The fifth season of House, M.D concludes with Dr. Gregory House (the always extraordinary Hugh Laurie in a heartbreaking performance) watching his world come crashing down around him — his sense of reality shattered, unable to distinguish fantasy from reality. It was a somber way to end the season, the camera pulling back to reveal the lone figure of Wilson, watching sadly from afar as House enters the doors of Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital.
House co-executive producer and the finale’s writer Doris Egan explained the significance of the final sequence during a one-on-one interview the day after the finale aired. We also discussed the episode’s themes and the series’ relationships.
Egan has written for House for several seasons, penning some of the best and most beloved episodes of the entire series, including season three’s “Son of Coma Guy,” her Writer’s Guild-nominated “Don’t Ever Change” (co-written with Leonard Dick) from season four, and season two’s “House vs. God,” for which she received a Humanitas Award nomination.
The final scene of “Both Sides Now” intercuts joy and sadness: the sunny spring setting and smiles of delight as Chase and Cameron exchange vows and wedding rings set against House’s shell-shocked expression, gray chill day and desolate walk up the steps of Mayfield. The montage, set flawlessly to the Rolling Stones’ classic "As Tears Go By" was choreographed by the series’ Emmy Award-winning director Greg Yaitanes (he won for last season’s penultimate episode “House’s Head”). “Yaitanes pretty much laid out the choreography of the entire final sequence, except for House handing his belongings to Wilson, which was scripted,” Egan explained.
The difference in atmosphere, she said, was intended for visual contrast. “In my original version,” noted Egan, “we went inside the place and saw House hand himself over to strangers there, recite his symptoms flatly to a doctor as his personal possessions were taken and Wilson added unhappy amplifications — all without sound, under music, as you saw it — and then Wilson watched as House went through a locked door.”
Moving the final scene outside, she said powerfully demarcates the different worlds that House and Wilson now occupy. Obviously, if you go that way, you still want to see House divest himself of his ordinary possessions and all they imply; so as House hands Wilson his wallet, pager and cell phone and watch, Wilson became the Keeper Of House Past.”
Egan told me that there were a couple of main challenges to writing the script, which had to be written so the big reveal of House’s delusion wasn’t given away too early. During the entire episode, she said, House and Cuddy were on different pages: “House was going to be thinking one thing and Cuddy something else.”
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Orange450
Yay!!!!
I'm copying and pasting this to read tomorrow AM, because I STILL can't print here ;)
Sight unseen, I know I'm in for a tremendous treat. Thank you so much for giving all of us these wonderful extra-curricular (so to speak) experiences! Tomorrow's commute thanks you too!
2 - barbara barnett
Hey Orange! First commenter. Hope you enjoy the interview. It was fun speaking with her about the show.
3 - Milena
Egan confessed to writing a detailed outline for a prequel to House and Cuddy having sex “for real. And man, it was hot. That’s all I’ll say. It was only an outline, but I put a lot of detail into my outlines.”
Doris Egan writing House/Cuddy stuffs, ow I'm shocking. And yes she really needs work more on Cuddy. I do like Doris, but this Wilson thing sometimes bugs me.
Great interview Barbara, THANKS!
4 - Lin
Great interview, Barbara! You got some very insightful comments from Ms Egan, so thank you.
So it looks like all the House-Wilson conversations in BSN were real? I wasn't sure if those were also a part of House's delusions. I'm also a bit fuzzy about the timeline in that episode, as the wardrobe change indicates that it happens over a couple of days, but House was still referring to the event (the Huddy sex) as having happened "last night".
5 - Phillip Winn
I need to watch these last two eps again.
And probably again. :-)
6 - Claire
Thank you Barbara for this great interview. Cannot wait for season 6.
I'd have a question about the 'huddy outline' part of the interview (could be a stupid one, English is not my mother tongue and I don't know much about tv series 'making of' procedures :) )
Does it mean that they actually considered a 'real' sex scene between House and Cuddy, that was later replaced by the 'allucination' storyline? Or is it common for authors to write outlines even if there's no real plan for the storyline to be actually included in the series?
