About: House MD: Season Eight (2011) [Blu-ray]

Note: The eighth and final season of House is the only season not to feature Lisa Edelstein as Dr. Lisa Cuddy. Olivia Wilde (Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley) also left the show after the third episode in order to further her film career, although she returned at the end of the series.

Two-time Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie is back one last time as TV's favorite misanthrope Dr. Gregory House in the hit series' eighth and final season. When House returns to Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital after an unconventional release from his prison sentence, he finds himself under a surprising new chain of command and dealing with personnel changes to his staff. Together, House and his new team take on the most baffling medical cases yet and face challenges of both the mind and heart as this television phenomenon comes to a close with these final 22 gripping episodes from this beloved and brilliant show.

8.01: Twenty Vicodin
Eleven months after driving his car into Cuddy's house, three of which were spent on the run and the other eight in prison, House goes before the parole board and learns he has five days left before he is released. Before he does though, a gang leader demands twenty Vicodin as an "exit tax". As House scrambles to pay up, he tries to treat another inmate (Sebastian Sozzi) with joint pain while turning Dr. Jessica Adams (Odette Annable) to his point of view. -- Final diagnosis: Mastocytosis

8.02: Transplant
After two further months in prison, new Dean of Medicine Foreman has House released from prison and into his employ. Things have changed: House has lost his office, his team, Wilson is mad at him and their friendship is tested. What he has gained is a new "team"—Dr. Chi Park (Charlyne Yi), a smart, timid resident—and a new case: a set of donor lungs that are failing, threatening the life of Wilson's patient (Liza Snyder). -- Final diagnosis: Eosinophilic pneumonitis

8.03: Charity Case
When a man (Wentworth Miller) collapses after making a million dollar donation, Dr. Park believes his extreme altruism may indicate a neurological disorder, while House sees a way to fund the rebuilding of his old team. Meanwhile, Dr. Adams volunteers her services to the department while looking for a new career, and Thirteen (Olivia Wilde) returns only to say goodbye again. -- Final diagnosis: Plummer's

8.04: Risky Business
A CEO (Michael Nouri) begins experiencing vision problems days before a major business decision, and House sees it as the perfect way to fund the department through a little blackmail. Meanwhile, Dr. Park prepares for her disciplinary hearing, and Dr. Adams reveals something about her past. -- Final diagnosis: Hyperviscosity syndrome secondary to rheumatoid arthritis

8.05: The Confession
Chase and Taub return as the team takes the case of a man (Jamie Bamber) who suffers heart problems while having an affair. When his health worsens, he decides to confess all his past sins to clear his conscience, which compromises his treatment. Meanwhile, House becomes obsessed with finding out if Taub's two daughters are, in fact, Taub's. -- Final diagnosis: Kawasaki's syndrome

8.06: Parents
A teenage boy (Harrison Thomas) attempting to follow in his deceased father's footsteps suffers paralysis at a party. As the team searches for answers, they discover a family secret that threatens the young man's treatment. Meanwhile, House searches for a valid reason to attend a boxing match in Atlantic City, and Taub must decide whether to allow his ex-wife to move away, taking his daughter with her. -- Final diagnosis: Syphilis

8.07: Dead & Buried
The team takes the case of a teenage girl (Madison Davenport) presenting with anaphylaxis but soon discover that her condition is far more serious when it is discovered that she is pregnant but claiming to be a virgin. House becomes obsessed with the case of a dead four-year-old boy despite Foreman's insistence he focus on his team's case. -- Final diagnosis: Iris: Choriocarcinoma and dissociative identity disorder; boy: Alport syndrome

8.08: Perils of Paranoia
The team takes the case of a prosecutor (Vincent Spano) who suffers an apparent heart attack during a case, but when they discover a huge hidden cache of weapons in his home, they must decide whether it's overprotectiveness or paranoia. Meanwhile, Taub decides to assist Foreman in his romantic affairs, and Park eventually starts to realize she needs to open up. -- Final diagnosis: Diphtheria

8.09: Better Half
A man suffering from early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease (Ivo Nandi) begins vomiting, and is admitted to the hospital. He soon develops aggression and language loss, but the team find it difficult to distinguish his new symptoms from his Alzheimer's. Meanwhile, House and Wilson bet on what is causing a woman's apparent asexuality. -- Final diagnosis: Reye's syndrome

8.10: Runaways
The team takes the case of a homeless teenage girl (Bridgit Mendler) who begins bleeding from her ear during an exam. She is thriving without parental influence, but Adams debates calling Social Services anyway. However, when her estranged mother shows up, the girl loses her right to consent to treatment. Meanwhile, Taub tries to connect with his daughters, and House tries to blackmail Foreman on his relationship with a married woman. -- Final diagnosis: Ascariasis

8.11: Nobody's Fault
House and his team face a disciplinary hearing with Dr. Cofield (Jeffrey Wright) after a chemistry teacher (David Anders), admitted to the hospital with paralysis, becomes violent and seriously injures a member of House's team. With a colleague's life in the balance, Cofield must weigh House's reckless methods with his successful results. -- Final diagnosis: Tumor lysis syndrome and steroid-induced psychosis

8.12: Chase
Chase's near-death experience has him questioning if he should return to House's team. Meanwhile, he takes the case of a clinic patient (Julie Mond), a nun on the verge of making her vows, when she begins vomiting and exhibiting neurological symptoms. During the course of her treatment, he develops feelings for her which compromise his objectivity. -- Final diagnosis: Giant-cell arteritis

