A Pox on Our House - Recap

Slaves aboard a Dutch cargo ship in the late 19th century grow steadily more ill. The crew anchors the ship outside of harbor, and have a doctor come aboard to examine the slaves and confirm that the crew is fine. The ship's crew then starts tossing the ailing slaves over the side. A father asks his friend to serve as father to his son as the Dutch sailors come to take him. However, the local town opens fire, sinking the ship and everyone aboard it.

In the present, newlyweds Lulu and Nigel go sailing in the Bahamas with their children, Julie and Roger, respectively. The two children scuba dive down to a wreck and come back up with a bottle. It's filled with something that looks like feathers. When Julie accidentally breaks the jar, she cuts her hand on the glass and they wonder what was inside.

House arrives on time for work, much to the surprise of Taub and Foreman. He tells everyone but Chase about Julie's case, and says that it's smallpox. Foreman notes that the virus can't survive contact with water, but House explains that the crew kept the scabs in a bottle for inoculations. House orders treatment, but Foreman suggests they check for modern-day diseases as well.

The family is placed in quarantine, with Julie in a separate room. Julie asks what she has, and Taub ducks the question. Masters insists on telling her the truth.

House goes to the clinic and works some of his backlog of time. Cuddy tells him that he doesn't have to, much to House's surprise.

Wilson meets with a young patient, Eva, who asks for her doll. Wilson offers to have a nurse sit with Eva while the mother goes home to get it. He gets a text message from House and goes to see him, and House worries that Cuddy knows that he faked the lab test and lied to her. Wilson figures that House is paranoid, and warns that if he pursues the matter, he'll just make Cuddy suspicious.

Taub runs the blood work and confirms that it isn't smallpox. House asks Masters about her theoretical boyfriend and if she would be nice to him if she were mad, and Masters agrees that she would be to get rid of him. House then suggests that Julie might have antibodies in her joints and orders tests. He then goes to see Cuddy and admits that he lied. House insists that it was nothing personal, and he wouldn't lie to her outside of business, but Cuddy isn't convinced and tells him to go.

As Taub tests Julie's joints, he finds pustules and has no choice but to call the CDC. House checks on her and explains to the parents that Julie has only a 30% chance of death. They look for dark purple blotches, which mean she has a much more lethal version. Masters finds a regular rash under Julie's arms, which means it's not smallpox.

Sam and Wilson discuss House lying to Cuddy, and Sam feels that Cuddy shouldn't expect honesty from House. Wilson wonders if she is okay with lying in their relationship, but Sam says they have a different type of relationship. He goes to take care of Eva as the nurse had to go, but is interrupted when the CDC quarantine the entire hospital.

CDC doctor David Broda arrives with his team and orders House and his team out of the quarantine room. House explains that the rash indicates it was a false alarm, but Broda figures that Julie's allergic to the bedsheets. Masters wants to discuss the case, but Taub says they don't have access to the patient. House has requested a PDF of the ship's log from the maritime museum in Bermuda. Since nobody speaks Dutch, House goes online to an x-rated chatroom and finds a Dutch prostitute, Geerte, who will translate instead of providing her usual services. She reads the log, which talks about the captain having a cat. Geerte finally gets to the patient's illness, but confirms that only the slaves were sick. Masters suggests contaminated drinking water caused scrofula, the name for cervical TB in the 1700s. House considers her diagnosis and then talks to Foreman outside. Foreman warns that TB isn't fatal quickly enough to put rush Broda into testing, so House tells Foreman to claim that Julie has meningococcus so they can test immediately. He admits he didn't discuss it in front of Masters because he figured she wouldn't agree to do something dishonest.

Broda refuses to let Foreman go in to test, and wonders what's really going on. Before Foreman can answer, Nigel starts to bleed from the nose, complains of a headache, and collapses.

Back in differential, House figures that Nigel has head pain, not a headache, and head pain indicates trauma, such as TB. He then calls Chase outside and suggests that he propose a dangerous procedure so Broda will compromise with a CT. Chase warns that Broda isn't Cuddy, and Masters comes out to accuse House of not trusting her. She suggests that they be honest with Broda and House agrees, but secretly tells Chase to do their plan after hers fails.

Wilson talks to Eva and explains that her mother is trapped outside. Sam watches from the doorway as Wilson tries to get her to agree to treatment. When that doesn't work, Sam lectures her but Eva doesn't go in. Wilson tells Sam to go to the gift shop and get a substitute doll so Eva will agree to the therapy.

