Belated House Season Finale Post-Mortem

Fox wrapped its fourth season of House (one of my favorite shows) on Monday. There was a lot of crying and introspection and sputum and a musical montage. But even if you didn’t see the episode you probably already knew that.

Click the jump for my spoiler-laden reaction to the show and to the season.

Season Four kicked off with huge tectonic upheaval in the House universe. Season Three capped with the three “ducklings” (Foreman, Chase and Cameron) leaving their mentor to strike out on their own. Season Four opens with House holding an extended elimination round to find his new staff, culminating in the hiring of Doctors Taub, Kutner and “Thirteen.”

I lamented the limited roles the original cast were forced to endure (Chase and Cameron are basically cameo players and Foreman has a little bit more to do, but he’s essentially a fifth wheel). However, these new kids were okay, though there was little doubt who was going to be selected–of course the character played by Kal Penn was going to be brought on as a regular.

So new cast in place and blah blah blah the weird medical mysteries coupled with House’s ever-evolving, self-loathing and often hilarious psychosis unfurls for another dependably enjoyable and well-executed season.

Fast-forward to the two-part season finale, where House loses four hours of his memory after a bus crash, though he’s certain that he diagnosed someone with a life-threatening illness within that dark time period. The stuff where House goes into his head is cool and Lisa Edelstein’s striptease is a bonus, but things start to unravel when we find out the identity of the mystery victim–Amber.

The final hour is devoted entirely to Amber buying the farm and lots of people lose it emotionally, not the least of which is Wilson. Thing is, Amber sucks as a character. She was annoying during the candidate search and she was annoying during her tryst with Wilson. I wanted to drum up an emotional reaction to her death, but the best I could come up with was relief.

The episode itself was depressing, but only because everyone on the show was depressed. There was an extended death scene between Wilson and Amber which, if I felt even an atom of sympathy toward her character, would have hit my like a pile driver, but I found myself slipping into “Trinity Mode,” compelled to shout “Just die already.”

The high point in the episode was the legitimately heartbreaking exchange between Wilson and House, when the former asks the latter to risk his life through an invasive brain procedure to tease out any remaining memories about the bus accident. Their friendship has always been one of the most interesting story lines in the show, so I anticipate how the two interact next season.

Season Finale: two out of four bags of Interferon.
Season Four: three out of four misdiagnoses of Lupus.