House’s Highest-Rated Episodes Are Also The Show’s Most Tragic

House’s highest-rated episodes on IMDB are also the show’s most tragic, and they changed the series forever. House ran for 177 episodes across eight seasons between 2004 and 2012, offering a character study of one of TV’s most fascinating doctors. The best House seasons were the ones that pushed Dr. House and his team to their limits, both professionally and in their personal lives. This was particularly accomplished in House season 4, which was arguably the show’s most innovative and had a massive impact on the rest of the series.

It is no coincidence that many of House’s best episodes are from season 4, during which House was trying to form a new team. The introductions of characters like Thirteen and Kutner brought something new and exciting for the series, allowing House to reinvent itself ahead of a new phase for the show. Another important House season 4 storyline was Amber’s relationship with Wilson, which culminated in the show’s most tragic death after the events of “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart.”

House’s Head & Wilson’s Heart Are The Show’s Highest-Rated Episodes On IMDB

House season 4’s episodes 15 and 16

House’s highest-rated episode on IMDB is season 4, episode 15, “House’s Head,” currently sitting at 9.8/10 with over 11,000 reviews. House season 4, episode 16, “Wilson’s Heart” comes in second with 9.7/10 at over 10,000 reviews. The first episode of season 6, “Broken,” also has a 9.710 score but with fewer reviews. When looking at House’s best-reviewed episodes, it becomes clear that the show’s best episodes are the ones that went beyond the case-of-the-week gimmick and broke the show’s formula to deliver something emotional and unexpected.

This is exactly what “House’s Head,” which was followed by “Wilson’s Heart,” delivered. While this was not exactly a two-part episode, “House’s Head” is the beginning of a tragic storyline that was concluded in “Wilson’s Heart,” making it impossible to discuss one without the other. Instead of having Dr. House’s team work on a new mysterious case, “House’s Head” was about the crew doing detective work to try to find out what had happened to Dr. House in the past 24 hours. House had survived a bus crash and couldn’t remember much, except that one of the passengers was sick and needed medical help.

What Happens In House’s Head & Wilson’s Heart

House tries to remember something very important

“House’s Head” follows House and his team as they try to recreate his past 24 hours to track down this person who was on the bus when the accident happened. According to House’s confusing memory, one of the passengers was about to die even before the crash happened. House tries many things to remember what happened that night, including different types of brain stimulation techniques, none of which seem to work. The team is able to locate some of the passengers, but none of them appears to be the person House was looking for.

Interestingly, Amber, who by then was part of House’s team and was in a relationship with Wilson, began to appear in House’s memories and visions of that night. While House initially thought this was just his complicated feelings about Amber and her relationship with Wilson taking over, he later realized it was Amber the person he was trying to remember. She was with House when the crash happened, and now she was in critical condition as an unidentified person in another hospital. “House’s Head” ends with Wilson and House going after Amber.

In “Wilson’s Heart,” it becomes clear what exactly was happening to Amber, and why House believed she was about to die. Amber had the flu that day and was taking amantadine pills, which can be extremely dangerous. Once the crash happened, Amber’s kidney was virtually destroyed, meaning her body could no longer filter out the drug. Amber overdosed in adamantine as a result of her kidney failure, and it was now impossible to save her life. “Wilson’s Heart” ends with Wilson lying down with Amber in the hospital bed as she dies.

What Made House’s Head & Wilson’s Heart So Good (& Tragic)

Amber’s death couldn’t have been more tragic

“House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart” are among the best House episodes ever made, not only because they broke out of the show’s formula but also because of the emotional weight they had. While the stakes were always high for House and his team – they were constantly trying to save lives after all – House could get very formulaic and predictable. Countless House episodes would see Dr. House having a genius realization at the end and save the patient right before they were about to die following plenty of wrong guesses from his team.

Nothing like that happens in “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart,” both of which focus on House’s memory and his quest to save a person whose face he could not even remember. By not showing who House was talking about, these two episodes brought the viewers along for the journey, as if they were also trying to solve the case alongside the House characters. House’s failure to remember who was that passenger makes “House’s Head” extremely stressful and anxiety-filling, only for it to take a tragic turn once it’s revealed Amber was the person in question.

To make things worse, House remembers that the only reason why Amber was on that bus is that he called Wilson that night to drive him home after drinking too much at a bar. Wilson was at the hospital working, so Amber answered the phone and went to pick up House. He refused to enter her car, so they both took the bus. While the accident was obviously not House’s fault, he could not help but blame himself for what happened to Amber. Wilson realized what happened when he returned home and saw Amber’s note about House’s call.

House’s Highest-Rated Episodes Changed The Show Forever

House was never the same after Amber’s death

Not only were “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart” incredible episodes, but they also changed House forever. Firstly, they raised the stakes for the rest of the medical drama, proving even major characters could die after all. Even though there had been some sad deaths in House already, the show had never killed a protagonist out of a sudden like that. Additionally, Amber’s death had a major impact on House’s mental health. Right after the events of “Wilson’s Heart,” House began to hallucinate with Amber daily as his addiction became worse.

It took several episodes for House to open up with Cuddy about what was happening, and his attempts to stop the hallucinations led to some of the most intense scenes in all of House. Lastly, the relationship between House and Wilson was never the same after Amber’s death. While they eventually reconciled, Wilson couldn’t ignore that, had it not been for House’s call that night, Amber would never have died. House couldn’t ignore that though either, hence the hallucinations with Amber. Almost 16 years later, “House’s Head” and “Wilson’s Heart” remain House classics.