“Three Stories” is the House M.D. episode that won the 2005 Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
The episode is the season-one finale and uses a lecture by Gregory House to frame three apparently separate medical cases. As the stories unfold, they connect to House’s own medical history and explain the severe leg pain that shapes his personality and treatment choices.
David Shore wrote the episode, which uses an unusual structure compared with the show’s standard case-of-the-week format. The narrative shifts between patients, medical students, and memories, requiring viewers to reconsider which details belong to which case. The episode’s central revelation is that House suffered a vascular infarction in his thigh muscle, leading to permanent damage.
The title is sometimes confused with “Three Stories” being the series pilot or with later episodes about House’s leg. It was actually the 21st episode of the first season. The Emmy recognized Shore’s writing rather than the episode’s direction or acting.