Open and Shut - Recap

The married Julia meets for sex with another man Damien, in a hotel room. They're interrupted when her husband, Tom, comes by to have her sign papers for their daughter Evelyn at school. He and Damien introduce themselves and Tom appears perfectly okay with his wife sleeping with another man. After he leaves, Julia suddenly collapses with stomach pains and Damien runs to get Tom and call an ambulance.

Wilson and Sam have breakfast at his condo and discuss her moving in. House comes in for breakfast and, as part of his plan to undermine Sam, acts politely toward her. Once Sam leaves for her job, House reminds Wilson how Sam ruined their first marriage, and that she leaves milk in the door of the refrigerator. Wilson irritably puts it on the shelf as House leaves.

At Princeton, the diagnostic team meets and Hadley explains Julia's symptoms. Taub rather defensively attacks the idea of an open marriage, Foreman is mildly shocked, House is intrigued, and Chase couldn't care less. They speculate that Julia has an intestinal blockage caused by herpes that she got from one of her partners, and House orders a barium dye test. However, he goes to do it himself, surprising his staff. In the test room, Tom comforts Julia and clearly loves her as they talk about their daughter. Once he leaves, House asks Julia about her daughter, and the woman insists that they have an open, honest relationship and haven't hid anything from Evelyn, despite House's skepticism.

Hadley notices Taub flirting with a nurse, Maya, and warns him against it. Taub insists that Maya is just a friend but Hadley doesn't believe it and warns that even if she is, he's risking his marriage. They check the x-ray of the barium dye and confirm that there's no intestinal blockage, but House isn't satisfied and orders Taub to stay the night to administer a battery of tests... and talk to Julia about her marriage.

At the condo, Wilson is picking up after Sam and discovers that she's put a larger dish in the bottom of the dishwasher, blocking the spray to the upper shelves. He scowls at it briefly and then puts it in the right way without saying anything to Sam.

As Taub runs the test, Julia talks about her marriage was terrible for the first three years. Finally she and Tom realized that they were happier sleeping with other people while remaining together. Julia's heart becomes arrhythmic and Taub calls for a crash cart. Back in differential, the team figures that Julia has a parasitical infection brought on by a foreign bug. Tom says that he hasn't been any further away from New Jersey than Nebraska. When Chase asks for a list of his partners, Tom admits that he hasn't had sex with anyone else, and he allows Julia to make love to other men just to keep her happy.

When House gets the news, he's skeptical and figures that Tom has an ulterior motive. Hadley realizes that House actually wants to believe in the sanctity of marriage, and is trying to find a flaw in the open marriage to prove that monogamy is better. House insists he doesn't, and Hadley reports that Julia's two most recent partners haven't been out of the country, leaving House to argue that Tom is lying about where he's been. He sends Chase and Hadley to check out the couple's apartment. Hadley is surprised that Chase isn't more interested given the failure of his marriage, and explains that her father tended to his dying wife for two years, while secretly having an affair to protect her feelings while satisfying his needs. Chase finds the travel receipts confirming Tom's story, and Hadley finds an organic imported loufa.

As Taub and his wife Rachel have dinner at a restaurant, he tells her about his day and dwells on the open marriage. Rachel wonders if he's hinting at something and asks if he wants an open marriage. Taub denies it but Rachel pursues the matter and he finally admits that he's attracted to Maya, but nothing will ever happen. Rachel wonders if he is as devoted to her as she is to him, and Taub insists that he is. However, he gets a page from the hospital on Julia's case and chooses to leave rather than discuss the matter further with Rachel.

Julia's tests show no indication of parasitical infection, and House quickly figures out that Taub stayed the night at the hospital, so something is wrong at home. Taub explains that he brought up the idea of an open marriage to his wife, and blames House for pushing him into it. House explains that he was trying to do Taub a favor: either get him more sex, or prove to his wife that he loved her. Foreman and Chase would rather discuss the case, and note that Julia has been having increasing numbers of sexual encounters with not just her boyfriends but Tom. Foreman notes that an increased libido is a sign of an adrenocortical carcinoma, and House has them do a MRI of Julia's adrenal glands to confirm.

At the condo, Wilson continues to be bothered by Sam's irritating habits. However, when he calls her on it, they realize that House has planted everything to make her look responsible. However, when Wilson tries to explain why he prefers milk on the shelf rather than on the door, Sam realizes that he is bothered by some of what she does, and asks what she did that annoyed him during their marriage.

As Hadley runs tests on Julia, Tom brings Evelyn to see her mother. Damien comes in with flowers and Tom angrily tells him to get out, insisting that being his wife's sexual partner doesn't make him one of the family. Hadley gets Evelyn out, and Julia and Tom band together to tell a disappointed Damien to go.

Wilson starts listing all of the petty things Sam did that annoyed him, and they quickly get into a fight.

