I’m not entirely sure what to make of the Season 7 House, M.D. finale. I will have much more to say about it, and have a chance to process my own feelings about it later in the week after I’ve had an opportunity to talk with the episode’s writers Peter Blake and Kath Lingenfelter.
Until the last few moments of the episode, they completely had me riveted: a patient (Shohreh Aghdashloo) whose unnerving mirror image portrait of House (Hugh Laurie); House finally processing what has happened between him and Cuddy, realizing that what he had done to his leg was just insane, and that something has to change. He has to change.
House is hurt, and not just from Cuddy. He doesn’t blame her, he says for the breakup. “It’s not your fault,” he tells her, acknowledging rightly or wrongly that his own faults have rendered him essentially unlovable.
But House has been a ticking time bomb for seven seasons. He wants to change; he struggles with his inability to change. He’s tired of being judged and analyzed and having his motivations, his pain and torment questioned. He is stuck and he knows it; he doesn’t need Wilson or Foreman or Cuddy or a patient to remind him of that. And I totally get that. We are meant to see House being pushed and edged to the brink, wanting desperately to be who he does not believe he can be. “It’s not your fault.” Read, “It’s mine.”
But the last five minutes do not add up for me. And I wonder why. With House insanely (and I do mean really insanely) crashing his car into a house full of people—with the potential for loss of life (never mind that it is Cuddy in the house), I'm not sure what to think; maybe that's the point. (It is, after all, a season finale.)
Vicodin plays a hugely important part of this episode. House is taking it like candy; it’s at his bedside—in the ICU. Is it there to remind us that House on Vicodin is a disaster waiting to happen? The amounts he's taking will do more than trash his liver, as Wilson suggests. For House, Vicodin means hallucinations.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jacquelyn
I don't believe it. The rest of the episode wasn't too bad - I was sleepy for most of it as it's the middle of the night here - but the ending was just contrived and thoughtless. And not really even a "shocker," at that, if you'd seen the promo shots (but at least those I refused to believe were real).
I can't believe House would EVER risk Cuddy's life (or Rachel's - where was she?). I can't believe he'd react like that to seeing her with another man. And I can't believe the writers would be so out of touch with a character that they created that they would have him sink to that level and then just take a walk on the beach.
And a hairbrush? Really?!?
Leaving the story open-ended pending LE's negotiations is no excuse for sloppy writing. I just don't buy it. I won't be watching next year without LE, but I hope I hear that it was all a hallucination. Of course, we all wanted everything after 7x15 to be a hallucination, too.
I feel sad, and betrayed. I had hoped that when I woke up, we'd find it was one big joke, but that's apparently not the case.
2 - David
Originally, I thought that this was a "jump the shark" moment, but after reminiscing, I don't think so. I could see his hostility to Cuddy because she only wanted him to talk to her so that she could soothe her own guilty feelings, and this irritated House.
I saw in another comment the key. Wilson told the police that House would be in a place that reflected his mood, which Wilson expected to be dark. Turns out, once he finally vented his anger (taking Wilson's and Cuddy's advice), he was in a very happy place, just like Wilson said.
3 - Frustrated
He cracked because he thought she had lied about not seeing someone. He had talked to the POTW about trust. He was ready to make an effort to mend things with Cuddy and give trust a try. Seeing Cuddy with the new guy told him he was right to not trust anyone.
Sigh. Goodbye House. I'm breaking up with you. It's just not worth it anymore.
4 - spoilerchicka
Barbara, thanks for the honest analysis. I too was hoping somehow House would snap out of his momentary fantasy and still be standing on the walkway to Cuddy's door after ramming his car (figuratively)into her dining room. Then just walking up, ringing the doorbell and begging her to take him back. No worse an idea than what we fans were force fed. Blecch.
If the goal of the show is to reveal House is nuts, looney, psycho and mean, mission accomplished. So he was hurt to discover Cuddy had company over and he presumed she had lied to him but anyone could have hoped against hope that it wasn't a boyfriend, just company. Instead House has to drive at warp speed into her home after supposedly snapping (?) at what he saw.
