It's A Wonderful Lie - Recap

During the holidays, NMaggie takes her daughter Jane to a rock-climbing wall and encourages her upward while holding her safety line. Jane slips and Maggie is unable to hold the rope as her hands become paralyzed. Jane falls and breaks her arm.

Maggie ends up at the clinic where Houser and his team go to work... and House gripes about Kutner putting up Christmas decorations. Taub suggests that an operation for cancer didn't get all of the cells, causing her paralysis. House figures that Maggie, like everyone, is a liar. However, according to Maggie's record she never lies, particularly Jane. House talks to Jane who confirms that she knows everything her mother does, including her sex life. House sends Taub and Foreman to talk to Maggie's last partner, Roger, and trick him to revealing that he gave her E.

At the clinic, House talks to Melanie, who complains about a throat problem. She talks as if she's a prostitute and the two of them flirt back and forth. Meanwhile, Taub reports that they're testing Maggie's blood but as he does so Maggie goes blind.

Cuddy forces House to run the Secret Santa gift exchange for the staff, and House figures he can do a little testing of his own. Taub's testing proves negative so House send Kutner and Thirteen to Maggie's house to steal her computer. They suspect vascular problems so Taub and Foreman administer an angiogram. Meanwhile, Wilson suspects House is up to something.

After House has everyone draw names for the Secret Santa, Thirteen is eager to prove House wrong and show that there is someone who doesn't lie. House figures she's lying to protect her own secret that he hasn't figured out yet. They go over Maggie's computer while they discuss whether Maggie might have brain problems that lead to a lack of inhibitions and thus complete honesty. They determine they need to give her a placebo treatment to determine if the brain problem exists, and House tries to convince to lie. The daughter refuses to help so they go ahead on their own and keep Jane busy playing foozball. However, she helps them figure out that House made sure everyone drew his name. Meanwhile, Maggie's lymph nodes expand, cutting of fher oxygen.

After dealing with the current symptom, which proves the problem isn't psychological, they go back over Maggie's computer files and determine that she canceled a recent hiking trip and sold her Stairmaster. House figures she has sarcoidosis and then shows off an Apple iPhone that he received from... someone. Everyone on the team wonders who gave it to House, which is just what he want: he stole Wilson's iPhone, wrapped it up, and gave it to himself.

Maggie tests negative for sarcoidosis but starts bleeding from her eyes. Now the team figures her platelets are breaking down and to test to confirm, while Kutner gives in and gives House his present, much to the disgust of his teammates.

Melanie comes back to the clinic, complaining about a rash. House notices an infection caused by contact with donkeys, and Melanie admits she does a show with a donkey. She gives him a ticket for her show and leaves, smiling. Chase and Foreman prepare to drill into Maggie's skull to relieve the pressure that caused the bleeding eyes, but the drill starts to smoke: the bone has hardened.

With time running out, the team is forced to choose the only possible diagnosis that has a cure. To cure Maggie they need a marrow transplant and Jane is the likely match. However, Maggie refuses to endanger her daughter and tells them to find someone else. Taub finds a donor... and gives House a present. However, Thirteen confirms the test shows negative... and she gives House a present as well. Jane comes to them and insists they test her morrow to see if it's compatible.

House figures out that Maggie isn't Jane's real daughter and confronts the mother. Maggie admits the truth and says Jane's mother was a drug dealer that asked Maggie never to reveal what happened. Jane comes in and tells her mother the truth: that she knows Maggie is dying.

The entire staff hold their holiday party but House starts to leave. Wilson, wearing a moose hat. House gets an idea and tells his team to give Maggie an anti-psychotic. The drug will cause any cancerous cells to swell. Taub's original theory was correct: during Maggie's cancer operation, tumorous cells got loose and floated through her bloodstream. They find the now-swollen tumorous growth on the back of her knee and can now remove it and put her on chemo.

House still refuses to attend the staff party and leaves. Following the instructions on the ticket, House goes to a church. There, Melanie is portraying the Virgin Mary and riding a donkey in the live nativity scene.

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