7 - Marie
Wow !!! thanks for the fantastic insight into the last two episodes and all the depth that went with it , I do understand a lot more of the whole package of House going to the hospital rather than just Rehab now ,Doris Egan rocks for me Barbara,she just KNOWS House/Wilson ..... would love her to push for the prequel though , her writing Huddy would be awesome I am sure , Thank you too Barbara for all YOUR reviews over the season which have been terrific , hope you are able to keep us sustained with bits and pieces over the next few months , its going to be a long dry summer ,(regardless of the weather ) without House ,if ever you get the chance to come over here to the UK the offer of the Housethon still stands , thank you again for all your efforts and hard work Barbara its much appreciated . lots of love and stuff from England xx
8 - nc
Barbara, thank you for the great gift of this interview! Lots to digest and savor.
I wonder whether DE likes road trips for their sense of journey and because it enables a writer to control characters' interaction closely because of their proximity. That, and it takes them out of their usual orbit and exposes them to the prospect of new influences.
Fascinating to see the centrality of Cuddy's role in House's life from someone who makes it so.
What a dream job it must be to write for such a superlative cast.
Now to survive the summer--thanks to reruns and Barbara! I look forward to any and everything you choose to discuss.
9 - JL
Thanks, Barbara (and to Doris Egan, I suppose) - this is great reading.
I hope DE doesn't feel beholden to House/Wilson shippers and therefore wary of writing any 'Huddy' stuff. The two are certainly not mutually exclusive (unless you're specifically shipping House and Wilson romantically, and David Shore said he felt the show wouldn't be going there).
I am a little disappointed on reading this interview, because I don't receive the impression that the writing team yet know where the House story is ultimately going. I feel that this is going to be so critical if they want to 'sustain an interesting show' much longer.
Barbara, is this your impression, too? Or did you feel DE's reticence on the future of House implied an understanding of what is to come?
10 - JL
Oh, another question I forgot to ask - was DE suggesting that House's right brain and left brain are not communicating correctly?
11 - maya
Thanks for the interview, Barbara. Doris Egan is a brilliant and creative writer and I enjoyed the background she gave us on the medical stuff. But I am really disappointed after reading the rest of the interview because it seems like they are writing these brilliant, layered episodes for the sake of being clever, not as a way of developing the characters. This is “Lost” comes to “House”. They are lucky to have HL on the show (and RSL and LE) and I am starting to believe that they don’t deserve such a brilliant cast.
**But, Egan added, Wilson was still “a little worried that House is in denial about his pain level.” House’s actual level of pain could be masked “because House is now focusing on Cuddy and on the little mysteries he’s apparently creating about her second thoughts.”**
Is she kidding me? I was hoping that some of the House/Wilson scenes were hallucinated and I get the impression from this that they were all real. If I am right, then I am very disappointed because Wilson has been written as both a moron and a bad friend. How did he allow a hallucinating and mentally fragile House to wander away into night after rejecting the rehab? When House came in the next morning and announced that he had detoxed in 24 hours and slept with Cuddy, why didn’t he ask him if he had stopped hallucinating his dead ex girlfriend? Why didn’t House show him the lipstick as proof that he had slept with Cuddy? Why was Cuddy so short and impatient with House when he came to her office looking disturbed a day after he had confessed to her that he hadn’t been sleeping well since Kutner died and she had given him a prescription for sleeping pills? I can get on board with hallucinations within hallucinations for a good payoff but they are writing the characters to fit the plot and ruining them in the process. It’s quite sad, really, but I am not surprised because they have been doing that all season long so this is a fitting end.
**Egan confessed to writing a detailed outline for a prequel to House and Cuddy having sex “for real. And man, it was hot. That’s all I’ll say. It was only an outline, but I put a lot of detail into my outlines.” She hoped her House/Wilson shipper fans would not be too upset that she had ventured into a bit of “Huddy.”**
To learn that the writers worry about ships when writing a script is very disappointing. My esteem for the show has gone down some notches, frankly.
