Massage Therapy - Recap

A woman, Margaret McPherson, is at home watching a horror movie as it rains outside. She hears something and goes to investigate, and discovers that the front door is open. Margaret calls out for her husband, Billy, but doesn't see anyone outside. Back inside, Margaret calls Billy, who says that she should go to the neighbor if she has any doubts. Margaret insists that she's fine and hangs up, but then hears something upstairs again. Grabbing an ornament as a weapon, Margaret goes upstairs and finds a loose door banging in the window. Margaret starts to relax but hears the door downstairs slam shut. She runs down and finds Billy there. He assures her that everything is fine... and watches as she starts vomiting and complaining of stomach pains.

House wakes up in bed and realizes that Cuddy has already left. He goes to work and meets the new fellow that Chase has hired, Dr. Kelly Benedict. House admits that she's hot, and concludes that Chase hired her so that he could sleep with her. He explains that Chase hired someone who looks like Cameron. Foreman and Taub would rather focus on the case, and House invites Kelly to prove herself. She's uncertain, and Foreman shoots down her theories, and House tells them to check Margaret's house. Once Kelly leaves, Chase tells House to give her a break, and insists that she's not like Cameron.

House goes shopping for motorcycles with Wilson and explains that so far, he hasn't had Cuddy stay the night yet. That way he can get a full night's sleep. Wilson wonders if House is spending time with Rachel, and House insists the child is boring. He finally admits that he only asked Wilson along so he could drive his car home if he buys a bike.

As Kelly and Chase work, Kelly notes that House and Foreman don't seem to like her. They find scar tissue in Margaret's chest and realize she broke several bones at one point, and didn't tell them in the history.

Foreman and Taub check out the house and confirm it's not lead poisoning. Taub figures that Foreman is taking his feelings for Thirteen's absence out on Kelly, but Foreman denies it. Foreman discovers that she was working in Trenton on the day she collapsed, rather like Summit where she claimed.

When they confront Margaret with the information, she insists she made a mistake about the date she worked, and didn't think the broken ribs she got in a university biking accident were important to her case. When they prod her, she tells them where she had the operation for the ribs.

Cuddy is leaving House to take over from her babysitter, despite his suggestion that she stay. As she goes, House's attractive female therapist arrives.

Kelly confirms that Margaret wasn't registered at the hospital where she claimed, and she has no credit history. She's confirmed that Margaret stole somebody's identity. Before they can pursue the matter, they get a page that Margaret has had a seizure. They go to the room to help Taub stabilize Margaret. Afterward, House asks her who she really is, and she finally admits that she was married to Carl, a guy in high school five years ago. Margaret claims he got jealous and did drugs, and beat her after she got a restraining order. He followed her, poisoned her dog with pesticides and she finally took a dead woman's identity. Margaret claims that she was in Trenton for an abused woman's group meeting. Billy wants to know more about the man, but House would rather find out that her real name is Jenny.

House invites Kelly to sit down with him so she won't be under pressure, and starts testing her. She starts doing differential without success, and House comes up with his own theory that Carl poisoned her. Kelly is comfortable concluding that Carl didn't use poison because it's too impersonal, but House reminds her that Carl poisoned Margaret's dog. Kelly, disgusted, gets up.

In the elevator, Foreman tells Chase that he figures Chase brought in Kelly to sleep with her. Chase defends her choice, saying she was an editor for the Rutger undergrad newspaper, but Foreman points out she was middle of the class, and figures that Chase saw what he wanted to see.

Billy demands answers but Margaret insists that she didn't want to bother him with it. Angry, Billy leaves.

Cuddy asks House about his masseuse, Brandi, and he admits that she's a hooker, and he used to have sex with her. He doesn't now that he's with Cuddy, and insists that Brandi is skilled. Cuddy offers him a different therapist, and says she won't see House again until he stops seeing Brandi.

Chase comes in to the office and tells Kelly to go home. She's busy cramming on medical symptoms, but figures he's having second thoughts and notes that he misunderstood the fact that she was an editor, not the editor-in-chief. They're interrupted when they get a page that Billy was admitted to the ER.

House comes to see Wilson and get his advice about Brandi and Cuddy. Wilson warns House that relationships are a tradeoff, and House will have to apologize. When House agrees, Wilson realizes something is up, but House leaves.

Chase takes Kelly to see Billy and have her come up with a differential on him. However, they discover that he was beat up. Billy explains that he found Carl's address in Margaret's address book, went to confront him, and got beat up. However, Billy realizes that he confronted the wrong Carl. Chase gets a call from Foreman warning that Margaret's fever has spiked, meaning that she wasn't poisoned.

