Risky Business - Recap

CEO Thad Barton steps out of his house and discovers that his company’s employees have TP’d his house and put up protest signs objecting to the fact that he’s moving the company to China. As Thad cleans up, wincing at the pain from his arthritis, his daughter Ainsley arrives. As she helps him, Ainsley notes that she has contacted some investors. However, Thad objects, noting that they’ll want a controlling interest of his family business. Thad then hesitates and stares at his hand, waving it back and forth, and then asks Ainsley to take him to the hospital.



Park tries to discuss Thad’s case with House, but he is more interested in showing her the email that her sexual harasser, Dr. Andrews, sent out. In it he explains that he’s undergoing voluntary sensitivity training, and then apologizes for anyone he may have harmed. According to him, he simply gave Park a celebratory slap after she performed her first AVM embolization. Park objects, but House points out that Andrews gets staff sympathy by apologizing, and makes Park look bad since she’s unrepentant about hitting her boss. An angry Park bets House that she won’t be fired. House agrees and promptly fires her, and Park qualifies that she meant that she wouldn’t be fired because of the disciplinary hearing. Park agrees to that as well. Adams comes in, wearing a good dress, and says that she was at a job interview. They discuss Thad’s case and Adams suggests that someone gave Thad an atropine poisoning. However, Park, suggest thyrotoxicosis and House goes with her differential.

House goes to see Thad in person to give him treatment. He suggests that Thad is suffering from migraines but that the Chinese doctors might see it as a form of mental illness. House suggests that Thad finance his diagnostic department as thanks for his treatment, but Ainsley points out that the company is already cutting their budget. House speaks in Mandarin to Thad, telling him that mental illness in China is taboo and that any reports that Thad is mentally ill could ruin the deal. When House hints that the Chinese doctors might just happen to find out about Thad’s condition, Thad asks how much House wants.



Once House has Thad’s check, he tells Adams and Park that they’re officially hired and that he’ll be bringing tab and chase back. Adams objects to Thad destroying jobs in the U.S. by shipping them to China. Park insists that patriotism is value, and House thinks that patriotism is stupid because it’s simply loyalty to real estate. Adams leaves to check on Thad, and Ainsley explains that she needs Thad back on his feet and healthy by the next day so that the stock value of the company increases. Adams is angry at Thad for moving his company, but Ainsley tells her that Thad is moving the company due to his wife, who died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma four months ago. As Ainsley talks, Thad starts coughing up blood due to a hemorrhagic site on his left lobe.

House has Adams and Park meet him in Foreman’s office, but focuses on how Adams was angry at Thad for moving his company. He guesses that she was at a funeral, not a job interview, but Adams denies it. Foreman arrives and tells them to get out, but House points out that they now have the financing for the differential department. Foreman tears up the check and tells House that he talked to Thad, who told him to tear up the check because he signed it under duress. House starts to walk out but then grabs Foreman’s ass and says that he hopes Foreman will punch him and prove that it’s a natural reaction when someone sexually harasses another person. Foreman doesn’t punch him and House leaves.

Outside, Park demands to know why House grabbed Foreman’s ass and tells him to forget the bet. House refuses to drop it and orders activated Protein C treatment for Thad’s new symptom. When Park and Adams warn that it could make Thad worse if House is wrong, he explains that it’s a conclusive test, and that they’ll just have to save Thad if he gets worse. As they treat Thad, Adams angrily points out all the harms to the local population. Thad defends the move and Park agrees with him, noting that she has a young cousin in the Philippines and that the American factories are the best place to work. Before they can continue the discussion, Thad starts scratching his neck.



House is using a multi-LED light to induce seasickness in his arch nemesis, Dr. Morgan the orthopedic surgeon. Morgan throws up and then says that he’ll go to Foreman, but House says that it’s his word against Morgan’s, and Park and Adams will back him. When his aides point out that House is loyal to his former conference room, House says that it’s simply a matter of recovering stolen property. Adams suggests that Thad’s wife died of a STD, not lymphoma, and House orders radiation treatment and then goes to the clinic. He treats Simon, a college student in a conjoined twin costume, who explains that he got into a fight with a drunken frat boy who called him a “Siamese twin.” House calls in Park to give Simon guidance in anger management, and Park tells Simon that sometimes it’s okay to punch someone who deserves it. Much to her surprise, House has recorded her words and plans to play them back to the disciplinary committee and make sure that she gets fired.

As Adam scans Thad, he insists that his wife didn’t give him an STD. She suggests that he talk to a grief counselor, but Thad tells her that the only thing keeping him in the states his wife and her grave. As he talks about how he can’t bear to lose his family company after 120 years, Thad has a heart attack.

Park visits Wilson and wonders why House wants her fired. Wilson says that the only thing that matters to House is winning the bet, and it’s nothing personal. He suggests that Park give House something that he values more than honor, but recommends that she prepare her résumé.



Adams informs House that Thad doesn’t have a STD, and he orders more tests. He also asks Adams for $200,000 so he can buy stock in Thad’s company now that the stock value is down because of the CEO’s medical condition. If House cures Thad, then the stock goes up and he makes a bundle. Adams agrees to give him $5,000 in return for his working double his normal clinic hours. She figures that being exposed to more patients will teach House empathy. He warns her how unlikely that is and then concludes that one of her old patients at the prison was denied parole, and that’s why she’s trying to make up for it by being extra good. Adams ignores his speculation and walks away.

When House returns to his office, he discovers that Morgan has put casts on all of his belongings. He storms into the orthopedic suite, but Morgan tells him that they can keep on pranking each other as much as House wants. He’ll get a suspension, but House will go back to prison. House is unable to muster a comeback and Morgan goes back to work.



