Amber Volakis arrives at Princeton-Plainsboro in v-fib, and Wilson halts resuscitation to put her on cardiac bypass and protective hypothermia — buying time for House to diagnose while barely recovered from his own cardiac arrest. As organ failure cascades from heart to liver to brain, deep brain stimulation forces House to recover the missing hours: he had called Wilson for a ride, Wilson sent Amber, she boarded the bus to return House's cane and took amantadine for the flu, and the crash destroyed her kidneys. Without filtration, the drug bound to her proteins and poisoned every system. Nothing can be done. Wilson shuts off the bypass himself, and House wakes from a subsequent coma to find Wilson standing in silence.

The finale resolves the medical mystery while deliberately collapsing the distance between clinical cause and personal cons ...