The last line in tonight's episode is essentially the key to this entire series. House says to Cuddy, "This is the only 'me' you get." In a show that has been notoriously averse to change, it's always been a question as to whether or not it was due to lazy, non-committal writing. Finally, we get the answer. House isn't about a production team that has run out of ideas, it's a statement about the concept of change itself.

But first, we have to get to that final scene.

In the cold open, we get an uncharacteristically expository glimpse into the patient's medical history. The kid, Jackson, was born with genetic mosaicism, a condition in which a person has both male and female DNA. It's different from hermaphroditism in that some of the body's cells are XX and some are XY (at least that's how the show explained it). Jackson's parents chose to give their child the life of a boy. So, when he collapses on the basketball court after making the game-winning shot, they naturally believe that his unusual genetic circumstances are to blame.

I know I've said that it's never a good thing when a kid is on House. Call this episode the exception. The young actor handled a particularly complex role very well and the writers kept him from saying or doing anything annoying. In fact, nothing about this episode was annoying.

Aside from throwing up blood, the kid doesn't have very many interesting symptoms. Instead, all of the weird stuff in this episode goes to House himself. His coworkers get suspicious when the reliably cranky doctor seems to be in a good mood, but not in his usual way. House has had his glimpses of amusement, but genuine happiness has eluded him. When his team finds him passed out and not breathing, it confirms some theories that his elevated mood is chemically induced. When Wilson confronts him with the predominant theory that heroin is the culprit, House confesses that he's actually been taking methadone. He's not on the stuff to get him over his vicodin addiction, he's taking it because it's the only thing that completely eliminates his leg pain.

Cuddy, fearing for House's life, makes him choose between his job and his new favorite drug. House being House chooses methadone, not that it stops him from going on a bunch of interviews at other hospitals. He even shaves and puts on a tie. The new, methadone-improved House isn't cheery, he's just impossible to phase. He doesn't argue with the patient's family or give a damn about his team's social intrigues.

Speaking of the team's dramas, there is a little bit of Foreman/13 business, but this time around it wasn't actually distracting. They worry that everyone is starting to suspect their little deception and they go to great lengths to cover things up. Of course, now that House is on the new stuff he couldn't care less. With all of the drug trial and game-playing out of the way, I've warmed to the Foreman/13 pairing. When they don't derail the episode with soap opera plots they're actually pretty dynamic. Their self-seriousness and analytical natures make them more of a comically predictable pair than a hopelessly overwrought one.

With House off the job for two whole days, the team is obviously incapable of solving the case. They settle on scleroderma, a death sentence, but only after 13 reveals the secret of Jackson's genetic condition to him. This tears the family apart, with Jackson's overprotective parents throwing a fit and Jackson exercising some well-deserved anger for their lies. After Cuddy compromises with House and lets him come back to work with methadone on the menu, he figures things out in about two minutes. It ends up the kid just had some dehydration, but his parents' insistence on giving him an MRI forced contrast fluid into his over-taxed kidneys. A combination of parental fixation on the boy/girl issue and House's own unwillingness to be belligerent with said parents nearly resulted in the death of a child.

In the final scene, Cuddy comes to give House his methadone and he refuses it. If there's one thing House can't stand more than his leg pain, it's being less than the best doctor in the world. Underneath Cuddy's pleas to keep House on the methadone is an implicit desire to maintain the new, happier House. That's always been the only thing stopping Cuddy from jumping into the man's arms (and bed). She wants a version of House who is both brilliant and healthy. That revealing last line drives the point home that such a man just doesn't and can never exist.

Best Moment: The last scene. I've been waiting years for this show to come to terms with its inability to change. Now it finally makes sense. If that were the last scene in the entire series, I'd be satisfied.

Biggest Shock/Laugh: The laugh goes to an early line, "Part girl, part boy, all 13's dream date." As for the shock, the whole methadone plot really stole all the thunder for the episode.

Episode Rating: 5/5- This is the best episode of House I've seen for a long time. Everything worked and for once the rounding back to normal at the end felt meaningful.