I did hear that line, Boffle, and loved it. Going back to the waking Amber up discussion, I think it must have been horrifying for her, but it did give Wilson a chance to say goodbye and tell her he loved her. I don't know about anyone else, but the way someone (I can't remember who) told him to let her know how he felt gave me the impression that maybe he hadn't told her he loved her yet. If Amber really loved him, perhaps, even though it was terrible that she had to experience that fear, she would have chosen to try to give him that closure.

The part that this leaves out of the equation for me is that it was not only possible House would die from it, it was probable--. Well, I guess if you got the impression is was "probable" that House would die from the procedure, I can understand more of the anger towards Wilson - but that wasn't the impression I got. I got the idea the procedure was dangerous and risky and COULD cause damage or death, but not that it was "probable" it would do so - only that it was possible it would do so. And like others have mentioned before, House isn't above risking himself for his patients, why not for a friend? I don't know if this has been mentioned.... but if it has I didn't catch it. Isn't the necklace 13 is wearing a clock? If so, that is a nice bit of symbolism, considering her now "limited" time left.

^^I thought the "inside voices" thing was really cool, too. We're used to seeing him as the one fighting, not the one wanting it to stop. That was refreshing, and gave me pause.

Thanks NightOwl and cindylouwho for figuring my dumb question out. Now it's clear for me :) And a question, now. If Amber thought she was coming down with the flu, why did she down that cosmo like it was water? I know creative license and all, but that seemed odd. I don't think it would have made House any more or less drunk had he had both drinks. She probably just figured it was the quickest way to get House out of the bar. I had a sudden idea that she might thought it would help her. But hence it was sherry, not brandy I don't even know. You know, some brandy can a great help when you are suffering from a flu. Poor poor Amber, I liked her so much from the time she was introduced in the show :( I was hoping until the episode ended that she would recover and limp just like House does, and they would become friends :) I saw Anne Dudek earler in Friends, where she played a dumb former girl of Phoebe's future husband. So when I saw her in House, I realised she was a stunning actress! She was acting in the same level as HL and RSL were. Someone in LJ joked it was exec's way to return the old ducklings - Amber and Thirteen die, Kutner dies during the funeral and Taub leaves, so voila! CCF are back!

Oh. And I thought in the final scene in the bus could be real Amber. Cause House, you know, is very sceptic about all the life-after-death question. Remember, Wilson asked on the beginning of the fourth season, what did House see there and House answered he did see nothing, but Wilsn didn't believe him. So maybe House really was in limbo, just as Hary Potter :lol: , cause he didn't obstinately believe it :)

Like always I'm very late to the party... Others have already said many of the things that I feel about the episode: intense, sad, beautiful and with amazing acting from all the cast. So, I'll steal some of the others comments... Lagniappe wrote: Amber was dying. Amber was being kept alive by machines. Amber was *blue* for crying out loud! House was alive and kicking (and as usual acting indestructible). The danger to Amber was in your face obvious and undeniable. The risk to House was insubstantial and much easier to dismiss. I do not find it strange Wilson made the request - especially since he was just reiterating something House himself had offered - and I certainly don't think it undermined or weakened their friendship! If anything, it strengthened it! You don't make that kind of request from anyone who is not an intensely close friend....///.... And I don't buy that Wilson is angry at House and that is why he walked away. He stood at the window and waiting till House woke up, and then he left and I don't blame him one bit. They man is emotionally torn apart. He needs time to recoup! He just spent the last few hours holding his dying girlfriend and then turning the machines off and essentially being the one to kill her! And he is supposed to walk in and inquire as to House's well being? Perfectly said and ITA! But I'm not surprised with the anger towards Wilson. I was fully expecting it. Poor Wilson is not even allowed to go to the five stages of grief... He must go right to the acceptance, because House needs him and House can't be left waiting... :roll: Maybe this time it will be House's turn to pick up the pieces, for a change... Another thing I find interesting is that I don't see anyone pointing out that if the roles were reversed, House needing something that only Amber could give, I have no doubt Wilson would ask her to do the same. If she would accept it or not, it doesn't matter. House did it, not for Amber, but for Wilson. And at the end this must mean more for Wilson than the unfortunate chain of events that led to Amber's death. All of them were in such a complex situation that there were no easy decision, either way, someone would be hurt. DrS wrote: To me what is more interesting than whether Wilson will forgive House is whether House will forgive himself. And I don't think he will, ever. That's what I think will be the main obstacle to their reconciliation - not that I think they are at odds at all, but Wilson will be more introspective and less receptive and House will project in him the guilt that he feels. It will be interesting to see which one will try to reach the other first. Anyway, that was the best season finale ever!

