House lost its way for a while in its final seasons, but creator David Shore righted the ship just in time for the end by putting the focus firmly on the relationship that had always been the show's core.

We will never be able to hear Iron & Wine's 'Passing Afternoon' without tearing up, thanks to this episode. Dudek was such a potent presence that Amber is a huge loss in herself, particularly since the strike meant we didn't even get a full season of her.īut it's the impact her death has on everyone around her that really stings – from Wilson, who's wrecked, to House, who's guilt-stricken, to Thirteen, who finally confronts her Huntington's diagnosis as a result. Convinced that one of his fellow passengers is missing and in mortal danger, he goes to characteristically insane lengths to shock his brain into recovering the memories, which leads to several visually-arresting sequences inside what we can only call House's 'mind bus'.īy the time he realises the victim is Amber – now Wilson's girlfriend – she's beyond saving, and her final moments are as gut-wrenching as it gets.

House emerges from a serious bus crash relatively unscathed, but unable to remember anything leading up to the accident.

As the episodes' titles imply, they're a perfect one-two punch, with the first boggling your mind just in time for the second to break your heart. Viewed as a two-parter, the season four finale rivals 'Three Stories' as the show's finest hour. This was, after all, back when TV anti-heroes were still the exception rather than the rule.īut the show's blend of episodic mystery and strong character writing gathered steam, and throughout its second, third and fourth seasons House was one of the most watched programmes on US television, earning Hugh Laurie a slew of Emmy nominations - though, shamefully, never a win.īelow, Digital Spy looks back on the very best of Laurie's tormented diagnostician, naming our favourite 13 episodes in chronological order. A staggering proportion of shows that premiered that year went on to become either bona fide hits or beloved cult classics: Lost, Veronica Mars, Rescue Me, Entourage, Desperate Housewives, and a little medical drama called House, which premiered on Fox 13 years ago.Ī spiky, brainy, somewhat dark re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes starring a little-known British comedian as a very prickly leading man, the show didn't sound like anybody's idea of a guaranteed hit. 2004 was a hell of a year for US television.

The best er episodes