So House and PS go to Chase and ask him to do some exploratory open-heart surgery. Chase refuses to perform a procedure that will most likely kill the patient. What a prima donna! PS says if they don't fix the vessel they have no idea if Jimmy even has, Jimmy will die, although it's not so urgent that House can't waste time by asking Chase who he should hire. Chase doesn't want to say in front of PS, who says that if Chase doesn't do the surgery, Jimmy will die, and everyone will know it's because Chase refused to do a life-saving surgery on him because he's bitter that House fired him. Or at least, that's how PS will make sure it plays out. Chase tells House to hire PS and CTB. "You'll get stuff done," he says. Of course Chase likes those two -- they're both all about themselves, just like he is. By the way, how is sedating Jimmy for an MRA bad but putting him under for open-heart surgery totally okay?

Oh, well! Jimmy has his open-heart surgery. It's totally unnecessary, as Chase doesn't find an anomalous vessel, but he does find giant lymph nodes, explaining the peculiar masses House saw. Oh, and then Jimmy crashes. In the OR balcony, Foreman takes a second to gloat that House's game is not going well right now.

Back in the conference room, CTB has 34 points, Kumar has 72, Thirteen has 52, and PS has 20. House says they're dealing with large lymph nodes and a patient near death. That means Foreman has been invited back into the conference room and the game is over. House needs ideas and it doesn't matter who they come from. To prove this, he erases the scoreboard. Foreman says House can't just end this game, since they all know whoever has the right idea is the winner. Foreman tells House to hire who he wants and fire the other two so they can make some real progress on the case. With that, House calls Thirteen and Kumar's names and tells them to go home. Wow. I wasn't expecting that at all. This is a nice, pleasant surprise. Thirteen asks why. Kumar just keeps diagnosing, much like he did the first time he was fired, all the way back when he was Number 6 and I liked him. Kumar and Thirteen work together to save their jobs and their patient, only to come up with...a drug-related diagnosis. I guess Thirteen's admirable non-stereotyping only extends as far as her own self-interest, just like the rest of us. House unfires them (damn!) and tells them to treat Jimmy for drug-related heavy metal poisoning and find out where he gets his drugs. "Competition works," he tells Foreman. You haven't cured the guy, yet, House. Or diagnosed him, actually.