just as much as someone would for a person they have lived together for so many years. And it is highly possible that because he was a good person he just stayed married to her.

I know House's whole personality was based on being misanthrope and a jerk. But Foreman was way more blunt and jerk to everyone. >!And he killed someone just because he didn't approve of her life. He wanted her gone quickly so started the treatment and diagnosis without thinking too much. !<

He also constantly challenged House's authority even after he was usually right. I know House encouraged critical thinking but at times it looked he was a hurdle, house had to overcome to save someone.

Chase had way more right diagnosis than him but he still respected Houses's experience. Foreman wanted to be successful or the next house so bad that he screwed people left and right for it.>! In the first season he practically stole Cameron's article and then infected her so that she would be more motivated to save him.!< House would never do that. Not to a stranger, not to a colleague but he definitely would appreciate darwinian way and have a good laugh at Cameron's gullibility. House was more of a softie inside but jerk on the outside guy. He once put his medical licence on line to save a stranger. Foreman thought himself as nicer than House but he wasn't.

This may be unpopular opinion but Lois was a SAINT (an actual saint ) and she did what she did (yelling, punishment) was because her kids were the MOST destructive kids of the world and they GOT BORN together in one family from some luck of fate. She was a saint because she still raised them and made sure they survived even though it made her a villain.

She yells, punishes them...When she is so strict with them, EVEN then they absolutely cause such havoc over where ever they go, getting banned from literally every place they vacationed. What would have happened HAD she not be so strict. They were never "talk about your feelings children", they were "we would destroy everything EVEN if you make us show consequences".They weren't regular kids which the show emphasised many times.If she behaved like HAL, mellow or some gentle parenting like Malcolm did with his daughter then most of her kids wouldn't have made it to ADULTHOOD.

Every episode literally shows WHY LOIS IS THE WAY SHE IS?
Francis was uncontrollable at just 2 years old. Had Lois not burnt her OWN hand to instil fear in him, he was going to burn himself from fire. If she wasn't "TOXIC" then he would have been dead at 2, Now Reese who had such a masterful brain who put firecrackers on himself and stood at a junk like structure, It was a sitcom so he survived, otherwise IRL we would have bid adieu to Reese or at least he would have been so seriously injured to ever be normal again. 2 kids dead, Now Malcolm who at 3 years old made such a brilliant experiment that family had to run outside due to toxic gas, *He is the epitome of what having brains on an idiot could do* : Create a scam to loot the church and go to jail for the rest of the life, which would have happened had the family not feared Lois and stopped when they did, Drive a car without License ; he goes to jail again, Oops no Harvard now. Ah...but the gentle parent wouldn't have forced Malcolm to go to Krelbroyne class and he would have just averaged out too in brains department but at least he could have lived albeit in prison unlike Francis and Reese. Dewey ran an elaborate scam where he proclaimed he is the sole survivor and his family died, obviously in real life, his dad would have to go jail since he was collecting money for that same kid unknowingly which would be impossible to prove and kid was lying through his teeth, But he still was mellow considering the others and this is why Lois didn't have that many yelling match with him. Now Multiply these instances by 100

Now think she had to deal with all of them together. With such kids they were in sitcom, I am amazed Lois still raised them, someone else would have bailed. Her toxic-ness kept them alive. Her toxic-ness made Reese come back in one piece from Afghanistan. I binge watched the show continuously so everything is fresh in my mind, I hundred percent believe that its the kids that didn't deserve a mother like Lois not the other way round.If she had been a little lenient they would have destroyed their and others life.

So Imagine my surprise: when I found another show in its continuation and ep 1 has Malcolm blaming Lois. My thought was : buddy, in another house, you would have been sent away shortly after birth; only Lois had the gall to raise him and his brothers.