We've had four seasons of watching House's balancing act between expressing misery with his actions and denying it with his words. The episode prior to the finale, "Living The Dream," dwelled on the theme of misery in general without much resolution. That theme is picked up with a vengeance in "House's Head"/"Wilson's Heart." It's Thirteen who's the catalyst for bringing it out in the open. House calls her on her identification with the dying young doctor, and chastises her for ignoring the issue of her possible Huntington's Disease. "You are the champion of not dealing with your problems," she rightly counters.
The tension throughout the medical case of "Wilson's Heart" is again choosing a course of action without knowing which is right and which is wrong. Wilson advocates for keeping Amber on heart bypass, so House bows to his wishes, but Foreman and Cuddy believe they must restart her heart in order to know if treatment is working, or diagnosis her properly if not. Turns out, the right and wrong came way before Amber's heart stopped – about the time House called for a ride, tried to get her drunk, then wandered to the bus without his cane. The final diagnosis allows them to know what's killing her, not to prevent it. It never mattered what they did; she was dead.
But the dilemma is also the metaphor: keeping Amber on ice is delaying the inevitable, not dealing with it. Thirteen, Wilson, Amber, and House all have to face the problems confronting them. Thirteen takes her Huntington's test; it's positive. Wilson and Amber have a final heartbreaking goodbye.
And House, in a coma after the deep brain stimulation provoked a seizure, meets up with a sensual and wise Amber in a(nother?) near-death-ish experience in the bus (though I'd call it another example of House's subconscious talking to itself). The setting is stripped bare of anything but white light, and the mantra "everybody lies" is transformed into "everybody dies." Just not yet, or they'd have to change the show's title to Wilson. They have a conversation that is stripped bare of any of House's usual sarcasm and rhetorical flourishes, starting when he says he should be dead:
Amber: Why?
House: Because life shouldn't be random. Because lonely, misanthropic drug addicts should die in bus crashes. Young, do-gooders in love who get dragged out of their apartments in the middle of the night should walk away clean.
Amber: Self-pity isn't like you.
House: I'm branching out from self-loathing and self-destruction. Wilson is gonna hate me.
Amber: You kinda deserve it.
House: He's my best friend.
Amber: I know. What now?
House: Stay here with you.
Amber: Get off the bus.
House: I can't.
Amber: Why not?
House: Because it doesn't hurt here. I don't want to be in pain. I don't want to be miserable. And I don't want him to hate me.
Amber: Well you can't always get what you want. (Hmm, where have we heard that before?)
"Get off the bus," Amber directs him, echoing House's own transportation-as-life-path metaphor from "Living the Dream," when he told the miserable actor to figuratively jump out of the plane. Is happiness a choice, is how you feel a choice, is how you act a choice? The man who has stubbornly, gleefully resisted all but the most infinitesimal changes until his acceptance of Amber for Wilson's sake in "Don't Ever Change," seems to be facing his profound desire to make different choices. What now? Whether he can change or not is a whole other question, as is how the writers manage that without destroying the show and the character, but it's a question for next season.
Article comments
1 - Jeffrey
Part 1 of these episodes was a bit gimmicky. The trailer for part 2 looked even more overwrought and gimmicky... So what a relief to find out that Wilson's Heart was the sort of thing that television does best. It takes years to evolve characters to a point where they are that nuanced and involving. There was one too many sappy-song musical montages - one of the first two should have been re-thought. But overall, was an incredible season finale.
2 - Josh Hathaway
I went for this two-parter hook, line, and sinker. I thought it was extraordinarily well written and executed by the writers, actors, and director(s). Brilliant.
3 - Jeffrey
And how 'bout that Fred Durst, getting billed in the credits for his bartender cameo.
Limp Bizkit in da 'House, indeed.
4 - Elizabeth
I thought "House's Head" was much better than "Wilson's Heart" for a few reasons: "Wilson's Heart", though extremely well-acted, was sort of corny. Everything played out the way it was expected, except, of course, what happened to Amber. But when 13 ended up having Huntington's? It was so unoriginal. And also, did it look like a new set in some places? One more thing--after the BONES season finale in which a main character got sent to an asylum at the end, "Wilson's Heart" was extremely depressing. However, I thought it was really clever the way they used the vocals to the song "Teardrop," the HOUSE theme, in the middle of the episode.
5 - SludgeFace
in my opinion the best house episode yet. It was simply so emotionally touching, especially as it neared the end, and i found myself crying... something i NEVER do for a movie/tv show, and amazing at how powerful this episode really was.
