What I don't quite get is why they have to wear the person's picture (or Jane Doe's lettering, no pics) around their necks during the bus re-creation. If they're in such a rush to figure this out, why take the time to locate the "id necklaces", insert the pics into the plastic, hang around necks, etc.? Why not just have the person hold the picture so House could see it? Well, they clearly have a stash of about 40 of those things left over from the survivor arc, so maybe they just took the numbers out and put the id info in. But having all those pix blown up, yeah, that's pushing it. I guess they only had pix for the ones that went to ppth.

Okay, I got a chance to sit-down and re-watch the episode, only really in-depth this time – no interruptions or anything. Managed to answer some of my questions, and probably a few others of people. Sat down, took notes (yeah, I’m obsessive), everything – really questioning the timeline as well and want to know when the crash happened, but know it’s futile. However, this is what really stands out to me. During hypnosis, Chase makes him “ignore” Amber and Wilson, but he remembers both Wilson and Amber outside of hypnosis, but when he goes “under,” he has no recollection of Amber at all. Aside from Wilson pulling him “out,” does he ever remember Wilson? I do know that when you are hypnotized, you can stay hypnotized if not pulled out of it fully – hence people who will cluck like a chicken on the cue of a certain word or forget a number in a sequence. They get pulled out of it, but some level of the hypnosis remains (which is partly why hypno-birthing works). They never actually show Chase bringing House out of the hypnosis. So, I’m assuming that while House isn’t fully conscious all the way through the episode, he isn’t really hallucinating at all – he’s just altering his levels of consciousness and finally comes out of the hypnosis at the end. I also found it interesting that it was House who prompted Chase to make Wilson and Amber go away during the hypnosis. He specifically says, “If I can’t lie, I need these two out of here,” and Chase promptly makes him ignore them. So, we’ve been blaming Chase and Wilson for making House forget when it’s been House all along. In one of the “bus scenes,” the Lady in Black says, “Technically you’re stalking me.” So, does this mean that House has been stalking Amber for some period of time? Why is House stalking Amber? Also, where exactly is Amber working? The fact that she was taken to Princeton General, but isn’t known there confirms that she isn’t working at that hospital. The fact that Cuddy can order her to do cares on patients makes me wonder if she’s at PPTH somehow, but if she were, Wilson would have known she was missing. So, is she at another hospital in Princeton or in a private practice? Wilson claims that she’s working as she’s on-call at the time of the crash. But, if she were missing why didn’t her employer start calling next of kin? And what really got to me was how House and Amber interacted during and immediately after the crash – which was the thing that caught my attention the most on first viewing. Assuming that House can’t lie while hypnotized, and that he was hypnotized throughout the episode, then House really was stalking Amber. If House was stalking Amber, what ulterior motive does he suspect/know her of having for her to be in Wilson’s life for so long? Why was he still caring for her so much during/after the crash? So here’s what I think is going on – pure speculation. Amber is lying about something and House suspects it, so he stalks her starting a few episodes ago (the one where she’s in Wilson’s McGill sweatshirt and House is in her apartment). Amber catches on to what House is doing and decides to stalk him as well. House leaves work, goes to a bar, starts drinking. Which really, can be a normal thing. But while there, House sees Amber and she knows that she’s been caught. She gets on a bus to get away (as House would recognize her or Wilson’s car, she’d use something other than that) but House follows and he goes to confront her on the bus. Accident happens. Then as they are both almost killed, he realizes that this game they’ve been playing will only hurt Wilson – whether to drive Amber away or put a skew in their friendship because prior to the accident, there’s no way House and Amber can coexist in Wilson’s life. In showing how caring House is of Amber just after the crash, and how he check on her first, does show how much he cares for his friendship with Wilson. So, it’s turned into a House/Wilson friendship arc. Amber as a plot device.

I'm pretty sure that the "stalking" line is just about House chasing down "The Answer" to his puzzle, not Amber in real life. But I'm wondering if Amber's comments in the bar during the hypnosis -- asking why it's bad that Wilson worries about him -- is an actual memory. Maybe the reason Amber shows up is not because, as House complains, Amber comes up in every conversation with Wilson, but rather because that's actually what she said. After all, Chase and Wilson were right next to House in the hypnosis. It looked like Amber was sitting in a booth on the far side of the bar. Perhaps she actually was. (And she was wearing the same outfit as she was in the bus crash memory.)

