I have seen the relapses similarly, and always wondered about how Archie describes them in the books--but now I think that 'authorial intent' is coming to the fore in these situations. When Archie describes the relapses he never really includes 100% weak/pathetic behaviors (ie. crying, nightmares, panic attacks.)
Instead, imho, he seems to just paint the relapses as one more annoying eccentricity that Wolfe has, one that is unsurprising because he's a genius and is supposed to have weird quirks and fits of star/diva-like insanity. (Like Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock to make an insane comparison.)
By making the relapses just seem odd, Archie strips them of their potential weight/horror/trauma and because he doesn't explicitly say anything like 'Wolfe's time in prison in X country' or 'Wolfe kept having panic attacks because of his time in Z year', he kind of (to me) disassociates the relapses from WWI--and by doing so he also disassociates them from Wolfe himself. When I read the books I don't get the sense that Wolfe's life experiences resulted in these relapses, they are instead like headaches or a cold (in the sense of anyone can get them, there's nothing you can really do about them etc.)
The way the relapses are described in the books makes me want to see (and read fics about) what they were 'really' like, without Archie's unreliable narration. I would also like to know how everyone reacted to his first book, and the rest (esp. the infamous santa claus-Botweill case)!
Also that's a great idea of 'Archie was first hired to assist during a relapse'--and it even explains (if we want one) his later over-protective attitude when he (to us, the readers) seems overly concerned about Wolfe, etc. Since he's seen Wolfe at his worst and we haven't, his overreaction makes more sense.
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Instead, imho, he seems to just paint the relapses as one more annoying eccentricity that Wolfe has, one that is unsurprising because he's a genius and is supposed to have weird quirks and fits of star/diva-like insanity. (Like Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock to make an insane comparison.)
By making the relapses just seem odd, Archie strips them of their potential weight/horror/trauma and because he doesn't explicitly say anything like 'Wolfe's time in prison in X country' or 'Wolfe kept having panic attacks because of his time in Z year', he kind of (to me) disassociates the relapses from WWI--and by doing so he also disassociates them from Wolfe himself. When I read the books I don't get the sense that Wolfe's life experiences resulted in these relapses, they are instead like headaches or a cold (in the sense of anyone can get them, there's nothing you can really do about them etc.)
The way the relapses are described in the books makes me want to see (and read fics about) what they were 'really' like, without Archie's unreliable narration. I would also like to know how everyone reacted to his first book, and the rest (esp. the infamous santa claus-Botweill case)!
Also that's a great idea of 'Archie was first hired to assist during a relapse'--and it even explains (if we want one) his later over-protective attitude when he (to us, the readers) seems overly concerned about Wolfe, etc. Since he's seen Wolfe at his worst and we haven't, his overreaction makes more sense.