At the same time, a pharmacy technician is caught stealing drugs, and House wants to use malaria to treat a cancer patient.
Cuddy arrives late to her meeting with insurance executive Eli Morgan, and presents the hospital's final offer.
She deals with a cancer patient whose oncologist will not give him a prescription for breast milk, which he is sure has cancer-fighting qualities, so that he can get his reimbursement.
When finished with this unpleasant encounter, Nurse Regina tells Cuddy that the vascular surgeon called in a replacement with no privileges.
He wants to treat his cancer patient with malaria because he claims it is the cheapest way to deliver hypothermia.
The hospital's pharmacist lets Cuddy know that pharm tech Gail had stolen ten cases of ephedrine.
Cuddy finally asks House's advice about taking the insurance company's reply with eight percent.
Cuddy refuses to back down and retaliates by threatening that the hospital would counter-sue and get paid, even if it means taking the man's house.
Cuddy gets paged to the pre-op area where Foreman and Thirteen are trying to break up a fistfight between Chase and Dr. Thomas.
She explains that Lucas gave her the hidden microphone inside of it, and instructs Regina to pass the recording of Gail's admission to the DEA.
The final cut shows Cuddy lying in bed with Rachel and Lucas, apparently reflecting a moment of peace in her busy day.
[3] Neal Justin, television critic of the Star Tribune, selected the episode amongst his recommended viewing for the week.
Sepinwall praised Edelstein's acting and the episode's "day-in-the-life" format, citing "5 to 9" as proof that "there are still really strong elements to this series.
He deemed the episode "amazing", calling it a "great showcase" for Edelstein and suggesting that a show centered on Cuddy could be a viable House spin-off.
Kraków also observed the increased depth of characterization given to Cuddy, writing: "For years she's been portrayed as a cat's toy for House to bat around, but that's because we've never seen things through her eyes.
As it turns out, she's a much more complicated character, and by the end of the episode, we learned beyond a shadow of a doubt why she's in charge.
Club felt that "Wilson" was the more successful of the two episodes, observing that while "Wilson" increased understanding of the episode's central character, "In "5 to 9," we get more face time with Cuddy, and she's less of a cypher than usual, but her true nature remains tantalizingly out of reach."
Handlen commented that the episode had some good scenes, but ultimately did little to advance the show, grading it "B".
[8] TV Squad's Jonathan Toomey raised similar issues, noting that "'5 to 9' wasn't a bad episode (in many ways, it felt like a back-door pilot for Cuddy), but it was, in a word, pointless."