**“Personally I can’t think of how he can’t think of the parallel,” Egan said. “And that’s why Wilson had to be the one to take care of House at that point. I don’t think Wilson would allow anyone else to do it, but that’s just my personal take,” she added.**
Wilson won’t allow anyone else to do it? That sounds creepy, frankly and ruins their relationship for me.
12 - DeeAnn
Thanks for a geat article. This is the only TV show that I would care about getting into this deeply. The article explained so much. I still watch reruns on other networks because this is just not an ordinary drama. Every time I watch an episode I get something new from it. I'm usually disappointed at a season closer of any show, but definitely not this one.
13 - Rhoda
Thanks for the interview. Always interesting to get the insights of the writer, especially in an episode with so many twists and turns.
I have to disagree with Maya, however. I certainly got the take during the episode -- and from the interview -- that Wilson was concerned about House's physical status. He was certainly taking it more seriously than House was. House, as DE put it, is in the Christmas Morning bliss. Wilson pushes at him, asking how he feels, bringing up the idea that endorphins have replaced prescriptions (as we've witnessed before, and Wilson is certainly aware is a standard coping mechanism for House, dating back to Detox). Wilson's continual pushing in favor of the relationship certainly feeds back into his hopes that it's endorphins. He wants House to feel better, that means boosting this relationship (which he doesn't know is delusional) to continue the feeding of endorphins. Also recall that the episode takes place over a very short time period and that Wilson is aware that if he pushes too hard, House will just shut him down and shut him out and he has in the past.
And I don't think there's anything creepy about Wilson wanting and indeed desiring to be the person who takes House on that final step. He's always been House's confidant, his friend, his supporter. House needs that now, more than ever, and for Wilson to have stepped aside would have been out of character.
14 - barbara barnett
Thanks everyone for your comments. About that outline--remember, it was in the context of her saying a lot of stuff gets written an not used. People write stuff all the time to file or discard for future refernce. I don't know when she might have written it, but I certainly don't get the impression it was for this episode.
She wasn't worried about "ships." It was just something she wrote. Period. Nothing to do with anything, and she shared it with me. She was joking when she said she was worried!
I agree that Wilson would want to do right by House. He feels he screwed up with his brother, now he finds himself in an eerily similar situation with House. Of course there are parallels. what she said was that he "had" to be the one (wouldn't let anyone else do it) because that way he couldn't screw it up again.
There is no more to her words than what she actually said. No subtext or agenda. I loved what she had to say about all of it.
15 - sdemar
Thanks for the write-up and for sharing, Barbara, and a special thanks for the great job you did all year long keeping us entertained.
No doubt DE loves writing House and Wilson and House and Wilson in a car.
Will be interesting to see what sort of fallout DE speaks of? Wonder if House's medical license will come into question?. And I am really curious at what point in time Season 6 will start. I don't think they can by-pass this part of House's journey from the viewers, at least, I hope not.
I would have loved to know who's idea was it to film at Mayfield? Obviously this place is not around the corner from the Fox lot and required some travel from Hugh and RSL so some thought went into it.
Thanks again.
16 - sdemar
One more comment. Would also like to see DE give it a try at trying to write some good Cuddy storylines.
17 - sandra
Thanks for the great interview! Doris Egan is definitely one of my favorite writers, her good feeling for House and Wilson is great, you could see that again in this season's finale. I'm really curious to see where House's stay at Mayfield will lead. Will he loose his license? Will he ever be the same again? Hard to say, we'll see in autumn I guess. I also love how DE managed to point out the parallels between House's and Cameron's character, this way the whole scenario with the dead husband's sperm makes much more sense.
Thanks again and have a great weekend everyone!
18 - barbara barnett
"I am a little disappointed on reading this interview, because I don't receive the impression that the writing team yet know where the House story is ultimately going. I feel that this is going to be so critical if they want to 'sustain an interesting show' much longer.
Barbara, is this your impression, too? Or did you feel DE's reticence on the future of House implied an understanding of what is to come?"
I felt DE reticence was from not wanting to divulge anything. They are still working on the story details and was concerned about leting anything slip that then turned out not to be true, so she preferred to say nothing at all. Completely respect that!
