Changes - Recap

Lottery winner Cyrus Harry goes to the home of a woman, Jennifer Williams, and asks if she’s the brown-eyed Jennifer he met 23 years ago. When she closes the door in his face, Cyrus marks her name off of his list and goes back to the limo. His cousin, Phil, is serving as his limo driver and tells him that he’s wasting his time on a faded memory when he could have immediate pleasure. As Phil walks away, Cyrus collapses when he discovers that he can’t move his legs.



House brings the case to the team for differential and notes that all the general tests prove nothing wrong with his brain. Taub notes that Cyrus won $42 million in the lottery and suggests that he can find a way out of a miserable life, but House and Thirteen don’t believe it. Foreman notes that Cyrus repaired refrigerators and may have been exposed to something toxic, while Taub suggests it was something that Cyrus has started collecting with his new money. Cuddy arrives to tell House that her mother Arlene is suing the hospital for their treatment of her, claiming it slowed her recovery. House sends his team to do a new history and check Cyrus’ workplace, and then meets with Cuddy in his office. Cuddy explains that she got into a fight with Arlene, and told her that she has to stay with her because her hip injury made it impossible to move around in her own house. House doesn’t see that it’s any of his business, but Cuddy warns that it’s his name on the treatment papers. Arlene won’t discuss it with her alone, and insists on having Cuddy and House there with her lawyer. House refuses and walks away.

Taub and Thirteen take a history on Cyrus, who insists that his life hasn’t changed since he won the $42 million, and that Phil is the only one who has stayed with him through it all. He says that he eats canned food and Taub figures that may cause his symptoms.

As Chase and Foreman check out Cyrus’ workshop, Chase suggests that Foreman is repressed and stuck. He says that he’s changed his life around and isn’t sleeping with women anymore because he hated himself. Foreman doesn’t believe it and Chase challenges him to go one differential without House getting under his skin. Chase finds an off-brand solvent from China that could have caused brain damage.



When the team meets back up, they note that the treatment for either cause is chelation. House tells them to use forced diuresis and dialysis rather than chelation, because doing chelation won’t tell them what the core problem is. When Foreman gives in too easily, House figures something is up. After he leaves, Thirteen orders chelation, telling Taub they can flip a coin to tell House which treatment they used. However, they discover that Cuddy has ordered a stop to all treatment to force House to attend the meeting with Arlene. They tell House, who decides to go further and tells Taub and Hadley to release Cyrus. Hadley assures him that Cuddy will cave, but Cyrus interrupts her when a woman arrives. He recognizes her as Jennifer Williams, and she explains that she read about Cyrus winning in the paper. Phil doesn’t believe it, but Jennifer reminds him of his nickname for her, Baby Bear. As they hug, Cyrus vomits and they realize he’s having a focal seizure.

Taub tells House about the new symptom, but House would rather read his magazine. Cuddy comes in to tell House that she’ll let him treat the patient if he meets her halfway, and offers to eliminate his clinic duties for the next quarter. House makes even more extravagant demands and Cuddy gives up, telling him to do what he wants.



The team meets for differential and find Chase hooking Foreman up to a blood pressure monitor. They explain that they’re betting that Foreman will snap before Chase gives in and has sex with a woman. House starts taunting Foreman and insists that Cyrus’ life will eventually unravel. Taub thinks that Cyrus can find happiness, but Hadley disagrees. She suggests that Cyrus has herpes encephalitis and House orders testing and treatment. Foreman’s monitor doesn’t change, but House reveals that he secretly unplugged it. As they leave, House tells Hadley that she must be down on romance because of her own screwed up relationships.

Hadley goes to do an EEG on Cyrus, and he offers to put Jennifer up for an extra night or two. She refuses to take her money, but agrees to stay at her own motel for another night or two.

House asks Wilson for a consult on Cyrus, who confirms that the mass on his pancreas is probably cancer. However, House reveals he knows all that, and he’s really there to find out why Wilson isn’t giving House advice on the Cuddys. Wilson explains that House is actually and accidentally doing something mature by avoiding the situation and leaving mother and daughter to work it out. Unfortunately, House takes it to the next step by figuring that Cuddy doesn’t want him there so used reverse psychology and acted like she wanted him there.

Arlene and her lawyer arrive, and Cuddy insists on discussing the fight they had about whether Arlene would move in with her. Arlene agrees to talk to Cuddy alone, but insists that the suit has nothing to do with their fight. She asks for $30,000, but Cuddy notes that if the board hears about the threat, they’ll investigate and possibly strip her and House of their licenses. Arlene considers what she’s saying, but House comes in and offers to put Arlene’s old hip back in, and Arlene leaves, saying she’ll find judges who will take it seriously.



Taub and Foreman perform an MRI on Cyrus, while Taub agrees with Chase about Foreman and says that he figures Chase will be happier celibate. They confirm the cancer on the pancreas, as well as two other tumors in his kidney and colon, of three different kinds.

As House goes to differential, Wilson says that House was angry at Cuddy for tricking her, but House insists that he’s happier with his unhappiness. In response, Wilson says that he’s going to force them to cooperate before a lawsuit gets filed. House arrives in differential and finds that Chase has set up a new BP monitor. Foreman wants to order chemo for the cancers, but House says that would suppress the growths. Instead he wants to give Cyrus vascular endothelial growth factor to grow more and bigger cancers. That will give them more information to determine what the cancers really are. Foreman’s blood pressure sours and he angrily insists that he can control his anger. House tells them to get consent from Cyrus for the treatment. As they go, House reveals that he found Hadley’s high school boyfriend, who dumped him and left her convinced that no one can rekindle an old flame. Hadley explains that he dumped her because she wanted to date his sister.



