It's almost...disturbing, really.



House/Stacy and House/Wilson: Compare and Contrast
I always thought House's interactions with Stacy were most similar to his with Wilson. This is a good thing. Let's make this clear: House loved Stacy, Stacy loved House, and House's relationship with Stacy is the only standard available to see what he's attracted to and what does and doesn't work in relationships. The fact that his relationship with Wilson most closely resembles this one speaks volumes.

This section is just a few of many, many points that could become an essay on their own, and focuses on points relevant to "97 Seconds."

In "Need to Know," House says he can't make Stacy happy. In "Babies and Bathwater," Wilson expresses that House is one of the two things going for him in life.

Expanding on that, House expresses in "Need to Know" that he can't/isn't willing to change for Stacy, which is why he ends up sending her away. On the flipside, House is repeatedly shown following Wilson's suggestions (long list, but the episode "Human Error" makes this most obvious) and seems to do everything he can to keep Wilson around. However, in both scenarios, House is doing something difficult for someone he loves - he'd rather have Stacy be happy than be with him, and he makes changes in his life because of Wilson despite not being comfortable with change.

Stacy and Wilson have both faced the dilemma of whether to watch House (maybe) die, or try to do something; granted, the matter Stacy faced was more pressing, while Wilson has to deal with House's health in the long term.

Stacy risked her relationship with House to save him. Wilson risked his relationship with House by turning him into Tritter to get him a deal that would save him in more than one way (you know, if Tritter had kept his word...and House hadn't stolen oxycodone).


Three Stories and 97 Seconds: Parallels
In a broader scope, there a many parallels between "Three Stories" and "97 Seconds." Obviously, in both episodes, the topic of House not believing in the afterlife comes up.

House is technically dead for a short time in both episodes.

Both Stacy and Wilson touch on House's lack of self-worth. (This is further underscored in "97 Seconds" when House says he wanted Amber to find him, because she would have an incentive to revive him.)

Stacy: Would you give up your leg to save my life?
House: Of course I would.
Stacy: Then why do you think your life is worth less than mine?

Stacy: You don’t think you deserve to live? You don’t think you deserve to be happy?

Wilson: Maybe you didn't want to die, but you didn't care if you lived.

Both episodes leave House marked - the amputation with the scar on his right thigh and the electrocution with a burn on his left hand.

Both episodes feature "fake ducklings" - "Three Stories" had the medical students, "97 Seconds" had Foreman's fellows. (Yes, this has also been done in "Airborne" and "Human Error," but it's interesting to note.)

Both episodes have doctors making costly errors, and House indirectly making an error. House's doctors fail to diagnose the infarction in time to avoid complications, but House himself failed to diagnose himself for three days. In "97 Seconds," Thirteen's lack of attentiveness keeps her from knowing the patient hadn't taken the medication, but House himself was also inattentive.


Opposites
Just as there are interesting parallels, there are interesting differences between the two episodes that are direct opposites. In "Three Stories," House can't get more morphine despite practically begging for it; in "97 Seconds," Wilson offers up extra painkillers without being asked.

The scenes being compared in the two episodes happen at opposite times: the scenes with Stacy occur before House goes under. The scene with Wilson happens after House wakes up. There's a sense of some kind of continuity there.


"That Scene"
Right away, something about this scene seemed familiar. The visuals are similar to those in "Three Stories," as well as the music cues, and even lines of dialog. It's a little difficult to believe this was all done by mistake.

The first shot of House in the hospital bed in both episodes is very similar; it's interesting to note that the shots in "No Reason" don't resemble these two (I would put it here, but that's a bit too much work for one screencap for me, so take my word on it).



I separately noted that Stacy is to House's right, while Wilson is to House's left, and that House is scarred on his right leg in "Three Stories," while he burns his left hand in "97 Seconds." Then I noticed that the two might be connected.



Two pieces of dialog are the same in both episodes. Stacy says, "[God,] you're an idiot." Wilson also says, "You're an idiot." House says, "I love you" in both episodes.

"I love you." This is the real clincher. Hugh Laurie's line delivery would have been completely identical in the two scenes, except House was weaker and about to go under in "Three Stories." The music cue is also the same - the scene starts with no background music, just the beeps of machines, and then is subtly introduced and finally hits climax right after the delivery of "I love you." Finally, House's eyebrow-raise is also the same in both scenes, thus it wasn't a sarcastic eyebrow-raise.



It's eerie, isn't it?