I worship at the altar of St. Doris - that was amazing. The smile when House woke up. The Hanson ringtone. The Dancing Queen ringtone for Wilson (mentioned anyway). The backstory of H/W finally. House getting a DNA sample at the coffin. Wilson's wind up flashlights. Hugh dropping his pants. And the boys are back together again. All is right with the world.

Love, love, love the story of how they met. Loved every last moment of House & Wilson interaction. Also, RSL looked soooo tasty. I couldn't have cared less about the PoTW though.

And Lully may also be David Shore because if you check the personal canon thread, she also totally called Dancing Queen being House's ringtone for Wilson. I cracked up House said that - I was trying to remember here who had called that one. :-) And MmmBop for the team was hilarious. RSH, when they had the Billy Joel discussion in the police station, I thought of you. :-)

Seriously, I've never given credence to rumors of TPTB reading fanfiction, figured they'd have too many legal types hounding them to risk it, but this was just ridiculous. The coerced road trip to the funeral, yeah, that I can believe is just reasonable extrapolation from the characters. But of all the places a medical conference could be, and they pick Louisiana, AND have Wilson there with his first divorce? AND the DNA -*test*-('") from the coffin? In the same episode as all the other similarities? That's just... I'm sorry, that's beyond believable as coincidence.

"Mmmbop" House? Seriously? "Dancing Queen" was perfect though. I was thrilled when Wilson said "I'm not even sure we can pick who are friends are," because that's a belief I've held for a long time now and I've never heard anyone else say it. I loved Wilson kind of trying not to smile during the diner scene. So cute. St. Doris, I adore you. I should never doubt you.

Oh man. That was so good, I might cry. I mean, really, I never felt like a single scene dragged, every joke hit, the patient story flowed gracefully alongside House and Wilson's reconciliation. I've got news for you, Wilson - this is also the most fun we've had since Amber died.

OK, OK, OK, I know he's a jerk. And I don't want him to go soft or to see any Very Special Episodes. But that funeral scene? Doing that to his mother? Come on. Jerky, troubled House is fine by me; jerky, selfish, it's-all-about-me House, not so much. At least maybe the CCF fans will be happy with this ep. As for me, I'm still processing the rest of it. Just had to get that off my chest.

It doesn't exactly fit the 20 year time frame -- unless Wilson is actually 44 or so, and older than RSL -- but I'm pleased that they didn't meet when Wilson was in undergrad or even med school, since one of the unique things about them was always that they were, more or less, equals. House had never been in a position of being Wilson's boss. As the actors had always said, Wilson is valuable to telling House's story because House had no power over him, or vice versa. The idea of House picking him out because Wilson was the only one who didn't seem boring (while at the same time doing him a favor that Wilson would never know about) is wholly understandable. I'm hoping they don't go back immediately to the same exact relationship, I'd like to see them encounter a few more bumps along the way, but the anger and frustration and House picking at the same point again and again and again .... that's exactly why Wilson needs him around. House keeps him honest and forces him to admit things that he'd rather not admit. Like that he's terrified of losing House. The background story doesn't exactly jibe with all of the previous canon, though I hadn't expected it would. (Like, if they met when Wilson already had his first divorce papers, then how did House help break up all of his marriages?) I'm pretty satisfied with it, though. As to the medical mystery ... pins, huh? Wow. I'm not going to pretend that I understand if that's at all feasible, but it made for a great story. And ... Hee! as to one of House's metaphors backfiring on him. If he'd just spit out what he thought, rather than launching a complex metaphor, then things would have gone smoother for the patient. But it made for fun with the old and new teams trying to interpret him. Also ... a coffin shaped cookie? Chase is right. That is something that House would do.

Damn. I'm blubbering. Not at all the way I envisioned the H/W reconciliation, but -- gah. House looked so gray and drawn at the end, and Wilson looked like someone who'd just gotten his life back. Is it just me, or has Diane Baker aged a lot since "Daddy's Boy?" Or did makeup give her the haggard new widow look? Nonetheless, she's still darned gorgeous for 70. So, will we see House attempt to connect with Faux Sean "I'm Your Father, Greg" Connery? Or is that best left to fanfic? And he can deny it all he wants, but I choose to believe House loves Billy Joel. I just inserted a Billy Joel song into one of my fics without any clue the reference was going to show up here.

Namaste, I'm pretty sure the pins-in-the-baby's-skull was based on a real case. I remember reading about it earlier this year. If I can find the source I'll link it.

Y'know the whole bottle throwing/broken window scene was completely telegraphed ... but it was still good. And apparently the House 'rents live around Lexington, Ky. (Unless there's another "Lexington" that would fit the billl. But Lexington would be a logical flight distance, but still doable in a drive. So Lexington doesn't meet my fic parental home in Florida, but he was a colonel, which did. (And since my first fic had them meeting when Wilson was in his first year of residency, and here we get canon that it was right out of med school, I can live with that too.)

I've got news for you, Wilson - this is also the most fun we've had since Amber died. LOL, seriously. I was glad he said that because it was him acknowledging that he does have fun with House. It was nice to see something about House besides neediness that draws Wilson to him. And House cornering Wilson and telling him that he was really terrified of losing him was great and heartbreaking at the same time. I'm really glad that bottle didn't hit House, I was worried about that for a while. Chase's cookie line was good but other than that, the CCF stuff didn't grab me. I loved Kutner making the leap to gallstones just as well as CCF did. I loved Kutner period.