I love them both so much, they were both W-O-W episodes but Joy was just... it's Joy! lol!

LOL. I get what you mean HC1331, but the thing is the only thing that interested me in "Joy" was Cuddy's storyline and of course the inevitable kiss. As an episode as A WHOLE, i just wasn't at all interested with the actual POTW and i thought that case wasn't all that good.
Fetal Position on the other hand, had me hooked from the very beginning all the way to the end. The case was amazing, we saw a whole new side of Cuddy and i just adored it.

Ugh, you're making me choose - AGAIN. PotterGal = pure evil! ;D

Anyway, I agree with you, PG. If you take out the Huddy kiss, I definitely liked Fetal Position more.

PG how dare you make me choose between these two amazing eps??? Lol
But yes I had to choose FP for the same reason, I actually cared about the patient when I watched FP and I loved Cuddy acting exactly like House and her gaining a whole new respect for what he does!! Of course my favorite moment ever from the show comes from Joy though :)

*likes making difficult picks that torture other people*

Joy is hilarious, the earlier parts are sooo funny.. then it gets so sad, and in the sad bits the acting is just WOW,

PG one day I will kill you.....lol.

You made me pick between two episode I absolutely adore, I mean ADORE!! I picked Fetal Position because with the Huddy aside the patient's story in FP was a lot better and way more dramatic and I loved seeing Cuddy freaking out and trying to pin her dreams on Emma, it was moving, perhaps more moving then loosing her adoptive baby.

yeah i'm agree with babybell

PG...you are cruel...

I love FP it has been my fav episode ever...but I really love Joy as well.
There are reasons for both episodes to be my favorites, in Joy it is the Huddy kiss (of course!!!) for which I (and all the other Huddies) waited for so long and which took my breath away, left me speechless, made me die more than only once, made me say OMG and WTF more than ever in one night and made me unable to sleep this very night.
I also loved the Cuddy storyline and the focus on Cuddy, Cuddy/Baby, Cuddy/Patient and of course Huddy. I felt for Cuddy, I wanted to hug her more than usual in this ep and when she was stuffed I felt really miserable too.

BUT I didn't really like the other storyline. (I have to say that I missed the first minutes because I realized to late that it was on, but I didn't really care.) As soon as someone else as Cuddy, the pregnant woman or House was on the screen I didn't pay attention anymore. If the patient would have died I hadn't mind.
I loved Joy for the focus on Cuddy and her storyline and the Huddymoments but not as a whole episode.

And now to fetal position. Another pregnant woman as patient, but she is the POTW, there is no one else. Again, Cuddy is confronted with her own wishes and fears and she can identify with the patient, more than she should. Because she exactly knows how Emma (my fav patient so far, btw) feels it makes it really hard, almost impossible for her to remain objective. On the other hand she doesn't want the baby (or fetus as House would say) to die, because she is aware of the fact that if this would happen, Emma and also she would be stuffed and might (most probably) have to give up on their dreams and hopes, something nobody wants to do and something that is more painful than anything I could think of (perhaps except the loss of a person). Cuddy is relating so much with Emma and her situation that she is forgetting about all the risks she could do to the life of her patient. No matter how dangerous a therapy is, if it helps to save the baby's life Cuddy is willing to do it. She changes part with House, the life of the patient (in this case the baby) is more important than everything else and she isn't even afraid of putting her through a lot of dangerous therapies.
(the scene with Wilson is remarkeble, she doesn't care if Emma's lungs collpase because she is already on the respirator).
But in contrast to House she is identifing with the patient, can't remain objective and it is clear that because of this she won't succeed.
House tries to stop Cuddy, an ironic situation, because normally Cuddy is the one who has to stop him.
(Foreman: Someone has to be Cuddy's Cuddy).
Again, I felt for Cuddy, to see her suffer so much and to see her freaking out almost broke my heart, you could feel for her, you could see her pain but you knew as well that she was relating too much with her patient and that this would make her fail as doctor, something which torn me apart. The changing roles of House and Cuddy were great as well and I also loved Emma.The operation scene where the fetus grabs House's hand made me cry. The look in his eyes. OMG.

So all in all you can see why I prefer Fetal Postion to Joy.
I loved the patient, the storyline, Cuddy...
My favorite episode so far and I think it will be hard to find another one that I will love as much as I love FP.

This was a difficult one, i like "joy" for the kiss, but i like more "fetal position" for the medical case

God that was hard!

FP is my absolute favourite episode of House ever, so this is a no brainer for me.

Yes Joy is lovely, but as a whole episode it's really lacking something. The Cuddy/baby storyline is great, but the actual POTW and supposedly what should be the main focus for the episode was weak.

As much as I love the Huddy development in season 5, one problem I'm having is that it feels like the character issues have become the "A" plot for every episode and the POTW is now the "B" plot. It irritates me, House works so much better with a good strong POTW being the centre of the story and character moments slotted smoothly into little areas around that each episode. Yet now it feels like the POTW just gets in the way of the character dramas they want to tell, it just seems like the writers can't be bothered to conjure up a strong medical mystery case anymore, and that saddens me. Season 5 (I hate to say it) is nowhere near the standards of seasons 1, 2, 3 or 4. Even season 4 is better and I loathed the whole "reality show" type thing in the first half of the season.