There certainly were enough hints about House being whacked out high on vicodyn having used up a month's supply in just three days so very likely the writers will use some contrivance to explain away House's insanity as yet another drug induced hallucination. Boring. Done to death.
If it turns out House has done these criminal things and he's off galavanting in the tropics, why would we care? He's gone bonkers or on the lamm and no one will be there to pick up the pieces when it hits him what he did. No wonder Cuddy was terrified and shaken in her final scene with House. He really is incredibly unredeemable at this point and I for one don't care to see how things turn out. Thank you to Lisa Edelstein for being wise enough to see the show ended this season for most fans after this crap finale.
Lisa Edelstein will have the last laugh as the critics begin tearing apart the show's ridiculous direction for the principal character. Congratulations.
5 - Jacquelyn
I wanted to add, too, that they scene in the hallway between House and Cuddy, and the masterful scenes last week between House, Cuddy, and Rachel, all prove that the writers DO know how to write the House/Cuddy relationship. So what is it, they're too lazy to do so? Or they really don't realize the level of their fan base that SUPPORTS this relationship and wants to see it developed.
Treating it as a story arc rather than the very fabric of this show, as someone pointed out in your last article, is where it all went wrong.
6 - barbara barnett
Jacquelyn,
In my opinion, this isn't about doing House and Cuddy right or not right. The relationship (or lack of one) is less important to me than where they're taking the character of House. He's been broken, he's wanted to change. And now he's snapped. I could see the rage building in him and everyone from Cuddy to Wilson to Foreman begging him to just let out the anger. And when he did it was destructive and insane.
The question in my mind is how to build back from where we are left with him.
7 - shy reader
I was also very shocked at his decision to drive through the house - right in to the very room where he had seen them enjoying a meal together! But then I thought about how the entire episode, Cuddy was telling him to feel something, and to get ANGRY, and wilson was saying the same thing.
And the sight of the brilliant artist being capable of NOT being alone, the sight of her possibly sacrificing her artistic gift for love, and the sight of her partner ACCEPTING her - that, obviously compounded by the sight of Cuddy with a new man - House felt lied to, betrayed, replaced, irrelevant - and yes, I think he snapped.
I can see how from his point of view this episode, his closet friends have abandoned him when he needs them the most - Wilson's odd timing to cut off the Vicodin, especially after House had agreed that changes needed to be made; Cuddy seemingly lying to him about dating; even the brilliant artist abandoned him - they had kindred connection, and she opted for love over brilliance - abandoning him as well...
I can't say I loved how the season finale went. I wish the writers had chosen another (read: redeemable) way to demonstrate House's deep anger.
And the scene on the beach was just plain confusing. He was in the same suit that he'd left in! Up until then, I had no inclination to think any of this was a hallucination. But the same suit?? on a tropical beach?? I will be pretty disappointed if hallucinations are used to explain any of the season finale.. I feel the writers might rely on that a bit too much.
Lastly, in spite of the confusing sequence of events, it was really satisfying to see House express anger - pushing Cuddy against the wall, for example. And Hugh Laurie is just amazing, as usual.
And I loved the Taub twist. :)
8 - barbara barnett
There was so much of this episode I really loved, and I bought the fact that House needed to release all that pent up anger, but to do it in such an unforgivable way. I'm just not sure where they can go with that.
I trust they can do it, but wow. Like I said, still wrapping my head around it.
9 - BiaAylesworth
Before everything sorry for my english, i'm from Brazil.
Who is he to be offended by her being with another. Married with a hooker. Stayed with many hookers blatantly. So he had no right to do this.
I'm disappointed with House since 7x15, and today just ruin everything forever..
And now I understand why LE left the program, she knew that if she returned in season 8, with a new boyfriend and trying to arrest House, was as if Cuddy, were dead, the best decision she took was out of this damn series ...
So now #RipHouse
Goodbye House Forever ...
10 - Laura
I'm with you on this one Barbara. How?
How in the world do they go on from here?
How are we suppose to like House and forgive his flaws after what could be viewed attempted murder?
