"Broken" is the title for the first and second episode of the sixth season of the television series House. The two-part season premiere was first broadcast on Fox on September 21, 2009. The narrative follows series protagonist Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) as he overcomes his Vicodin addiction and psychological problems at Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital.

Receiving season-high ratings, the episode garnered positive reviews from critics. The performance of Hugh Laurie was also applauded.

House awakens in the Mayfield Psychiatric Hospital after suffering through the painful effects of Vicodin withdrawal. He asks to leave knowing that they legally cannot keep him because he voluntarily committed himself. However, Dr. Nolan (Andre Braugher) refuses to sign a recommendation that he is able to return to practicing medicine. House resigns himself to staying at the hospital and getting his clearance. He meets his bipolar roommate, Alvie (Lin-Manuel Miranda), and begrudgingly participates in group therapy with Dr. Beasley. He also meets and is intrigued by Lydia (Franka Potente), a woman who plays piano for her sister-in-law Annie (Ana Lenchantin), an unresponsive patient in the ward who was a cellist.

House attempts to be kicked out by making the patients' and workers' lives miserable, starting by humiliating the patients by deducing their problems during a group therapy session but only succeeds in being placed in solitary confinement. House then goads his fellow patients into creating havoc in the ward over not being allowed table tennis paddles, but Dr. Nolan calms them by giving them the paddles. From the hospital window, House sees Dr. Nolan get into a car with a woman. House convinces Alvie to break into Nolan's office to get information on him, but Alvie finds nothing useful. House then phones Wilson to ask for help blackmailing Nolan, but Wilson refuses, saying that Nolan had warned him that House may try to do something like this and that he should let Nolan do his job. House starts to adjust to life inside the institution. His only respite is Lydia's regular visits, during which they talk and discuss music.

A new patient named Steve (Derek Richardson), who insists on the name "Freedom Master", believes he is a superhero that can fly. During one of his episodes, the doctors drug him into a catatonic state. House is infuriated by this, and, with Lydia's help, kidnaps Steve and takes him to a carnival. House and Steve go on a wind tunnel ride which makes it appear as if they are really flying. Steve is overjoyed, but then actually believes he can fly and jumps off a parking structure. With Steve badly injured, Dr. Nolan tells House he cannot possibly treat someone so uncooperative. As Nolan leaves, however, House softly calls him back and says, "I need help." He begins therapy with Nolan and House says, "I want to get better." House takes his medication for the first time, and tells Alvie that his new plan is to cooperate, much to the chagrin of Alvie, who feels betrayed.

Nolan brings House a suit and has him mingle at the hospital's fund-raising party. His assignment is to make connections with strangers. It is difficult for House at first, but then he has fun toying with people. Lydia becomes his accomplice and before she leaves, she kisses House.

House discusses the kiss with Nolan. Lydia is married. He also feels guilty about what happened to Steve, and Nolan tells him to apologize personally. During group therapy, Dr. Beasley suggests the patients put on a talent show. House has an idea of how to help Steve, who had been trying to "save" the silent girl, Annie, with a music box confiscated in the nurse's station. Steve calls it her "voicebox". House convinces Beasley to allow them to get the music box, but Dr. Nolan comes in to break up the group and wheels Steve away, saying that House was "trying to fix, instead of moving on."

House rebuffs Lydia because he knows that, in the end, someone will get hurt. House is given a day pass by Dr. Nolan who requests his presence. He arrives at a hospital to find Nolan at the bedside of his dying father; a tearful Nolan asks House for a consultation. House has nothing to add to the diagnosis, confirming that Nolan Sr.'s condition is terminal. House accuses Nolan of having no one else to turn to but his own patient (House himself). Nolan tells House that he does not need him to make deductions, and House realizes that what he needs is company, so he stays and sits in silence.