8.13: Man of the House
A marriage counselor (Jake Weber) collapses during a speaking engagement, when it is discovered that, in addition to vision and liver problems, his low testosterone levels are affecting his marriage and career for the better. Meanwhile, House's wife returns to prepare House for their meeting with Homeland Security for her green card, as the team vies for a position as House's second-in-command. -- Final diagnosis: Silent thyroiditis secondary to polyglandular autoimmune syndrome type III

8.14: Love Is Blind
An independent blind man (Michael B. Jordan) is admitted to the hospital after suffering auditory hallucinations, and soon begins coughing up blood. However, his treatment could leave him more disabled than before. Meanwhile, House’s mother (Diane Baker) surprises him at Princeton Plainsboro to tell him about a new relationship (Billy Connolly). -- Final diagnosis: Mucormycosis

8.15: Blowing the Whistle
A soldier (Arlen Escarpeta) returning from overseas, accused of treason after releasing a video showing soldiers killing civilians, collapses and is taken to Princeton-Plainsboro. He soon refuses treatment until he has the opportunity to explain his decision to the masses. Meanwhile, Adams and the team believe House is seriously ill. -- Final diagnosis: Typhus

8.16: Gut Check
House and the team take the case of a minor league hockey player (Greg Finley) who began coughing up blood after a fight on the ice. Meanwhile, House reveals a huge secret from Wilson's past, and Park moves in with Chase after a fight with her mother. -- Final diagnosis: Miller Fisher syndrome

8.17: We Need the Eggs
A man (Kevin Christy) is admitted to the hospital when he begins crying blood, but the team suspects a neurological component when they meet his "girlfriend"—a very lifelike sex doll with whom he's fallen in love. Meanwhile, House confronts his insecurities when his hooker/companion decides to leave him. -- Final diagnosis: Primary amoebic meningoencephalitis

8.18: Body & Soul
A boy (Riley Lennon Nice) is admitted to the hospital after nightmares about being choked lead to breathing problems. His mother tries to balance the medical diagnoses of the team with the boy's grandfather's belief that he is possessed. Meanwhile, Chase and Park debate the meaning of their sex dreams, Dominika discovers House's deception, and Wilson reveals a major secret to House. -- Final diagnosis: Patent ductus arteriosus

8.19: The C-Word
A six-year-old girl (Rachel Eggleston) with a rare genetic disorder is admitted to the hospital after suffering a nosebleed and losing consciousness. Foreman has the team consult with her mother (Jessica Collins) who is also an expert in her daughter's condition. Meanwhile, Wilson decides on a radical and potentially fatal course of treatment for his cancer, which House agrees to administer himself. -- Final diagnosis: Atrial myxoma

8.20: Post Mortem
When the hospital's coroner (Jamie Elman) begins slicing his own scalp open, he is admitted but will only accept medical care personally decided on by House. However, House is unreachable as he and Wilson embark on a journey for Wilson to forget his upcoming scan and let loose. Meanwhile, a conversation with the patient leads Chase to re-evaluate his career. -- Final diagnosis: Hypothyroidism secondary to repeated triclosan and caffeine exposure

8.21: Holding On
A college cheerleader (Skylar Astin) is admitted with dizziness and nosebleeds but the team soon discovers that he hears his dead brother's voice, and they must try to decide which of his symptoms are psychological in nature. Meanwhile, House and Wilson deal with the fact that the cancer treatment failed; Wilson decides to stop further treatment and die with dignity, while House's pranks threaten the time they have left together. -- Final diagnosis: Persistent stapedial artery

8.22: Everybody Dies
After failing to get out of his upcoming jail time, House disappears. He awakens in a burning building after shooting heroin with his former patient (James LeGros). With his life crumbling around him, House hallucinates people from his past as he decides whether his life is worth living anymore. Having concerns over House's situation, Wilson and Foreman searches and eventually finds House, but unable to save him after the building explodes. After his funeral, House reveals he survived the fire and faked his death to only Wilson. Without the law after him, House is able to spend all the quality time with Wilson in his final days. The finale also revealed Cameron has since re-married and now a mother, Chase is now Chief of Diagnostics, taking over House and his team, but leaving his office intact. House and Wilson are last seen biking towards an unknown destination. -- Final diagnosis: Inhaled branch in a vein -- The Last Episode of House

Disc 1 -- 8.01-8.05
Disc 2 -- 8.06-8.10
Disc 3 -- 8.11-8.15
Disc 4 -- 8.16-8.20
Disc 5 -- 8.21-8.22

[CSW] a sentament I share:

House's eight-season journey, though addicting, has been a downhill slide. A fun downhill slide -- bumpy; heavy on peaks, light on valleys -- but a fun slide all the same. In a concerted, ongoing effort to break free of its deadly-disorder-of-the-week formula, the series dabbled in a little bit of everything, seemingly harmless genre-hopping included. Unfortunately, the subsequent pileup of storylines, at-odds subplots, character drama, mental hospital check-ins and state prison check-outs backed the House writers into a corner. What should become of cranky, ethically challenged Dr. House? His perpetually abused staff? His best friend? His legacy? The more outlandish the series became, the more unlikely it was that the finale, any finale for that matter, could possibly bring it all to a rousing end. Oh, the show ends decently enough, not that I'll spoil the nature of its closer here. But is "decently enough" good enough? Not as far as this House junkie is concerned.

--- JOYA ---

º º