I don't want to see the physical recovery so much as I want to see the interactions he has with those around him. Who sticks by him, who doesn't...and most importantly, what are the conversations held immediately afterwards...not days/weeks later when he's recovered.

Wouldn't it be nice if he could admit to Wilson (like he did with Chase) that he needs him? I think simply saying that would cause Wilson to rethink his choices. He needs to hear it. The situation here is quite different. He needed Chase for a diagnostic, he needs Wilson to keep his life bearable. For someone like House this kind of admission is huge. I don't think Wilson needs to hear it (he knows that House needs him) but he needs to see that House is willing to do something to prove that he cares, that House could be the kind of friend that Wilson needs right now. House's little remark in that scene shows that House wants to put the whole situation under a rug, again. He doesn't want to talk or hear about what happened. This is probably another - if not the biggest - reason for Wilson's resignation.

I think the deep brain stimulation should have proved that he cared.

I think the deep brain stimulation should have proved that he cared. It proved. He cared and was truly sorry for the consequences of his behaviour. But what is the point if House would keep behaving in the same way? Wilson needs some proof that what happened had some effect in House's life too. It's like the apology in Words and Deeds, it worked because Wilson wanted to believe in it. But now Wilson wants to see some changes, he doesn't want to act like nothing happened. Still, this promos can be deceiving. I'm just saying...

The thing is as Lully said Wilson knows that House cares for him and the having the DBS was huge but this goes beyond that. Wilson has lost something, House, as much as he tried to do to prevent it, is connected to that, as is House and Wilson’s relationship. In the past when people have asked how Wilson can still be friends with House after all House has put him thru the answer is always similar, House is capable of so much as a person and Wilson knows and appreciates the person that House really is even if no one else does. That answer has always seemed a little trite maybe even evasive. It seems especially so this time. Someone has died. The very thing Wilson feared although previously he probably thought it would be House or a patient of House's and House would be responsible. If that doesn’t make Wilson, and eventually House, stop and question what has gone on before and what they want to happen next then nothing will.

We don't know if that spoiler is from the first episode or the fifth, so we may (or may not) see House recover from the concussion/skull fracture/DBS/coma. I hope we do see in some way how deeply injured he was from both the physical damage and the emotional damage of not only losing his patient but also realizing Wilson was willing to sacrifice him to keep Amber. That alone is enough to embitter him toward Wilson, though I think at heart he's really not that kind of person: some grudges he will hold till he makes them even (the migraine doc) and some he just lets go. From Wilson's POV, he's done everything he could think of (and even though I don't agree with his methods, his goals or his reasoning in this regard, I don't think his motives are bad) to help House, to make his own life work: he's tried lying and tricking House to get him to give up his addiction; he's tried getting him into rehab by forcing him to detox with the threat of a prison sentence; he's tried negotiating with the police to give up his own freedom in exchange for House's; he's even tried detaching from House and forming a new relationship: none of this has ended well and I think both his grief and his inability to think outside the box are going to leave him with no choice but to leave. Wilson's life has suffered because of all his wrong-headed meddling with House, at least in part. He hasn't had a place of his own to live; he's been on anti-depressants (because he has been beating his head against a wall, trying to change something that he can't change); and he's lost the woman he loved. House risked his life to save her, but he couldn't do it. No one could. Now I do think Wilson , with a little distance form the events, is clear enough to know that this concatenation of circumstances was neither his fault, nor House's, nonetheless I expect him to think of it as an outcome of having House in his world and that he can't bear having that happen ever again. Wilson sees that his demands on House have not been helpful; he sees that House hasn't changed, and likely won't change; and he has given up on enabling him, so what is there for him in dealing with House and not enabling him? I don't think he knows how to do that. I think that Amber's death broke the relationship for good, not because they hate each other ( I think they still value each other and would come to each other's aid were that needed), but because they now know they are, in some ways, toxic for each other. The enabling, the meddling, the deceptions, the lies, despite all the jokes, those things have damaged whatever trust there used to be. I think Wilson has just had it with House, doesn't think they are helpful to each other, and needs to get away and start over somewhere else. I wonder if he can even practice medicine anymore, at least at this point. I too am thrilled that they are not just pressing the reset button on this. We've seen a lot go down between these two, and in a way it's time for a reckoning. After all these are grown men, professionals, adults despite their occasional fun, boyish behaviors. They have careers and responsibilities that have to considered. They have to be in a situation where they can function safe from emotional attacks, especially the biting ones they can put on each other. I expect House to do everything to avoid this sort of reckoning: he will try to bend it every which way to keep from facing the truth of it until he finally has to, but Wilson has a rigid, even brittle character and he has been pushed beyond the limit of what he can deal with. He just can't do it anymore. So, without blaming House but really for House's own good and his own survival, I think Wilson is really gone. Now, having said that I realize RSL has a contract and the House-Wilson friendship is too valuable and interesting to the show for Wilson to stay gone. If there's a PI, I wonder if House hires him to find Wilson after he disappears and then stays on to do the routine housebreaking instead of the fellows. If there's a road trip, I wonder if it's House using the PI's info to hunt down Wilson and get him to come back since we all know House doesn't like people leaving his world and there's really no one to take Wilson's place as best friend in a peer sort of way. If he does return, I don't think it will ever be the same. That sweet camraderie is over, sad to say. I think Huddy will definitely happen and maybe that relationship will be in the forefront for a while: I hope it's more than a one-night stand since they do deeply care for each other and have the sizzle to keep each other engaged. But House being House, he'll probably wreck that too. Anyway, those be my thoughts for today. I think I feel the mileage varying as I type. ;-)

Yes, Carrie, we're kind of agreeing here - actually, I was answering to e_c, but it took me so long to post my thoughts that they ended up after yours. :D I just don't think that Wilson is blinded by grief. His decision to resign - if there is no twist - may seem random and thoughtless, but I don't think it is. I think he has been doing a deep evaluation of his life and his relationship with House and he was expecting that House would do the same. The fact that House seems to pretend that nothing important happened is probably the trigger for his decision.