As Hadley and Taub run the MRI on Julia, Hadley suggests that he has a genetic disposition toward sleeping with other women, and that he'd be better off if he stopped denying it. Taub insists that he can control it and plans to remain faithful to Rachel. They then spot something on Julia's lung.

The argument between Sam and Wilson gets worse. Sam accuses him of refusing to acknowledge his emotions, and he calls her a selfish bitch.

Hadley and Taub inform House that they found a clot in Julia's long, but have no idea which of the many clotting disorders that it could be. Cuddy comes into House's office to tell him that the couple's health insurance has lapsed due to lack of payment. Realizing what it means, House goes to see the couple and confronts them with the news. Tom admits that he lost all of the money in investments in his energy company, and that he's been using his retirement account to cover Julia's expenses.

As Hadley administers heparin to treat the clotting, House wonders if something relating to Tom's business accounts for Julia's symptoms. Wilson comes in to tell House that he and Sam have broken up, just like House schemed for all along. House insists that he just wanted Wilson to stand up for himself, but Wilson insists that all he wanted was Sam.

As Hadley tests her for clotting disorders, she notices that Tom is gone. Julia informs her that she sent him away because he lied to her, and that she always felt superior to other women who were cheated on because she knew she had married an honest man. Now she knows different.

Taub comes home to find Rachel doing laundry. She explains that it was his dishonesty that hurt her, not the sex, and then tells him he can have an affair. She lays down the ground rules, but Taub insists he doesn't want an affair. Rachel notes that he wants more than she can give him and that she loves him, but realizes he needs the illicit thrill.

The clotting tests turn up negative, and House realizes that Taub is using cologne in preparation for his date with Maya. They start discussing Taub's marriage, but have to break off when they get a page that Julia is in distress due to more intestinal pain. They test but can't find anything to cause a resurgence, until Taub suggests that something they did inhibited the pain. Since the pain stopped when they did the x-ray, they realize that House's barium enema was responsible. It temporarily relieved the pressure of a twisted bowel that has been cutting off her blood flow. They take her to surgery to untangle the towel before it turns necrotic, and look for tumors that would indicate cancer is the underlying cause.

Cuddy discovers that House has bought her an espresso machine for her office. Surprised, she wonders what's going on. House explains that since he did a good thing for Wilson and got what he wanted, he wants to see if it will work with Cuddy. Cuddy orders him out.

As they operate on Julia, Chase and Taub discuss Taub's new marriage status. Chase suggests that Rachel might be trying to have an affair herself, but Taub doesn't believe it and figures he can handle it even if she was. They finish unobstructing the bowel and tell House that there was inflammation indicative of IBD. However, that doesn't explain her kidney or heart problems. House suggests ankylosing spondylitis triggered by the IBD and tells them to treat. As they go, Rachel calls Taub down to the parking garage. She tearfully tells him that she can't go through with what they said. Taub says he doesn't need everyone else and they go home together.

The next day, the team goes back into differential. A night of treatment for IDB hasn't solved Julia's symptoms. House is more interested in Taub, quickly realizing that the chickened out. Returning to the case, they narrow Julia's illness down to three possibilities and begin treating them all. As Hadley administers the treatments, she tells Julia to call Tom and have him be there for her. She refuses, insisting that she doesn't want a liar with her. Irritated, Hadley finally tells her that Tom has been lying about having affairs so that she wouldn't know that he was unhappy with her affairs. When Julia insists that this new information confirms that he's a liar, Hadley points out that Tom lied so she would be happy.

Sam visits Wilson at his office. They both end up apologizing, and Sam explains that she was selfish when they were married. However, she admits that she's trying to change, and realizes that he is, too. Now she wishes they had their blowout fight ten years ago so they could have gotten their feelings out on the table. When they realize that they argued because of House, they both agree not to tell him.

Julia's kidneys continue to fail despite the treatments. Julia calls Tom back in and House notices that he brought lilacs. Remembering when his father was stung by a bee due to lilacs his mother grew, House concludes that she has HSP brought on by a bee sting. Once Julia confirms that she was stung by a bee a month ago, House explains that she has Henoch-Schonlien Purpura, which is always accompanied by lesions on the skin in a form of a rash. They didn't discover a rash, so House begins examining her mouth and finds the lesions inside. Now that they can treat properly, Julia will be fine. She's relieved, until House disgustedly notes that the couple still has issues with bankruptcy, and Tom hating that his wife sleeps with other women.

Later, House returns to the condo and discovers Sam and Wilson cheerfully poker. As agreed, they don't tell him what happened. He secretly puts the milk back in the door and leaves.

Taub leaves for the night and sees Maya loading up her car. He comes over to help her and apologizes for breaking off their date. Maya tells him that she's sorry, too. After a moment's hesitation, they kiss and she asks if Taub wants to go somewhere with her. He agrees and they leave in her car.

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