Trama

A known performance artist collapses during a performance. She ends with House's team, which is what she wanted. House is more self-destructive and irresponsible than usual. Cuddy's sister finds a date for her.

Well-known performance artist Afsoun Hamidi is admitted to the hospital, but when the team learns that her symptoms may have been self-inflicted as part of a documentary for her latest performance piece, they begin to question whether treatments are necessary and if they are unwittingly participating in the creation of a piece of her art. Meanwhile, a situation prompts House to do something that could change his relationship with Cuddy and Wilson permanently.—Fox Publicity

Open with Cuddy watching some kind of emergency scene. We see Wilson getting treatment. She describes for an officer some kind of incident that took place with House and says if he ever comes near her again she wants him put in jail.

THREE DAYS EARLIER

House is watching video of performance artist Afsoun Hamidi on his laptop in bed. Hamidi's surrounded by various items and her assistant (Luca) tells a group of people they can use them on her in any way. House references that Hamidi is a patient. The video resumes and a man covers Hamidi in paint thinner. The man lights a match but Luca (who has been instructed not to intervene) pushes him away. Hamidi then falls over. The team debates whether Hamidi's work is actually art. Since there was a space heater next to her in the gallery they elect to put her in a hyperbaric chamber in case carbon monoxide poisoning was the issue.

Cuddy runs into a man named Jerry at a coffee shop. Her sister has been trying to set them up and he recognizes her from pictures. She basically blows him off.

House and Cuddy talk about returning each other's belongings. House wants things to return to the way they were before they dated and he assures her he's making changes to his life. She wants him to explore the reasons why he performed surgery on himself. He eventually agrees to lunch the following day. House is still taking Vicodin.

While Hamidi lies in the chamber we learn that she and Luca used to date but are no longer together. She discusses the philosophy behind her art with Foreman. Hamidi begins to vomit in the chamber. When Thirteen asks Luca to hand her an oxygen mask nearby he pauses, as if in shock.

Taub gives Ruby an ultrasound. Rachel calls him but he ignores it, telling Ruby it was House.

Cuddy's sister tells her she should think about dating Jerry. Cuddy's annoyed she was meddling in her personal life.

House has Thirteen go into Hamidi's room and investigate a stuffed elephant Luca brought with him to the hospital. She looks inside and sees that it is a nanny camera. Luca hesitated earlier, House realizes, because they are now part of her next piece of art.

(This re-capper's local TV station cuts into the broadcast for severe weather coverage.)

Foreman tells House that Hamidi is a fraud, that she's been injecting herself with her own red blood cells which caused her heart issues. Looking at browser history on her laptop Foreman discovered that for months she'd been researching both blood-doping and House himself. "She set you up," he tells House.

We cut to the scene from the opening. An investigator tells Wilson they've seen officers to look for House. Wilson says they won't find him at his home, that he'll be at some dark, depressing bar.

Hamidi tells House she's exploring her own illness in this new project. The blood-doping was done to "intrigue" House, but she was already sick. She isn't going to tell House what is wrong, because then he won't have a game and they won't have the art. House still is interested.

The team doesn't like giving her a bed since there is no way to tell if she's even sick at all. Thirteen agrees to help run tests on her.

(This re-capper's local TV station again cuts into the broadcast for severe weather coverage.)

Thirteen tells Hamidi has cysts that cannot be faked. House thinks her actions indicate she has something fatal.

During a scan House tells Luca that the reason she cut off her hair during an art project a few months back was that she knew it was going to fall out anyway and wanted to hide the reason. House then finds a tumor on her brain and she admits to both he and Luca that four months ago a hospital in New York told her it was inoperable. It was at that time she broke up with Luca. House tells her he doesn't think this latest project means anything. He thinks she may have just been hoping for a different diagnosis.

Wilson goes to see House. He's cutting off House's ability to get Vicodin using his name and notices that House has taken almost a month's supply of the drug in three days. He's worried about House and wants House to deal with the anger instead of medicating the pain.

House discharges himself from the hospital against doctor's orders. On his way out he stops into Hamidi's room. She is complaining of what she believes to be eczema on her chest. House says it's not eczema and "it's not cancer."

Hamidi has Wegener's granulomatosis. It can be treated with steroids, but the safest way to treat the mass in her brain is with another course of radiation. She doesn't want to have her thinking dulled again and refuses the treatment. Luca is furious that she would let herself die and leaves.

House and Cuddy have lunch. After an awkward moment she tells him there is a special hairbrush she would like back. He asks if she is dating anybody. She tells him no. She thinks House has unresolved issues, one of which is her. He ends up storming out, but she follows him. Ultimately he grabs her and says "I feel hurt." She takes his hand and apologizes. He responds "It's not your fault" and walks away.

Hamidi wonders out loud to Thirteen if she's made the wrong choice. Thirteen wonders if maybe the reason she did this latest art piece was to have Luca with her this time around.

Cuddy re-introduces herself to Jerry. They make small talk and laugh.

Rachel arrives at the hospital and tells Taub she is pregnant.

Thirteen tells House that Hamidi has changed her mind about radiation. House goes to her room. Luca is there and he tells him to leave. House then berates Hamidi for the change of course. He calls her a "pathetic hypocrite", and Hamidi asks him "Why are you doing this?". He leaves.

House sits at home taking more Vicodin. Wilson shows up and offers to take him for a drink. They stop at Cuddy's so that House can drop off the hairbrush. House walks halfway to the door and sees that Cuddy is inside having dinner with her sister and Jerry. He stops, turns around and gets back into the car. He tells Wilson to get out of the car and drives down the block and turns the car around. House then floors it towards Wilson, turning up Cuddy's front lawn and driving the car into her dining room. Nobody inside seems injured. House gets out of the car and hands Cuddy the hairbrush.

Cut to House drinking at a bar. He tells the bartender he's had enough to drink and he's leaving. We see that he's on a beach in some tropical location. House smiles at the ocean and starts walking down the beach.