Episode Discussion Post 8x22 "Everybody Dies"

[menolly_au]

I'm dead, Wilson.How do you want to spend your last five months?

House and Wilson ride off into the sunset sunrise on motorcycles.

The end.

Episode description at House Wiki

Transcript at Clinic Duty

At that brings us to the end of this marathon rewatch. We started in June 2012 so it's been a long journey. Thanks to petitecuriosity for starting the comm

Comments

[yarroway]

I read the transcript rather than re-watching. I still don't love this episode, but now I am confused as well. I know these are minor issues, especially in comparison to my ongoing puzzlement over the whole Plumbing Crimes saga, but they bug me. I'm hoping there's some obvious answer that I've just forgotten

[menolly_au]

I haven't rewatched it yet (I'm steeling myself) but didn't House go missing after the whole drama about asking Wilson to confess to the plumbing thing and they had an argument about that?

Wilson is probably (quite rightly IMO) pissed that House didn't take the easy out (which was like seeing 8 patients or something - hardly a hardship for a doctor with a team of minions at his disposal) so that he could be with Wilson. And then wanted Wilson to take the fall. But yeah - the rift between H & W in this episode after the closeness and resolution of Holding On is one of my (many) issues with this episode.

The second point - I don't remember Foreman saying that but there's no way House & Wilson were in touch while House was in prison. Maybe Foreman just assumed that House would assume that Wilson would come running back to him after he got out of prison?

[taiga13]

didn't House go missing after the whole drama about asking Wilson to confess to the plumbing thing and they had an argument about that?
That's how I remember it.
House would assume that Wilson would come running back to him after he got out of prison?
Also seemed to be the case, although I think they're retconning too - though House remarked on Wilson not visiting him in prison, there was never any suggestion in '21 Vicodin' that House ever intended to see Wilson again.
My quibble with this episode, aside from the lack of Cuddy which I know couldn't be helped, was that House asked Wilson how he wanted to spend his last 5 months, then we see them on motorcycles. Since when was Wilson interested in motorcycles? They just couldn't resis showing House riding off into the sunset on a motorcycle. (I also would have preferred Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" as the final song, but do realize not everything is about me!)
Also thanks to everyone who managed and commented in this comm.

[srsly_yes]

Good suggestion about the music. At the time, I had questioned the Louis Prima choice. While I adore anything Prima, I wondered if "Later than You Think" was supposed to tie back to hallucinatory!Amber when she sang the same tune to House, or TPTB forgot or Hugh Laurie forgot. IIRC he was the one who suggested it. Or maybe it would have worked better if they hadn't cut the scene with Wilson visiting Amber's grave. IDK.

As for the motorcycles, you're probably right about the poetic ending, but it worked for me. I could imagine Wilson always secretly admiring House's "Don't give a damn" persona. With five months to live and getting a second chance with House, I think he was prepared to live life to the fullest. Even before the fire, Wilson had dropped his Mr. Perfect act and sported House-type stubble.

I'd sure love to read a fic about the guys discussing what they were going to do. Would Wilson have blurted out a fully formed idea or would he have dithered like he did over the loft furniture and bed?

Final thoughts:

[trichgal76]

I felt like the finale was crammed into an hour when it could have been longer for resolution. But you can't always get what you want and this show has always been about House and his unorthodox way.

I did wish that some patients came back for the funeral service or even better, Tritter and Volger to make some interesting speeches.

What I like about this community is the interesting discussions about each episode and the characters, what was great about it, what made it frustrating and the overall good and bad.

Thank you petitecuriosity for creating this comm.
Special thanks to Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard, Omar Epps and Jesse Spencer for their 8 years invested into the series.

[menolly_au]

I can't help feeling that this episode was driven more by the desire to have every ex-cast member they could come back (including the dead ones which is always difficult) and the desire to have a cool explosion of some sort rather than a narrative that made sense but eh... whatever, it's pretty hard to wrap up a eight season show in a way that everyone is going to like. Maybe I would have liked it better if I hadn't been spoiled for the 'death' (and hadn't only a few days before seen the Sherlock season 3 finale which did it better IMO

[sassyjumper]

I can't help feeling that this episode was driven more by the desire to have every ex-cast member they could come back (including the dead ones which is always difficult) and the desire to have a cool explosion of some sort rather than a narrative that made sense

I think that's exactly what drove the finale. In a long-running show, I get the desire to bring in old characters and wrap things up for them to a degree. And it was nice to see that Cameron was happy, etc.

But yes, I would've preferred something less final for both House and Wilson ... as long as they still ended up in leather in some way, because I'm like that.

[srsly_yes]

Despite the forced cameo appearances, I remember feeling somewhat satisfied with the finale after viewing it, and hugely relieved that Wilson was still standing (or rather, sitting on a bike). Kudos to TPTB for successfully keeping most of the last arc's plot under wraps.

Like Wilson, I have an extremely hard time letting go. After reading all the wonderful fics written about Wilson's survival (which is completely possible), I still can't quite believe Wilson's cancer wasn't terminal (Damn you, David Shore!). It's put a pall on the series for me. I still can't rewatch earlier episodes.

And three years after the series ended I still want to hear more about House & Wilson so I think that says something about the quality of the characters and the show that TPTB created.--Seconding Menolly's comment!

[yarroway]

I understand the desire to give all the extra actors another credit, but I think the story suffered for it. Or maybe I've just lost patience with all the hallucination episodes.

I never viewed the finale as all that final. The story just moved from the hospital to the road. I found it incredibly hopeful to have Wilson alive at the end. How many times have we seen a potw saved at the last minute...or even after they've been pronounced dead. Why not assume the same will happen to Wilson? It's just as likely. That theory makes me happy, so that's what I stick with.

The series wasn't perfect, particularly in areas of continuity and its use of women, but nothing is perfect. I still enjoy the show and, as Menolly and Srsly said, the characters live on in my head.

[yarroway]

I'm just curious--if you could, how would you have ended the show?

[sassyjumper]

Pardon me for sticking my nose in, but I want to say again how much I love your idea of House writing notes to the other characters as an alternative to the funeral scenario.