"Known Unknowns" 6x07

ROAD TRIP! House, Cuddy and Wilson head to a medical conference where Wilson nearly ruins his career, House reveals his feelings to Cuddy and Cuddy wins the “Most Hated Friend EVER Award” for betraying House’s trust.



“Known Unknowns” – House 6x07

A gaggle of girls are lined up in the lobby of a club. They (and a few boys) are waiting to get into said club to see the hot new band that will be completely forgotten the next month. A group of six girls are wondering if they’re going to get in and saying they will like totally die if they like don’t. Just then Jordan, the tallest girl with great hair, making her the unsaid leader, grabs one of her friend’s coffee cups and boldly states, “Come on, Phebes. Victory or death…or possibly cake. ” She muscles her way up to the front of the line, pissing people off on the way up, but she’s confident in her approach and loudly pretend talks into her phone, “Relax, your caffeine fix is on its way.” She steps in front of the bouncer and says they’re the DJ’s assistants. The bouncer, who obviously flunked advanced bouncer techniques, just nods his head and unclicks the rope. Just then the elevator doors open and the lead singer of the band everyone is there to see steps out. The crowd squeals and he stops to smile smarmily at a few girls. During this the bouncer has stopped Phebes from going with Jordan. Jordan comes back and tells the bouncer that they both work for him, the DJ. The lead singer is walking by as the bouncer, who at least passed the “Know who You’re Working For 101,” tells Jordan that the dj is a she and is about to throw her back in the line. The singer stops and smiles at the underage groupy and tells the bouncer that it’s okay, she’s his plus one. Phoebe grabs Jordan’s arm and the singer realizes he can have TWO underage groupies and lets them both come with him. The elevator doors close on him leering down at Jordan and Phoebe and Jordan and Phoebe looking triumphantly out at the girls still in line. Wait…didn’t the singer just come out of an elevator? What, you have to go in different elevators to access different areas of the hotel? What hotel is this…Willy Wonka Ramada?

It’s bright and sunny in the hotel restaurant the next morning as the girls left behind join Phoebe and Jordan at their table. They want to hear the whole story and cringe and giggle in jealousy and delight as Jordan, with asides from Phoebe, tell of their big night with the band. The evening included the concert, the big party, the breaking in to the pool, the skinny dipping, the total no sex (eww) and the song writing for Jordan. I thought they might be lying about most of the evening but knew it was a big lie when Jordan said that (a) she went skinny dipping with an adult and (b) said adult didn’t have sex with her naked self in a deserted pool. Yeah, that’s how the rock stars of the world roll. But the girls believe it all and are like so jealous their gonna scream! Then one of them sees Jordan’s foot, which is huge and swollen in its cute strappy heel. The other foot is big, too. Ewwww. Maybe she hurt it when she jumped the fence into the pool area, one says. Maybe it’s her allergies, says another. Maybe she’s 9 months pregnant with a 10-pound baby, I suggest based on experience. Just sayin’. But we don’t find the answer because Jordan’s hands are swelling up and she’s passing out on the floor. CREDITS!

Oh, I missed you, skull head and rowing people.

We are in Wilson’s apartment where he’s packing a suitcase in his bedroom. He’s folding shirts and House stumbles down the hallway holding up his iPhone and trying to read something on it. Foreman has sent him some X-rays to look at, but really, can Foreman even read an x-ray on an iPhone? Just be patient, Foreman, House is coming. House sees Wilson packing and asks where he’s going. Wilson informs them that they are both going to a medical conference that afternoon. He told House about it weeks ago. House says he’s going to the State Pillow Fighting Championships: dollar beers, wet t-shirts. Wilson informs him that he promised House’s therapist that he’d be there for House and he can’t do that if House isn’t with him….or if House is pissing off the neighbor and making life difficult for Wilson. House says that the 16-year-old girl with severe edema can probably wait, but PSYCH! He’s just messing around. He walks away yelling his refusal to go.

“She’s got Rhabdo,” House states as he walks into the diagnostic department. “Who wants to come to the State Pillow Fighting Championships with me?” he then asks his past fellows. Chase and Foreman are at the big table. Cameron is taking care of House’s mail on the opposite side of the room. There are no takers on the Pillow Fighting Championships or the diagnosis of Rhabdo. Cameron tries to up the stakes on saving the girl and says that the girl’s parents are out of the country right now and spend A LOT of time out of the country. House only comments that Cameron is as far away from Chase as physically possible. Still nobody buys what House is saying. House states again that it’s Rhabdo. He knows it’s Rhabdo. Foreman knows it’s Rhabdo and even Chase, deep in his heart, knows it’s Rhabdo. House turns to Cameron and snides, “Isn’t it annoying when everyone in the room knows something you don’t?” This is enough to get a reaction out of Chase, who stands up and says he’ll test for everything. Foreman follows him out. House glances at Cameron, who looks like a whipped puppy.

