This is the puzzle, and to solve it, House must conjure the ultimate scam—something at which he is, of course, supremely gifted. It's a brilliant solution, worthy of House—and Holmes—and a perfect final homage to Conan-Doyle's fictional detective. It fools everyone, including Wilson, whose attempt at kind words for the dearly-departed House ring hollow in the face of House's ultimate narcissism, instead turning his eulogy into a dawning realization about what an irredeemable ass his "friend" House truly is.
That is, until he receives the untimely timely text that only says "Shut up, Wilson." And then, he knows the truth: "everybody lies."
And there they are at the end, the two of them, together, riding off into Wilson's sunset astride a matched set of motorbikes to the play-off of "Enjoy Yourself," interpreted so differently than it had been at the end of season five. It is into a no-less bleak future that they ride, particularly for Wilson, who only has a few months to live, but the ending is, in its own way, upbeat and absolutely perfect.
But the ending asks the inevitable question: "now what?" What are the possibilities? And that is the question with which I leave you, dear readers. What happens after the final credits roll, as the months (and perhaps years) go on? Does House have a altered destiny in "death?" Will he rise like a phoenix (or Sherlock Holmes) out of the ashes to fight another fight? (After all, Holmes has had a very active life post-Reichenbach through other novelists and numerous filmmakers crafting new adventures.)
Some possibilities:
- Wilson is cured (maybe by some experimental protocol developed by House, himself).
- After euthanizing Wilson (and Thirteen), House gives himself up to the authorities, confesses the scam and returns to prison.
- House assumes Wilson's name (ah, the endless possibilities of hacking...er...tweaking things a bit on the Interwebs), and starts his medical life anew.
- House fakes amnesia and turns up just when Cuddy's new hospital (or old one, if she re-appears at Princeton-Plainsboro believing House gone for good) just when he's needed during a pandemic (House as the Dark Knight).
What do you all think? What happens after "everybody dies?" Let me know in the comments!
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Julia Roth
I think House becomes a drifter. Curing people who also drift- he finds a good woman. She is a waitress or head waitress . While drifting he runs into his old comrades while they vacation, volunteer or otherwise live their lives. He writes articles under Wilson's name but never practices again. H e cures so many people that he has a following and has to keep on the down low.
Some call him a holy man and greatly aggravate him .
2 - barbara barnett
Love it, Julia :)
3 - Amy
House fakes amnesia and turns up just when Cuddy's new hospital (or old one, if she re-appears at Princeton-Plainsboro believing House gone for good) just when he's needed during a pandemic (House as the Dark Knight).
Good version)
House will find Cuddy anyway!
Because is there are so many things and words which un-done and un-said between them!
So I am happy that finally TPTB set House free and he can come back to woman who is love of his life- to Cuddy!
4 - AreKay
House is lost and knocks on my door to ask directions! (don't I wish) LOL!!
5 - MR
I love it!
Cuddy:''We were in this together,then you were gone,now this pandemic rises,the House has to come back!''
The Dark House Rises
6 - rbrown205
House cures Wilson through the positive endorphins that come from spending those months together, and then he dies from some leftover ailment of his life (they have been hinting that he has some liver disease). Then David Shore makes up a new series based on Wilson.
7 - KMC
I've been reading the fanfic, and they're hitting on almost every variant available...Wilson has a spontaneous remission, a miraculous cure, House comes up with something, Wilson decides (for Houses's sake, for his own sake)to have treatment...then there are the ones where Wilson dies, sometimes in House's arms, sometimes not, and either House ends his own life in dispair, makes a call to Foreman and turns himself in, or makes a call then wanders off into the sunset...and those are just the ones off the top of my head. Shore did something brilliant and something very generous...he gave the fans the option to decide for themselves what happens. The fans can decide for themselves if Wilson lives or dies, if House implodes or returns home to face the consequences or simply rides off alone into the sunset to reinvent himself. Shore left us a wide open field to play in...which is not something most creators would be willing to do.
What do I want? I hope a cure (or permenant remission) for Wilson is found, and they decide to settle somewhere far from PPTH where they can start a life together free from as much as their past as possible (but I'd like them to let Blythe know)
8 - Elisa
I agree with both AreKay and KMC. So much fanfic has been written about "after the finale."
What do I want? I want Wilson to seek medical treatment, have surgery,and be cured. I want House to find a way to something that matters in his life. During S8 they seemed to be implying that House was getting burned out on diagnostic medicine.
I want House and Wilson to live grumpily ever after.
9 - Elisa
That reminds me--I need to fake my own death to get out of a family reunion. Hey, it works for everybody else!
10 - Ladybelle Fiske
Let's go. I would love to see what happens after... and I keep hoping for that movie!
