When House star Kal Penn got a job working for the Obama administration, he had to leave the show very quickly. Rather than say that his character, Dr Lawrence Kutner, went to another hospital or to live on a farm or something, the series had him suddenly and shockingly end his life, leaving House and the medical team to process his death under terribly traumatic circumstances. While House becomes convinced that Kutner’s death might be murder, the others are left to wonder what was going through his mind when he made his devastating choice.
It’s an upsetting but highly rewatchable episode that gets to the heart of why House can never be “fixed.” He cannot stop trying to work out the puzzle of Kutner’s suicide. Five seasons in, House is making no progress. This one really drives it home.
“Everybody Dies”
Season 8 Episode 22
The series finale of House is very reflective, but it definitely sticks the landing on a story that was never too concerned with happy endings.
Having found out that his best friend Wilson only has months to live, House makes the extremely normal and cool decision to fake his own death to avoid felony vandalism charges, opting to go on a cross-country motorcycle ride into the sunset with Wilson in his final months instead of doing time. Meanwhile, Chase gets House’s job, Taub patches things up with the many women in his life, and Cameron returns to medicine.
It’s a heartbreaking but satisfying ending to the show for fans, and still hits on rewatch. The later seasons of House had some episodes that weren’t quite up there with the best of them, but this finale is good stuff, even if Cuddy’s absence from it still feels wrong all these years later.