How in the world do they have an 8th season, given this ending tonight, without Dr Lisa Cuddy?
11 - Visitkarte
I absolutely loved this episode. I hurt for House so badly, I started crying really, really hard when he told Cuddy “I feel hurt”, I saw few minutes afterwards in a blur of tears. And I have never, ever cried on a House episode before. Not like this, not more than a few tears.
He was desperate. Deeply hurt, truing to numb himself from feeling anything, never even caring about being arrested for the faked prescriptions. He just hurt and wanted to stop hurting.
Then he tried to put the relationship behind him. But she insisted on talking, and they talked. He asked her if she was seeing someone and she told him she didn’t.
Here was a parallel with the story of the POW. House already advised her no to trust love, not to give up her sharp mind for the feeble hope of love and happiness, because it would end up being a false hope and she would end up with nothing to hold on.
Cuddy wanted to get him to meet her again, that’s why she wanted to have her brush back. And then, after he absolved her of all guilt (undeservedly so, I must add, she definitely has most of the guilt for braking his heart, maybe beyond repair), he hardly turned his back to her and she started dating the other guy. When he came back to her house and maybe hoped for a kiss and maybe even a brake up sex, he found her happily chatting with everything there he could never have. His hurt look and his quivering lip got my crying really, really hard for him and brought an ache in my chest, and when he crushed the car into that wall I felt he would have been OK with getting killed. No, I don’t think he wanted to kill anyone in the house, because the table was that way, there was hardly any chance of killing anyone there, but every chance of them getting the message.
The only man he ‘tried’ to laughter here was himself, and after that, he was away and free from the burdens of love and hope and human connections. I don’t think he’d stay ‘happy’ for long after that, but he was definitively on adrenalin high for the time being.
I guess the next season he’ll start in jail, keep out of touch with Wilson and the rest and probably go afterwards somewhere in a small city, running a GP praxis or something like that, and 4-6 episodes later Wilson might track him down and get him back on PPTH, after Cuddy left. It might be like a year or more later, when the story picks up where they left.
I’m on it and very excited to see where his journey takes him. I guess jail might be good in terms of quitting Vicodin again. Afterwards, he only needs his license back or, maybe, he’ll work like that janitor, as a medical consultant.
12 - Matt
I'm going to aim for the opposite of everyone who has voiced their opinions and say that the ending was perfect. House was furious (Betrayal does that) and like vintage House, he does something crazy. He's free from the demons of his past. He's free from Cuddy. Getting rid of Cuddy, in this fashion, may be just what the doctor ordered.
13 - Betty
To crack when he saw Cuddy w/ that guy is a bit hypocritical. He married a hooker to get back at Cuddy, and so why would House be interested in testing trust w/ Cuddy? House is too narcissistic and selfish among many other issues, including apparently being psychotic. That action shows he's a long ways away from being capable of being in an equal relationship.
14 - Jacquelyn
Barbara, I agree, to an extent. I think what was really "shocking" was that we're so used to House internalizing his emotions through self-destruction rather than external acts of destruction. It's insane, and in a way very Housian, but at the same time I still don't buy it. Running a car into Cuddy's house - endangering the life of the woman he purports to love - just seems...cheap, to me.
Season finales in the past past have also portrayed House's own desire to change after being broken: Season 4 and 5 best come to mind. How he dealt with his broken world then seemed more well-written and less expected in some ways. Remember we're dealing with a character that continually battles between a rational mind and feeling more emotions than most people. We EXPECT House to explode, but when he checked himself into Mayfield, I saw more of a broken man there than I did last night.
As always, I appreciate your clear thoughts that are more articulate than my base emotions. We both come down to the same question, though: where does House go from here?
15 - JuliaB
Right now I just think I'm done.
There is noway I believe House would try to hurt Cuddy. I can see him finally losing it seeing her with a guy, can't even blame him, but he's more the type that would hurt himself and make sure there was a way to make her feel guilt about it. I can never see him physically attempting to harm her.
Also, what about next season? She doesn't want him anywhere near her or her hospital. Will he be unemployed and in jail, in Mayfield, or what.