As Taub and Hadley explain the new treatment, Cyrus asks Jennifer to marry him. He says that it will let him die happy now instead of hoping for a future he may never have. Jennifer says that he can’t be sure that he loves her, and insists that they need more time. Taub smirks at Hadley, figuring that her refusal proves her point. However, as they go, Hadley notes that Jennifer is wearing the same clothes every day, even though she originally came for what she claims was a one-night stay.

House returns to his office and finds Foreman trying to meditate. He wonders why House is riding him, and House says that he can get a rise out of Foreman’s BP a lot easier than Chase’s PP.

Later, Wilson and Cuddy track House down to Coma Guy’s room and explain that they put a tracker in his portable television. Cuddy tells House to get over their break-up and House argues back, and Wilson finally breaks them up and tells them he’s going to take both of them to Arlene’s. Cuddy will pay the $30,000, and House will say that he’s sorry and nothing else. If House doesn’t, he’s going to cut off House’s use of his name on his Vicodin prescriptions.



As Hadley monitors the progression of Cyrus’ cancer, she insists that numbers don’t change human nature. Cyrus explains that he clutched onto those numbers as a dream, and now he wants to fulfill another one, and says that Hadley is sad because she can’t stand to see someone happy.

Cuddy, House, and Wilson go to Arlene’s house and Cuddy gives her mother the check and says she can stay in her home. House manages to grit out an apology, and Wilson thinks things are settled. However, Arlene says that she wants more money to pay for a probate lawyer so she can leave her house to Julia instead of Cuddy. It’s Cuddy who gets mad, lashing out at her mother despite Wilson’s best efforts. House sides with Arlene, saying that’s no way for Cuddy to talk to a patient. Arlene agrees and rips up the check, and Cuddy storms off.



Foreman pays a nurse $100 to hit on Chase. He and Taub watch as she talks to Chase, and then walks over and slaps Foreman. Chase sees the entire thing and cheerily waves to Foreman.

Taub checks Cyrus with an ultrasound, and Cyrus says he wants to provide for her. She insists that he think about who or what matters to him the most. Meanwhile, Taub discovers that not only does Cyrus lack any new cancers, but the ones he had all shrank. Back in differential, Chase hooks up Foreman again, and Foreman claims he’s used to it now. Hadley suggests amyloidosis causing protein deposits. House agrees, but Foreman objects and his blood pressure starts to go up. He insists that the test is rigged, and finally admits that he took beta blockers. Chase reveals that he was using a hidden remote to change the BP display. Foreman still disagrees but House goes with the treatment. As Hadley leaves, House stops her and she insists that people are who they are and lotteries are stupid.

House goes to the clinic and loudly says that he and Cuddy are going to lose their licenses. Wilson arrives and notes that Cuddy has given House quadruple duty at the clinic, and Arlene is calling for another meeting. Neither House nor Cuddy want to meet with her, and Wilson figures that House is holding onto the only thing he has with Cuddy, his negative interactions, and it may cost him his license.



When Phil and Jennifer come to see Cyrus, Cyrus gives his cousin a check for $10 million, the remainder of his lottery money. He tells Phil that he’s always stood by him and he deserves the money. Jennifer starts to cry and Hadley realizes that she’s wearing tinted contacts beneath her glasses. When Cyrus realizes that she doesn’t have brown eyes, he asks her where the pet name “Baby Bear” come from. She can’t answer because Cyrus never told Phil: Phil and “Jennifer” set the entire thing up to get him to give the money to Phil. Cyrus orders them both out and admits to Hadley that she was right and he is a fool. Before they can start chemo, Cyrus’ system shuts down.

Out in the hall, the team tries to figure out what’s going on. Taub accuses Hadley of helping Cyrus die by convincing him that he’s miserable. An alarm goes off and everyone goes outside, and they realize that Arlene set the alarm off to get house and Cuddy in the same place in the same time. Arlene says that she’ll be filing the suit today, and House tells her that he and Cuddy aren’t getting back together. He figures that Arlene is bluffing about the suit to unite the two of them against her. Cuddy finally realizes that House is right, and Arlene tells them that they are the only two people who will put up with each other. When Cuddy asked Arlene to move in, Arlene realized that they weren’t going to reconcile and started everything. Cuddy tells her mother that some things take more than a common enemy to unite. When she turns to look for House, she discovers that he’s left.

House goes to Cyrus and explains that he has a teratoma, a harmless genetic growth. Cyrus’ are filled with primitive cells that leaked into his bloodstream. Some of them turned into tumors, causing the symptoms. The cancer tumors collapsed under their own weight. Once they cut out the teratoma, Cyrus will be fine. When Cyrus says that he’s unlucky, House tells him that he found happiness and it’s up to him whether he stays miserable or not.



Chase ends up in bed with the nurse.

Foreman checks his blood pressure.

A woman comes to see Cyrus: the real Jennifer Williams, who read about him in the papers. Hadley and House watch as Cyrus rents her an apartment. House thinks it will end horribly, but Hadley says that as long as Cyrus has hope, he’ll always be happy. House points out that fatalism is her survival mechanism, and Hadley responds by pointing out that his life sucks and they are all what they are, and lotteries are stupid.

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