Another thought occurred to me as to why this episode worked: With only one major storyline, the commercial breaks didn't hurt as much. It still bugs that there are so many, but they didn't break the flow as much as when we're already mentally juggling an A, B and C plot and sometimes a clinic patient. Cuddy doing everything was like the fellows running all the tests and labs, and Chase doing every surgery for a while there. Besides which, it was intended to heighten the tension around her situation. Acceptable exaggeration IMO. There have been way, way more unrealistic things on the show, sometimes going on over multiple episodes. I agree with Jennifer that they were hitting the healthcare reform bullet points tonight.

I enjoyed the episode. It helped that it seemed liek whenever Cuddy turned around, House was there. Who helped Cuddy with Atlantic Net? Was it Lucas? Or House? I couldn't handle Cuddy's job. I would have been broke down crying in my car or just said "Screw it all. I quit." I thought the car scene with House and Cuddy was nice. I also liked seeing that one doctor complain to Cuddy about her favortism towards House. You would think it would bother the other doctors, and it was nice to see that portrayed.

I did crack up when Cuddy said something to the effect of "Do you know how long it takes to train a doctor in microsurgery?" And I thought "Heck, Chase obviously picked it up mighty fast!" :lol:

So, Cuddy struggles for years to have a child she never sees... ...inability to spend time with Rachel. Huh? She left her house at 8:00AM and was going home at 6PM. I don't find that dramatically different from the schedule of most working mothers. Plus, she gets to have an in-house nanny, which eliminates the morning and evening trips to day care and the accompanying stress.

Huh. That was interesting. I've never been a huge fan of Cuddy's (she's always been a "whatever" character for me) but I liked the idea of seeing a day through her eyes. But I really didn't like this episode. I think I was expecting something more....medical? While it is unusual, she has taken over or sat in on a couple cases in the past, so I think I was sort of expecting that to happen. Instead, I got contract negotiations. On a medical drama. Awesome. The show, to me, is much more suspenseful and fun when you're seeing a team of doctors trying to figure out why a dude's eye just popped out of his head. I don't really care if Cuddy gets 4% more from an insurance company or not. Or if her baby has a fever. Or if her boyfriend is an idiot. And the ending was one of the most ridiculous things I've seen on House. It's amazing how everything just worked itself out within about 30 seconds. And I had a good laugh at her scream. That was just so unlike her. And it's weird that Lucas and House seem buddy-buddy again after the guy just flooded House's apartment and tripped him in front of peers in the cafeteria. But okay. Good for them, I guess? :? That being said, I did like some things from the episode -Gail was awesome. -The nurse was great too. Was she the same one held hostage in "Last Resort"? -Surgeon fight! -Flower recorder came out of nowhere but was great. Wish we could have seen that in some earlier episode as a set-up though. -House offering his advise without a ton of sarcasm was really nice. Especially since things have been really awkward between them lately.

I thought this episode was okay, and it held my interest more than I thought, but it didn't redeem the Cuddy character in eyes to her ideal of season one. I wonder what the nanny thought while Lucas and Cuddy went to have sex and she was taking care of the baby? I used to nanny and my thoughts wouldn't have been very pretty. I also couldn't believe Cuddy basically let Rachel play on the floor of the shower - while it was running. The episode was really tempered by that and other things that made no sense. In seven years, did no one else in the pharmacy really notice the excess medication being delivered or ordered? Why would the insurance not pay for the man's thumb reattachment, which is pretty basic emergency care for a detached limb, especially if it happened at work? How did the guy know his insurance wouldn't pay for it, since according to Chase the guy requested right away for it not to be reattached? Did the guy lose his thumb in the saw, then stop to call the insurance agency while bleeding? I'm more impressed with how well they've flushed out that character. Think, for contrast, of Frank Burns on MASH who had to represent authority to the cutup surgeons, and how he was never really anything more than a mockery. (Yes, I know, that's a comedy. It was just the example that came to mind.) Frank Burns was basically a buffoonish villain, he didn't really have any authority over the other characters. The COs and the staff who ran the camp didn't like him, and Hawkeye, as chief surgeon, basically was Frank's boss (despite being technically a step down in rank.) That's why the character of Frank spent a lot of time bullying NCOs. Cuddy would definitely be Hot Lips - the career driven female professional who despite being antagonistic/the occasional love interest was always respected in her job.

Gail was awesome. For a minute there, I flashed back to the West Wing and imagined you were talking about Gail the goldfish swimming around in her bowl. Then I remembered it was CJ, not Cuddy, who had the fish on her desk.

I also couldn't believe Cuddy basically let Rachel play on the floor of the shower - while it was running. Well, that's a heck of alot better than leaving Rachel unattended outside the shower or alone somewhere in the house. It looks like a super large shower so the area where Rachel was didn't seem to be directly under the water.

I think I figured out why this episode didn't work for me, although I was able to watch it and I wasn't sure I could. I admit I'm biased, but Wilson is my favorite episode ever, but I think the reason that was great was because we learned a lot more about Wilson, and about his relationship with House. This episode, to me, was Cuddy racing around the hospital in her pumps, saying "I'm busy" and "I don't have time" over and over again while having all these problems thrown at her that somehow magically work out at the very end. But I don't think we learned anything new about Cuddy, or her relationship with House, or even more importantly to me, her relationship with Lucas. Well, I guess we learned one thing, that Cuddy actually has things to do besides playing pranks on House when she isn't pining after him.

Well, I guess we learned one thing, that Cuddy actually has things to do besides playing pranks on House when she isn't pining after him. I think that was the point. We are used to her saying no but have no idea what else is going on. I loved this episode. Finally multiple Cuddy scenes, which is something I have missed this year. We finally got to see why Lisa Cuddy holds the position as DoM. She can play hardball. She is ballsy, sexy, smart and can probably play a good hand of poker that is unless she is playing against House. The ridiculous scene to me was House getting a massage but I guess that was used to show us how he keeps her busy. Obviously his diagnostic talents outweighs all his crazy tactics but it sure comes at a cost. Me being a Huddy loved the car scene. House knows where she hides out and they can communicate on an adult level when they aren't trying to outgame each other. They know how each operates and I thought that scene showed us of the deep understanding they have of each other. I don't think we will ever see anything like this between Cuddy and Lucas. The clinic guy was a good actor. To bad he wasn't an actual patient that was on throughout the whole episode. And the psychopath was evil. We have a HD big screen and I swear in the scene with House and Cuddy at the elevator that Hugh had a black eye. Yep, I am pretty sure because I just replayed it again. If memory serves me correctly, this episode was done around the time he was back in London and at that time, he had a black eye. And I have a question? Isn't Wilson on the board? He was during the Volger days. I expected to see him sitting around the table with the rest of them. Anyway I loved 5 to 9 and thought LE more than held her own. Good for her. ETA: If only she'd say no to Lucas, with whom she has zero chemistry, to my eyes at least. Yes, don't even get me started on that but I do believe the ending is coming but not soon enough.

I like Lisa and I get that they want to do change of pace episodes for the other characters. I liked "Wilson" better becaue we found out how highly he is regarded with his staff and also the nearly insane lengths he will go to to please someone. It added some depth and background to his character. But the only time my attention sparked tonight was when House was in the scene: what is he going to do or say? That's always interesting. I kept wanting the camera to follow him. As hard as they tried to make the insurance negotiations suspenseful, really, it was clear she was going to get what she wanted at the end. I agree, wintertide, that we learned nothing new about her or her relationships in this episode. Running around making snap decisions isn't that impressive or interesting even if she can say no to people convincingly. If only she'd say no to Lucas, with whom she has zero chemistry, to my eyes at least.