Skin Deep

Dr. Gregory House is devoid of bedside manner and wouldn't even talk to his patients if he could get away with it. Dealing with his own constant physical pain, he uses a cane that seems to punctuate his acerbic, brutally honest demeanor. While his behavior can border on antisocial, House is a maverick physician whose unconventional thinking and flawless instincts have afforded him a great deal of respect. House's roster of medical cases are the inexplicable ones other doctors can't solve, and he has assembled an elite team of young medical experts to help him in his effort to solve these diagnostic mysteries.

House will do whatever it takes to solve a case before it's too late, from sending one of his team to break into a patient's home in search of clues, to attempting a controversial, trial-and-error form of treatment to see how a patient responds. House's methods may be suspect, but his results are not — he saves lives no one else can. Always in House's way is Dr. Lisa Cuddy, the Dean of Medicine and hospital administrator — and ethical gatekeeper of the hospital who is in constant conflict with House over his extreme treatments and unconventional behavior. House's former love Stacy Warner recently accepted a job as General Counsel to the hospital, and her presence there has reignited feelings House thought were safely buried.

In the Season 2 finale, House suffered multiple gunshot wounds inflicted by a former patient's husband determined to carry out retribution for House's treatment of his wife's case. In a shocking surprise to his co-workers, House comes through the ordeal with a slightly new perspective on his treatment of patients — but will it affect how he makes medical decisions? And will it last?

In the Season 3 finale, the set-in-his-ways House was confronted with a series of major changes to his team — but any effects of this “house-cleaning," or the changes it may bring to House professionally or personally, remain to be seen...

In the Season 4 finale, after a massive bus accident left House without recollection of the accident, he and the team put the pieces of his memory together and discover Wilson’s girlfriend Amber was on the bus with him and was fatally injured. Wilson has to face the shocking realization that House was involved in Amber’s death. As Season 5 opens, with his friendship with Wilson shattered, House must determine if he’s responsible for Amber’s death and Wilson must decide if House is a destructive force in his life while Cuddy attempts to advance a reconciliation between the two of them.

When the previous season concluded, House was forced to admit that he had lost his grip on reality and could no longer practice medicine. Out of options, he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital. Season 6 will explore House’s long and twisted road to recovery: Can he find some version of sanity and normalcy? Can he stay away from the workplace that arguably drove him to mental instability but is also the only stable foundation in his life? Can Princeton-Plainsboro continue its celebrated Department of Diagnostics without him? How will Cuddy’s relationship with House change, now that their imagined affair is out in the open?

In the Season 6 finale, House, driven by the loss of a patient he treated at an accident site and confronted with the unexpected news that Cuddy was now engaged, spiraled into despair and considered treating his mental and emotional anguish with Vicodin, potentially prompting the cycle of his dependency and addiction all over again. But in a surprising turn, Cuddy revealed that she called off her engagement and admitted to House she loves him, despite wishing she didn’t. Also, Thirteen submitted her leave of absence from the hospital, prompting questions about the status of her health. As Season 7 begins, House and Cuddy attempt to make a real relationship work and face the question as to whether their new relationship will affect their ability to diagnose patients.

Last season, House and Cuddy finally decided to take their relationship to the next level, but struggled to find a balance between their professional and personal lives, and ultimately, Cuddy made the very emotional decision to end their relationship. As each of them dealt with the aftermath of the break-up, House got married to an immigrant in need of a Green Card. In the series' milestone 150th episode, Thirteen was released from prison after euthanizing her brother who was suffering from the late stages of Huntington's Disease, the same disease with which she is afflicted. As the season comes to a close, when House's attempts to mend his relationship with Cuddy fall short, he's compelled to take drastic and possibly irrevocable measures that could forever change the course of their relationship.