House: The Final Finale | The Empire Blog

House: The Final Finale

Posted on Friday May 25, 2012, 14:15 by Stephen Carty in Small Screen

Whilst my love for House is such that I’ve wittered on about it right here on this very blog before (hell, it even sneaks a mention in my Twitter bio), a steady decline in quality over the last few years meant that I approached the final episode with mixed feelings as well as a large box of tissues. On one hand, you could argue that the show should have ended a few seasons back, but on the other television just won’t be the same without Hugh Laurie’s stubbly, Sherlockian diagnostician, easily one of the most compelling characters to ever grace the small screen.

Regardless, after eight seasons this was the end. No more Massive Attack kicking in after the obligatory cold open. No more lightbulb moments after 38 incorrect diagnoses (give or take). And, save for a limp, crapola spin-off which nobody wants, no more Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. For those who haven’t yet seen the finale, it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that heavy spoilers follow, so turn back now while you still can. For those who have seen it though and fancy a second opinion, join me in the next paragraph for the autopsy.

Everybody Dies (titled as a nice play on words to House’s mantra, “everybody lies”), opens with our misanthropic doctor lying on the ground in a burning building next to a dead body, where he is addressed by Kal Penn’s Kutner. That's Kutner, who, for the benefit of goldfish and those with bad memories, SHOT HIMSELF and DIED back in season five. Okay, so you’ve got us, we’re hooked already. Another mental breakdown for the titular super-doc? Well, Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) has just been diagnosed with five months to live (where are those tissues?) and House has been sentenced to six months in prison. As anyone with a grasp of basic equations could tell you, this overlap was going to cause significant problems to their farewell hang-out plans.

As it turns out, however, Kutner’s visit was a subconscious hallucination, while our eponymous limper decided whether he wanted to live without his best (and only) friend or die before him. It wasn’t the only one either, as the final instalment boasted hallucinatory visits from House's previous partner Stacy (Sela Ward), Wilson’s deceased girlfriend Amber (Anne Dudek) and former team member Cameron (Jennifer Morrison). Between these burning building chats, the majority of the episode took place in flashback as House and the team treated one last patient (James LeGros, for anyone keep score) while he tried to get out of his upcoming prison sentence in order to spend time with Wilson.

Then there’s the small matter of House (seriously, if you haven’t seen the finale, avert your peepers now!) dying. Truthfully, it was a surprising, sobering moment which enabled the return of more old cast members at the funeral (Olivia Wilde’s Thirteen, Amber Tamblyn’s Martha Masters). But just while we’re wondering where the hell Cuddy is (yes, House drove a car into her front window and it was confirmed that Lisa Edelstein wasn’t returning, but still), it’s revealed that, well, he isn’t dead after all! Unfortunately, this big ‘twist’ slightly undid the effects of the demise a few minutes earlier, even if you could have seen it coming. After all, this is a character modelled on perennial death-faker Sherlock Holmes.

Overall, the finale was reasonably effective and thankfully not awful, if not quite the definitive swan song we were hoping for. With series creator David Shore penning the episode, there was closure and a few decent lines ("It's a tiny white lie. No offence. Especially since from what I hear nothing black is tiny. Except your penis. I guess.”), but nothing as memorable as the season finales of old. Remember House checking himself into a psychiatric hospital? What about him working to save the survivors of a crane collapse? These, and all the season closers previous, stayed with you and lingered in the mind for days.

Perhaps the finale was ultimately undone by the uneven nature of season eight, coupled with the fact that the series didn’t have many character avenues left to explore - even if House and Wilson’s friendship, arguably, has always been the heart and soul of the show. All that said, television will undoubtedly be a lesser place without Hugh Laurie and his cane. So goodbye dear friend, and thanks for teaching us that everybody lies and that everyone is an idiot. Oh, and that it’s rarely lupus.

But what did you think readers? A great finale or underwhelming? Should the show have finished a few seasons back? Or did you give up a while ago? As always, we welcome your diagnostic-like theories on our bloggy white board.