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Episode Recap: "Wilson's Heart"
Ok, so who's mentally prepared for the powerfully moving conclusion of the House season finale? All I know is tonight, just as it did last week, did not disappoint.
Tonight's episode starts where we left off last week where Dr. House finally pieced his subconscious flashes and memories together only to realize that the mystery patient that needed saving after the bus crash was actually Amber.
Now at her bedside, Wilson pretends he's Amber's husband in order to have her moved to Princeton-Plainsborough where they can diagnose what kind of condition was trigged from the trauma of the bus accident. That's when Wilson comes up with the plan to put her through protective hypothermia to save her brain to buy House more time.
While the team is searching for clues, House dozes off only to have Amber, sporting a red powersuit, make an appearance in his dream to help him remember. She offers him a glass of Sherry (turns out the bar they went to was called Sherry's) and begins leading House to believe the two had a thing for each other. But while seducing House, she also suggests "electricity" be used to help House remember. But the idea of shooting volts through an already damaged head doesn't go over well with Cuddy.
As Amber is getting worst, Wilson wants her body temp dropped even lower than it already is to prolong any further damage to her organs. Now normally, when House comes up with diagnosis, he just runs with the treatment, even if it is risky. But Wilson keeps getting House to agree to icing her body even more. Now in the midst of another dream, a very frozen Amber shows House a rash on her lower back. When he awakes to find there really is a rash on the small of Amber's back, the only question on everyone's mind is how did he know it was all they way down there?
Then the irony comes into play. House gives 13 a mini-lecture (in the bathroom, mind you) to get it together and not let the fact that she knows the patient get in the way of her ability to treat her. Too bad House is letting the fact that he's best friends with desperate Wilson completely inhibit his better judgment.
Foreman finally makes the call to go above House and Wilson's heads to Cuddy fearing they will ultimately kill Amber. House ends up making the final call to warm her body back up to see if she is responding to a treatment (a risky thing to do should the treatment not be working). But Wilson appeals to House one last time, asking him to go through with the shock treatment to restore his memory so it can be definitely determined what is wrong with Amber. Basically what Wilson asked House to do was risk his life in order to save Amber's. House agrees.
The electric treatment, conducted by Chase, ends up working and we are brought back to the scene of the bar. House had gotten so drunk, he called Wilson for a ride home after the bartender confiscated his keys. Amber, instead, picks up the phone call and comes to House's aid. But House, being the stubborn man that he is, sneaks on to the bus while Amber settles his tab. Amber follows, but now comes the moment of truth. House watches as Amber's sneezing prompts her to take a prescription drug to ward off the symptoms of the flu. That's when House has his light bulb moment. It was the drug Amber was taking that was killing her because the bus accident destroyed her kidneys making her body unable to clear the drug out of the system.
Normally, this is where a life is saved and a family rejoices. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Turns out the drug Amber had been taking can not be moved out of her body with dialysis. Sadly, there is nothing more that can be done to save her. House, visibly distraught, sheds a tear right before having a seizure which lands him in a coma.
Foreman explains to the team what has happened to House and how he was unfortunately right about Amber. Wilson makes the tough decision to wean Amber off the anesthesia to bring her back to consciousness so the two could say their goodbyes. The couple shares their "I love you's," and in one of the most touching scenes I've ever scene on this show, Wilson and Amber, lying side-by-side on her hospital bed, share one final kiss before he turns off her bypass machines and she dies in his arms. Yup, I'm officially tearing up as I type this.
Meanwhile, House is back in his own head, but we can't help but wonder, is this white bus with the now-dead Amber sitting next to him Heaven? Amber tells him it's not his time and he must "get off the bus," but House doesn't want to go. "It doesn't hurt here," he says. He can't face the reality of going back to have Wilson, his best friend, never be able to forgive him.
On a side note, towards the ending sequence, we learn that 13, who refused to get tested for the deadly Huntington's disease, finally "stopped prolonging" things (just as Wilson had with Amber) and took a blood test. The result? Positive!
House ultimately returns back to the land of the living only to see Wilson at the door. But as he feared, Wilson can't bring himself to face House after everything that just happened. It's just as Amber said before House expressed not wanting to have his best friend hate him – "You can't always get what you want."
Talk about an emotional season closer! As much as she drove me nuts in episodes past, I was so sad when Amber died. I actually was shocked they killed her off, to be perfectly honest. But both her and Wilson's performances at the end were so powerful, it actually got me choked up a bit as well. I'm curious what next season will bring now that the dynamic will be changed between Wilson and House. Then there's the age-old question of what will happen to Team Old vs. Team New.
What was your take on tonight's episode? Were you taken aback to learn that there was nothing that could be done for Amber? Do you wish the writers chose not to kill her off? Did you find the ending of the episode as moving as I did? What do you think lies in store for the future when it comes to House and Wilson's relationship? Think the writers will keep trying to incorporate the two sets of teams, or just come to a decision once and for all as to who will report to House? Let it all out below!
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May 19, 2008 11:12 PM
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After all the times the team saved a patient when they think it's over, I really thought they'd save Amber. I liked her way better as Wilson's girlfriend than as a candidate, we got to see more of who she was. I felt so bad for Wilson that after all his failed marriages, he finally seemed to have found the right woman for him, only to have her taken away like that.
