I think most people can agree that after the writers' strike back in season 4, the show has had a different feel to it, and mostly in a bad way. Don't get me wrong, season 4 was still really good, with one of the best finales this series had. This means that even with at least six episodes cut short — where I'm sure they would have expanded on Amber's character — they managed to deliver an amazing two-parter.
This does not happen here: a full season of mixed episode quality (in which some would easily make a top 15 of the entire series, while others were annoyingly pointless). A full season to tie a knot, but in the forty four minutes of contrivance that is this finale, they kept just adding more ropes to tie.
This is one of those hallucination/what-the-hell-happened episodes, which are in fact mostly regarded highly. But it doesn't work here: none of House's subconscious characters have a point to make, none of them have a clue to his remembrance problem. I assume there are two reasons they are there: to inform the audience House wasn't sure of wanting to live — which could have been achieved through other means — and, mostly, I believe, to fit in as many characters that haven't been on screen that much lately.
Kutner may have been the only one with an actual connection to the situation here, he could've made the 'I can change' scene into an actual epiphany, House could understand how Kutner felt and decide on change, instead the plot convenience that it was.
The pacing was really off. The banter between House and his ghosts, along with the unnecessary montage at the end are examples of this: they even felt like padding at times. On the other hand, I can't say I believed for a second House wouldn't show up after the explosion: the funeral montage in particular felt rushed and just something they 'had' to put there.
Other than that — and excluding mention of plot holes (oh god, the plot holes) — the very last scene was incredibly off. A quick fix for this would be to take out House's clues that he's alive, take out his explanation on how he faked his death and just make the last scene be Wilson seeing him again. That would make a discussion on whether or not it was a hallucination way more poignant; all we would have for 'proof' would be Wilson's point of view.
On a positive note I can say that the directing and the acting was as good as always, but it left me wanting more physical acting than the subpar script we got. I also understand the need for a happy ending after all this time, but I do have to say it didn't feel as good as it should have.
In conclusion, it's just a bad episode that tries to use they could — the hallucinations, the tricks, the reappearing characters — but fails to make sense of it all. My guess is that it will serve only as a testament that the series had really run its course.
This does not happen here: a full season of mixed episode quality (in which some would easily make a top 15 of the entire series, while others were annoyingly pointless). A full season to tie a knot, but in the forty four minutes of contrivance that is this finale, they kept just adding more ropes to tie.
This is one of those hallucination/what-the-hell-happened episodes, which are in fact mostly regarded highly. But it doesn't work here: none of House's subconscious characters have a point to make, none of them have a clue to his remembrance problem. I assume there are two reasons they are there: to inform the audience House wasn't sure of wanting to live — which could have been achieved through other means — and, mostly, I believe, to fit in as many characters that haven't been on screen that much lately.
Kutner may have been the only one with an actual connection to the situation here, he could've made the 'I can change' scene into an actual epiphany, House could understand how Kutner felt and decide on change, instead the plot convenience that it was.
The pacing was really off. The banter between House and his ghosts, along with the unnecessary montage at the end are examples of this: they even felt like padding at times. On the other hand, I can't say I believed for a second House wouldn't show up after the explosion: the funeral montage in particular felt rushed and just something they 'had' to put there.
Other than that — and excluding mention of plot holes (oh god, the plot holes) — the very last scene was incredibly off. A quick fix for this would be to take out House's clues that he's alive, take out his explanation on how he faked his death and just make the last scene be Wilson seeing him again. That would make a discussion on whether or not it was a hallucination way more poignant; all we would have for 'proof' would be Wilson's point of view.
On a positive note I can say that the directing and the acting was as good as always, but it left me wanting more physical acting than the subpar script we got. I also understand the need for a happy ending after all this time, but I do have to say it didn't feel as good as it should have.
In conclusion, it's just a bad episode that tries to use they could — the hallucinations, the tricks, the reappearing characters — but fails to make sense of it all. My guess is that it will serve only as a testament that the series had really run its course.