A thunderstorm is a bad omen, as is evidenced when we see Jeff writing an apology, presumably to his wife, presumably about him wanting to commit suicide. His wife and son come home to find him almost dead.

“I’m sorry; I couldn’t take the pain anymore,” Jeff says.

House arrives at work at the same time as Cuddy. They are at ends, probably because House doesn’t like that Cuddy has a daughter now, Rachel.

Jeff has chronic pain all over. The team’s first step is to rule out psychosomatic pain. As his pain gets worse, Jeff gets calmer. Like House, when people talk to Jeff, his pain worsens.

Thirteen and Foreman confront their kiss. Although she likes him, Thirteen does not want to get involved with anyone at this time.

House is also in a heightened state of pain. It’s so bad he needs to leave the hospital early. To make matters worse, his bedroom ceiling bursts.

Needing advice, House and his team visit Cuddy at home. After a differential, Cuddy asks House to take out her trash on his way out, handing him a dirty diaper. House’s response is simple: “If you want a man to take your crap, you have to marry him first.” There’s the House we know and love.

The new idea is to “cut off” Jeff’s central nervous system, his brain, from the rest of his body. This procedure can possibly kill him and Cuddy does not approve, even though House does not relent.

In an interesting turn of events, Jeff’s son starts displaying symptoms. Wise House sees through the act and realizes the performance is just a cover so that the patient could smuggle some drugs into his system to kill himself.

A new possibility is that his pain is stemming from an old injury which is now healed. But the pain killers, which alter brain chemistry, that used to decrease pain are now causing “killer pain.” House orders the patient to be taken off of them, and although the team objects, they do as told.

Even though Cuddy passed the house inspection with the foster parent official, she reveals to Wilson that she did not pass her own standards. Wilson suggests that she get help at work and more help at home with the baby.

Eventually, and at the last minute, as always, a saving diagnosis, in this case epilepsy, is discovered and the patient is treated.

Spoiler Alert!

Personally, I’m not feeling the Foreman-Thirteen romance. They don’t seem compatible or to even have chemistry, like House and Cuddy. Once again, “House” is wasting my time on a boring subplot.

What is interesting, on the other hand, is the fact that Thirteen is on the placebo effect for the drug trial, especially since Foreman changed the patient schedule so that Thirteen would see the most promising patient. Also intriguing is the fact that Cuddy asks Cameron if she would like her job. As much as I love her and her character, someone seriously needs to talk to Lisa Edelstein (Cuddy) about her bangs. They’re too thick and too long and too frizzy for her face, not to mention that they are a serious distraction.

The funniest part of this episode was when House set a fire in his kitchen that would destroy his pipes, just so his insurance company would pay for part of the damage.

Lupus IS treatable, isn’t it? Because maybe the producers and writers of “House” should learn about how to go about doing that.
Rating: C+