This episode along with the others all the way back to bombshells seem like they should be a dream but it's been this long and he hasn't woken up yet so ... I don't know what they're doing or how they will dig themselves out of this. I hate how they're butchering the show and the characters of both House & Cuddy. It's getting painful to watch honestly. It's getting to where it's not fun anymore. Sad really.
16 - Sera G
Barbara,thanks for a fine analysis of a not so fine episode.
I should have trusted my instincts and not watched, but I really had hope that there would be some kind of twist. Hey, I am willing to believe anything to have had the last 8 episodes be a dream.
Whatever you think about House; intentionally causing harm or death (for others) does not seem to be in his nature. He hurts with words or worse, with silences.
Perhaps Lisa Edelstein didn't renew her contract because she couldn't be part of this any longer. I know it was a plot device, but come on; Cuddy breaks up with the love of her life, she knows she has devastated him and she is ready to jump into another relationship so soon. Blech!
The sad thing is that last year at this time, we were all (most of us anyway) filled with hope, a sense of new opportunities and a less bleak future for Greg House. That Cuddy holds House's hand and he pulls away is another slap from our 'friend' GY. This of course is a reminder of the beautiful hand clasp from "Help Me."
Where in the heck does this leave the character and the show?
I am no longer sad, not even angry. You know what is worse, I am not even curious.
I can now leave the show without any lingering sentiment. This is not the show I have loved for 61/2 years.
David, I am sure that is is my wishful thinking, but I didn't get the feeling that Cuddy just wanted to soothe her feelings, I almost got the impression that she hoped if they really talked, there might be some way to come back to each other, as friends, at least if nothing else.
17 - barbara barnett
If the ending turns out to have been real (and I'm not convinced it is), I do think, despite what I might have suggested, lots of ways for it to go in Season 8. I do not think the show will go back to the way it always has at the beginning of the season. Maybe they will do a 2-3 hour retrace (like Season 6) and carry on from there.
I agree that House had been pushed and pushed and pushed to release his anger all episode. He did. It was a horrible thing he did.
OK, other idea: did he actually stop the car after crashing the wall of the house? Have to see that again.
18 - Ashley Maire Nettles
I think I might be one of the few people who loved this episode and the ending. It amazes me, how these writers, after all these years, can still shock evey single one of us. Sure, most people are in shock as are Wilson and Cuddy, but a person can only take so much. House knows that he needs to let go and change. That's what he did, now it might not be in the way that most people would do it, but he released his anger. It's a shame that Cuddy will not be there next season because I would have loved to have seen how this would have played out. Not to mention how in the world is he going to patch things up with Wilson after that. I am counting the days until the premire.
19 - barbara barnett
Ashley,
I'm with you on the curiosity. How the heck are they going to make this work? Where's Wilson going to be? Does House maybe think he simply needs to get rid of everyone in his life and simply start anew? Can't wait to talk to the writers on Wed. Any questions (and please nothing sarcastic--you know I won't relay those)
20 - Michael
I feel that house is definitely hallucinating the tropical island thing, Come on Wilson said that House took a whole bottle of Vicodin in three days that was supposed to last a month “Are you kidding me”. An other thing Driving your car into some HOUSE knowing that you could kill someone and after you just got out the hospital for perfuming surgery on your own leg can make one think the guy has completely loss his mind. And I Know every one of you thought house was shooting up Heroin.Right!
21 - RedTulip_Ana
Thanks Barbara for your review. I was here looking for answers but even you are like us: LOST. Funny think that today is the aniversary of the end of this series (it never got me, but many people around the world followed it).
Well, my first thoughts were: I feel totally cheated by a series I loved during seven years. How can I get this finale? It´s imposible, and the issue that Lisa Edelstein will not be back for the next season makes more difficult to deal with this situation.
Well, tonight, I only can say that I will be here waiting for your interview with the writers, because...Is it possible that the real finale was After Hours? And this ep...only a dream, I mean a bad dream?
I have to say another thing...I liked this episode, and even the final finale was good, yes...good really good, but NEVER for House, it could be a good finale for another kind of series but NEVER for House!
