Episode Report Card Sara M: C- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Flashback
By Sara M | Season 6 | Episode 20 | Aired on 05.10.2010
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.House's patient of the week, a woman with amnesia, takes a backseat to the "House is crazy" arc that took a backseat to almost the entire sixth season. But now it's back, along with House's therapist Dr. Nolan and former mental hospital roommate Alvie. House goes to see Nolan for his therapy session and tells him about his week, meaning we get another one of those flashback episodes this show always has so much fun with. Sam is moving in with Wilson, so he asks House to move out. House goes back to his old apartment, only to find Alvie already there painting the walls with paint he had to pawn some of House's stuff to buy. House has to use various expensive or illegal methods to get his items back, making sure to help Alvie out of his immigration troubles, diagnose his amnesiac patient (she took up ultramarathoning, which caused her immune system to go crazy and become allergic to ink from a tattoo), and even repair her relationship with the husband she doesn't remember along the way. Despite being abandoned by Alvie, who takes off for Arizona, and Wilson, who kicked him out, House's real issue is losing Cuddy, who is moving in with Lucas and whose great-grandfather wrote a book that House tried all episode to get back after Alvie pawned it. The book stayed in House's apartment for years while he waited for a good reason to give it to Cuddy. Now it's too late, and House is all alone (yet again), done with therapy, and ready to have another breakdown next week, just in time for the season finale.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Hey, remember like ninth months ago when House was in a mental hospital for two hours because he was hallucinating but it turned out he was just depressed although they never explained the hallucinations so he went to see a therapist a few times, got his medical license back, and we all forgot that ever happened? Well, it's back! And it's really dark in Nolan's office. Buy a lamp, guy. House enters, and Nolan greets him buy saying he's late. "You're fat," House says. Wow, I see that therapy has really helped make House a nicer and more considerate person. Apparently, it's unusual for House to be late to his appointments, which is kind of weird since it's not like he's ever demonstrated a need to be on time for anything else ever. Nolan thinks something's up, especially when House says he didn't notice the new art on the waiting room wall. Maybe he couldn't see it on account of the fact that it's pitch black in there? House denies that anything is wrong and Nolan tells him to describe his week. Oh, goody! It's one of those cool playing-with-reality flashback/dream/concussion episodes! Those are usually fun. Usually.
House walks into work wearing his now-standard Hangover Sunglasses. Cuddy whisks him away to the ER to introduce him to his newest patient, a young amnesiac woman found jogging around town. Apparently, her amnesia spread to her knowledge of trucks, as she ran in front of one and was nearly run over. She's wearing exercise gear and a heart monitor, but no ID and the MRI (OF DOOOM!!) showed nothing wrong in her head. House can immediately tell that Jane Doe is wealthy based on her expensive $400 jogging shoes. He's sure someone will be by to collect the rich lady soon. Jane Doe asks for something to eat, even though the nurse says she just ate 15 minutes ago. House thinks that means she has an incredible metabolism and feels her calf muscles to determine that she's an "extreme long-distance runner." Because if there's someone who knows a lot about running, it's the crippled guy.
Nolan interrupts to ask why House was in the ER at all. House admits that he was avoiding Wilson, and we flashback to morning at the Wilson/House loft, which is about to become the Sam/Wilson/House loft, quickly followed by the Sam/Wilson loft. That's right -- Sam is moving in, and that means House has to get out. Wilson claims that this was his idea, not Sam's. Wilson, you are an idiot. You bought a new house just to keep your best friend healthy and semi-happy living with you, only to kick him out like two weeks after you start dating your ex-wife because she's suddenly moving in? How can any of that possibly be a good idea? Wilson says he doesn't want to "make a mistake" this time around, because having your ex-wife move in with you two weeks after you start dating again is totally not a mistake. House comments that he expected this kind of rapid progress from Wilson, who, based on past history, should practically be "re-divorced" by now. Wilson offers to help House find a new place to live. House says he'll just go back to his old apartment. "I'm fine," he says. Nolan isn't so sure. "Why wouldn't I be?" House asks. Um ... am I going to have to recap a therapy appointment here? Because that's not going to be fun.
After the credits, we're still in Nolan's office. He asks House why he doesn't feel betrayed by or angry with Wilson for abandoning him for Sam. House claims he's fine again, but Nolan says he doesn't believe him, since House was late to the session, didn't notice the wall art, and took the amnesiac case without even trying to get out of it, even though Nolan thinks it's a fairly boring and routine case for House. House says it wasn't, and we go back to PPTH. House checks out a scan from the MRI (OF DOOOM!!) in which, despite Cuddy claiming there were no abnormalities, House spots a "loss of differentiation" between the gray and white brain matter. The Cottages get to giving their diagnoses until Nolan appears in the room to ask if he really needs to know all this. At least Andre Braugher gets to act with some other cast members, I guess. Chase wants to search Jane Doe's house for toxins, but, of course, that's going to be difficult since no one knows who she is. House says they might be able to trace the serial number on her heart monitor to the store that sold it and hope if they bring her there, the employees will recognize her. The Cottages nod appreciatively at House's genius, with Foreman saying "brilliant." Nolan very much doubts that it really went down like that. Cut back to the Cottages looking bored/confused/doubtful. "Longshot," Foreman scoffs. House says that even if the store employees don't recognize Jane, the store will probably be in her neighborhood and maybe the familiar surroundings will jog her memory. He even offers to take her there himself. Back in Nolan's office, Nolan comments that it's unusual for House to spend any time with his patients, let alone go on outings with them. That's true; he usually only does that when the patient is an annoying girl who got raped or a guy who needs to commit suicide to save his son. Which is bad news for Jane Doe. House says he's sure Jane Doe was boring before she lost her memory, but her current situation made her interesting to him and had the added bonus of getting House away from Wilson. Nolan thinks House was also avoiding going back to his apartment and the scene of his pre-hospital hallucinations and drug abuse. House says no, as by this point, he'd already been home.