Emancipation - Recap

At a factory, one worker tries to get the other to contribute to a fund. The man, Doug, isn’t interested and a young worker, Sophia, comes over and tries to persuade Doug to contribute. Her lungs fill with blood and she falls onto the conveyer belt, and Doug gets her off before she’s carried into the press.

House arrives at work and Wilson asks if he asked Cuddy out. House says he didn’t and Wilson… doesn’t have anything further to say. House wonders if he’s trying reverse psychology on him but Wilson insists he isn’t. The team goes into differential and Kutner explains she’s an emancipated minor. Foreman wonders if she’s pregnant but Kutner doesn’t believe it. House says they might as well do a pregnancy test. Thirteen suggests drug use but again Kutner doesn’t believe it. He orders Kutner and Foreman to do an echo for possible heart damage while Taub and Thirteen check her home. Foreman meets with House afterward and says Kutner can do the echo on his own. He wants to do a series of clinical tests and asks House for permission. House refuses for no particular reason.

Kutner runs the echo test and Sophia denies using drugs. He says it must be hard and explains that his parents died when he was six. She admits she gets nervous that the police might show up with bad news. The echo proves negative. Meanwhile, Taub and Thirteen go over her apartment and Thirteen thinks Kutner has to see the good in everyone. She thinks he’s too trusting, but Taub says without some trust you don’t live. The team goes back into differential and House is irritated that House left Kutner to do the echo. House suspects tachycardia and Kutner wonders if she has vasculitis. He suggests Sophia should get steroids but House orders beta-blockers and tells Foreman to do it. Foreman leaves, telling them to page him.

Kutner gives the beta-blockers and tells her they found the bong. She says her ex-boyfriend used it and she kicked him out. Kutner suggests she might have vasculitis but warns if she’s been using drugs, the steroid treatment could kill her. Sophia insists she hasn’t’ used drugs and Kutner administers the steroids.

Foreman goes to the clinic to find Cuddy waiting for him. She doesn’t want to override House but Foreman insists that he’s going to help out. Once she leaves, Foreman looks in on the case of Jonah, who has been steadily getting worse with diarrhea and bloody vomit. Jonah’s older brother Evan is helpful and considerate to his brother, and insists Foreman make Jonah better.

Sophia has a psychotic break and Kutner and Taub manage to subdue her. Taub notes that beta-blockers don’t cause psychosis and Kutner admits he gave her steroids. In differential, House tells Foreman he should have been monitoring the treatment as ordered. They conclude the steroids weren’t given to her long enough to cause the delirium, which must be a new symptom. Foreman suggests an arterial spasm in the brain and House orders him to run the procedure to test for it. Once House is gone, Foreman tells the team to set it up and call him when it’s ready. He needs Jonah to swallow a special camera and his mother Melinda has no luck convincing him, but Evan convinces him. Foreman admits he was cruel to his little brother. Jonah starts giggling uncontrollably and Foreman doesn’t know why.

Foreman approaches Chase and Cameron and asks them for a differential. They agree to look at it but Chase warns tat whatever Foreman is trying to do won’t be enough to impress House. Kutner pages Foreman and they go over the fMRI and check her arteries. As they talk, Kutner asks her about her family life and notices something odd on the scan. She repeats her claim that her parents died but Kutner and Foreman both notice that the blood flow lit up in her limbic region when she uses her imagination. Kutner confronts her and she says that she got emancipated because her father raped her and her mother ignored the entire thing.

In differential, House dismisses the rape since it doesn’t account for the symptoms. There’s also no sign of a spasm in the brain. Kutner wonders if she’s lying about the rape and admits now he has a reason to doubt her. House points out that she could be suffering from severe emotional stress causing brain stress. The treatment is anti-anxiety drugs and he orders Foreman to administer the treatment. House then tells Wilson what happened but Wilson is seemingly uninterested. House wonders why he’s acting so inscrutable but Wilson simply walks away.

