Locked In - Recap

Lee wakes up in a hospital in Middletown, New York, and is unable to speak or move. His physician, Dr. Kurtz, believes he’s dead and is preparing to collect the organs. Fortunately, Gregory House has suffered a motorcycle accident and is in the next bed. House quickly realizes that Lee is alive but suffering from locked in syndrome. House ignores Kurtz and gets Lee to blink to indicate he can hear them.

Lee remembers the bicycle accident that led to his apparent injury: he was unable to brake and rammed into a car door. House determines that Lee was paralyzed before the accident and that somehow his brain stem has been cut off from the rest of his body. Kurtz disagrees and believes an inspection is responsible. Lee’s wife Molly comes to see him and by blinking he tries to indicate that he doesn’t want his two children seeing him like this.

House calls Kutner, Foreman, and Thirteen to come to the hospital. They’re curious as to why House was in Middletown and he tells them he was buying a rare Fender Guitar. House steals some forms and gets Lee admitted to the Middletown Hospital’s MRI machine. They put high-tech virtual reality goggles on Lee to help him relax, and he imagines a beach. House is on it and they discuss God. Lee admits he only goes to church to keep his wife happy, but he believes that God arranged for House to be there to find a cure.

House believes that a spot on the MRI indicates a lesion on Lee’s brain, a lesion caused by cancer. House, intrigued by Lee’s condition, warns that if Kurtz is wrong, the anti-viral treatments will cause a reaction and Lee may die. Lee has a seizure and after he recovers, he signals that he wants House to take over his treatment.

At Princeton, Taub and Cuddy greet House and Cuddy also wants to know why House was in Middletown. Even to Lee, it’s apparent that she’s into House and vice versa. When Taub wonders why he didn’t get the call with the others, House tells him it’s because he didn’t call him: he figures since Taub tried to quit that he’s not committed enough to be a member of the team. Wilson arrives and decides to pursue the matter. He suspects House of going to a pain clinic near Middletown to get more drugs, but House tells him he went there to tell Wilson’s ex-wife that he’s making more money so she should adjust the alimony.

As Taub and Kutner check out Lee, Taub admits that he’s not sure if he really is committed enough, but Kutner tells him to decide before House decides for him. They suspect that Lee is either using alcohol or drugs but Lee blinks to deny both. Next, House orders a brain biopsy via surgery. Thirteen inserts a catheter into Lee’s penis. Once she’s done, Molly and Lee’s children arrive but Lee is upset to have them there seeing him in such a condition.

As Chase operates on Lee, Lee imagines himself back on the beach. House is still there, as are Lee’s children, and Lee is sure that God is responsible for House’s presence. After the operation, Chase checks Lee’s mental functions but discovers that he can no longer signal or communicate at all. House figures the operation caused swelling and he may now be brain-dead. Taub suggests they use an experimental brain-computer interface to see if Lee is still alive. Taub hooks Lee up and waits for him to move a cursor on a screen.

Wilson determines his ex-wife is out of the country at a sweat lodge and confronts House. House claims that he was going to a prison near Middletown to see Foreman’s brother, a convict.

As he waits for a response, Taub talk to Lee about the fact that he’s become afraid of his career and dealing with patients. Lee finally manages to move the cursor and once they can communicate again, they have him move the cursor to give yes/no response. When they ask if he’s traveled, Molly says that Lee went to St. Louis but he denies it. House speculates that Lee was having an affair and Molly storms out of the room, upset, even though Lee knows he didn’t.

House goes further and manages to determine that Lee was living near his home. With Molly’s help he determines that Lee was staying with a friend. Taub and Kutner check the friend’s house and discover that Lee was living in the basement. His business was going badly so when he claimed to be on business trips, he actually stayed with his friend and worked temp jobs. He didn’t tell Molly because the last time they were in economic trouble, she suffered from debilitating migraines. Kutner learns that one of Lee’s jobs was at a factory that makes rechargeable cell phone batteries. He concludes that Lee breathed in powdered cadmium from the batteries while working as a janitor, and the resulting heavy-metal poisoning explains the symptoms.

Members of the team stay with Lee as he undergoes chelation to remove the heavy-metal particles. Taub thanks Lee for proving his idea was correct. Foreman talks about how he bought jewelry for his girlfriend, but when she broke up he never did again until he started dating Thirteen. Then he complains that Thirteen isn’t wearing the bracelet he gave her. Molly takes a turn sitting with her husband and wonders why he didn’t tell her how bad off they were.

Taub goes to House’s office and asks for his job back. House challenges him to come up with a good idea and prove his worth. When Taub points out he came up with the brain interface idea, House says that the credit goes to the guy who created the machine, not Taub. House wonders why Taub is even bothering, and Taub explains that he needs the job to struggle with his fear so he can prove to himself he matters. House suggests that Taub hasn’t done anything for Lee and he may indeed not matter.

When Thirteen closes Lee’s eyes so he can sleep, she notices a torn epithelium in the eye. Using dye, she confirms that it’s ulcerative keratitis, which means that the cadmium isn’t responsible for Lee’s condition.

Cameron cleans out House’s injury from the motorcycle accident and she suggests he do a LP to eliminate the two most likely causes of Lee’s illness. House agrees and orders the LP. He runs into Wilson, who says he’s learned that Foreman’s brother isn’t in prison and House didn’t visit him. This time House says he went to Middletown to check up on Wilson’s new girlfriend, who is also his schizophrenic brother’s caretaker. House suggests that Wilson might be having Oedipal issues and departs.

During the LP procedure, Lee flatlines. He imagines himself on the beach again, with House calmly telling him he may die. They manage to revive him, but this time Lee tries to send them a message. Kutner finally figures out that Lee is indicating his right foot has an itch. House notes that liver failure would explain the symptoms and the itch. As Thirteen prepares to do a biopsy, Kutner notices that Thirteen was wearing her bracelet earlier, but isn’t now. Foreman didn’t notice it earlier, and Thirteen says that she took it off to keep it from getting tarnished by the urine she got on her wrist when she inserted the catheter into Lee. Kutner examines her wrist and sees she has a rash. He’s figured out what the problem is. rats in the friend’s basement had leptospirosis, which is spread by infected urine entering the body. Lee has a paper cut and the urine entered his body, and Thirteen got the rash when Lee’s urine spilled on her.

The team treats for leptospirosis and Lee begins to recover.

House goes to see Taub and Kutner, and asks who came up with the rat theory. Taub quickly takes credit for it and Kutner lets him. Once Taub leaves, House asks why Kutner let Taub take the credit. It doesn’t matter: House figures if Taub is committed enough to lie and cheat, he’s good enough for House’s team. House praises Kutner and leaves.

Outside, Wilson reveals he stole House’s cell phone and traced his calls. The phone number is for the psychiatrist that House has been seeing. House ignores him and goes to Lee’s room… then recovers the cell phone he planted to listen in on the team and learn who figured out the rat theory. Lee thanks him and insists that God sent House. House shrugs him off and says he’s much less interesting now.

Out in the hallway, Wilson wonders why House has changed so much that he’d see a psychiatrist. He figures that it has to do with Cuddy. House tells his friend that he isn’t going back because it didn’t help, and erases the phone number from his cell phone. As he leaves, Wilson says that if he doesn’t deal with his problems he may always be alone. House just steps into the elevator and leaves. Alone.

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