11 - Ladybelle Fiske
To me it seems that Stacy's view of the Housian future implies that once Wilson is gone, House will find another role (as a physicist?) for himself, and will fina a girlfriend or wife and have a child... something, much to my surprise, that he actually wants.
12 - genagirl
I think Wilson will ultimately convince House it's all really worth it, love is real and he needs to just keep on going. It would be a fitting legacy for the only person House ever really cared about. Wilson has always only ever wanted House to find some happiness.
13 - lucy
I didn't really love the final episode but I agree with KMC, with such an open ending, every fan can basically imagine what's next according to their own point of view and tastes, which is nice.
In my personal version, Wilson dies (sorry), House turns himself him and goes to prison for some months; then he starts over far from PPTH, as a diagnostician or a teacher or a researcher. He meets Cuddy again, maybe she offers him a job at her new hospital or helps him find a job somewhere else. Maybe he still informally helps Chase and his old team with particularly intricated cases.
But I also like Barbara's idea that House fakes amnesia and shows up in Cuddy's hospital just when there's a big medical crisis. This would make for a good movie. Even if I hope they don't do a House movie at all.
PS: I haven't really followed this blog in the last months, because my interest in the series faded fast in S8, but thank you Barbara for the great job you did in these years.
14 - KMC
I'm sorry...I forgot to say thank you to Barbara...while I might not have always agreed with what you had to say, I always enjoyed reading your blog. I'm going to miss House...maybe it was because of what was going on in my life these past eight years, but the character and his pain and struggle always struck a chord within me. Sometimes it hit home a little too close for comfort. But it lead me to discover Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard, and I'm grateful for that...saw RSL on Broadway..which I hope to do again (met him twice..very gracious man), and am heading out with a friend next month to see HL in concert again. And now I feel I can share this...I entered the contest they held for the retrospective..do a short video about what the show meant to you...and mine was chosen! In the end, they didn't use it..I suspect it was simply too long...but it gave me a week and a half of glorious anticipation...and I'm grateful for that. "House" was a very different show..with a VERY different main character...everyone I've ever talked to about it either loved it or hated it...but you couldn't be indifferent. It will be interesting to see 10 or 20 years down the road how the show holds up..where it's place in TV history will be.
15 - Action Kate
Hey, can we copy our predictions from the other thread? (Or was that, in fact, where you got the idea for this post? :) )
16 - Citizen of the Real World
House OD's. There is no altruistic or heroic ending for him; he simply dies a junkie.
17 - barbara barnett
Thanks everyone. Yes, Action Kate, feel free to copy those responses over to this comment thread :)
18 - Belle0308
In all honesty I watched every season up until the last one because I just couldn't handle life without Cuddy. I loved the three of them, H, W & C. It always seemed to me that House needed both of them in his life to balance each other. I did watch the finale and in my opinion I agree with those who say that he would eventually find Cuddy. I think he would have a tough time without at least one of them in his life and without Wilson, he would need someone to keep him grounded. I never cared for the way the ended them. After all of the things they had been through over the years their break up almost seemed forced. She had cared about him at his worst and I can't believe that would change. They had found each other two times before and they would find each other again.
19 - Grace
I would like to believe that Wilson decides to go for treatment while House desperatly searches for meds that will prolong Wilson's life or even cure him. Then House and Wilson will stay FAR away from PPTH and Cuddy and live happily ever after as BBF.
20 - Grace
Good-Bye Barbara and thanks for everything. I really enjoyed your blog.
21 - barbara barnett
Thanks Grace. I do hope you'll stay tuned for other things BC and I cover and will add in the weeks and months to come!
22 - Action Kate
Copied from the previous thread, and I stand by my predictions:
Chase: Running diagnostics, with Taub but not the other two. Six months into the first serious, considered relationship he's had since Cameron, and his girlfriend is not a medical professional at all.
Taub: Still in diagnostics working for Chase, because it's just enough excitement to keep him interested but stable enough that he doesn't want to look for something else. Still juggling the two girls. He's had two short relationships but between his job and his daughters nothing has stuck. He's okay with that.
Foreman: Running the asylum, which is easier with the chief inmate gone. Hangs out with Taub on Friday nights. Occasionally consults with this crazy guy he found on the Internet (see below).
Cuddy: I'm going with The Other Barnett's prediction from the other thread:
"I imagine Cuddy in D.C. working as an HMO/PPO consultant with the Obama administration as it ramps up the Health Care plan. She is out almost every weeknight for D.C. fundraisers or dinner parties -- all the while complaining to her sister over the phone or her personal assistant about how she is missing Rachel's life. She goes out with different lobbyists (handsome), single congressmen (charming), and administration wonks (interesting and fun) every Saturday night, but goes to bed alone thinking of House (how he hurt her and the sex they had). Sundays are spent with Rachel at different sites around D.C. and at home."