6 - bliffle
Wow! That was a thorough and engaging recapitulation. So many interesting characters. Thanks for all the effort and attention you've put into this material. It helps to elevate it above the usual TV program.
7 - Clara
LOVE this article. Very well written. Yea--I'll admit I cried my eyes out at the end, too. House is a great show. Already counting down the days to Season 5!
8 - Mary K. Williams
Ack, tried to leave a comment yesterday - but it never went through.
Very wonderful job on this Diane. Welcome Back!
9 - Diane Kristine
Thanks!
Clara, I'd be counting the days too but do we know the premiere date yet? They'd better not make us wait until after baseball.
Elizabeth, I'm not sure how Thirteen having Huntington's is unoriginal, but I hope they deal with the aftermath of what it means to live your life with that knowledge. I haven't seen that in an ongoing role before.
10 - Clara
Found this on Housemd-guide.com, don't know if you've seen it yet:
"May 17, 2008: Fox announces schedule change for House next season.: For the first half of the season "House" will be on Tuesday nights in the first hour of primetime 8/7c. Then in January the plan is to move "House" to the first hour of primetime on Wednesdays. Scheduling for January is always very tentative since the network doesn't know which new shows will succeed and which won't."
Also, read somewhere that House might return in August... gotta keep my eyes pealed for more info.
11 - Diane Kristine
Right after I posted that comment I saw an interview with David Shore saying September 2. (It's a funny interview too.) It's not August but it's early-ish at least.
12 - Boffle
Thanks for the review, DK. Beautifully written. I so much agree with the love for these two episodes. The first: cerebral, dreamlike, haunted, like House's head, and the second: fierce, confused, torn, broken like Wilson's heart. I join you in trusting the instincts of this stellar creative staff: they keep throwing House into new situations where he is forced to grow, we think, and then he has his own surprising take. The scene where Wilson asks House to have the brain stimulation despite his severe injuries will, I think, have changed how they see each other: it will never be the same.
I loved how the rest of the staff responded to Amber's dying and then, the parallels with House and 13, the one facing a damaged life, the other an early death. And even though he was "barely coherent" from the beginning, he still found time and energy to notice 13's response (or lack thereof) and mentor her by getting her to face it, and then she got him to face his own.
Sept. 2? Looking forward to it. Hope you continue to post about House from time to time: your take adds a lot to the enjoyment of this brave and amazing show.
13 - swatkat
this was absolutely beautiful. like you, i'm avidly anticipating season 5... why isn't it september yet?
14 - Grace
13's first name is Remy.
15 - Diane Kristine
Yes, as I said, any fan who wants to know her name and can use the Internet already knows. But the first name hasn't been said on the show yet.
16 - Della
What a fantastic review. Thank you for posting that. Your review was so good that I could picture in my mind each part of the episodes you commented on and because your review was so clear and precise, that when you got to the heartbreaking moments of the episodes you made me cry again.
*ahem* Aaaanyway, having watched a few finales that were on offer from some of the other leading shows out there, these two for House were, in my opinion, just exceptional. Far, far, far, far, far, far better than all of them, including the Numb3rs finale, which I thought had a lot going for it as well.
"House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart" contained everything that I enjoy watching in an episode. I don't mean the high-drama and the angst, though, you know, every once in a while it's a wonderful thing, but it was more to do with the fact that both episodes were so character driven.
They were episodes which managed to cater for all of the characters, which is a huuuuge feat all of itself given how many characters House has now.
But what I truly liked about these two episodes was that there were no fancy shots (like one finale I could mention), just a confidence in the acting abilities of the actors involved in conveying the truly heartbreaking scenes at the end. No fancy tricks, just simple settings with a bit of music, and a whole lot of exceptional acting and writing. Wonderful!
The only thing that confuses me is why several people are adamant that Wilson is angry at House. I didn't see that at all. Hmm, maybe I wasn't looking hard enough, or maybe, just maybe that by that point I was sobbing so hard that I just *couldn't* see - chuckle.
Thanks again for such a wonderful review.
Take care
Della
:-)
17 - Diane Kristine
Thanks so much Della, that's really nice of you to say (and Boffle too - sorry, I missed you last time).
Wilson's emotional reaction is up for interpretation, of course. His anger, if that's what it is, is definitely quiet, and of course combined with grief. The fact that he couldn't talk to or approach House at the end, and that House thinks he has earned Wilson's hatred, makes me think that anger is at least part of it. I guess we'll find out Sept 16 - that's what Fox is saying is the season premiere date.