Unfaithful (House)

"Unfaithful" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of House. It aired on February 16, 2009.

Plot

A young priest, Fr. Daniel Bresson (played by Jimmi Simpson), runs a homeless shelter. After he gives a man a sweater to keep warm, Bresson begins drinking at a dangerous rate. He hears a knock at his door and opens it to find an apparition of Jesus Christ hovering a foot off the ground and bleeding.

Cuddy asks House to come to her baby daughter Rachel's simchat bat, a Jewish baby-naming ceremony, and House sarcastically refuses. In the emergency room, House takes the priest's case from Cameron, who tells him there is nothing to diagnose, as Bresson simply drank too much bourbon. House takes the case as a diversion for Kutner and Taub while he confronts Foreman and Thirteen about their relationship. While the team tests Bresson's EEG for epilepsy, House calls Foreman and Thirteen in. He gives them the option to "split or quit," as he feels their relationship is clouding their judgment. He tells them they have until the end of the case to decide.

While performing Bresson's EEG, Taub and Kutner learn more about him. Taub, intrigued by Bresson's frequent job relocation, asks him for an explanation. Bresson admits to having an alleged inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy a few years ago; once that was exposed, no church would keep him. Kutner and Taub report this to House, who declares the case over. During lunch, House and Wilson talk over Cuddy's invitation, and Wilson tries convincing House to go.

Foreman and Thirteen decide to "do nothing." Foreman says that House is just trying to get them to work harder. When they report their decision, House fires Foreman. When Taub and Kutner tell Bresson he is being discharged, he pleads to stay, saying he knows something is wrong. Kutner finds a black toe in Bresson's bed, which fell off his foot. House suspects carbon monoxide poisoning and orders them to put the priest in a hyperbaric chamber. Cuddy again asks House to come to the ceremony, and this time he agrees. Annoyed, she goes to Wilson and asks him to uninvite House, saying she does not want him there and that Wilson prodded him to go.

Bresson suffers an apparent heart attack in the hyperbaric chamber. Foreman asks Cuddy for a letter of recommendation, but she tells him she cannot give it to him because his breach of protocol during the drug trial put the hospital and Cuddy's reputations in jeopardy. House debates Bresson on God and faith while testing his lungs. Kutner apologizes for the pain as he pulls the catheter out, but Bresson says he did not feel pain. House discovers a new symptom: regional anesthesia. House orders a nerve conduction study.

Taub and Kutner find an intercostal neuralgia affecting a nerve that runs along the ribs. Bresson's right eye loses sight, even though nothing is structurally wrong with it. With his heart rate down, sensory loss and progressive muscle weakness, the patient is shutting down. Based on the absence of white blood cells, House concludes it must be the spleen. Taub and Kutner discover that Bresson has pneumocystis, a parasite he contracted through the church holy water. Pneumocystis is virtually harmless, except to people with compromised immune systems. House concludes that Bresson has AIDS. Bresson tells the team not to test him for AIDS, as he does not believe it is true.

Thirteen decides to quit in exchange for House offering Foreman his job back, since he cannot find one. Foreman disagrees, thinking he can handle it himself. Foreman asks House for his job behind Thirteen's back. House offers Foreman a decision between Thirteen or his job. He chooses his job. Taub goes to find the boy that Bresson allegedly molested to tell him he should get tested for AIDS. The boy, Ryan, is at first indifferent, but later visits Bresson and cries by his bedside, asking for forgiveness, thus hinting at the falsification of the molestation complaint. Bresson forgives him. Wilson tries to convince House to go to Rachel's ceremony again, saying that 'even if an absolute truth does exist, [we] can't know all of it'. Wilson's comment triggers an epiphany, and after ignoring Bresson's hallucinations, House concludes that Bresson has Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, a genetic condition with symptoms that mimic AIDS.

Cuddy tells Cameron about the patient. Cameron suggests that Cuddy reinvite House to the ceremony, but she fails to do so. House sits in his apartment, drinking and playing the piano. Foreman is reading the paper when Thirteen walks in and smiles, taking a staged "Broadway-esque" bow, hinting at the fact that she and Foreman just played House. She and Foreman kiss. Meanwhile, the ceremony takes place at Cuddy's house.

Music

• The song that plays over the teaser is "Firesuite" by Doves from their album Lost Souls.
• The song that House plays on his piano at the end of the show is "Cuddy's Serenade" by Hugh Laurie. The song includes an interlude of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones.
• The song playing during the scene where Taub talks with Ryan is also the same song played in the opening of DNR.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Unfaithful

• "Unfaithful" at Fox.com