Cameron: Happily married with munchkin, as we saw. Thinking about moving into a practice; she's had enough of the ER but not enough of solving puzzles.
13: Her girlfriend gave her coup de grâce on a beach in Mykonos two years ago, at 13's request.
Adams and Park: Didn't care about them during the series; why start now?
Stacy: Not enough evidence to speculate. Although lord, I hope the botox has worn off by that point.
Masters: Found an incredible opportunity in Europe somewhere and pursued it specifically because it scared the hell out of her. She's still a stammering geek, but she's found colleagues who like and appreciate her.
House and Wilson: Wilson's tumor spontaneously regressed enough that when he found himself alive on Christmas, four months past his "expiration date," he had it checked again and found it could be operated on. Surgery was successful, and he and House set up a clinic/cantina in Baja California treating anyone who walks in, whether they pay in cash, chickens, or tequila. House keeps himself from going insane by setting up a website for people to send their weird problems for his diagnosis (like Kutner did, but for real, and under an assumed name). Foreman knows it's him, and House knows it's Foreman writing to him, but Foreman is never going to expose him and House is never coming back to New Jersey, so it's all good.
23 - ELW
Just wanted to thank you Barbara for sharing your years of analysis of House MD - I miss it very much, but have moved on. Thanks for contributing to that part of a special several years of my life - Cheers. House will "live on" as well" for all of us.
24 - Lucas
First at all, I always love all the things you wrote, Barbara. You're always right about everything.
After the great final we've seen in "Everybody Dies", I think Wilson is really gonna die. House will be very upset and sad, and he'll feel more miserable than ever. He would just find Cuddy on a bus stop, with little Rachel, recognizing him, by the time he's walking to get them. He's happy - not so much - she's surprised, but angry at the same time. She doesn't wanna know anything about what he's gonna say, but in any way, he says "SORRY, LISA" in a deep tone. She's gonna see him, only to give him a hug. But, House won't tell her that Wilson's dead. Maybe he'd do it later. But, he'll try to recover the ruined friendship between House and Cuddy. I hope that... but we won't know...
25 - Kaliera
I didn't watch S8, but for one or two episodes, but did watch the finale (and kept up on S8 online). Then ran into David Shore a few weeks later and told him honestly, I thought it was a good finale that left it open for anyone to speculate what happens next, which, given the nature of finales was about the best you can hope for. So good for him for that. I did not mention the inane plot holes, how insulting a character Dominika was or the waste that was Park and ESPECIALLY Adam. Or that Chase's ending was the best. We both agreed that losing Cuddy was hard becuase she was a big part of the "heart" of House, but that Lisa E. was gone, and the show had to go on.
In my vision, there is no miracle for House in regards to Wilson. He doesn't beleive in them and House finds Cancer boring. He's not going to find some kind of miracle treatment in 6 months. So they spend about 5 months on the road, and 2 months in the last stages and Wilson dies.
Wilson has cashed out everything and left it to House so he had money to survive. And I don't think it's possible to take on Wilson's identity becuase Wilson DIES and has a funeral, etc. so he can't just start publishing again (he's not Tupac dag nabbit!)
I like the idea of House bumming around and earning money in an online diagnostic venture. That sounds very much like House.
And at some point he crosses paths with Cuddy again. In my most "fangirly" moments, I think we find out that Cuddy was pregnant and only found out the night of the car crash (as she has assigned all previous symptons to her breakup and illness). This sudden shift in her world view is the only reason I could see why she would leave the hospital THE NEXT day after the crash. Nothing else makes sense, and frankly something good for Cuddy should come from that S7 finale...
I know the baby thing is kind of redic (and denied by House as something he wants), but I was so sad they just glossed over House's upbringing and relationship with his father. Whether he and Cuddy get back together is frankly irrelevent to me (although I suspect they'll always be off and on), but House dealing with a son would have emotional impact for me becuase it would force House to stop drifting. Would he go back to prison for his son? Or be a fly by night dad? I don't know, but he'd at least be forced to choose.
I also think it's strange that House doesn't have an implant installed that blocks the brain from recieving pain signals. My brother has one for chronic back pain and hooks it up whenever the pain is bad in order to not become a Vicodin addict.
Forman continues to be boring and unpersonalble and the worst administrator ever. Cameron divorces the 2nd husband and a then a third but finds happiness in motherhood. Taub marries again to a Real Housewife and continues to cheat - but at least learns to put on a condom. Thirteen dies, but House doesn't have to kill her as she moves to Washington or Oregon which are right to die states.