Wilson was not in the bar, as confirmed by the first flashback. Actually, it was the first flashback (and a general sense that Wilson was acting odd) that made me think he was. Well, except that I don't actually _think_ he was, I just think it's a possibility. As for his reaction to House drinking so early, he was critical but he didn't strike me as surprised, much less shocked. And I don't think he went there _with_ House, only that he might have been there for a while -- remember that we've got about three hours to work with. Plenty of people go out for a drink after work; I can see Wilson doing that (with or without Amber) and still being upset with House for getting drunk. Wilson also would be adding to or confirming House's information about the bar, he wouldn't be sitting there wondering what House is seeing. Not necessarily -- remember that at this point he's not taking House's "mystery patient" seriously yet. Also, there's some confusion about what House is and isn't saying out loud, so we know there's a possibility that what we hear in House's head isn't always reflected in the outside world. And there's one line that Wilson says -- I don't even remember what it is right now and don't have time to check, but there's something Wilson-in-the-bar says that made me wonder if the speaker was Wilson-in-the-office or a different Memory!Wilson In the final scene, it couldn't be clearer that Wilson is shocked and panicked that Amber was with House. Okay, this is probably all the proof we need that he didn't leave them in the bar together. But again, more than three hours to work with, so that's plenty of time for Wilson and Amber both to have arrived and left, perhaps without even knowing the other was there. Not a strong probability, but a possibility.

Normally, I’m all about the lurking, but I was so thrilled with this episode that I felt compelled to comment. There were some wonderful lines – I particularly liked Taub’s response to Kutner on the subject of accessing House’s memory. “Great Idea. I’ll build the submarine. You get the miniaturisation gizmo.” What I also thought was interesting was the episode opened with House in a strip joint, not normally a tenable position for a TV hero, (I do love this show and how, when it is at its best, it confounds expectations) and the way it then progressed House from what might be considered an ignoble beginning, to revealing him as actually being quite heroic in placing his health on the line to save another. Frankly, I’m a little astonished this episode worked so well, because there were so many writers given a credit, although I did note that Doris Egan got single credit for the story, so perhaps that’s why. I also thought the cast were outstanding and as for HL – I am simply speechless with admiration. Are you watching Emmy panel? I’m a little worried about the next episode, since I thought H’s H was the best episode in ages, possibly, since Three Stories, and I wonder if that high standard can be achieved again, but how I want to see them try. Back to lurk mode.

One thing I found strange regarding the strip club. It seems impossible that inside the club the girl does not know about the chaos right outside. There's helicopters and everything! Then again, she does have trouble naming five animals.

It's really a shame this episode did not air after the Superbowl as originally planned. The cliff-hanger was great, and would have been really effective in building the audience for the following episode. Ending with the bus accident, which usually would have been the opening, was a nice change of pace. The interaction between House and Amber during and immediately after the crash was very moving. House almost never lets his guard down. Even with Wilson and Stacey he hides behind snarky quips and detached logic, but during the accident he actually allowed himself to make a human connection to Amber. I don't think there is anything going on between House and Amber beyond the bond that was created by the shared experience of that crash. He may go back to being his usual misanthropic self next week, but Amber has caught a glimpse of another side of him. Another nice twist was the change from the usual "what is wrong with the patient?" plot line, to having the mystery be "who is the patient?" In that respect it was similar to "Alone" where the identity of the patient turned out to be the missing piece of the puzzle.

I think my Cam hate rubbed off on a friend of mine (who is formerly a HAM shipper) because she finally saw the ep. last night and said the only thing that bugged her was Cameron getting up during the reenactment to see what the drugs were that House was taking and asking if he was okay. I was totally surprised that she said that because she used to defend her to the ground, and I (shockingly) had no problems with Cameron in this episode.

Wilson claims that she’s working as she’s on-call at the time of the crash. But, if she were missing why didn’t her employer start calling next of kin? Someone else pointed out that "on call" doesn't necessarily mean working: you may be on call but never be called in to actual work. So Wilson could have assumed she was working, while her hospital may never have actually called her in. And I imagine that you have to miss more than one shift for your employer to act like the cops - they'd no doubt call her home and cell first and wait until at least a couple of days of not hearing back before they actually start pulling up the emergency contacts.