Back in differential, House sets up a slide machine and shows the team slides of a young Chase and his mother. It turns out that Kelly looks just like Chase's mother, and House suggests that Chase is working out his mother issues. Kelly tries to focus on the case and suggests Legionnaire's caused by the leaky air conditioner, and House agrees to treat for it. However, Foreman notes that Kelly didn't know about the air conditioner, but Chase did.

Afterward, Chase wonders why Foreman is trying to get rid of Kelly. Foreman insists that he doesn't want to pull her dead weight, and Chase gets him to admit that he feels he's at the boss and doesn't like that House picked Chase to choose the fellow. Chase points out that Foreman isn't making more money or has more authority, and suggests he's picking on Kelly because he's afraid of confronting House.

House sends a masseuse, Felipe, to Cuddy and cancels her appointments. When she refuses, Felipe passes on House's message to stop enabling the doctor she's meeting with. Cuddy gives in and soon realizes that Felipe hasn't been a massage therapist for long. Felipe is surprised to learn that House is her boyfriend and hired him for her, and Cuddy realizes that he's a male prostitute.

Chase finds Kelly outside, smoking. She insists that now she feels like a cheater and a liar, and Chase apologizes. He admits that he's worked for House too long, and Kelly wonders if she should quit. Chase insists that she should stay, and tells her to make use of what makes her different, and use her skills as a psychiatrist. Kelly checks Margaret and then talks with Billy. He's realized there's no beaten woman's support group in Trenton, and wonders who Margaret really is. Kelly assures him that Margaret is acting like an abused woman, and advises that he not put Margaret on the defensive. Billy reluctantly agrees.

Cuddy confronts House about hiring a male hooker. He notes that it doesn't bother her, but Cuddy points out that Felipe is gay so the situation isn't comparable. She figures that House isn't stupid enough to believe he could convince her, and he must be trying to sabotage their relationship before they get serious. House asks if she's been honest with him, and points out that she won't have him sleep over or spend time with his daughter. When Cuddy asks if he wants to spend time with Rachel, he says that up until now, he hadn't considered it, but now he does. Cuddy worries that Rachel might become close with him and then he'll leave, and House points out that Cuddy is also holding back.

Billy talks to Margaret about the fake support group, but she has hallucinations of slugs and fire and panics.

House wakes up alone.

Back at the hospital, the team realizes that Margaret's illness has hit her brain. Kelly suggests that all of the symptoms aren't connected, and her delusions are consistent with bipolar disease. House is skeptical, and even Foreman comes to her defense. He points out that House is pressuring her and it's his responsibility to intervene. House, disgusted, tells them to do a brain biopsy of the brain, while Chase nods his thanks to Foreman.

As Chase prepares to drill, Taub realizes that her temperature has dropped despite the fact she's been off the cooling blanket for an hour, meaning a biopsy isn't necessary. House notes that that Kelly screwed up by using a heat blanket, which concealed the lack of fever. House goes to see Kelly and turns off her pacemaker, and they realize that her tachycardia is gone. That leaves only the delusions, and Kelly insists that it's biopolar disease prompted by the physical symptoms. House tells her that it's wrong, but it's the opposite way around. He orders medication and says it will take a few hours for it to work.

Later, Margaret is still hallucinating that a table is on fire. He proves that it isn't and explains that the pills he prescribed have made her coherent. She knew what was wrong with her and she was receiving risperidone treatment. House explains that Margaret has been lying, and she was never married. What she concealed is that she's been sick for years, and Margaret admits that she's schizophrenic. All of her symptoms were side effects of the risperidone. As House leaves, he points out to Kelly that should have figured it out.

Later, Billy confronts House and asks what he's supposed to do now that he knows Margaret isn't the woman he thought he married. When he wonders how he can cope with a wife with schizophrenia, House notes that it's always hard and walks away. Chase joins him in the elevator and admits that he made a mistake hiring Kelly. House tells her that it's up to Chase, and admits that Kelly got him the right answer and he's fine with giving her another shot. Chase agrees to do so, and House points out it'll make it easier for Chase to sleep with her.

Billy goes in to comfort Margaret.

Cuddy comes in to find House using her laptop computer. He agrees to give up Brandi and she invites him to stay at her place.

Kelly is cleaning out her locker when Chase finds her. Before he can explain that she hasn't been fired, she says that she won't date men that she works with. Chase decides not to tell her that House has given her a second chance, and invites her out to dinner.

House and Cuddy have dinner... with Rachel. When Cuddy leaves to get some more food, House pries his cane out of Rachel's mouth and admits she's adorable.

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