I also think that (and this is completely my opinion) they don't know how long the show will last (who can know?) and writing anything is an organic process. Every script presents new possibilities for future threads. It's this discovery process (just like in writing a nove) that I would think helps to keep it fresh. I would guess that somewhere in David Shore's mind there is a sense of where it's all going, but don't know if it would be fleshed out (or if it even exisits).
JL--I also got the impression that House's brain's synapses were not firing correctly. Something was interfering with his sense of reality. Was his left brain making up a tale that would be palatable to make life more livable for him? We all do that to some extent (as she said), but something's off in House's internal communication system to make it impossible to tell what's real and what's not.
Rhoda--Wilson was absolutely concerned about House. Egan said that explicitly. What would happen when the endorphins wore off. Clearly House was feeling better than his condition would realistically suggest. Wilson had no way of knowing that House hadn't actually detoxed at all.
Sdemar--thanks so much. I'm curious about the fallout too. And I personally don't think they will bypass or make nothing of House's very serious status.
19 - maya
Barbara, thanks a lot for the clarifications. It’s impossible to tell the tone of someone’s words from the writing so it’s good to know she was joking about the ships. And I would pay good money to see the stuff that doesn’t get used on the show.
But I am not convinced that Wilson would allow a hallucinating House to wander off into the night the way he did, especially after what happened with Danny. I also don’t buy Cuddy’s behavior with House given what she knew about his sleeplessness and given how strangely he was behaving. It makes absolutely no sense and I can’t fanwank it no matter how hard I try. I am an avid fan of the show, especially the House/Wilson/Cuddy stuff and it’s disappointing for me when they write the characters around a story they want to tell. The characters should drive the plot, not the other way around. Here, the plot called for isolating House from his two best friends and they made Wilson and Cuddy behave in a strange way to get it done.
20 - Eve K
First of all, amazing interview, very interesting! DE is an amazing writer, and the director takes the script to another level! It was so much better to have the last scene outside the mental hospital than inside it. The end sequence with the cutting between the exchange of rings and Houses giving Wilson his things was genius. And the whole scene of driving to the hospital in the rain, House closing his eyes, Cuddy closing hers at the sunny wedding, they are so connected somehow...
I have just re-read "Newer promised you a rose garden" By Hannah Green, and the "driving to the mental hospital" scene reminded me of her going to the hospital in the beginning of the book with her parents. To them (and Wilson) the hospital looks like a end station and a scary closed place, to the patients its not really there, they are to caught up in their own emotions. But the look of Wilsons face in that last glimpse to House - it was telling him - its gonna be all right - I will be there for you... SRL can say so much without saying a word.
Maya - remember that Wilson is an enabler and sometimes he sees what he wants to se. And that is a way for House to be happy.
21 - nc
Barbara, new (ugly) wrinkle with BC format: 1st comment of each page thereof is invisible on screen, at least for me. I can read it in the source code, but that's all. Granted, I use an older version of the Mac OS, hence not the latest/greatest Firefox version, but it was fine before they did whatever they did in the last few days. And there's a mile of white space before the comments actually begin.
Back to DE interview: I love her balance between the need to incorporate elements which advance the plot and her real-time respect for the characters as truly rounded beings. The best fiction does both: move the plot engine forward and reveal the personalities the writer has created (or is writing, as in episodic drama). The utter dearth of "cardboard" anywhere in this show is one of its most compelling attractions for me. That and the fact that the acting rises to the insanely high level of the writing. My nearest and dearest just doesn't "get" how I can watch an ep multiple times and not get bored. But then, he likes sports more than stuff with plots!
22 - Jen
Thank you, Barbara! This has been so much fun! I love the H/W scenes, I love the H/C scenes and the "road trip" eps are some of my faves! Although the trip to MPH was so somber, scary and sad for both H and W. I am still wondering what was live and what was a dream.
