The Dig - Recap

House drives up to a prison and pays off a waiting cab driver to leave. He then waits until Dr. Hadley is released through the front gates. When she sees him and comes over, House offers her a martini, which she gratefully drinks. They leave in House’s car and he asks why she was in. When Hadley says that she was charged with excessive prescribing, House says that he knows there’s more to it than that.



Masters is telling the team about the case of a science teacher who is coughing up blood, when they get pages that House won’t be in for three days. Everyone but Masters is eager to leave, but House has been listening in. He doesn’t tell them about Thirteen, much to her relief, and House explains that his new wife Dominika is off with her boyfriend while he goes to a chili cook-off. They tell their boss about the case, and Chase insists that it’s a nosebleed and fever. Masters suggests exposure to ammonia and House tells them to check.



As they drive, Thirteen thanks House for not telling the others about her, and he insists he wants to solve the mystery of her on his own. He then drives past her exit and explains that they’re heading to a spud-gun competition.

Chase and Masters check on the patient, Brian, who confirms that he has nosebleeds, and they started when he was hit in the nose with a volleyball at a game he was coaching. Chase suggests that he has a serratia infection and has been coughing up red bacteria, not blood. As he leaves to check the showers for bacteria, Brian starts coughing up real blood.



As they drive, House points out that Hadley has nothing to do since her license to practice has been suspended. He pulls over to buy her clothes, and tries to find out why she was in prison. However, Hadley ducks the questions and asks why he’s hauling her to the spud-gun competition. House explains that he needs her expertise in clean combustion to beat the reigning champ, Harold Lam. She agrees to help, but only if he’ll let her make a personal stop first.

As they go to Brian’s home, Foreman asks where Taub was the previous night. Taub says that he met an old friend, but finally admits that he went on a date with the new CNA, ruby. They go into the home and discover that piles of refuge are everywhere. There is no electricity, running water, or gas, and Taub wonders if the hoarding is a symptom. Foreman figures that it’s psychological, and it has nothing to do with him coughing up blood. The refrigerator is filled with rotting food and a dead cat, and Foreman believes that Brian has aspergillosis brought on by exposure to the rot.



Hadley directs House to a suburban home and refuses to confirm any of his guesses about why she was in prison. She goes to the door of the house, and when a man answers her knock, she knees him in the groin. Hadley then talks to him briefly and returns to the car without explanation, and asks to get something to eat.

Foreman and Taub tell Brian what they found. He explains that he uses bottled water and flashlights to survive, and they tell him that they’re going to recommend a psych evaluation. Brian insists that he’s not a hoarder, but Taub points out that he collects earwax.

As they eat, Hadley wonders why House didn’t hire Cuddy’s boyfriend, Lucas. House explains that up until a couple of weeks ago, he was Cuddy’s boyfriend. Impressed, Hadley tells him that she killed a man.



Brian’s condition worsens and the tests prove negative for aspergillosis. Foreman suggests that removing Brian from his home made his condition worse, since he was using a portable gas heater and the resultant carbon monoxide would have improved his lung capacity. Masters volunteers herself and Chase to go back to the house to test, in the interests of fairness.

As they drive, Hadley tries to avoid discussing her previous statement. House refuses to drop it and continues to speculate.

Foreman approaches Ruby and asks how Taub got her to go out with him. She doesn’t answer, and admits that they had plans but Taub cancelled.

House and Hadley stop at a rest stop to test House’s spud-gun. She informs him that it sucks, and House figures that she’s hooked.



Chase and Masters examine Brian’s home again, and she admits she’s intrigued by the junk, which represents Brian’s life. Chase confirms that there’s no carbon monoxide, but finds raccoon feces, suggesting Q fever. Masters thinks there may be another explanation and continues her search, and finds a girl, Nina, hiding beneath a sheet. They take her to the hospital and reunite her with her husband, Brian. Chase explains that they’re going to treat both of them for Q fever, and Brian explains that Nina is the hoarder and he lives there with her.

Hadley and House go to a hardware store, and House warns that Harold will hit on her because he wants everything that House has. He explains the criteria and she decides to double their firepower.

As Foreman changes in the locker room, he checks Taub’s phone while Taub is in the shower. Chase sees him and asks what he’s doing, and Foreman explains that Taub is turning a date with a young, hot CNA for somebody else. He confirms that Taub is meeting another woman at Foreman’s apartment that night at the time when Foreman is usually at the gym.

