House's Head (1)

Season 4, Episode 15, Aired

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9.2
out of 10
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A bus accident leaves House with serious head trauma and partial amnesia. He comes to believe that a patient on the bus had a life-threatening disease and struggles to recall who it was, and what they had.
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Fan Episode Reviews (57)

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  • Perfect!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By ArielManto, Nov 26, 2011
    After a season that didn't have that many great storylines, this one was absolute perfection and made the rest of the season look better to me.
    At the beginning of the episode you have no idea what is actually going on. Then we learn that House ws in a bus crash and remembers that someone on that bus needs his help, but he can't remember who it was. He tries to find out in a lot of different ways and nearly dies during the process. And when we learn at the end who the sick one is, I felt really sad. This episode combines genius writing and great acting. Perfect!moreless

  • Perfection...(spoilers)

    10
    "Perfect"
    By DonStants2, Nov 26, 2011
    This episode was the best episode since Three Stories way back in Season 1. Despite being the weakest of the Seasons, this one was brilliant from start to finish.

    House has lost his memory after being involved in a bus crash, convinced he saw a sympton beforehand. The resulting diagnosing process is unusual and interesting, with House going through hypnosis and drugs to help him remember and diagnose.

    I loved the hypnosis scenes and how he hallucinates Cuddy in a sexual way, perhaps revealing some deeper feelings for her. I also loved the mystery woman who House kept halluncinating, and was so shocked when the woman turned out to be Amber! I probably should have seen it coming, but the first time I watched it I most certainly didn't!

    Overall, the episode was witty, brilliantly acted, shocking- basically one of the best 40 mins of television every shot, setting up the finale perfectly.moreless

  • Television at its finest right here.

    9.4
    "Superb"
    By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Nov 26, 2011
    It seems as if each season, there's at least one benchmark episode that can be used to prove that House truly is and has been one of the best television shows. In this two parter, it's difficult to say one is better than the other because they both are necessary to get the full effect. House's Head/Wilson's Heart allow us to not only get to the heart of how House operates but allows us to get a true introspective moment near the end of the two hours, when he's sitting with Amber on the bus and telling her drug-addicted drunk people don't deserve to live while young people in love like her die. House is quite tame in this episode, allowing us to see a side of him we rarely see. Not only is this episode the best of Season 4 but perhaps one of the best in the show.

    Everybody gets a chance for some screen-time in this episode, including Cameron and Chase, who seemed to take a major backseat to the new supporting characters for the entire season. It was really disappointing, but at least we got to see them in action this time.

    However, regardless of all of this, the true gold of the episode lays in the relationship strain between House and Wilson. These two characters have been thick as thieves for four years, and suddenly, this turn of events threatens to tear them apart. If that doesn't make for good drama, I don't know what does. Grey's Anatomy can keep their melodrama; House wrings the drama out of every moment in this episode without it feeling forced or contrived.

    With the show now entering Season 6, you'll be hard-pressed to find an episode that will rival this one. This is House at it's absolute best and it'll have to work pretty hard to get back to this point again.moreless

  • Favorite season, favorite episode!!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Rd_Dude, Nov 26, 2011
    I've been a hardcore House fan back when they were airing season 2 for the first time. I've watched all the episodes and if I had to come up with a favorite season it would be season 4. Mainly because it surprised me so much. Right after the old team left (Cameron, Chase, Foreman) in season 3, my expectations for season 4 were damn low. Yet they pulled it off so good, it now is easily my favorite season and definatly the funniest one for that matter! A big reason why it's my favorite also has to do with the outstanding finale (mainly House's Head). Man, do I love this episode!
    They changed their routine in this one. The first scene isn't about the patient and what his or her first symptoms are. This one is all about House and figuring out what happened to him and the bus. He (and therefor we) take a good look inside his brilliant but dazzled head and piece by piece a picture is formed that leads into the next episode 'Wilson's Heart'. The whole concept change was brilliant and shocking (the revelation that is)! After I watched this episode I had to see the last scene more than once, just to fully appreciate its amazingness.moreless

  • It was good, but I don't like the whole supernatural feeling.

    7.5
    "Good"
    By krazy4crack, Jul 24, 2011
    Where do I start in reliving such a surreal and interesting episode of House? Can I just start by saying off I commend the producers for trying to pull off something like this. Though I must say I was not a fan of what they tried to do, I still liked the originality and the shock value it brought.

    The episode was just House trying to figure out who was sick. I know right? So instead of 38 minutes of finding out what's wrong with a patient, we get 42 minutes of House looking for the patient himself/ herself.

    The episode was certainly thrilling and had me questioning it from the start, but the whole supernatural dream thing was a bit too much for me.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (4)

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    • When House leaves the crash in his memory, his hands are covered in blood, however at the beginning of the episode in the strip club which happens directly after the the bus crash, his hands are clean until he touches his own blood.

    • Trivia: When resuscitating House in the bus, Wilson is seen doing a series of precordial thumps (blows to the chest with the fist). Though not generally accepted as effective in the field to convert the heart as a defibrillator, it has been used in witnessed cardiac arrests when one was not immediately available. The American Heart Association recommends compressions to breaths at a ratio of 30:2 at 100 compressions a minute.

    • When Cuddy and Wilson perform CPR on House in the bus, like with most television shows it is portrayed inaccurately. Proper rescue breathing (which Cuddy was administering) requires one to get behind the patient's head and tilt it back in order to open the airway. Cuddy also forgot to pinch House's nose.