Masters returns and tells House that Broda agreed to the CT so he could be the first doctor to use a CT to look at a brain with smallpox. House compliments her and goes to the quarantine room to watch as Broda's team moves Nigel to the scan room. However, they stop when they realize that he's covered in pustules, meaning he has smallpox and he's highly contagious. Broda refuses to take the risk of moving him.

House figures they're done with the case, but Masters wants to pursue the matter and House sarcastically tells her to go ahead. She talks to Broda, who insists that they'll wait until the tests come back in eight hours. Masters asks Julie to get up and show her the rash, but notices that she has no lesions on her feet and palms.

Wilson shows the replacement doll to Eva, who initially accepts it. She wonders why the doll looks different and Sam lies, claiming they gave it a bath. Eva realizes it's not her doll and throws it at her.

Masters tells House that Julie doesn't have smallpox. However, he notes that Nigel had smallpox and wonders how it could have skipped Julie. He dramatically leaves and finds the others, and tells them that they gave Nigel smallpox by injecting him with smallpox vaccine, a weaker form of smallpox. It wouldn't be fatal unless Nigel was immunocompromised, which he does because he had kidney cancer six years ago. They can give him interferon to bolster his immunity system and cure him.

House goes to Broda, who refuses to give him treatment and notes that the final victim of smallpox died due to a lab accident, and the person responsible killed himself. House notices urine in the blood bag, and explains that it's red because the kidney cancer is back. Broda still refuses to open the door and let House in to give the interferon treatment. House then barges in and gives Nigel the interferon, insisting that he's right. Broda seals the room behind him and says he can't let him out.

Cuddy comes to see House and send the protective suits through. He figures that she's trying to one-up him for lying to her, but Cuddy insists that she just wants him to live. House refuses to put on the suit, until they discover that Nigel is getting worse. He then tells Cuddy that he's increasing the oxygen to Nigel and asks her to get the team, then puts on the suit.

Sam talks to Eva and admits that she isn't good with children because she's worried she'll do the wrong thing. She lied to get Eva to do the right thing and agree to treatment, and asks her to be brave. Eva agrees, and Wilson watches from the doorway.

The team try to determine what is killing Nigel, and if Julie has smallpox. Foreman notes that Nigel has textbook smallpox and there's nothing they can do. He tells House that he screwed up by going in.

As they wait, Cuddy talks to House, and House still wants to point out that her being mad at him is petty compared to him dying. Nigel asks House for the truth, and he admits that Nigel isn't going to make it. He wheels him over to the wall so he can say goodbye to his family. Nigel asks Lulu to take care of his boy, and tells Roger that he'll always love him. As Roger watches, Nigel flat lines and House tries to revive him without success.

Afterward, House accuses Broda of killing him by refusing to release him. His air supply is running out and they can't give him a new tank without risking further exposure. Cuddy suggests they get House to a separate quarantine room, but Broda says there's no way to safely move him.

Masters insists that they run differential, but Taub says they don't have new data. In response, Masters has Geerte read more of the log. She focuses on the captain's cat, and Geerte tells them that the cat died, and lost its fur. Masters explains that mice carry rickettsialpox, r-pox, and it's treatable. They go to Broda, but notes that antibiotics on top of the current treatment will kill Julie. Masters tells him that Nigel will display eschars, but he insists there's no evidence. He sends his men in to bleach the body to kill any trace of smallpox, but Masters realizes it will destroy the eschars as well. She tells House to examine the body for eschars and explains her diagnosis. House reluctantly approaches the body, ignoring Broda's orders to stay back. He hesitates to take off his gloves, but Masters says that Julie will die if they don't prove it. House checks Nigel's bodies and finds the eschars just before Broda's team can stop him. Broda orders antibiotics for Julie, and House removes his suit.

As the quarantine is lifted, Wilson and Sam take Eva to meet with her daughter. Wilson notes that Sam was good with her, and Sam figures she could get a puppy. In response, Wilson suggests she get pregnant.

Lulu and Roger visit Julie as she recovers, and mother and daughter comfort Roger.

House goes to see Cuddy and offers to buy her breakfast. She refuses, saying that now that he's safe, she's mad at him again. Cuddy leaves without him.

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