'House': 'Help Me,' the sixth season finale

THE SHOW "House"

CATCHING UP House (Hugh Laurie) has been evicted by Wilson (Robert Sean Leonard) from the condo he owns, leaving the old friends at odds again. Therapy has had mixed results because House couldn't be fixed by Herr Freud himself. Meanwhile, Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) and Lucas (Michael Weston) are really getting serious, and the Only Woman Dr. Gregory House Has Ever Loved is out of reach.

A crane has collapsed in Trenton, and some of the on-call staff at Princeton-Plainsboro head to the scene, where a blanket of dust, smoke and darkness has smothered the muffled cries of the injured or dying. Firefighters are furiously trying to save people, while House locates another survivor under the rubble, her leg pinned under the debris. Because she can't move from the spot, House and Cuddy (also here to help direct the rescue efforts) furiously debate what to do. She wants to amputate the woman's leg and House barks, "I'm the only one here who knows what a leg is worth." Cuddy then lands this body blow: "You've got nothing, House, nothing," including her love. That shuts him up because he knows she's right on all counts.

MY SAY "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be," a certain 16th president once observed, though it's beyond obvious to "House" fans that there's one exception to the rule. Happiness to House is not exactly an object of scorn because he recognizes that under certain conditions, he, too, could be happy. Those conditions just happen to be impossible.

"Help me," the young woman pleads, though it's painfully obvious that her cry is also House's. But who can help him if he's unwilling to help himself?

BOTTOM LINE House long ago rejected everyone - including God - and as always, a great and enduring mystery of TV remains his own blighted soul. Can it be saved, or can he save it? Monday night's cliffhanger offers - as always - wrenching possibilities for answers.

GRADE A-