Also, this episode has lovely moments...yes, we have a talk, a "serious" talk between Cuddy and House. The scene on the wall...WOW, this moment: Lisa Edelstein and Hugh Laurie were the actors we knew from the begining. And after this scene I never thought, Cuddy will be going to date with that man, inviting him to her House, it is so strange, not?
Well, all of this make sense, if we can get Lisa Edelstein again in the show.
Because, if we supposed the crash never exist, only in the mind of House (like Barbara said Vicodin = Hallucinations). Imagine: House going to Cuddy´s place with the hair brush, then, he realized she was with this man. But, he only going to his car and going with Wilson to drink something. So, for the next season, we could expect, House dealing with this. Then, he can fight for her and Rachel again after fixing himself. And we could see Cuddy realizing, she doesn´t want another Lucas in her life. Because, like she (sarcasticly) said to her sister, she expected House changes...because she really loves him.
But, all of this, will never happen...Well, I am still hopping they fighting to bring Lisa Edelstein again to the show!
Another things about the episode: C´mon Taub with two babies?
Good night! This devasting finale explode my brain!
22 - shy reader
I am definitely curious if Cuddy is leaving Princeton/Plainsboro, or if it will be that House is leaving - in this episode, Cuddy called it "my hospital" - so I'm wondering what that would mean. My question for the writers would be - will there be a time jump in between this season finale and the upcoming season premiere?
23 - ruthinor
Wow, I've got to say that my reaction is totally opposite to that of visitkarte. Even before the finale I kept thinking that this was House at his most unlikable, still treating everyone like crap, including those closest to him. He was doing his usual cynical bastard act, but with no redeeming features. ( Notice that he always took vicodin after being with Cuddy). And he wanted his patient to suffer for her art in the same way that he believes he can only be a good doctor if he's unhappy. It's just so much bullshit.
Cuddy didn't lie to House about dating. She turned this guy away and she was only having dinner at her house with her sister and brother-in-law, probably mostly to appease Julia. I just don't get people who put all the blame on Cuddy. He continually counts on her to save him, she's always there for him, and what does she get in return?
I have a hard time believing that all this was real. I just can't see House, as awful as he was in this episode, driving a car into Cuddy's house. Rachel was apparently with Cuddy's mom, but what if she was at home? Also, was all this happening on a week-end? It's day time and none of these people are at work?
Where are the night time scenes taking place? In front of Cuddy's house, the hospital? Why this time lapse? And why so many ambulances and other vehicles? No one was seriously hurt. It just all seems unreal, as does the blue, blue water at the end. Tis a mystery.
24 - Jillian
Barbara, I really loved this epiosde. House has finally got mad with the world, he has lashed out at all those who has hurt him. His father, Stacy and esp Cuddy. She to me comitted the unforgivable sin. She led him on, not wanting him to change, how much she loved him! then bamm! its all about her needs and her wants. One slip on his part, and she was out of there. Seeing her with a new man so soon, was the final straw to him. Yes it was wrong to do what he did. But you know, I like him felt better when he did it, he seemed finally free. I can see lots and lots of storylines next season. This is starting anew for House, and I welcome it with open arms.
25 - Mindy Peterman
I have to agree with Matt (#12) that this was a perfect ending. Fueled by rage that had built up over the years and the significant amount of vicodin in his system, House's behavior made sense.
If he was the sort of character who could release his frustrations in a healthy way, the car crash would not have happened. But the signs that something was amiss were all over this episode. The moment he yelled at Cuddy you could sense the cracks in that tough interior widening.
Is House's tropical escape real? Taub's ringtone of Rupert Holmes' "Escape (the Pina Colada Song)" foreshadowed it. But you really have to wonder if it's another drug induced trip. I hope it isn't but the signs it might be are bubbling under the surface. For one thing he's wearing the same suit he had on in NJ. You figure he would have changed into something more fitting with his locale to celebrate his freedom.
And why when the crash happened in the middle of the afternoon, did the emergency vehicles arrive at night? Seems odd, doesn't it?
We'll just have to wait and see what Season 8 brings.