I have just a few ?s...what direction might this season have gone in if KP hadn't decided to go to the WH? Hummm...also, what about H's motorcycle accident? Was that only so he was in the bed next to the "Locked In" guy? What about the Psychiatrist he was seeing from that ep? Might we meet him/her at MPH? Also, who do you think prescribed H the methodone? Could it have been Chase as was mentioned either here or on Spoiler TV. Or maybe Cameron? Also, remember back from House's Head/Wilson's Heart when Wilson asks House, "why were you drinking alone so early", that is what led to Amber and H being on the bus...
I will be spending my summer watching the entire lot of S1-S5. I will check back regularly to see what is going on and cannot wait until S6 begins! I look forward to the Emmys as well, to see the ever sexy HL in his tux!
Have a great summer Barbara and all!
23 - Gerry
"But I am not convinced that Wilson would allow a hallucinating House to wander off into the night the way he did, especially after what happened with Danny. I also I don’t buy Cuddy’s behavior with House given what she knew about his sleeplessness and given how strangely he was behaving. It makes absolutely no sense and I can’t fanwank it no matter how hard I try"
I don't see that there is much to fanwank--it makes sense to me. Wilson is hoping House is going to make his own choice to go to rehab, because he knows if he doesn't, House will just cheat the system. He's BTDT. He knows House is concerned and trying to diagnose himself, and he believes in House's power to do that. The last thing Wilson wants is have House shut down from being pushed too hard. And like everyone, he's thinks House is indestructible. This is the man who asked his best friend who had just suffered a heart attack and a badly fractured skull to undergo a DBS, apparently not taking in it could kill him. Wilson giving House leeway to come to his own decsion to go to rehab seems in character to me.
I also think Cuddy's behaviour was in character the next day. She has no idea House is even suffering hallucinations, never mind delusions. She knows he's been unable to sleep and she knows she gave him sleeping pills to help. I don't think her knowledge that he is having trouble sleeping would make his comment about Rachel understandable and make her think he had very serious mental health issues. She was reacting to House's comment without enough knowledge to know it was a plea for help because he was spiraling out of control and literally scared out of his mind. When she got that knowledge, it understandably changed her perceptions.
I loved the characterisations of everyone in this episode.
24 - DebbieJ
sdemar wrote: "I would have loved to know who's idea was it to film at Mayfield? Obviously this place is not around the corner from the Fox lot and required some travel from Hugh and RSL so some thought went into it."
(I'm not going to reference the comment number as the last time I did that, the comment numbers changed!)
sdemar, I read online that the psych hospital scene was indeed filmed in New Jersey, in Parsippany. The facility is actually called Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greystone_Park_Psychiatric_Hospital
My question is what is the significance in naming it Mayfield. Knowing the writers, there's got to be some significance to the name. Another Sherlock Holmes homage,
perhaps? I don't know.
Barbara, did Doris mention anything?
25 - maya
Gerry--> Thanks for your explanations for Wilson and Cuddy's behavior.
I am sorry but I still don't see how Wilson could let a hallucinating House wander off into the night given what had happened between him and Danny all those years ago. Wilson's telling House to go terrorize Cuddy and the strange look on his face after House left made no sense either, especially since he'd been asking him to talk to her throughout the episode. Again, it seemed like something that they wrote to drive the plot in terms of House going and shouting out that he'd slept with Cuddy.
And Cuddy didn't know that House was hallucinating but she had a worried look on her face when he left her office after taking the sleeping pill scrip. She also knew that he hadn't shown up to work the next day because Foreman told House that she would fire him if he didn't come. Then he shows up in her office late in the evening, looking worn down and stands there silently. Her response to ask him to get to the point makes no sense. What makes even less sense is her response to his announcement that he's quitting which was to make snarky remarks about him wanting a bigger desk etc and rather harshly telling him that she'll deal with it later. They wrote it like that so House would get a chance to make the cruel comment about her child and she could stalk away, not because it's the way Cuddy would have behave in that situation.
I am just going to pretend that House hallucinated all these scenes with Wilson and Cuddy in 5x23 and the scene in 5x24 where Wilson asks house to terrorize Cuddy. It's the story my left brain has made up in order to make the facts fit and the characters seem consistent.