Directed by: Deran Sarafian
Written by: David Hoselton
The nurses' Local 890 go on strike. Jeff (Paul Rae) is the husband of one of the nurses. He suffers something like a seizure after very gently confronting a delivery man who attacks the picketers. Dr. House diagnoses the man with "debilitating niceness."
House goes bowling with Dr. Chase, who becomes very concerned that House had sex with Dr. Cameron. House lets the team think he's taking penicillin to recover from syphilis. House admits this to Dr. Wilson, who then tells Dr. Volakis. In turn, Volakis tells two of her former competitors, Dr. Kutner and Dr. Taub.
House submits identical performance reviews for each of his subordinates to Dr. Cuddy, and also a performance review of Cuddy.
The nurses' strike is resolved at some point during this episode. Cuddy mentions that the nurses have been back for two shifts already. Of course House pretends not to know what nurses even do.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Language Equals Thought: Chase posits that "if people are incapable of being nice," the word wouldn't exist in the language. House of course responds with sarcasm: "Ah, the ontological proof of niceness. The existence of the word proves the existence of the concept. Look out for those minotaurs on your drive home."
- Shout-Out: To Die Zauberflöte. Cameron suggests that if Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had been better adjusted, he might never have written it.
- Show Within a Show: We once again see Dr. House watching his favorite soap opera, Prescription: Passion, but he does turn it off after one of the characters says "Love lasts forever."