Chase and Foreman are in the monitoring room for the MRI. Chase comments on House’s general jerkiness, but Foreman is hearing nothing of it. He still thinks Chase should talk to Cameron and now even House thinks he should. Chase still rejects the idea. He doesn’t want to burden her with the knowledge. Foreman just looks at him, states that nothing is showing up on the MRI, and leaves the room. Chase stares at the computer and shakes his head.

House barges into Cuddy’s office. He’s there to get a medical release form signed for the minor under his care. Cuddy is scurrying around, stacking papers, packing her briefcase. House notices her busyness and is about to comment on it and the case when Cuddy bends over to grab a stack of papers. Her LOW cut shirt reveals more boobage than I think is appropriate for a 7pm airtime. The Complete Cuddy Cleavage Show derails House’s train of thought. He comments that he forgot what he was going to say when he saw Patty and Selma. And there is the Simpson’s reference that has been hyped on Fox shows this week. I’m not playing the Treasure Hunt game, but I did find the clue. Cuddy apologizes for not naming House’s testicles yet (Maybe. Maybe not, girl.) and asks why he chose to name them after somebody’s aunts (Bart.) He says it makes sense because “they’re always smokin’.” Cuddy, despite herself, smiles. House then remembers he’s there to get the form signed. He sees her outbox is filled and finally realizes Cuddy is leaving…to the medical conference Wilson is trying to drag him to. House says he’s going to! Wow. What a coincidence! Cuddy is uncomfortable with this development for some reason. Seriously, she still can’t be self-conscious about the whole imagined sex thing. It seemed like they resolved that. Maybe…she’s realizing that House makes her feel funny, too. House discovers icing on the cake when he finds out Cuddy is going up with Wilson, too. He limps off and she looks disconcerted. She must know he is interested in her but he’s been so cagey and unreliable in the past.

House finds Wilson beside of a very sick looking man. Wilson comes over to the door and states that he’s busy. Yeah, like that works. House asks if the man’s dying. Wilson says yes. House asks if it’s in the next ten minutes. Only if he’s lucky, Wilson says sadly. Wilson says he has end-stage cancer and is in so much pain the morphine’s not working. House quickly says he’s going to the conference with Wilson. Wilson knows it’s because he’s found out Cuddy is going. He tells House to be ready in 2 hours and then walks back to the man, who is asking for morphine. Wilson puts the morphine drip control in his hand and tells the man that he’s there for him. House has stuck around to watch this display of comfort and dedication. He looks at Wilson with what amounts for House as admiration.

House is packing his backpack in his office. Chase walks in and House asks him if he should pack ball-y for his trip. I guess in case he needs to think about the case. Chase ignores him and says “You lit a fuse. You should be around to watch the bomb go off.” House says that Chase lit the fuse when he didn’t tell Cameron the truth. Now Chase had better think of a good lie or just tell her the truth. Chase has the tests, which point to Rhabdo. House smiles. Chase bursts the bubble by saying that the MRI shows no sign of muscle crush, which is what House thought caused the Rhabdo. So it’s Rhabdo, but not Rhabdo. House grabs his laptop and leaves.

House walks into Jordan’s room. He sets his laptop on the bedside tray and turns on a video. He tells the patient that this is a video of Lars Ulrich, the greatest metal drummer ever. I’m thinking someone on the writing staff is a fan of Metallica and wants front row tickets and backstage passes for the next LA concert. House hands his cane to Jordan, grabs a pen from Chase’s pocket and tell Jordan to start rockin’ out! He encourages her to air drum and I hope it’s the illness that makes her completely lacking in rhythm. House explains to a confused Chase that Jordan’s potassium is low. Rhabdo creates high potassium. As Jordan rocks jerkily out, House explains that her potassium was low last night too. Suddenly, Jordan drops the “drumsticks” and her arms plop uselessly on the bed. House explains low potassium causes temporary muscle paralysis and if that happened last night Jordan was lying about what happened. They need to find out why her potassium is low and why she has Rhabdo, both counter-indicative conditions. House gets his stuff and heads out for a weekend of Cuddy time.

Chase and Cameron are interrogating Jordan and her friend, Phoebe, in the hospital room. They need to know the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Jordan seems reluctant to do this and Phoebe finally says that they weren’t with the band at all last night. They swear Chase and Cameron to secrecy as they say that when they got to the party they saw Jeff Keener, the author of a comic book series they both idolize. They were so excited to see him. They never talked to him, but discreetly followed him from at least ten feet away. It’s not stalking if you’re at least ten feet away. How do they know that? They followed him around the whole night, doing exactly what he did, eating the same things he did, going the same places he did, trying to soak up his life. No, not stalking at all. Cool, is all Cameron can say.

