A crane collapse in Trenton pulls House and Cuddy to the disaster site, where House finds a woman named Hanna trapped under rubble with crush syndrome. He refuses amputation, makes her a direct promise, and fights for alternatives — until a secondary collapse forces his hand. He performs the amputation himself in the field, narrates every step, and gets her out. In the ambulance, she dies of a fat embolism, a complication no one could have prevented. Back home, alone, House finds hidden Vicodin and sits on the bathroom floor. Cuddy arrives, ends her engagement, and tells him she loves him. The season ends with them together.

This finale works through a specific argument: doing everything correctly is not the same as saving someone, and House has no framework for that outcome. The Hanna storyline runs parallel to his own medical history, wit ...