Directed by: Andrew Bernstein
Written by: Thomas L Moran and Eli Attie
Zach (Jake Cherry) is a young boy who thinks he's the worst player on the school's hockey team. His mom drives him home, where she's distressed to find her husband in his car in their garage trying to kill himself by carbon monoxide poisoning. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't take the pain anymore," he says.
We see Dr. House in his bathtub at home. Then we see him arriving at the hospital at the same time as Dr. Cuddy, who gets on his case about some paperwork that's due soon. House replies that an appointment with a prostitute is higher priority for him.
Dr. Cameron brings the case of the man who tried to kill himself in his garage. Dr. Foreman admires the car the patient tried to kill himself in. House is convinced the patient's suffering from rabdomylosis.
The patient crashes while receiving an injection, and then tries to kill himself by blowing air into his intravenous tube. He asks to be allowed to die. House says no.
A pipe bursts in House's apartment and the repairman refuses to fix it because it's not covered, unless House pays $2,200.
Janice (Lori Petty) comes in the hospital, talks to Dr. Hadley. Her condition has improved: she's still shaky, but she can drink a cup of water without spilling it all over herself. Hadley jumps to the conclusion that Foreman has scheduled them this way to impress her and get in her pants.
House wants to separate the patient's nervous system from the rest of his body. Of course, Dr. Cuddy objects: the dangerous procedure could put the patient in so much pain he wishes he was dead. House points out the patient already wishes to die, and it's a certainty he will kill himself if no doctor can diagnose him.
After a home inspection, the foster services agent (Anthony Montgomery) concludes that Dr. Cuddy is a suitable foster parent and should probably get to adopt the baby. Reviewing what happened with Dr. Wilson, Cuddy says that she passed the inspection only because the agency has low standards.
Zach distracts the hospital staff so his father can drink a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. House figures out the kid's "excruciating pain" is just a ruse, finds the bottle and orders dialysis.
House decides that the best way to treat the patient is to cut off all medications. The patient suffers for hours.
House burns the ceiling in his apartment in order to get repairs covered.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Continuity Nod to "No Reason", in which House got shot.
- Death Seeker: This week's patient.
- "Eureka!" Moment: The repairman at Dr. House's apartment scratches his groin through his pants. This leads House to realize that the patient has epilepsy.
- House Inspection: Cuddy is very worried about a Child Services inspection which she needs to pass in order to keep her adopted daughter. Naturally, when the inspector arrives, the house is a complete mess due to her cleaning lady arriving late and the inspector arriving an hour early. The inspector finds a messy house, a dirty diaper hastily hidden in an attaché case, and ants on the floor...and passes Cuddy anyway due to her having a steady income, being apparently loving and actually worried about her messy house, all of which makes her better than most of the applicants he visits.
- Shout-Out to Superwoman: Dr. Wilson says to Dr. Cuddy "You're not Superwoman."
- Sociopathic Hero: Dr. House, more so in this episode than others.
- Wham Line: (Unnamed nurse regarding Thirteen's drug trial) "Oh. She must be on the placebo."