We go to the department office where Cameron is taking boxes out of a bag. They are labeled: oysters, quail, beets? She says their story checks out. The parent’s credit card was charged for a room and food. She’s gathered everything they ate to check it out. Chase does so by slurping down one of the oysters in the half shell. Yuck. Cameron freaks out. The girl is sick from maybe eating those very oysters. Well, really they can’t be from the same batch. This happened at least 24 hours ago so yuck. Chase also points out that the author, Phoebe and everyone else in the restaurant ate those oysters and aren’t sick. Foreman suggests Jordan might be bulimic if she ordered all this food, is body conscious and still skinny. Or she could just be a teenager. Have you ever seen how much food they can put away? Yikes. I’d love to have that metabolism back. Cameron says she’ll test for tears on the throat lining, give her some nutritional supplements and get a psyche consult. Hey, how about asking the girl first. Oh, sorry, that’s old-fashioned doctoring.

House is looking through a brochure about the medical conference while sitting in the front seat of Wilson’s car. He notices that Wilson is giving a paper and asks why he didn’t say anything. Last time Wilson presented he gave House the paper to look over. That must have gone well and is probably why it didn’t happen this time. Ha. That’s what Wilson just said. House then sees there’s going to be an 80’s dance. Yeah! I <3 the 80’s! Wilson tells House that Cuddy’s going to the dance. House guffaws. Wilson tells House he should just ask Cuddy out. House is appalled at Wilson’s blatant attempt to set them up. “She’s not just some floozy in a bar,” he says, standing up as he sees said floozy walking toward them carrying Rachel. “She the floozy I work for.” House finally admits, in a roundabout way, that he is pursuing Cuddy, he’s just being very subtle about it. They just happen to be at the same party. Things just happen to turn personal. Like a frog getting cooked in hot water, Wilson similes. Exactly, House replies. Cuddy will be red and delicious before she knows what’s happening, House says. They watch Cuddy approach and House opens the back door for her. Hooray! House has admitted his intentions. He’s going to go for it! Sorta…eventually. But yeah.

This time Foreman is with Cameron in the monitoring room, which now apparantly doubles as a confessional because Cameron is telling Foreman that she followed Chase to the gym last week. He says he was going to the gym, but she wanted to make sure. Foreman wants out of the conversation. Cameron asks if Chase is having an affair. Foreman quickly states no, he is not. But Cameron doesn’t know if she can trust him. Foreman agrees and says she needs to talk to Chase. Talk about a one-hit wonder when it comes to advice, man. He needs to go talk to Wilson about manipulating relationships with his co-workers. Foreman states that there are no tears on Jordon’s throat and walks out to the patient. As he does so, the doors burst open and Jordan’s absentee parents race in with Chase behind them. They are concerned and immediately go to their daughter. You are both so lucky she wasn’t in the MRI this time, people. That magnet can rip the filling out of your teeth! Jordan manages to say hi before her heart freaks out and they have to save her life. Mr. Epps seriously needs to take CPR acting lessons. He looked like the girl stirring the lemonade at Hot Dog On A Stick in the mall.

The old team has House on the speaker phone and tells him that she continues to have blood around the heart. Her blood pressure dropped fast and House tells them to look for a non-chronic cause. They start to rattle off causes and House pretends the phone cuts out and hangs up on them. His job is just start the ball rolling not make sure it stays rolling. House is in the lobby of a nice hotel. It’s obviously the site of the convention as doctor-looking types with name tags wander around the area. Wilson has just finished registering when House walks up to the desk. House looks over the nametags and very deliberately picks up Dr. Phillip Pearlmutter’s tag, probably because it’s the only male name there. The lady behind the desk welcomes Dr. Pearlmutter to the conference. House smiles and says thank you as he puts the tag on. Wilson says nothing but rolls his eyes as the walk away. House’s comment that “Pearlmutter loves the 80’s” gets another eye roll from Wilson.

Meanwhile back at the hospital, the girl’s parents are anxiously leaving Jordan’s room, leaving Phoebe and Foreman in there with her. Phoebe asks if she should leave, too, but Foreman wants both in there to tell him the whole story. Phoebe insists that they have already told him the truth. Yeah, Jordan says. Afterward we went over to Bruce Springsteen’s house where he let us play his very first guitar. OH! The Big Fat Liar alarm just went off. Phoebe is appalled at the blatant lie and freaked out by her friend’s behavior, but Foreman notices the blood oozing from Jordan’s ear and realizes that Jordan has bigger problems.

The author, Jeff, is at a table in the hotel’s restaurant where the girls met at the beginning of the episode. He has his journal with him and puts it away when Cameron shows up. She thanks him for meeting him there, but he appears all too pleased to do so. She asks if he noticed the girls. Who wouldn’t, he asks. They were giggling and staring all night. Cameron smiles and says he must get that a lot…ah no. He’s not exactly Brad Pitt, Cameron, come on. Think of another way to schmooze him. Although as I look at it again I think she might be saying that sarcastically. Ohhh, if only all had the acting skills of Mr. Laurie I wouldn’t be so confused. Jeff turns the tables and flirts that actually she probably has that happen a lot more often. Oooooh. Smoooooth. Not.

Foreman is outside Jordan’s room with Phoebe. Thank heavens Phoebe has no family so she can stay with Jordan 24/7 and answer everyone’s questions. Foreman tells Phoebe that the bleeding in Jordan’s brain makes her unable to tell the truth. They need to know exactly what happened that night. Phoebe again says that they’ve told them everything. They were together the entire night except for the five minutes that Jordan went to get ice. Whoa…big piece of info to leave out, kiddo.

And we’re at the 80’s dance mentioned in the conference brochure. Wow, a Rubik’s cube cake. Oh, Mr. T, I pity the fool. Micheal. Madonna. Urkel. Devo. Crockett. And King George! Among all the neon stands House in complete regency garb with wig. He even has a proper cane. Cuddy’s voice comes across the top of the Safety Dance, “House…NINETEEN 80’s!” She walks over to him. She’s dressed as the Flashdance chick. Wow. She looks awesome. And just like Jennifer Beals. She’s got the hot pants on but she’s wearing black tights. I guess the bare dancer legs would have negated the serious conversation said to follow. She shakes her head. “The brochure wasn’t specific,” says House. This is so unlike House, I think. Maybe it’s the whole Walter Mitty thing and he feels free to draw attention like this to himself. The inside joke in all this is that during the 80’s Mr. Laurie was wearing clothes like that on Blackadder. I get it. A part of me, however, still wishes he had come dressed as Thomas Magnum. So Cuddy asks him how much his costume costs. He tells her Wilson had it in his bag. I wonder what Wilson went as. He probably didn’t go. Party pooper. Just then Venkman complete with proton pack sees House’s name tag and tells Dr. Pearlmutter that he enjoyed his article on neural degeneration. House jokes that he just wrote that for the money, but Venkman isn’t listening. He’s spotted Cuddy. “Well, hey there Jane Fonda. Care to dancersize?” It would have been funny if she was Jane Fonda. No, it still wouldn’t have been funny. House saves her by saying that he had just asked her. Venkman walks away and Cuddy says thank you as they walk five whole feet to the dance floor. The “Safety Dance” ends 3 seconds after they get out there and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” begins to play. They shyly look at each other and mutually decide to stay out on the floor. As they begin to dance we get a shot of Cuddy smiling happily as she lays her head on House’s shoulder and a shot of House looking nervously around. Here’s his “just happen to be there when it just happens to turn personal” moment. Is he going to go for it. “Do you remember the last time we danced?” he asks Cuddy, totally going for it. “Med school. The week we met.” Cuddy smiles and looks up at him. “No,” she says. House is confused, “I saw you in Endocrinology. Tracked you down at the hoe down.” He pulls back and looks at her. Cuddy shakes her head. She meant that no, that wasn’t the first time they met. She says they first met at the bookstore on her third day of school. She handed her syllabus to the guy behind the counter who took one look at it and spouted off all sorts of things about her. It was House, who by looking at schedule could tell that she was overly ambitious, looking to prove something and liked to party. While she’s relaying this House is smiling at her with the most “I love this woman” smile that I’m blushing. YES! I’M A HUDDY! Deal with it. She continues to say that she signed up for the endocrinology class and she tracked him down at the party. Yeah! See I think House always thought that was what happened as he included it in his fantasy, but now part of his fantasy is coming true and there’s no drugs or hallucinations involved. Again…yeah! They danced at the party and then one thing lead to another, says House. “And then it didn’t,” Cuddy says sadly. House stops dancing and looks at her, making serious eye contact. He’s getting really good at that lately by the way. House says the phrase every girl in history has heard before, “I was going to call you.” Cuddy shoots it down, but gently. Look, he didn’t need to say that, she says. She had no expectations and was just as into it as he was. But he’s quiet and firm when he tells her. “I was going to come by. I was going to see where it went from there. But that morning I was called into the dean’s office and expelled from my first medical school. Didn’t see any point.” Cuddy stares at him for the briefest of moments and I know a part of her rejoiced in the admission, but she soon ducks her head. The confusion and awkwardness returns and she says she better get back to her hotel room to run through her paper. She leaves him standing on the dance floor, his arms still open from when they were holding her. He looks sad. That dude that got the part of Lloyd must be wishing the scene ended a long time ago. That’s a long time to hold a ghetto blaster above your head like that.

The phone rings in Wilson’s and House’s room very early the next morning. 7am in fact. Wilson, who’s dressed and working on a laptop, answers the phone. House says someone better be dead for a phone call that early. Wilson confirms that his patient from earlier in the episode has died. House, with his new found skills, asks Wilson that isn’t that what everyone hoped for. Wilson agrees but wishes he had been there. He ask how the dance went. More specifically how it went with Cuddy. House says fine except when he told Cuddy that he’s always been interested in her and she walked out of the room. Wilson shuts the lap top as House walks over to the desk. Wilson tells House that either Cuddy really likes him back but isn’t ready for it or it caught her by surprise and she didn’t know how to react. He turns around to put some papers in his bag and House sits down and quickly takes Wilson’s laptop, opening it and turning it on. Wilson asks what he’s doing. House states that Wilson’s patient has been dying for 6 weeks now and there was no way he could predict that he would die this weekend without Wilson. Unless he could. The laptop is booted up and House sees that the paper Wilson is about to present talks about Euthanasia. The opening line is “Euthanasia: Let’s tell the truth. We all do it.” House thinks Wilson is insane. Wilson says he’s not interested in his opinion and walks out of the room, leaving House to read the article.

Cameron and Chase are looking over the shoulder of a security guard at four monitors. They are reviewing the tapes from the hotel security cameras taken on the night that Jordan spent there. There is video of Jordan getting on the elevator with the author’s journal in her hand. Cameron says she must have found it and said it was hers, wanting an excuse to go knock on Keener’s door and talk to him.

We are at lakeside at the conference. It’s early morning and the sun is trying to creep over the mountains. They filmed this up at Lake Arrowhead and yes, it is that beautiful up there. This is a beautiful scene. House approaches Wilson, who is staring out on the water. Wilson knows what House is going to say. Wilson knows House disapproves but he feels that someone needs to say something about the fact that doctors help their patients die. Every doctor deals with it in silence, but they shouldn’t have too. House agrees that someone needs to say something but it should be in an anonymous letter to a newspaper. If Wilson gives his speech he will be unemployable forever. His career will be over. Wilson doesn’t care. He’s tired of hiding in the shadows with these secrets. He tells House that if he’s learned one thing from House is to do what’s right, regardless of the consequences. He leaves House on the dock. House comments almost to himself, “Yeah, worked out great for me….” Beautiful, well-acted scene Mr. Leonard and Mr. Laurie.

Keener answers his hotel door and is pleased to see Cameron standing there. He becomes less pleased when he sees Chase standing behind her. Cameron accuses him of inviting Jordan into his room. He denies it vehemently. Cameron denies his denial vehemently. He slams the door in her face. Chase is upset. Why is Cameron being so rude to him about this. Keener is smart enough, Chase says, to not invite an underage girl into his hotel room. Cameron says that marriages are ruined for less. Chase turns and flat out denies he’s having an affair. Cameron deflects by saying she talking about Keener. He walks away as so continues to ramble about Keener giving Jordan date rape drug. She’s already planning the next round of tests as Chase marches off ahead of her.

Wilson approaches Cuddy, who is sitting on a bench on the patio of the convention hotel overlooking the lake. She’s holding Rachel and feeding her. This shot pretty much guarantees that I could never afford to stay at the same hotel. You don’t get that kind of view for $89 a night. Cuddy tells Wilson she got kicked out her seminar because Rachel started crying. Her babysitter baled on her. She seems less peeved about it than the Cuddy of seasons past would be so that’s progress. Wilson asks how the dance went last night. Cuddy says he knows exactly how the dance went last night. Wilson begins to apologize for House, but Cuddy stops him. “No, he was sweet,” she says. “But I know better than to rely on that.” Wilson softly tells her he’s trying. “I know,” Cuddy replies, “but I’m a mother now. I need a guy I can count on every single day and that’s never been House.” Wilson sadly nods his understanding and I’m bummed out. Hey, give House a chance, will ya? He’s trying, which is something he’s never done before either. And heck, woman, you’re sitting there feeding a baby after getting booted from the panel you were on. That’s a change in temperment for you, too.

We fly back to Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital and into Jordan’s room. She now has a rash and is bleeding behind her kidneys. Cameron is convinced Keener gave her something. No one will tell the truth to the doctors. Cameron suggests they give her sodium barbital, which is commonly referred to as truth serum. My fellow agents and I simply called it truth juice, but that’s neither here nor there. Chase says that’s pretty radical. They should call House. Foreman laughs. Yeah, because House will always take the less radical approach.

House is in the hotel room munching on snack items found in the hotel room mini-bar. He’s got alcohol, pretzels and grape soda among other things and you know that’s going to cost Wilson a pretty penny. Wilson says as much as he complains to House about locking himself in the hotel room in the attempts to avoid Cuddy. Wilson tells him to go out and get the woman of his dreams. “I didn’t know Angela Merkel is staying at the hotel,” replies House. And the German fans giggle politely. House invites Wilson to share some grape soda with him and Wilson is so distracted by his own meddling in House’s personal life that he actually drinks it! Oh, the fool. Wilson tells House that he talked with Cuddy, who told him that House in unreliable. So, ergo, House needs to be more reliable. How, says House. Well, Cuddy needs a babysitter. House should offer to babysit. It’s about then that Wilson realizes he’s slurring his words and that yes, indeed, the grape soda is drugged. “You drugged me,” he states matter-of-factly, like this happens all the time. Oh, yeah. He starts to teeter. “She’s better off without you,” he stammers just as his head falls forward. House acts quickly and catches Wilson’s forehead just before it slams into the table. He sets it down gently. “Words can hurt, you know,” House says. His job here is done. On to the next task.

Jordan has been given the truth serum and as her parents watch from the observation room, because you know being too close to someone telling the truth is really dangerous. She admits that she took the journal to Keener’s room and he invited her in. He gave her some drug and then made advances. She begins to tell details when Foreman stops her. She apologizes to her parents. Her dad makes threats towards Keener, but Foreman tells him to wait. They’ve got her hooked up to monitor her brain waves and Foreman says that they all indicate she’s still pulling the wool over their eyes. All of what she just said was another lie. Foreman gives the uh-oh look of impending doom to no one in particular as we cut away.

We’re back with House, who is knocking on a hotel door. It’s answered energetically by Cuddy, who’s whole demeanor changes when she sees it’s House. “Oh, sorry,” she stammers. “I thought it was room service.” Cuddy does the international defensive symbol of uneasiness as she folds her arms across her stomach and takes a small step backwards. House looks back behind her into the hotel room. “It’s quiet in there. Is Rachel asleep?” Wow. He used her daughter’s actual name. He is changing. “I thought you could use a babysitter.” He’s very sweet and can’t quite make eye contact. This is a huge step for him! He’s done with baby steps, my friends. Cuddy visibly softens at the offer but explains, “I put her in the day care downstairs.” Cuddy is still clearly uncomfortable and I’m thinking, what’s the big deal? Surely, this can’t be freaking her out as much as it looks like it is. And then House, Cuddy and the entire viewing audience hear the sound of a baby giggling coming from inside Cuddy’s hotel room. House looks directly at Cuddy and begins to move into the room at the same exact time Cuddy just steps back to let him in. He walks in to find someone holding a smiling Rachel. He turns and it’s…LUCAS!? Oh, what the heck?! “Hey House,” he says, still holding Rachel. “Hey, Lucas,” House numbly replies. There is then a silence bigger than any lamb I’ve ever seen as House processes what’s going on and everything clicks into place. THAT’S why Cuddy has been so uncomfortable and stand-offish. That’s why she’s more business than usual. Dang. Double Dang. Cuddy just stares at either the back of House’s head or at Lucas. She looks guilty. It’s not like she’s cheating on him, really, but yeah. The fact that she said nothing to House about it and continued to let him try to woo her is making me a bit upset. House looks crushed. It’s almost as bad as when he realized that his night with Cuddy was actually a delusion. “Well, this is awkward,” Lucas says. “A bit,” House replies, “That awkwardness would probably go away if I left.” And with that he leaves, not making eye contact with Cuddy as he walks past her. Liar, liar, party pants on fire….

