Tracy Vilar

A gun-wielding man from the waiting room at the Princeton-Plainsboro clinic takes House, Thirteen and several patients from the waiting room hostage in Cuddy’s office. The man claims to be sick with a long undiagnosed illness and demands medical attention from the best doctor in the hospital, threatening to kill any hostages necessary along the way. With a room full of already sick patients, House must use them as guinea pigs to assure the hostage-taker that the medications he is administering to him are legitimate. As Cuddy and the rest of House’s team communicate with House over the phone to run tests and offer possible diagnoses, they ponder the possibility that the hostage-taker has nothing physically wrong with him and that everyone in Cuddy’s office could wind up dead. With one hostage already shot, Thirteen wagers her own already diminished health as she simultaneously receives the experimental treatments the hostage is receiving. Her life lies in danger as House’s own determination to diagnose the hostage-taker threatens to thwart the SWAT team’s plan to put an end to the standoff.

It’s election season, and in the midst of a tight campaign, an incumbent New Jersey senator’s campaign manager falls ill with liver failure and temporary paralysis. Cuddy pushes House to add a female doctor to his team by hiring brilliant third-year medical student Martha Masters (guest star Amber Tamblyn) in Thirteen'’s absence. House and the team are wary of the young doctor’s lack of experience and medical perspective, but are forced to give their new by-the-book teammate a chance to prove herself. After the campaigning senator makes a surprising announcement, House and the team look to the candidate to find clues about the patient’s condition. Meanwhile, Foreman learns that Taub has a past connection to Masters, and in an effort to save his patient’s life, House must make a critical decision that may compromise his relationship with Cuddy.

The inner workings of the hospital are seen through the eyes of Dr. Cuddy.

Relationships at any age face growing pains.

A prosecutor suffers from what he believes to be cardiac arrest during an interrogation at the witness stand. The team's preliminary diagnosis is hyper-anxiety, but when Adams and Park investigate the patient's home and find a hidden arsenal of firearms, they uncover a more alarming and deep-seated psychological disorder. Also, Wilson becomes obsessed with proving that House is hiding something in his home, Park slowly comes out of her social shell and Foreman's lack of romantic relationships piques the interest of Taub and Chase.