House MD: Wilson's Heart (season finale)

Man, the season finale of House really turned my eyes to faucets. And this is coming from a guy who scoffs at any emotional outburst when watching TV -> "What? You're sobbing over a television show? Ha! You pathetic wuss!"

"Wilson's Heart" is arguably the strongest episode to date. The writers really brought out the big guns for this one. There was a ton of symbolism (bus ride, brilliant white hospital room for Amber (aka "Cutthroat Bitch"), white bus at end) and a plethora of themes -> friendship, denial, unfairness in life, love, grief, moving on. Now, these themes by themselves we are pretty familiar with and in fact they are frequently forced down our throats by countless television shows and films. But if you believe that life imitates art, then I'll go out on a limb and say that the execution here in terms of the writing and acting really takes the understanding of those themes to the next level.

Have you ever seen a House episode with bad acting? Seriously. But in this season finale, there was some extraordinary acting. The most heart breaking moment was toward the end where Wilson and Amber spent their final moments together. Amber was woken by Wilson long enough to know she was dieing. He just held her saying he wanted more time and she replied how they will always want more time. Wilson asked her why she wasn't angry, and she replied, "That's not the last feeling I want to experience." While clutching her, Wilson turned off the life support and she slowly faded away. Devastating. ( it helps to have watched the entire season seeing how Amber's character evolved from "Cutthroat Bitch" to very likeable and the history she had with Wilson to appreciate the poignancy of this scene).

Farewell Amber. Not many of us may have really liked you at first. However, you were a necessary plot device to further the characters around you and you grew on us such that toward the end we even cared a lot for you (in that non-creepy sort of way of course). Heck, you've even turned me into a pathetic wuss. But that's OK. It was worth it.