If there's a PI, I wonder if House hires him to find Wilson after he disappears and then stays on to do the routine housebreaking instead of the fellows. When I initially heard the spoiler about the PI, my first thought was that maybe Wilson purposely "disappears" for awhile and House hires the PI to find him. But then I dismissed that thought as being too cracky. Now, however, I think it is possible that scenario could happen. I'm not shocked that House was so callous towards Wilson's grief. I don't think House's outward manner is indicative of how he is feeling emotionally. I think that House is probably still hurt, unsure of their relationship, and feeling a little bit guilty. Since House is never one to discuss his feelings, his cover them up the best way that he knows how: by being abrasive. Hopefully the writers will be at the top of their game this season, and give us some moments where House's true feeling for Wilson shine through the roughness.

Wow! And y'all can get all this from about three lines of dialogue and 10 seconds of screen time? No wonder discussion of an actual episode can go on for 100 pages. :D Me, I think I'll wait till the actual season starts to comment, but carry on! It makes for fascinating reading.

Your list is missing that Wilson's resigned before during the Vogler arc. That lasted a whole ten minutes. Foreman's lasted a few episodes, Foreman's still in the lead. I'm not shocked that House was so callous towards Wilson's grief. I don't think House's outward manner is indicative of how he is feeling emotionally. I think that House is probably still hurt, unsure of their relationship, and feeling a little bit guilty. Since House is never one to discuss his feelings, his cover them up the best way that he knows how: by being abrasive. ITA, however, like others have said, Wilson needs something different this time and it looks as if House isn't giving it, so why should Wilson stay? I can understand wanting to get away from a place that now has horrible memories and a best friend who is mocking your grief, even though he is the indirect cause of it. If Amber's death and House's guilt aren't enough to get him to try and act differently or at least try and help Wilson through his pain, then maybe Wilson resigning will. Unfortunately, the only reaction I picture House having to Wilson resigning is getting angry, behaving even worse towards Wilson (pushing him further away) or maybe avoiding Wilson altogether (which would also push him further away). This is the time when I need Cuddy to step in. So he rested, his skull healed and he's back in the game. I mean is there anything else that you do to recover from a skull fractor and a seizure. It wouldn't have been ripping TV. Well, since I've never been a fan of sick!House, I really didn't want to see him physically recovering. If there's a road trip, I wonder if it's House using the PI's info to hunt down Wilson and get him to come back That doesn't explain House's dad and it doesn't explain why they are in Wilson's car. Unless Wilson took a bus or something and left his car keys for House to use and the situation somehow mirrors a similar one involving House's father making flashbacks a possibility, I'm going to say that Wilson's not just going to disappear. He's resigning, he's calmly telling House this, (he's going to change his mind later, you can't exactly have Wilson on the show if he's no longer a doctor at PPTH) but he sounds like he's rationally thought this through, and even when misguided, he's always thought out his decisions to himself and I doubt (unless something further happens) that he's just going to take off without telling anyone. If he was planning on taking off then there would be no point in telling House that he's resigning.

For what it's worth, the scene when House is talking about the patient in CA and Ouchie, is different than the one where Wilson says he's resigning. Both House and Wilson are wearing different shirts. The roadtrip is definitely not related to Wilson moving not based on the clothes Wilson is wearing, black dress pants, white dress shirt and tie. Plus as LMC says House's dad is part of it and the title we have been given is Birthmarks which sounds like it relates to someone's family/parents. The fact that Wilson wants to leave PPTH but is still willing to go with House must mean that it is a huge occasion. Mom's death seems most likely. That will for better or worse allow the linking again of H/W. It may be the day-to-day of his practice and being around House at PPTH that Wilson needs to get away from. I don't see Wilson leaving without letting anyone, Cuddy, the team, patients, Dept. staff, ex-wives, parents know where he has gone and requiring a PI to track him down. Although I could see him feel that ultimately he needs to be completely gone but not that it needs to be some secret escape. KJ said that House was going to lose the life line that Wilson provided I guess well have to see to what extent that goes. RSL said House would have to do something remarkable for Wilson now. Was that spoilery indicating that House would or wouldn't be able to pull such a thing off? I don't know how or if the PI figures in to H/W. We've been told he's going to investigate the team which I still don't understand and that he's going to take over Patient investigations. The latter could be seen as a change from House, protecting his team rather then sending them off to situations that may present dangers they are not prepared for and not just clues in a medical mystery. Maybe Cuddy comes up with it since we've been told she and the PI take an interest in each other. Perhaps she has finally woken up to just how much nuttines there is having staff doctors perform B&E and grave digging.

Wilson's resignations is a shocker! But I did imagine that Wilson wouldn't be able to tolerate being around House. I think House's attitude toward Wilson is cruel but interesting "you're really milking this bereavement thing" The man doesn't have a soul. I don't think Wilson is leaving (and yes I think he's actually leaving) because he's so grief stricken. I think he's leaving because he can no longer tolerate House's selfishness - not his neediness, his selfishness. House doesn't know what his world is going to feel like WILSON FREE but I do believe we'll get to see it. Well actually I won't be seeing it because I draw the line at watching Wilson'free episodes. And I don't think Cuddy is going to give a shit because she's all about House. So I imagine we'll get the Huddy ONS while Wilson is "gone" Oh and did anyone notice the boxes piled up in Wilson's office. Yepo he's definitely leaving :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: