(S06E19) "Like so many things, you were born that way." - House to Ted, the patient, about his completely treatable condition

There's only two more episodes to go for this season of 'House,' and it seems that his pain is acting up and Gregory House has sublimated his need for meds with liquor. Waking up on rocket ship sheets was a dead give away that something was definitely off with the doctor. More on that and how lactating nipples don't make good coffee creamer.

On the home front, House's response to Wilson and Sam's reconciliation -- and she does seem to be staying for the foreseeable future -- is what -- excessive drinking? The fact that he had no idea how he wound up in the four-year-old's bed was disturbing, but not as disturbing as it might have been if Esteban was still in the bed.

Wilson's prescription for House -- and himself -- was getting the team to engage House in social activities. While the trip to the lesbian bar with Thirteen was playful, the karaoke with Chase and Foreman was more entertaining. We got to see Foreman and House playing Pips to Chase's Gladys Knight for a pained version of 'Midnight Train to Georgia.' The most fun, though, was watching House mess with Taub.

A week after all the open marriage talk and Taub clearly lying to his wife to pursue a blonde hottie, it was great to see House put Taub together with Rachel at a dinner just so he could manipulate Taub. Taub deserved to be put on the spot about his dalliance with the physio, and to his credit, House never revealed anything to the wife. Instead, House forced Taub into saying he was in a pottery class, a ridiculous lie made funnier when House drove up the bid on Ebay crap to fool Taub's wife into thinking he had made the tchotkes. In the end, Taub claimed that he made the choice not to cheat -- thus giving House the napkin holders -- but was anybody convinced that Taub could be faithful?

The case of the week was Ted Taylor, a bridegroom who insisted he wasn't gay, but the question came down to this: is homosexuality a choice? His choice to not be gay involved conversion therapy that included a chemical assault and electro-convulsive therapy to knock the gay out of him. Despite his protestations, Nicole also made a choice -- not to marry him.

The most significant development remains House's inability to deal with the pain in his leg. The ibuprofen isn't working anymore. He's not even trying to use them. House has moved onto booze. This is not a step in the right direction. It's trading one addiction for another, and since the previews show that next week House is back with his therapist, Dr. Nolan (Andre Braugher), it's pretty clear that House is in serious trouble again. Ultimately, aside from learning to live with unrelenting pain, there doesn't seem to be any solution for House.

Dialogue We Like

-- House to Wilson when he guessed that he'd arranged House's social life: "Taub asking me out was quirky, but Thirteen doing it is a barking cat."

-- Thirteen to House: "My self-pity's optional. What about yours?"

-- Cuddy: "I just want us to be friends."
House: "Funny, that's the last thing I want us to be."