    • After revealing that he has a cracked skull, Cuddy tells House to go home and go to sleep. With a concussion and cracked skull, sleeping is the last thing House should be doing.

  • QUOTES (17)

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    • House: Say five words. Prostitute: What do you mean? House: That's four words.

    • House: Didn't you see Altered States? Thirteen: I don't think I was even born when that movie was out. House: Well then you're too young to be a doctor. That movie was released in 1980. Thirteen: That was 28 years ago. House: No it wasn't. Shut up. Thirteen: Did you just... forget what year it is? House: No. I just remembered how old I am.

    • House: I need time for my brain to transition so I can embrace my inner monkey. Or maybe I don't. Give me some physostigmine. It crosses the blood-brain barrier. Thirteen: And act like a nerve gas, stop your heart, you'll go to Heaven and be omniscient. Good idea. Not gonna happen. House: Don't do anything. Even if I escape, eat a goat, get shot by police...

    • Fantasy Cuddy: I'm distracting you. (stops stripping and sits next to House) House: No! Dance, woman! Fantasy Cuddy: You'd rather be diagnosing. House: I screamed "no." Fantasy Cuddy: And your own subconscious ignored you. Because you'd rather fantasize about finding symptoms. How screwed up is that?

    • House: I used to drive home after getting drunk, but some mothers got MAD-D-D.

    • House: Lesbian. Find out if anybody on that bus was taken to other hospitals. Thirteen: He just forgot mine. House: No, Thirteen. I just wanted to call you a lesbian. Thirteen: I'm not a lesbian. House: I was rounding up from 50%.

    • Dr. Cameron: You're staying the night. We need to monitor your brain for swelling. House: How much bigger could it get?

    • Dr. Wilson: What are you running away from? House: When I'm drinking without you, what am I running away from? Hmmm, one of those imponderables.

    • House: You a nose picker? Goth Kid: Do I have to answer...? House: If the answer was "no," you would have answered.

    • Goth Kid: You're kidding, right? House: If I was kidding, I'd be dressed like you.

    • House: Your legs are not your biggest problem. Your biggest problem is, I don't know what your biggest problem is.

    • Dr. Wilson: (running a MRI on House) There's edema and localized swelling in the section of the temporal lobe that controls short-term memory. Also, the penis-size cortex is set to "pathetic."

    • Fantasy Cuddy: You're convinced your patient is dying, and you want to waste your time with a sex fantasy? House: Don't blame me, blame my gender.

    • Thirteen: Give him five minutes. Brainstorming a few possibilities isn't going to explode his brain. House: And if she's wrong, that makes this phone call that much more exciting.

    • Kutner: (answers the phone) Yeah? House: So the carbo-loading marathon isn't working. (Kutner looks around) Stop looking around suspiciously. To answer your next two questions, no I am not there, and yes, you are completely predictable.

    • Kutner: You let him back in? Dr. Cuddy: I asked him back in. House: At the tail end of me patiently explaining how you idiots are idiots.

    • House: The other nurse always used to tuck me in. Dr. Cuddy: I'll be on the couch… with a shotgun on my lap. House: Worrying about me? Dr. Cuddy: Making sure you don't make a limp for the border, get some sleep.

  • NOTES (5)

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    • This episode won an Emmy for "Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series."

    • International air dates: Bulgaria: June 3, 2008 on NTV Australia: June 4, 2008 on TEN Latin America: June 12, 2008 on Universal Channel. Denmark: June 28, 2008 on SBS Net Israel: July 20, 2008 on Channel 3 The Netherlands: October 16, 2008 on SBS 6 Germany: December 2, 2008 on Pro7 The Czech Republic: December 15, 2008 on TV Nova Hungary: December 3, 2008 on TV2 Estonia: January 2, 2008 on TV3 Greece: January 10, 2009 on Star TV Belgium: April 19, 2009 on 2BE Sweden: May 26, 2009 on TV4 Poland: June 4, 2009 on TVP2

    • The bus used for the reenactment was a UCLA campus shuttle, and the scene was filmed on the campus of the university. UCLA has been used for many location shots in previous episodes, and the views outside the hospital window are those of UCLA Medical Center buildings.

    • Music:U A Freak (Nasty Girl) by Chingy (played at the start); There's No Fucking Rules, Dude by !!! (Chk Chk Chk) (played while Cuddy dances)

    • This episode was originally scheduled to air along with its second part during the Super Bowl, but was rescheduled after the writers strike delayed new episodes and put the completion of this two-parter in doubt.

  • ALLUSIONS (4)

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    • House: I'm going in, Rambo style. House is alluding to the series of action films starring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo, Vietnam-era Green Beret, most recently in Rambo (2008).

    • House: Didn't you see Altered States? Referencing the 1980 movie (correctly identified by House) starring William Hurt and directed by Ken Russell. Hurt is a scientist who uses an isolation chamber combined with hallucinatory drugs to genetically regress himself, and subsequently goes on a rampage after his transformation.

    • House: Right here. Purpura on Lalph Klamden's neck. Referencing the 1955-56 TV series The Honeymooners, starring Jackie Gleason as bus driver Ralph Kramden, and also starring Art Carney as garbageman Ed Norton and Audrey Meadows as Ralph's long-suffering wife.

    • Taub: Great idea. I'll build the giant submarine. You get the miniaturization gizmo. Referencing the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage, starring Stephen Boyd and Raquel Welch, where a five-person team is miniaturized and journeys into a patient's brain to destroy a blood clot.

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