Cameron and Chase aren’t able to come up with anything and Cameron suggests it’s dangerous for Foreman to try and handle both cases. He leaves them to test Jonah and goes to Sophia. Thirteen is explaining their stress diagnosis and Sophia apologizes for lying. Thirteen suggests that Sophia do something: contact the police. Sophia notes she addressed it by getting away from it and she doesn’t want to be labeled as a rape victim. However, Foreman notes that her urine has become brown-colored. The team determines the color is from shredded red blood cells and they suspect an infection. However, an infection wouldn’t account for the lung symptoms. House asks about Sophia’s furniture and Thirteen notes it’s processed wood that releases arsenic when sawing it. Foreman says arsenic gets absorbed in the organs and doesn’t show in a blood test, and tells them to test her hair. He gets a page from Chase and leaves. Chase says all the tests are negative and there’s only so much they can do. Jonah crashes and they manage to revive him, but Chase says it’s time to bring in House.

Thirteen cleans Sophia’s system of arsenic and tells her that she’s strong and can make good choice. Sophia thanks her… and then goes into convulsions. House says they need to put the arsenic back, figuring it was fighting whatever it was that was killing Sophia. They conclude it’s acute leukemia but arsenic won’t cure her. House orders a biopsy of the lesions while they try and find her parents as they’ll need to perform a bone marrow transplant. Foreman finally comes in and asks for help, and House quickly concludes it’s the kid in the clinic. House refuses to help, saying Foreman wanted a case of his own and now he has one.

House confronts Wilson, accusing him of trying to be disengaged to force House to deal with Cuddy on his own. House doesn’t believe Wilson can go without giving his opinion, but Wilson walks out.

The team conducts the biopsy while explaining that the best donor is a family member. Despite that, Sophia refuses to owe her life to her parents. Taub lies and says he has Huntington’s and he wants to cure it so he can live as long and as well as possible. Sophia asks if he’s been raped and he admits he hasn’t, so he can’t understand how she feels. After the biopsy, Thirteen snaps at Taub for using her illness and he tells Thirteen she never does anything personal. The biopsy confirms the leukemia and Thirteen insists Sophia isn’t thinking clearly. House stands by the patient’s rights but Thirteen insists on finding Sophia’s parents.

Foreman meets with Chase and Cameron and they wonder what they’re missing. Chase suggests Munchausen by proxy but when that doesn’t work, he suggests that Evan is jealous. Foreman notes that Jonah is incredibly protective of his younger brother… and gets an idea.

Thirteen tracks down Sophia’s parents. The father is puzzled and reveals that his daughter Sophia is living at home. The girl is a totally different Sophia, and Thirteen realizes that her Sophia lied. She confronts Sophia, who explains she created a false ID to keep her parents from finding her. Thirteen informs her they’ll need her parents’ consent since Sophia forged the emancipation papers.

Foreman explains to Melinda and her sons that Jonah is suffering from an iron overdose. Melinda gives her son the recommended dosage… but Evan has been giving his vitamins to Jonah. Foreman assures them Jonah will be okay and that he won’t hate Evan.

The next day, the team comes up with a partial match but Thirteen warns that a partial will be rejected and leave Sophia too weak for another transplant. However, when they repeat Sophia’s immediate rational reaction for not contacting her parents. House concludes that she thought out her statement and she’s lying about something worse than rape. He talks to Sophia and realizes that she did something wrong. Finally she admits that her brother drowned in the bathtub while she was watching him and momentarily looked away. She can’t face her parents due to the guilt and the fact she thinks they hate her. He warns her that if she dies, they’ll hate her for sure. Sophia insists she doesn’t care but he says she does. There’s nothing she can do to change it, but at least she can avoid making it worse.

As Melinda leaves with Evan and a cured Jonah, Sophia’s parents arrive at the hospital and are reunited with their daughter. Kutner looks on, envious, and then walks away.

Foreman confronts House and tells him he’s going to do clinical testing. He insists he can do two cases at once and House says okay. When Foreman asks him why he changed his mind, House points out that Foreman asked him the first time, but is telling him no. House runs into Wilson in the elevator and Wilson assures House that he knew Foreman would figure it out. House tells him that Wilson’s game didn’t work. They notice Cuddy and House still refuses to talk about her. Wilson shrugs and tells him he’ll be okay.

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