The ringing of the phone in the hotel room awakens a hung-over Wilson. He answers it, clearly still discombobulated. It’s Foreman asking for House. Of course, House is not answering his phone. Wilson calls for him, but realizes he’s not there either. Foreman tells Wilson that their patient is bleeding everywhere and that their treating for some disease she could have picked up from Keener’s dog. Would you all leave the man alone!? Wilson says he’ll pass the info along. He looks at his watch and realizes that he was supposed to start presenting his paper 5 minutes ago. He hangs up and leaps out of bed, still wobbly. He realizes then that he has no pants on. We cut to House at the podium. He’s still Dr. Pearlmutter and he’s apologizing for the last minute change in the schedule. Dr. Wilson will not be presenting his paper. Instead, he, Dr. Pearlmutter, will be presenting his own paper. We see a couple doctors stand up to leave, but they stop when they hear the opening sentence of Wilson’s paper about Euthenasia. They sit back down and as House reads it we see the various reactions of the doctors in the room. One lady is disapprovingly shaking her head. She looks to be the one doctor in the whole room who would NEVER even think of something like that. We cut back to the hotel room where Wilson is madly dialing up room service. When asked what he needs he pauses and says he’s not sure which department to talk to. “I need…pants.” My husband, myself and Wilson all said that line in unison. It was a bonding moment, I must say. Back in the conference room, House is still presenting the paper. The audience is riveted, especially as he begins to tell the story of Patient S, who we as the audience know is the patient of Wilson’s that just died. Wilson walks into the room at this moment and is taken aback to hear House reading his paper. House reads about Patient S, who’s pain was no longer manageable and nothing could be done. He was alone and lingering. “I showed him how to use the morphine drip, “says House reading Wilson’s paper. “I told him that too much could kill him, but not to worry. You had to have a special code to up the dosage. I then walked to the door and in a loud, clear voice told the nurse that the code for the morphine drip was 328.” There are gasps in the audience. House continues reading, “When he showed up in my office I promised I would be with him to the end. I broke that promise to cover my ass.” House looks up at this moment to see Wilson. They make eye contact and we can see the admiration House has for Wilson. House stops. Pauses. Then he says, “I lied about that last part. I’ve never given anything less than my best. I am incapable of turning away from responsibility. My friends take advantage of that fact far too often. I know I gave that man everything I could. And I know he knew that, too.” The two BFF’s look at each other. Wilson is clearly moved. As is House. And if they were two women they’d run to each other and hug and cry, but we only get a firm nod of the chin to each other as House continues reading Wilson’s paper. “This is a burden that no one should have to carry alone and this is a decision that no one should have to make alone….because frankly I don’t trust all of you.” He picks up Wilson’s paper and starts to walk out to the shouts of the audience, who have questions for him. He gets stopped by one doctor who thanks him, telling him not many doctors would have the courage to do that. House once again gets affirmation on how awesome Wilson is. He only nods and walks out. Wilson storming out after him. They are on another large deck with a beautiful view and I totally know now I’m never getting to stay there. “Hey!” Wilson shouts, “before I start yelling at you I have a message.” He fills House in on the latest from their patient. House nods and thanks him for the message, then tells him to go ahead. Wilson licks into him about drugging him, stealing his clothes and stealing his speech. House thinks he did him a favor. He got the paper out and saved Wilson’s career. See, House is an end-game kinda guy. Results-oriented is what my MBA husband calls them. Wilson is still upset. House says that Wilson didn’t just want to get the info out there. He wanted to make some grand gesture of martyrdom to atone for the fact that his patients keep dying, whether by his hand or God’s hand. House chastises him. Wilson is not the only oncologist out there who loses patients. Seriously, he should change specialties if that bothers him so much. But Wilson is the only oncologist who feels so guilty about it that…. House stops midsentence and we have the FINAL EPIPHANYTM moment. Wilson takes it in stride, sort of. He know better than to swim against the tides. House pulls out his cell phone. “It’s House,” he tells the person on the other side of the line.

Cut to PPTH. Cameron is carrying in the cellphone and places it on the bed tray. “It’s House,” she states. House then proceed to explain the problem. He says that the oysters she ate had Vibrio, saltwater goobers that all oysters have and usually doesn’t cause problems, unless you also have hemochromatosis, the body’s inability to break down iron, which hardly anyone has. The Vibrio was actually diagnosed as bulimia, which was treated with iron, which is very bad to give someone who’s body can’t break iron down. House spits out the treatment to everyone and then tells Cameron to quickly pick up the phone and give him a dramatic exit. And my HMO says I have to come in a pay a big ol’ co-pay because they can’t diagnose over the phone. I say they hire House. Cameron does pick up the phone, pushes the off button and shuts it, all in time with the music, making for a dramatic exit afterall. House rocks even when long distance rates apply!

