| "Two Stories" | |
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| House episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 13 |
| Directed by | Greg Yaitanes |
| Written by | Thomas L. Moran |
| Original air date | February 21, 2011 |
| Guest stars | |
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| Season 7 episodes | |
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| List of House episodes | |
"Two Stories" is the thirteenth episode of the seventh season of the American medical drama House. It aired on February 21, 2011. The entire narrative of the episode takes place through a series of flashbacks within flashbacks similar to the Season 1 episode Three Stories.[1]
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An elderly recess lady busts two kids, Zack and Colleen, for kissing behind the Brye Park school. When they are escorted to the principal's office, they see Dr. House sitting outside.
Hours ago, House, calling himself Dr. Hourani, was a speaker at the school's Career Day as a favor to get Cuddy's daughter Rachel into Brye Park in order to show Cuddy that he cares for her. He is talking to the class about his latest case that involves a patient who just coughed up a lung, however, one of the kids believes he is lying because he tells his story using the plot from Pulp Fiction.
Colleen and Zack interrupt his story demand to know what House did to get sent to the principal's office. House deflects by asking Colleen how she got her black eye. They make a deal that they will tell House Colleen's black eye if House tells them how an adult can get sent to the principal's office.
Back in his story, House admits that he was trying to make his presentation interesting. He tells them about the parts of the story that are true and shares his outlook on his job with the students. The teacher asks House to tell what he actually does and walk them through a "routine physical". House then tells the fifth grade class about a middle aged woman who is overusing her vibrator. The teacher decides to move on but not without allowing House to finish his story.
In his story, House invites Cuddy to lunch but she says no and calls him a jerk. Colleen, back in the principal's office, wants to know why Cuddy is mad at House. After a confrontation between Colleen and House, House gets Colleen to tell him a small part of her story after accusing her of being a tease. This flashes back to the kid's storyline where Colleen yells at Zach calling him a loser, which she says proves that she's not a tease.
House now tells the class, in his flashback, about the patient portraying his staff in a stereotypical fashion with Chase and Taub hitting on the nurse and Masters threatening to tell Cuddy. Realizing he is never going to finish his story, the teacher asks House to step down, and when the kid's protest House tries lying, but they call him on it. House is now at the part of the story where the patient coughs up their lung.
In his office, House is trying to hack into Cuddy's password-protected laptop. Martha suggests that the patient's computer science major roommates may well be working with toxic, lung-destroying materials, but House says he actually has sarcoidosis.
The kids now care about how he stole the laptop, which he eventually reveals he spilled hydrogen sulphide and ammonia on the floor to drive everyone out so he could sneak into an office and grab it. Colleen asks why and House dodges the question.
Cut to Zack and Colleen facing off against each other in a game of Double Dutch. Colleen trips up on the rope, giving Zack the win. His prize is that she kisses him on the lips. Zack explains that by losing the bet, Colleen could kiss him, which she wanted to do, while saving face with her friends.
Colleen denies Zack's reasoning and nags House to tell them why Cuddy is mad at him. House talks about using Cuddy's toothbrush and not taking out the trash. It cuts back to Zach/Colleen's storyline. The kids are playing indoor hockey in gym class. Zack gets a shot on goal, tended by Colleen. He fires the puck right and hits her right in the eye.
Now in House's flashback telling the story to the kids, the real Dr. Hourani enters his office and finds House sitting there on Cuddy's laptop. Back in the classroom, the kid's stop House's story to ask why he's talking about breaking into Dr. Hourani's office when they all thought House was Dr. Hourani.
In the principal's office, House gets a call from Foreman. The tests for sarcoidosis came back negative. The kids don't care about that. Zack wants to know why House lied about his last name while Colleen wants to know what House found in Cuddy's journal. Colleen finds out she was right that House doesn't listen to her. Zack hopefully asks if House fixed everything with Cuddy after hacking into her laptop. House says he thought he did by doing a favor for the Chairman of the Board and help get Rachel into a top pre-school.
House is driving to Brye Park's career day to speak to some kids and traumatize them for life when Foreman and Martha call about their patient. Their insistence on arguing with House distracts him from his driving and he promptly rear-ends someone. The guy who gets out of his crumpled car is familiar to us: it's the advertising guy. House told Don his name is Dr. Hourani to get out of paying for the damage. Don tries to search House's pockets, which turns into a fight. They're stopped by the office secretary.
Zack thinks House should run, because that's what he would do, while Colleen disagrees. It flashes back to another behind the school meeting. Zack was ready to collect his bet winnings and kiss Colleen, but ultimately, he couldn't because he didn't want it to happen "like that." He says sorry for he apologizes for hitting her with the puck and cheating to win the bet. Colleen tells House that he should do what Zach did and then the principal arrives.
While being berated by the principal for his behavior, House notices a poster for "The Princess and the Pea" on the wall of her office. House returns and give the diagnosis is that the patient accidentally and unknowingly inhaled a tiny piece of food.
Later in Cuddy's office, House says he was just trying to show her that he does care about her needs, as well as Rachel's. Cuddy points out that he stole her computer. House admits that he's a moron, but he's a moron who cares and thinks about Cuddy and wants her to be happy. Cuddy invites him over for dinner. He immediately accepts, and shows her the toothbrush he'll be bringing and using while he's there.
While narrating his story to the class, House references scenes of "old" movies. Right after the credits, there is a remake of the prelude to "Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallace's Wife" portion of the film Pulp Fiction, with Foreman and House in the roles of Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, respectively. A reference to A Few Good Men can also be seen when House tells one of the kids that he "can't handle the truth". A quote from the movie Ghostbusters is also used when House talks about Cuddy not being his girlfriend. The elevator scene from The Thomas Crown Affair (the original with Steve McQueen) is also referenced, as well as Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, when House tries to convince the kids he blew out the door of Cuddy's office with a 20 millimeter cannon to retrieve her laptop.[2]
House calls the advertising agent Don in a reference to Don Draper from Mad Men.
When Zach says he knew Colleen wanted to be kissed despite her denying it, House asks him if he is considering a career in the NBA, alluding the controversy with Kobe Bryant.
The song playing on the TV while House and Cuddy are arguing about her toothbrush, is "Cute" by Neal Hefti.
When House is talking with Zack and Coreen and says, "I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids." Is from the classic kids TV show, Scooby Doo.
House's driver license, seen briefly on-screen, shows his address as 221 Baker Street, Apt. B, Princeton, NJ 08542, an apparent homage to Sherlock Holmes, the famous fictional detective residing at 221B Baker Street, London.
The AV Club gave this episode a C rating.[3]
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