House: Series Finale. "Everybody Dies." Discussion/Spoilers

[intrinsical]

The Mighty Monkey of Mim wrote:

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He's in the burning building because he planned the whole thing. As the final stages of his plan proceeded as intended, he wrestled with his own self doubt about seeing it through. But ultimately, House gives up his life to spend the rest of his best friend's with him, and then to move on and find some new life away from the surroundings that would inevitably lead him back to his self-destructive ways. House finally succeeds in "destroying" himself, but without actually destroying himself and being relegated to eternal boring nothingness. He finally solves the puzzle of how to change and move on to a different kind of life.

That's certainly one viewpoint. However there's another viewpoint. House also killed the patient and use the patient's teeth to fake his own death.

[Caliburn24]

The finale was underwhelming, more fitting for a season than the series. I think I feel that way at least in part because this whole Wilson-cancer thing that set everything in motion felt really rushed and not particularly organic. Also not having any sort of resolution with Cuddy was very unsatisfying. I would have given up all of the half dozen or so cameos for one Cuddy/House scene. Had they used this entire finale season to set the end up, instead of just the last four or six episodes it would have worked better.

I think the conspiracy theories about House planning everything are weak at best, considering the lengthy inner dialogues he was having throughout most of the episode. Also, he had no way of knowing that Foreman and Wilson were going to find him in the burning building, or that the roof was going to collapse at that moment. I think him faking his death was poorly written and overly convenient certainly, but not a conspiracy. It made me smile due to the overt similarity to the Holmes mythos however.

And the final shot of Wilson and House riding off together worked for me, despite not being fully satisfied.

[137th Gebirg]

Overall, I liked the episode. Like others, I was disappointed at the lack of a return by Cuddy. The retrospective was also excellent, although I was having a hard time trying to decipher the existence of the clown.

The one thing I never understood: Knowing that House was supposed to be an homage to Sherlock Holmes, and in ALL of the seasons...we've never seen House's Moriarty. Someone of equal cunning and intellect who becomes the bain of his existence. Now, granted, Holmes solved crimes and House...well...didn't. And yeah, we did have Tritter and before that was Vogler, but neither of those guys could really measure up. I think they missed a big opportunity to send this final season out with a bang.

[Agent Richard07]

^ I've thought about the Moriarty thing too. What would his name have been on the show?

Holmes = House
Watson = Wilson
Moriarty = ?

[Allyn Gibson]

137th Gebirg wrote:

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The one thing I never understood: Knowing that House was supposed to be an homage to Sherlock Holmes, and in ALL of the seasons...we've never seen House's Moriarty. Someone of equal cunning and intellect who becomes the bain of his existence. Now, granted, Holmes solved crimes and House...well...didn't. And yeah, we did have Tritter and before that was Vogler, but neither of those guys could really measure up. I think they missed a big opportunity to send this final season out with a bang.

House's Moriarty was Death.

[137th Gebirg]

Agent Richard07 wrote:

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^ I've thought about the Moriarty thing too. What would his name have been on the show?

Holmes = House
Watson = Wilson
Moriarty = ?

In looking at the etymology of the name, an Anglicization of the full Irish name "Ó Muircheartaigh", it could conceivably be "Murtagh". Or we could deviate from the origins and use the first/last letter trope like "Murray", "Mallory", "Maury", "Morley", to name a few.

Allyn Gibson wrote:

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House's Moriarty was Death.

That is a good one - but could be considered a little too abstract for some viewers. That, and, not even House could ever beat Death.

I suppose it could even be House himself - he was already suffering from hallucinations and borderline sociopathy or some such dementia. It is possible that House could have eventually suffered from multiple personality disorder, with another intelligent and dangerous personality manifesting itself. That would have pushed him more into Jekyll/Hyde territory and away from Holmes, though.

[gh4chiefs]

Caliburn24 wrote:

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I think the conspiracy theories about House planning everything are weak at best, considering the lengthy inner dialogues he was having throughout most of the episode. Also, he had no way of knowing that Foreman and Wilson were going to find him in the burning building, or that the roof was going to collapse at that moment. I think him faking his death was poorly written and overly convenient certainly, but not a conspiracy.

I guess that's what's bothering me about it. It just all seemed so contrived, and I've seen it before (fake death and dental record switch. )

I also agree that the very end with House and Wilson "riding off into the sunset" was fine, and I supposed that scene was as good of a way to end it as any, but I wasn't too thrilled with how they got from point A to point B.

What would I have done different? I don't know, frankly I'm not sure what the proper conclusion to this wild ride should have been. But I just know that last episode left me unsatisfied.

[Agent Richard07]

^ A shorter run for the series, ending with "just another day" would have been good too. That was House.

[Trekker4747]

House's "Moriarty" was supposed to be the man who shot him at the end of Season 2. (Though never given a name on-screen, that's the character was called Jack Moriarty in the script.)

I'd almost argue the Season 6 finale with House and Cuddy hooking up would've been an ideal route to go with a finale.

[Agent Richard07]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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House's "Moriarty" was supposed to be the man who shot him at the end of Season 2. (Though never given a name on-screen, that's the character was called Jack Moriarty in the script.)

Were they planning to go somewhere with him but couldn't? The next season picked up months later and he was long gone.

[Trekker4747]

I doubt it. They probably called him Moriarty because he killed (or tried to kill) House, in House's hallucination of him in the episode "Moriarty" was also a character-diagnosing foe to House.

[137th Gebirg]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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House's "Moriarty" was supposed to be the man who shot him at the end of Season 2. (Though never given a name on-screen, that's the character was called Jack Moriarty in the script.)

Ah, yes. Forgot about that one. I guess, particularly because while he was a good foil for House in that episode, it didn't seem to be quite as "epic" as a confrontation between House and a Moriarty-style character should be. The most recent Holmes movie w/ Downy Jr. is a good example of how this should work, not to mention the various other such encounters that have happened in Holmes-based shows over the years.

This guy could have been an excellent adversary for House, had he been an ongoing character throughout the rest of the series. Hell, even Vogler and Tritter got more screen time that him.

[sonak]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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House's "Moriarty" was supposed to be the man who shot him at the end of Season 2. (Though never given a name on-screen, that's the character was called Jack Moriarty in the script.)

I'd almost argue the Season 6 finale with House and Cuddy hooking up would've been an ideal route to go with a finale.

Early in the show's run that's how I thought it was going to end, with House and Cuddy together.

I hated the torpedoing of that relationship in such a mean-spirited way.

[Saul]

In a way House was his own Moriarty. He is constantly fighting himself as we saw in this episode. Fight and live or die. Care for people or push them away. The battle is in his mind.

I was expecting this to be a 2 hour finale and was disappointed that the episode wasn't even extended a little bit. It seemed to rushed and used more to showcase all the characters who used to be on the show.

I can see in a way that this was the producers way of killing House and not killing House. He can make a fresh start. He is smart enough to get away with it. I just felt it all happened too much for a last ever episode. The character deserved more. It's good but weak to what they could have done.

They should have planned out the arc sooner, they knew Hugh Laurie didn't want to come back for a 9th season, why wait so long until it's near the end of the season to clarify that the show was ending whether the producers wanted it to or not.

[gh4chiefs]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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I'd almost argue the Season 6 finale with House and Cuddy hooking up would've been an ideal route to go with a finale.

Now that you mention that, I remember posting that very comment at the end of season 6. THAT felt like a reasonable and satisfying way to end the series.

Maybe I should buy the DVDs through season 6 and pretend the rest never happened.