And now, all because House’s anger caused him to clog a couple of toilets, he’s back to prison for the length of the rest of Wilson’s life. There are a couple of ways the finale could go. Heck, Keith even thinks Wilson and House could run away together and the series could end with their version of Thelma and Louise. But that’s not the over-the-top ending I would like to see. I want to know that House is continuing on, with the personal growth he’s experienced over the past eight season really meaning something. Whether or not he has Wilson, I want to know that House is OK, doing what he loves and being the best at it. The writers have taken careful pains to ensure that House stays House throughout the series, even with all of the character growth, and I think a giant shake-up would be a betrayal of this.
I want to write about the significance of mourning appropriately, or not, as shown in the case of week, and how it relates to House. I want to celebrate that Park had a meaningful line when she shouted at House that “you spent your whole life looking for the truth — sometimes the truth just sucks.” I want to acknowledge Thirteen’s part in helping Wilson know what mortality feels like, and in helping House realize that he needed to be loyal to Wilson and respect his wishes to live out his last months doing what he wants to do. But in the end, this episode was really all about the many shades of gray that House and Wilson represented as they vacillated back and forth with their respective decisions, knowing that whatever they finally decided on, the truth does just suck. Maybe Park’s line really was the most important one in the episode.
This and that:
What do you think? What will next week’s finale bring?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on May 14, 2012 @ 22:00 EST5EDT
. . . . .
Seriously … it’s House.
There can’t be “a happy ending” …
Yeah I think House will OD before going back to jail. It there is a happy ending that be the biggest shock in TV history. Haha
Hugh Laurie, when asked to describe the finale in one word, said, “Uplifting.” And yet I can’t help wondering if House is going to kill himself in the last episode. I mean, he has two options: Live and continue to endure a painful existence without his best friend. Or die and be free of pain; more interestingly, perhaps a seed of doubt has been planted in House’s mind regarding the afterlife; perhaps he is 99% sure there is no afterlife, but the tiny chance of reuniting with Wilson is more attractive than the certainty of being separated from him in life. Of course, I’m just using my imagination. I would much rather see House happy. There were so many powerful moments in last night’s episode that reminded us why we fight to live, and I would hate to see House give up on life.
*POST AUTHOR*
So here’s a guess — maybe in an overdose-induced hallucination, House encounters people from his past, both dead and alive — Cameron, Masters, Kutner, etc. — and they all convince him that he’s been doing the right thing by fighting for life and happiness. So he continues on and knows that he will see Wilson again in the afterlife. Maybe? ;-)
I’m actually hoping we don’t see Wilson die … that’s one I can stand to just imagine happens in the future of the no-longer-a-series-series.
OK, I’m biased, but I like that idea of the hallucination. Makes it easy to explain lots of past characters returning.
The thing is that House has always believed he’s been doing the right thing. That’s the only thing that’s kept him going, his belief in the rightness of what he does. He was terrible at relationships and cruel to patients and fellows alike but he always believed in the rightness of what he did.
If I could have anything for the finale, it would be for us to find House in coma after being shot and learn that seasons 3 – 8 were all a hallucination. Ain’t going to happen though.
Speaking as someone who went through chemotherapy a couple of years ago and at one point thought that dying was better than going through chemo, it seemed to me incredibly selfish of House to ask Wilson to keep doing the chemo for House’s sake. Wilson almost always tried to do what was best for House but with the exception of the procedure to find out what was wrong with Amber, House only did what was right for himself, (and Amber wouldn’t have died if House hadn’t called Wilson to get him out of the bar). Asking Wilson to suffer through that so he could stay around for House’s sake was typical House. Foreman telling Wilson that he was responsible for House’s happiness reinforced that the show still refuses to allow House to grow up emotionally. No one is responsible for House’s happiness but House himself.
“Uplifting” doesn’t have to be in the traditional sense; it could mean a more ethereal sense (heaven, afterlife, etc.) meaning Wilson’s death, House’s death. It wouldn’t make sense to NOT have Wilson die, otherwise, why all the chemo/no chemo, “my terms” dialogue? So if House doesn’t have Wilson, what does he really have?
One thing I have really liked about this show is how it got into the complexities of the characters. I didn’t like Foreman telling Wilson he is responsible for House’s happiness (even if it is true to some extent.) Yes, it’s important to give a cancer patient something to fight for, but that’s a lot to put on somebody.
Agree w/ some earlier posters about possible hallucination sequence (only other reason for Cameron to be there is for a funeral.)
I’m gonna miss House though I do think it’s the right time to end the series. I hope the ending is more statisfying than some other recent series endings (Desperate Housewives.)
Get you kleenex handy.