The End of 'House, MD'

This has nothing to do with anything else in this blog, but ‘House, MD’ ended last month, and since it’s long been my favorite show, I feel something needs to be said about it. Or a few “somethings,” and not all by me; I’d love to chat with y’all if you have an opinion. And, as you might guess, I’m sounding a spoiler alert… stop reading now if you’re behind on the show.

. . .

Are the rookies gone? Cool.

I feel I can’t properly discuss the series finale without taking a broader look first (so bear with me). Despite my ardent fanhood, the show’s declining quality in recent years has not been lost on me. I blame this almost entirely on the House/Cuddy romance, which I feel was handled poorly from the beginning. It also (somehow) turned the once sharp, formidable character of Lisa Cuddy into a two-dimensional love interest (despite Lisa Edelstein’s strong efforts). I just feel that the relationship never made sense, that we never got a clear backstory on House and Cuddy, and that the episodes about the romance just dragged.

So I was optimistic about the final season. Losing Cuddy was a shame, but without the House/Cuddy relationship, the beginning of Season 8 felt more like the show I first took an interest in: zippy dialogue, more compelling patient stories, and even some episode plotlines that were more than just people screwing with each other.

But in the end, I was still disappointed. Two words: “missed opportunities.” To wit:

1.) Adams and Park
I feel like the writers gave up on these two halfway through the season (about when they voiced little more than perfunctory position points). Park’s family dynamics were sort of interesting, but never built to anything meaningful. (I also had a hard time really caring about the sexual harassment suit of an innocent character we’ve known for all of 85 minutes.) And what about Adams and her rich (white) liberal guilt? Where was the episode when she forces the team to take on a second case out of pity for the patient and compromises the care of both patients for lack of sufficient resources? And how about that (unfulfilled) romance with Chase, where the apathetic rich boy and the bleeding-heart rich girl treat a few poor patients and struggle with what their social status really means?

2.) Foreman as Dean of Medicine
Foreman was a lame choice for House’s new boss – the ‘Foreman in Charge’ dynamic has been done to death. It isn’t even realistic. I think the hospital would have much more likely chosen a department head, old friend of Lisa Cuddy’s, and longtime member of its board: Dr. James Wilson. It makes more sense, and it would have added yet another facet to the all-important House/Wilson relationship. At that point, Wilson has been House’s Jiminy Cricket for seven years – always advising, analyzing, and scolding, but ultimately powerless to stop House from making mistakes. But what happens now that Wilson is the big boss and actually has the authority (and administrative duty) to stop, punish, and/or reform House’s radical behavior?

3.) Foreman as Dean of Medicine
And even with Foreman as the new boss, they missed a great chance for an epic story arc befitting the show’s final season. There’s a brief scene one episode where Foreman’s trying to sweet-talk donors, just like Cuddy used to, and one of them mentions reluctance about giving money now that the hospital’s reputation isn’t as solid… and he implies that it’s because of Foreman. This is the one good plot reason to make Foreman Dean of Medicine: he’s not that good at it!

This season, we should have seen a desperate Foreman, one plunged into the deep end of administration, office politics, and risky business decisions: something with which our dear neurologist has no experience (also, do I hear “criminal record”?). Pulling House out of jail, which read as sheer convenience for the writers, could have been totally organic as Foreman’s desperate bid to salt the mine and save a hospital he has failed to manage properly. I would have loved to watch the characters (especially House and Chase) scramble as the hospital starts to go under. And who makes the big, risky play that saves the day for House? House. For once. Will his risky, legally shady gambit (blackmail, I’d bet) to save the hospital fortunes succeed? Or it will it go south, send him back to prison forever, and turn Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital into an HMO clinic?

4.) Wilson’s Cancer
I actually thought they handled this well enough, except they needed to set it up more carefully. I liked that we got blindsided along with House, but we should have had a sense in the weeks preceding that something was just a little off with everybody’s favorite oncologist. A few ambiguously poignant moments between Wilson and his terminal patients. More of Wilson being short with House with no explanation. Even (yet another) episode of House and Wilson playing mind games over Wilson keeping his whereabouts a secret, ‘cause when Wilson would finally give House a satisfying answer, WE would see something that indicates Wilson was still holding out on him. We wouldn't know why or what, even as House and Wilson keep acting like nothing’s wrong. My only other critique is that I think they made Wilson’s cancer too much of House’s problem, but then, the show is called ‘House, MD’.

5.) The Finale

Ah, yes. ‘Everybody Dies’. House faking his death is ridiculous and crazy, but then, so is the character, and it’s a touching gesture for Wilson. Plus, as final images go, their ride off into the distance is fitting enough. I do sort of wonder what shenanigans they’re up to right this minute, and I wonder what House will do with himself after Wilson dies. I think that speaks to very well-developed characters and a closing that respects them.

But as for the final episode itself, take a look back at the show’s greatest segments (which almost all involve a mix of nonlinear storytelling and going inside House’s head). It’s pretty clear that, in terms of execution, ‘Everybody Dies’ is just a faint shadow of what this show could once do. The writing was clunky and forced (except for that one great line about 'Dead Poets' Society'...!). And where’s the conclusion of House’s – and, vicariously, our own – relentless pursuit of absolute truth and meaning? That question needed an answer, or a final acknowledgement that there isn’t one.

And as it stood, this episode’s “to be or not to be” situation wasn’t believable. Unlike every other year, House seemed more or less at peace with himself for the bulk of the season. Even if missing Wilson’s final months has House in a dark place, I don’t buy that he’s debating suicide. (Plus, if he planned to fake his death from the outset, it’s not even a real debate, and then you’re lying to the audience, which is even worse.) The glut of guest stars didn’t much help either (although I was glad to see Sela Ward again as Stacy).

But suppose you’re going to stick with House facing the ghosts of seasons past. Even then, there is one face we absoultely should have seen, but didn't. And it's not Lisa Edelstein as Cuddy.

It's Elias Koteas as Moriarty.

In ‘No Reason’, the Season 2 finale, House is shot and confined to an ICU room, which he shares with his attacker, Moriarty (named in the credits only). Morarity uncannily picks at House’s worst faults and fears, and since all of their interactions are an episode-long hallucination, the Moriarty House argues with is a part of his own mind. It’s a beautiful illustration of a great concept: House is his own biggest antagonist: a Sherlock Holmes who is his own Moriarty.

For fans of Sherlock Holmes (or even just the BBC's modernized ‘Sherlock’), I shouldn’t have to point out that ‘Everbody Dies’ is House’s own Final Problem, his Reichenbach Fall. It’s all there: one-on-one with Moriarty (himself), life-or-death, and faking death. But where was Moriarty? To show House (almost literally) overcoming that internal Moriarty in the burning building would have been a beautiful moment, and a fitting conclusion to his series-long struggle to change.

. . .

This is kind of the end of an era for me. I've been watching since 2005, often in the MPR of Vassar's Raymond House. Season finales always came around the same time as equally emotional ends of school years. Yes, I wanted parts of 'House' and its finale to be a bit better. But the show’s (largely excellent) soundtrack has said it often and aptly: "You can’t always get what you want." But new episodes were always something good to look forward to. I often had the pleasure of watching and discussing them with family or good friends. And in terms of either (mostly good) writing or life philosophy, ‘House, MD’ always gave me something to think about.

I'd say I got what I needed.