And now we’re in the Room of Awkward Silence, also known as the restaurant in the hotel where the convention is being held. Cuddy and Lucas, with his arm around the back of Cuddy’s chair sit on one side of the table with House and Wilson on the other side. House sits across from Lucas, giving him 6 more inches of distance from Cuddy. The room lives up to its name until finally House says lightly, “So how did you two crazy kids meet?” Cuddy explains that she suspected someone was skimming money in the accounting department so she hired the only private investigator she knew: the one House introduced her to. “And then one thing led to another….” Snipes House, making serious, non-wavering eye contact with Cuddy. Cuddy holds his gaze, but a little piece of her heart breaks at the obvious mention of their fling and Cuddy’s fickle ways. Wilson is still trying to figure out how Lucas could be there with Cuddy at all. House wants to know if they kept it a secret to “protect his fragile state of mind.” Cuddy denies it saying she doesn’t make her personal life public, but Lucas opens his mouth and says that yes, she was worried…as a friend. And THEN Lucas proceeds to blab on and on about how yeah, it might be awkward that House had that whole hallucination thing and the break down and the fantasy that Cuddy was his savior, but he’s moving on and he’s stronger so what’s a little behind-the back-canoodling between Cuddy and a former House confidant? Can I tell you I wanted to crawl into that television and punch Lucas out while holding House and tell him everything will be okay. The look that House gives Cuddy when he realizes that Cuddy has told Lucas EVERYTHING about what happened it devastating. House is such a private person you know this hurts. Even Wilson is appalled at this breach of trust. Yes, the three of them can mess around and screw with each other all they want but Lucas is not and never will be a member of their club, dang it. Lucas realizes he’s gone too far and shuts himself up. Cuddy and he explain that he drove up to help with Rachel when the babysitter bailed. This must be serious ‘cause child care’s not something you do for someone you’re casually interested in. The Awkward Silence returns. Then Lucas jovially offers to buy House a ginger ale. House, never taking his eyes off Cuddy, says that would be good. With lemon, please. He holds Cuddy’s stare. I am hoping he’s thinking right now of what he can do to kick Lucas’ butt to the curb so he can continue to woo the woman of his dreams. I am again impressed with House’s new found social skills. But really, I wanted him to rip Lucas a new one…and Cuddy for that matter. Sheesh, woman.

Back at the hospital, Jordan is recovering. All signs point to fast recovery. Her parents are thrilled and tell her they are taking two weeks off to celebrate with her. Her mom tells her to decide where she’d like to go. Then her dad’s cell phone goes off and he needs her help and both Jordan and Cameron realize things are back to the way they always have been. Cameron asks Jordan about what really happened that night. Jordan says that she never even got the courage to knock on his door. She just left the journal on the doorstep and walked away. Cameron is more than relieved to hear that and I think she owes an apology to Mr. Keener. Maybe even a bouquet.

We have a long shot view of Lucas and Cuddy happily playing with Rachel on one of those sun decks I’ll never see. They look cute together and Lucas genuinely looks involved. House is watching them from the deck above. House looks resigned. Wilson walks up and joins him. “He looks like a guy who would be there every day,” he says and I worry that he’s giving up. No! Hang in there! Wilson says nothing. House stands up. “Mini-bar is restocked. I say we grab some things for the road and…” Wilson interrupts him. He tells him that when someone does what he did he needs someone, anyone to tell him it was okay or he’d go crazy. He thanks House for being that someone. Wilson tells House that he is a good friend and that Cuddy should know that. House agrees, Wilson should tell Cuddy that House drugged him so he wouldn’t confess to murder. Okay. Put that way, maybe not. “Let’s get out of here,” says House and they walk away. Wilson tells House that someone could have recognized him during the speech, but House says it’s not possible as he hasn’t been to a conference in the United States in 15 years. I guess he probably frequents the ones in Amsterdam quite a bit, however. House assures Wilson that Pearlmutter had an airtight alibi so when all is said and done the paper was basically an anonymous letter to the newspaper. That’s the best choice anyway. They walk off into the sunset.

Chase is watching television at his home when Cameron sits next to him on the couch. She apologizes for her behavior and says she doesn’t know why she always expects the worse. She says she believes him if he says he’s not having an affair. She tells him she’ll help him fix whatever is eating away at him. She’ll be there no matter what. Chase thinks this over and then finally confesses to killing Dibala. Cameron pulls away and sits in shocked silence, staring at him. Cut to black.

What a great episode. We had a plethora of “Known, Unknowns” as the title suggested. The medical case once again mirrored the theme of the episode on the fact that what we may think is right might not be right at all. Cuddy’s discomfort these past episodes isn’t due to House or the past situation, but to the fact that she’s in a relationship she’s trying to keep secret. Wilson thinks he needs to kill his career because he’s helped a patient kill himself but actually he just needs to be told it’s okay and that he did his best. Cameron thinks Chase is hiding an affair but he’s actually hiding something she may not ever be able to forget and forgive, which makes her a hypocrite if you all remember the lab rat scientist. The odd thing is that House is the only “Known” in this episode. We all know his intentions towards Cuddy, Wilson and the patient. He’s being as straightforward as it gets with him. How’s that for a turn-around. Yeah, I liked that episode. I can’t wait for Monday, except if they show Cuddy and Lucas kiss I’m going to spit on the screen of my big TV. Well, I’ll think about it at least. Thanks for reading!