Directed by: Matthew Penn
Written by: Eli Attie and Thomas L Moran
All spoilers are unmarked per policy. You Have Been Warned
Cops confront environmentalists who've chained themselves to the tire of a big truck. One of them passes out due to dehydration. The cops declare the protest is over. The protester is fine after she gets a sip of water. But the protester next to her, Doug (Tim Rock), has trouble standing up.
Dr. Cameron brings Doug's case to Dr. House as a favor to a doctor in Philadelphia. House takes the case and has his team consult, but has Cameron do all the grunt work. Dr. Chase had planned a vacation with Cameron, so he becomes concerned that she's in love with House.
Dr. Taub thinks the patient is a phony.
House visits Dr. Wilson in his apartment, questioning him about his diet, when his team calls him on the phone. The patient is screaming very loudly. X-rays reveal the patient's femur is fractured; it's supposed to be the hardest bone in the body, and yet the patient broke it while lying in bed.
House realizes that that the symptoms could be explained by a specific infection that could only be contracted from the thorn of a rose. The patient admits that, despite being loudly and aggressively opposed to commercial flower farming, he'd bought roses for his wife months earlier, after missing their anniversary.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Continuity Nod to "It's a Wonderful Lie": Dr. House wears a watch he got from Secret Santa.
- Cruel Twist Ending: Dr. House is at home playing music on piano and harmonica when he gets a vision of Dr. Amber Volakis (Anne Dudek, who doesn't get a guest star credit until after she's appeared onscreen). She tells him that he solved the case and figured out Dr. Wilson's prank, so he's not going crazy.
- Walk and Talk on the way to the elevator about irradiating the patient.
