“Three Stories” is the House M.D. episode in which House teaches three diagnostic cases.
The episode is the 21st episode of the first season and uses a non-linear structure. House gives a lecture to medical students, presenting three apparently separate cases that gradually reveal connections to his own medical history and his chronic leg pain.
“Three Stories” was written by series creator David Shore and directed by Paris Barclay. It received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series in 2005. The unusual structure helped establish that House M.D. could use formal experimentation while still delivering a medical mystery.
The title refers to the three cases discussed during the lecture, not to three episodes or three seasons. The episode is also important because it gives viewers more context for House's disability and for the injury that shapes his use of pain medication. It remains one of the show's most frequently cited early episodes.