An interesting bit I picked up during re-watch of the scene when Wilson asks House to do the procedure, from a directing perspective, in which Katie Jacobs uses a narrow field of focus to make a visual clue as to what's going on in Wilson's head (beyond RSL's acting). When Wilson walks out of House's office, he's out of focus. He walks toward the camera, and the moment he's in focus, he stops, and you see the moment as he comes to a decision about pushing House for the electrical stimulation. To me, it's a great visual note to show that moment when, for Wilson, his final option comes into focus. And I agree, TrooperCam that it is interesting to consider the idea that House has some kind of issues related to the seizure and brain bleed. Obviously he'll regain his capacities, since we need him to be the genius for the show to work, but I also think it's intriguing that while we saw him respond to Cuddy, we didn't hear him speak at all after the coma.

I heard the "Silent voices", but do not understand the meaning. Can someone explain?

You know, there's a saying that you should live life to the max because, someday, who knows, you could be hit by a bus. Well, I think in a way the whole show got hit by a bus. Everyone was doing what they always do, oblivious for the most part to their own mortality and that of everyone around them, when this particular chain of events led to the same place it leads for every person who has ever lived: confrontation with their own mortality and that of their loved ones. Once confronted like this, what do you do? There's no time to think, to consider options, to reflect: you're injured, you're terrified, maybe you grasp at straws or you listen to authoritative advice from others, or you insist on your own way no matter what, or you believe you're dying anyway so you might as well do a good thing for someone who could live a better life than your own. And it all happens so very fast. Here, the doctors became the patients. The question "what do doctors say when the patient leaves the room" is ramped up when the doctors are the patients. I can't hate any of them for what they did which almost makes it harder to bear. There are those "what ifs" that would have changed the outcome: If Amber hadn't taken two pills, if she had gotten off the bus after handing him his cane, if she had had another drink, if House had gotten drunk at home, if Wilson had been home and picked House up. Then, later: if Wilson hadn't asked House to risk his life for an answer that was, in the end, too late, if House hadn't agreed to do it when asked (which other patients on the show have done, eg Maddy for his brother and vice versa): all these things just happened the way they did. We are so used to being in the doctors POV that it's fascinating to turn the tables and see what it's like when our loved ones (the docs) are the ones being crazy emotional, devastated, and insisting on unreasonable things (100% sure!). Here, House is both doctor and patient throughout: he's damaged to start with (patient), he ministers to Amber on the bus before he passes out (doc), he's concussed (patient), he can't stop trying to figure out who the patient is (doc), so much so that he has a heart attack (patient), in great pain (as always, patient), and he has no energy to be other than teacher/doctor to 13, who tells him he is messing up the case (as doc), then faces the family, both his own and the patient's (Wilson) and realizes that to Wilson he's a friend and Amber's family: Wilson's decision gives the result of the competition we saw in humorous terms in earlier episodes. Though Wilson is his best friend, he's not Wilson's, Amber means more. House is then compelled (as both doc and family member) to become a patient and risk his own life and what remains of his health to answer the questions he has as a doctor, as a family member and as a human being. And so he becomes the patient in the ultimate diagnostic -*test*-('"). And then he seizes, further damaging his skull, his brain, maybe his future, adding self-pity to self-destruction and self-loathing. And still he comes back, but to what? He regains consciousness, acknowledges Cuddy with a blink and by holding her hand. But what is going on in there? When he opens his eyes and sees Wilson, and Wilson says nothing and turns away, is the fact that he's suffered further damage to get the answer to a question proven meaningless by being too late: is it emotional devastation that we see or is he truly (though likely temporarily given the constraints of the tv world) diminished in his faculties? He doesn't speak, but can he? It's really the dilemma that was brought up with 13's situation: is it better to know the timing and manner of your death or go about your life as if you'll never die? Seeing what happens to Amber, 13 chooses knowing the truth of her situation and as a result, sees certain death is coming her way, so now she knows her fate. But then, it's everyone's fate. You could live a long life or you could get hit by a bus. But, according to the great philosopher Guthrie, you'll never get out of this world alive.

then faces the family, both his own and the patient's (Wilson) and realizes that to Wilson he's a friend and Amber's family: Wilson's decision gives the result of the competition we saw in humorous terms in earlier episodes. Though Wilson is his best friend, he's not Wilson's, Amber means more. Boffle I'll pick up one of your points but I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with you, it's just because I'm very intrigued with the idea that Wilson asking House to do the procedure somehow shows that House matters less for him. Do you (and by you I mean everyone here!) remember Family? So, when the parents agreed to let Matty do all the -*test*-('")s and painful procedures to save his brother's life, they were actually proving that they loved Nicky more? To prove that they loved both of them, they should have let Nicky to die? I don't get it. Wilson was able to ask that to House because he loves House and he knows that House loves him. If he couldn't ask and Amber died without he being sure that tried everything that was possible, then I don't think they could be friends anymore. This is the kind of thing you only expect to recive from someone you truly love, not from someone who you don't care enough. It's not a competition, it's a bond for life. YMMV and all...