I wonder if this is meant to start House down a path of redemption, with his admission tonight that he doesn't want to be miserable and in pain. Although the show revolves around his acerbic personality, I can't really see it ending with him in the exact same place he started.
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May 19, 2008 11:32 PM
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Perhaps next season a devastated Wilson will renounce any further emotional connections to his patients and become even more detached than House himself.
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May 19, 2008 11:48 PM
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Forget just this show, this was one of the most moving episodes I've seen on any show. I was devastated when Amber died, and I hated her when she was first in the show.
I thought it was a nice touch when Foreman went to Cuddy because he wasn't being risky enough, because usually it's the other way around.
It must have been hard for Wilson to take Amber off bypass then so that she could have her final moment of happiness.
I loved seeing Cuddy sleeping in the chair next to House's bed.
As much as I can see how Wilson can't help but blame House, it isn't really House's fault anymore than it was Wilson's fault for not being home. Okay, yeah, House called, but Amber didn't have to come get him.
Loved seeing Chase, Cameron, and Foreman getting dinner in the end sequence. I have to admit, Foreman is a little boring without the other two to bounce things off of.
And more than anything, I was shocked that 13 does have Huntington's Disease. As if I wasn't put through enough in one episode.
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May 19, 2008 11:54 PM
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This was some of the best writing ever on House. (surprising because most of the other shows have been lousy post-writer's strike).
I'm sad that Amber died because I thought she was really good for Wilson. I wanted something good for Wilson ... I really like him.
BUT ... the whole thing actually didn't track. House saw Amber take the drugs after sneezing. That is nothing out of the ordinary and should not have triggered House's thought that he saw some symptoms and somebody is dying. He did see Amber injured but I don't believe that he would have known the injury involved her kidneys and he would therefore not have known that drugs would be a fatal mistake. (I'm just having a lot of trouble with the logical on Fox tonight. First Bones and then House.)
Still, I thought the show was really well done and heart wrenching.
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May 20, 2008 12:08 AM
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While I loved this episode...I liked the first part of the finale much, much better.
The first part had mystery, while the second part was relatively anticlimatic.
PS: You forgot to mention the significant plot point that 13 indeed has Huntington's Disease. (but didn't House have a letter with the test results? Or did he throw those out.)
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May 20, 2008 12:40 AM
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I think House will have lost his ability to speak. I think there will be some kind of damage to over come.
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May 20, 2008 2:19 AM
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Hugh Laurie deserves an Emmy. The man is amazing.
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May 20, 2008 2:56 AM
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I will miss CTB. I wish they'd killed her at the end of next season so we could have more time with her and Wilson.
Why spin-off some detective from this show we haven't even met yet? Give Cam, Chase and Foreman a show of their own. That way, they won't be wasted and we still get to keep the new team.
LOVED the scene of Kal Penn eating cereal at the end. TOO funny!
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May 20, 2008 3:42 AM
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House MD was always one of the best shows to watch.
The finale was pretty much amazing, I felt such range of emotions, and as always, Hugh is amazing as House.
I wanted to give a huge hug to everyone in the end.
I like the end in which Kal Penn is eating cereal---its an interesting mix.
I also like Kal Penn
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May 20, 2008 3:53 AM
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Great season final. House will deal with a new emotion: Guilt. haha!
I am sure "Amber" is on to bigger and better things. This actress has a great deal of appeal and star quality. She is "interesting". So many women on TV are interchangeable -pretty face, cookie cutter personality. Take them out of one drama or comedy stick them in another and I wouldn't even notice. It will be interesting to see where "Ambers" career takes her.
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May 20, 2008 5:49 AM
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Fantastic episode. The part that almost got me the most was after all that heartbreak with Amber, when we see what all the doctors are doing, we get to see 13 sitting alone, in the lab, and reading that she has Huntington's. Can you imagine the terror of finding something like that out, to find out that your body is going to rapidly deteriorate in your late thirties until you can hardly move, then your mind starts breaking down, and then you finally die?
It was nice and poetic in relation to what happened to Amber. Both of them found out that their life was on a clock. Amber's clock was set at a few hours while 13's clock was set at a few decades, but they were both running out of time. Damn good episode, damn good.
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May 20, 2008 6:43 AM
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It took me a while to stop crying after this one!
What put me over the edge was seeing Wilson turn away from House's room.
Heartbreaking. Kudos to every actor and the writers! This is top-notch television.
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May 20, 2008 8:31 AM
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I think I am missing something about the importance of Thirteen having Huntington's Disease. Is she now worried that she will die like Amber? Is that why she couldn't deal with Amber dying?
Do you think House and Cuddy will now have an intimate relationship? I loved seeing her holding his hand at the end. I feel bad for Wilson.
It was a great season finale.
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May 20, 2008 8:55 AM
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Heartbreaking episode. But I agree with OpinionatedWatcher: it seemed like House saw a symptom of somebody dying from disease, etc. before the bus crash, not because of the bush crash. Amber's taking flu pills in and of itself would not have caused her to die. I guess it can be chalked up to House's brain being scrambled
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May 20, 2008 8:59 AM
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