House and Hadley arrive at the contest and Harold steps out with his own spud-gun. He fires off a shot, impressing Hadley, and House goes to confront him. They flatter each other, and House introduces Hadley as the granddaughter of Olga Petrovich, the famous physicist. Harold obviously doesn’t buy it, and Hadley doesn’t help when she accidentally fires off her modified gun.



Foreman returns home early and finds Taub and his date making out on the sofa. Taub’s date is his wife, Rachel.

Hadley and House get a motel room, and she buys rhubarb pies so they can use the pie tins to boost the spud gun’s power. As they eat, House insists that he has to know why she was in prison, and both threatens and bribes her to tell him. Hadley finally says that she dated a guy and he died of an OD when they were together. She got arrested, and he got dead.

Brian explains to Masters that he and Nina used to have a normal life, and then she started collecting things until it got out of control. He explains that he stays with Nina because she can see the story in anything, even discarded junk. Masters confirms that his lungs are clearing up and says that he’ll be fine, but Nina has a heart attack.

House wakes up when Hadley sits at the window, sobbing. Rather than interrupt her, he rolls over and leaves her alone.



The next day, the team tells House via phone what has happened. He says that the hoarding is a symptom of whatever illness caused the heart attack, which doesn’t jibe with Q fever. Taub suggest a mental disorder and proposes an MRI, and Foreman considers hydrogen sulfide. House notes that they didn’t test for it at the home, tells them to do it, and Foreman and Taub do the MRI, leaving Masters and Chase with home-checking duties.

At the contest, Hadley and House prepare to fire, and Hadley starts to tell a story about how her father took “us” to the county fair. House realizes that she has a sibling that she’s never mentioned, but Hadley insists that it doesn’t mean anything until now. He puts it all together and figures that she euthanized her brother, and the guy at the house was the doctor who wouldn’t cover it up. Hadley admits that the guy at the house was actually her cellmate’s boyfriend, who cheated on her, but House is right about everything else. She congratulates him and walks away.

As Taub and Foreman run the MRI, Foreman accuses Taub of screwing with Rachel both physically and mentally, and keeping her from moving on. The MRI shows negative.

As they examine Brian’s home, Masters finds a yearbook with photos of Nina as a cheerleader. She thinks they’re significant and looks at them, while Chase confirms there’s no elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide.

House goes after Hadley, who explains that her brother’s condition had gone too far for him to kill himself. In the few moments of lucidity he rarely had, he asked Hadley to kill him. They got her on the drugs, but she wore drugs so they couldn’t prove she gave her brother the injection. Hadley worries that there will be no one there for her when her time comes. House just looks at her, silent, and Hadley accuses him of lacking any emotional involvement. She says that’s why Cuddy broke up with him, and House just turns and walks away.



Back at the contest, House picks up his spud gun and Harold comes up behind him and asks if he can hit on Hadley. House turns and aims the gun at him, but Harold doesn’t think he has it in him to shoot.

Later, Hadley comes to pick up House at the police station. He says that he only got a warning because Harold felt up the sheriff’s daughter the night before. When Hadley says that House always gets his way, House notes that it would have been his one-year anniversary with Cuddy.

Masters goes to see Brian and Nina and reveals that she found the first item that Nina hoarded: baby pajamas. She reports back to the team, which checks in with House as Hadley listens in. They figure that infertility is a symptom, but House points out that if Brian is the source of the infertility, it doesn’t account for Nina’s illness. Hadley gets an idea and blurts out that there’s another solution. The team are astonished to hear that she’s okay, but House tells them to focus on the case. Hadley explains that’s there another reason that Nina didn’t have children. House says that the team can ask Hadley more when she comes to work on Monday.

After checking, Masters comes to see the couple and says that Nina has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which causes all the symptoms as well as miscarriages. Nina had three miscarriages and hid them from Brian for fear that she’d lose him. The miscarriages triggered the hoarding, which triggered the Q fever. Brian, shocked that she would hide the information from him for nine years, insists that he’s never done anything to make her think that she’d lose him. He walks out as Nina bursts into tears.



Later, Taub talks to Rachel and says that he needs to let her move on. He says they need to stop seeing each other, but Rachel refuses. She insists on making the decision, even though it’s confusing and dirty, and she figures that what they’ve got now is a lot better than when they did everything right when they were married. Taub admits that there’s something wrong with both of them, but they end up having sex anyway.

Brian returns to Nina and takes her hand.

House drops Hadley off at her apartment, and then offers to kill her when she wants him to. Hadley considers his offer, and then says that she’ll see him on Monday.



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