Why would he risk his mind (ketamine) or his life (methadone) when he's managing with his existing medications?

Now that his conversion disorder (depression, etc. manifesting as leg pain) is under control, so is his pain level. Except for when he was bored, before returning to diagnostics, he has been able to manage his pain with Ibuprofen. That's Advil. I took 2 last night for a headache. Ketamine and methadone are treatments for people who have found no other way to keep their pain down to tolerable levels. They both have extreme risks. Ketamine can cause brain damage. Methadone is heroin without the high. It causes respiratory depression -- he stopped breathing once while on methadone -- and could never have a single alcoholic drink because of the risk of that happening again. Why would he take either (and what doctor would prescribe them) when his pain level is so manageable now?

But doesn't he want a functional leg(Insensible)?

House's leg will never be fully functional. The main problem with it is that they did a myectomy on it -- they removed the damaged muscle. Neither Ketamine nor methadone will replace the muscle. When House ran 6 miles in Meaning after the Ketamine treatment, that was absurd. Exercising can train the remaining muscles to take over some of the functions of the excised muscle, but there is no way that he would walk normally, much less run. The Softer Side was much more realistic -- he was pain free but still limped. House has now reached a point where he can walk and function with mild medication for the pain and a cane for occasional support. Using those drugs for that is the equivalent of taking morphine for a sprained ankle.

You're right...I did not think about that

Yes, motrin and advil are brand names for OTC ibuprophen but we haven't been told that is what House is taking. He may very well be taking the drug in prescription strength which is at least double the dosage of the OTC version. It is only 200 mg when purchased over the counter but the prescription version is 400, 600, 800, and possibly 1000mg per tablet. It's one of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) and at prescription strength can sometime have some side effects that can be worrisome.l

I like how for season 6 they're playing with the usual format. First off in the season premiere we get an episode with no medical case. The closest we had ever gotten to that is the season 2 finale where the case turned out to be a hallucination. We also got an entirely Wilson centric episode, SPOILERand now we seem to be getting a similar episode for Cuddy. I'm wondering what they're gonna do for the Season finale. Each season finale has provided some important twist for the story and I can't wait to see what is in store for this one. MOD NOTE: Spoilers should be appropriately marked. Please familiarize yourself with this board's spoiler policy.

From Open and Shut thread As has been discussed to the dead horse status over on the media thread, critic's opinions are not equal to my opinions or fandom majority opinions or fandom minority opinions or anything but their own damn opinion. Would I say that this episode IN MY OPINION SOLELY is one of the best ever? No. Would I say it's one of the worst ever? No. Would I say it gave me new insight and things to think about? Yes. Overall I'd agree with one of the commenters over on the AV Club who stated that as long as House continues to give me solid "B" grade episodes with lots of B+ and some solid "A" level episodes every season, I'm more than satisfied. I don't expect every episode to be an A. I don't know of any series that has ever -- especially in the sixth season -- managed to maintain my admiration and attention for this long. (And, for what it's worth, I don't think any of the other seasons have had the mystical level of "all As" either. Each season has it bright spots and its low spots and a whole lot of solid performers that weren't necessarily OMG DID YOU SEE THAT? but yet still good episodes.) While I would consider Open and Shut a C episode (average quality TV drama) or a C+ if I were feeling generous, one of the things I'm loving this year is the return to the mix we had in the first 3 seasons -- lots of As and Bs with only a few Cs. In Season 4 and, to a lesser extent, Season 5, I felt like there were a couple of As carrying the rest of the episodes which were B- at best. Those two years, the acting was really all that kept me engaged. This year, in spite of anger over things like Lucas's potentially fatal "pranks", I once again care what will happen next.

Hugh can only submit one episode for the Emmy, right? After tonight it's a tough call but I still think it should be Broken (followed by Help Me then Baggage.)

I was thinking about that. But I'd pick the same three episodes for him. Any one should do the trick. Man, he is one hell of an actor and when he gets a good script and central screen time, he is amazing.

I think that this season had one of the most solid arcs that we've seen. House went from denial in "Broken" to acceptance by the end of that episode (with a very tenuous grasp on possibilities accepting a future). We've seen his struggle with relationships with his team -- even helping Foreman reconcile with his brother and helping Taub with his marrage -- we've seen him deal with changing dynamics with Wilson, pushing him to seek out what he wants, and even with patients like the one in Lockdown, and of course Hannah in Help Me. And his confrontational and always complex relationship with Nolan. (He's even reconsidered his relationship with his father.) All of this undertaken under guidance to reach out to other people. To allow himself to feel something other than misanthropy. And yet, he senses he's losing it all. Everyone's moving on and hooking up. As Hannah puts it, the belief is that if you do everything right, if you treat people nicely, you in turn have the life you deserve. This is a House throughout the season attempting to do the right thing and finally, just when it feels he's lost it all, a glimpse of some redemption -- an idea that his story can have something other than pain and misery.

I agree, Namaste. As far as the arcs go, the only one on this level in terms of his progress and showing the viewers about him was Stacy. I hated her (although House would never have been in love with a "sweet" person) but we learned a lot. I think the first two seasons had a better ratio of great/brilliant eps to good/okay/forgettable ones, but the great eps this year were truly extraordinary. Emmy submissions are sent to people who don't necessarily watch the show. As good as he was in Help Me, Broken shows a much larger variety of what he can do.

I love Broken as the second best episode after 'Three Stories'. But as long as acting goes, Hugh has never had a wider range of drama and emotions than in 'Help Me'. So for his nomination, that's the real choice. His wider rang of capabilities isn't the thing that wins an 'Emmy' for drama acting; If it were, Hugh would have bean the clear winner for more than one year.

I had a post here, but it disappeared! That's the second time it's happened on the boards.

Since we're all debating about Season 6 in other threads, I thought perhaps why not move it to the Season 6 thread? Something I want to mention: I've been told by my primary care physician that I have "conversion disorder." Even when I lost the use of my leg last year, and the physical therapist said I actually had no nerve signals going from my right brain to my left leg. (It's better now but I have to keep exercising it to keep the neurons in their rightful place.) Anyway, a few months ago I mentioned "conversion disorder" to my therapist. She looked at me and said, "That's an outdated Freudian concept. It doesn't exist." So I asked my psychiatrist, who's young and fairly cutting edge when it comes to research. He just laughed and said, "There's no such thing as conversion disorder. It was debunked years ago." Obviously my own experience colors my opinion of the show's direction. I never believed for a second that an anti-inflammotry (sp) could handle the sort of agonizing pain House was in for five seasons. Just as I felt they dropped the ball about his past trauma (one good memory of dad--the problem is solved!), or his recovery being shown in any realistic way. ETA: My therapist, physical therapist and psychiatrist feel I need to see a different doctor.