Park and Adam confirm that Thad’s arteries are clear. Park suggests an EP study for a neurological problem and House agrees. Park insists that the board will find in her favor, but House warns her that it’s a classic he-said/she-said situation and she’ll lose. When Park says that Andrews was drunk when he harassed her, House figures that Foreman knew about it and signed off on Andrews. However, he tells Park to ignore what he just said and go do the EP study.

After considering House’s comment, Park goes to Foreman and asks if he knew that Andrews was drinking before the AVM embolization. Foreman admits that he had to bring in Andrews to save a patient, but Andrews said that he had a few drinks and suggested that Park handle it. She threatens to tell the board anyway, but Foreman says that he already told the board privately and they docked him two weeks’ pay. Park realizes that House set her up again, knowing what Foreman had done, and Foreman tells her that she’s been hanging around House too long.



Park goes to see Adams as she runs more tests on Thad, and asks if Adam has sent the committee a character reference. Adams points out that she doesn’t really know her, and that she thought that Park didn’t want gifts. Thad’s condition worsens and they inform House, but he’s worried that he’ll lose $20,000 if Thad doesn’t improve. When Adams points out that she only loaned him $5,000, House explains that he took $10,000 on margin and stole $5,000 from Wilson. He then asks Adams for $200,000. When she refuses, House says that she must have low self-esteem issues because she isn’t confident enough to risk the money, and figures that she was meeting with her family instead of attending a job interview. Disgusted, Adams finally agrees to tell him, but House tells her that he doesn’t want spoilers.

House drags Park and Adams to the Neurology Department to get Andrews’ advice on Thad’s condition. He puts Park on the spot while making sexual comments about Andrews’ actions. Andrews suggest normal pressure hydrocephalus from spinal cord pressure, but Park disagrees and argues for autonomic dysregulation syndrome. She wants to test for ADS using a tilt table, but Andrews warns that if she’s wrong, it could induce a coma. Park insists but House sides with Andres and tells Park and Adams to take a spinal fluid test to confirm.



Angry, Park leaves with Adams and says that she’s going to disobey House and do the tilt table test anyway. Adams warns her against it but Park figures that it’s all a test by House to see if she has enough confidence in herself to disobey him. Adams tells Park that she has to be at the board hearing and offers to do the tilt test herself. As she runs the test, Foreman comes in and asks what happened to the hospital’s skin resurfacing laser. Adams has no idea until Foreman says that it’s worth $200,000. He realizes that she knows what House is up to but won’t tell him, and warns her that someday House will ask her to cross a line that she doesn’t want to cross. As he leaves, Adams realizes that Thad has slipped into a coma, just as Andrews predicted.

At the disciplinary hearing, Park starts to speech but House storms in and tells her that she’s fired for disobeying his orders and ordering the tilt table test. Foreman has him ushered out and tells Park that the committee will ignore House’s comments. Outside, House wants ideas and Adams suggests that it’s normal pressure hydrocephalus, just as Andrews suspected. House disagrees and Adams gets angry at him when he explains that he got the tilt table test done and won the bet. House tells Adams to do a biopsy to confirm hepatic encephalopathy and ignores her protests.

At the board meeting, Park totally loses it and starts rambling about anything and everything.

As Adams performs the biopsy, Ainsley says that she has no choice but to honor her father’s wishes and approve the move to China. Adams tells her that it’s her decision and she doesn’t have to sign if she doesn’t want to. Once the biopsy is done, Adams reports to House that the liver is clean and the spinal fluid test shows that Andrews was wrong. Park walks in, cheering, and says that the board cleared her. Morgan starts sawing again and House goes in, saying that it’s now permissible for people in the hospital to hit each other. Before he can take a swing, House gets an idea and tells Adams and Park to give Thad plasmapheresis. Once they do, House assures them that Thad will wake up within the hour.



When Thad wakes up, he finds House and Ainsley at his bedside. House explains that Thad suffers from hyperviscosity syndrome. The tests prove negative because it was caused by antibodies resulting from Thad’s rheumatoid arthritis. Once they purged the antibodies from Thad’s system, he was cured. House then hands Thad two pieces of paper. One is a press release announcing that he’s healthy, assuring that the company’s stock will go up. The other is the contract for the move to China. As Thad prepares to sign, Ainsley says that if he moves the company, he’ll have to go without her. She insists that if his concern is family, then he shouldn’t do it. Thad signs the papers anyway and Ainsley leaves.

The next day, House brings the laser back through the lobby. Wilson comes over and pays House the $100 that he bet that Park would be fired. He claims that he did it so that House would remain neutral, but figures that House actually tried to help House. He fired her to make her become emotional so that the board would see her as a victim and keep her on. Further, everyone on the board hates House, so his firing Park guaranteed that they would keep her. House merely says that she’d rather take $100 from Wilson than park, and then gives Wilson back the $5,000 back that he stole from him. Wilson has no idea that it’s his money.



House takes the laser to Foreman’s office and says that he found it out in the street, and Foreman can’t prove otherwise. Foreman admits that House has won, but that he’ll have to do something to make people know that House isn’t pulling something on him. He doubles House’s clinic hours... the hours that House already doubled as part of his deal with Adams. House accepts the punishment, but then hands him the check from Thad and says that they can hire Taub and Chase back. Foreman points out that the check is much more than is necessary, and House just smiles.

Later, House calls Adams into the orthopedic lab and wheels out a skeleton. He figures that she learned that her boyfriend was cheating on her, but Adams says that it was her husband, and she caught him cheating a year ago. When she claimed she was at her job interview, she actually was with her lawyer finalizing the divorce. House figures that she still has anger issue and invites her to swing at the skeleton and everything else in the lab, assuring her that it’s all been paid for. As House smiles in satisfaction, Adams smashes everything in the lab.



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