After years of watching "House," it is easy to forget how little the audience knows about Gregory House by watching his hilarious antics and marveling in his genius. He is intelligent, sharp tongued, crude, irreverent, does not believe in God, loved Stacy, hates authority figures, and he was apparently not much different before his leg injury. House distracts everyone from looking to closely inside of him by humor, shock tactics, and misdirection. The only person who really knows him, who is his friend by choice rather than circumstance, is James Wilson. The once-inseparable friends have been through a great deal together, usually at Wilson's expense, but they have been broken up for weeks now. Is it time to bury the hatchet and get those two crazy kids back together?

Yes, it is, and for a road trip too. "Birthmarks" is the newest episode, and the title refers both to the patient of the week and to a revelation House had at the age of 12. The patient is a Chinese woman named Nicole who was adopted by Americans and has been desperately trying to find her birth parents. They refuse to acknowledge her, and while lifting a Buddha to pray for their acceptance, she vomits blood and collapses. She has a history of alcohol abuse, and at first the doctors start treating her for SARS. Everything takes a turn for the worst, as usual, but this time Dr. House is not around to fix it: he is on the road to his father's funeral.

It was revealed some time ago that House's father was a strict military man whom he hated, and there may have been some physical abuse in their relationship. House speaks very little about things that are deeply personal or troubling to him, so it is not a surprise he brushes off his father's death with barely a blink. This causes everyone in the hospital to gossip about House's indifference, and Cuddy to drug him ... so Wilson can drag them on a road trip to the funeral.

House correctly points out that Wilson can't really have quit him if he's doing this and then torments him for the rest of the episode to try and get out of the funeral. This includes getting them both arrested by taunting a cop, and the show finally explains how Wilson and House met. Wilson got arrested at a conference in New Orleans for losing his temper and throwing a bottle of alcohol, and House was curious so he bailed the young doctor out. It really is the perfect story for them; House is intrigued but there is a kindness underneath the action because he saw Wilson's divorce papers.

"Still not boring," House says after goading Wilson into anger at the funeral by throwing another bottle of alcohol at a church window. Seriously. House does attend the funeral and gives a moving speech, but it is only to clip off tissue from his father's ear. House found out at a young age that John House was not his biological father, and now he has proof. Instead of feeling comforted with that fact, he accepts his strange grief over his father's death. This grief will no doubt be soothed by Wilson returning to his job and to their friendship. Meanwhile, Nicole goes through the usual dying/not dying/almost dying schedule on "House" every week, and it turns out her biological parents tried to kill her as a baby. They put metal pins in her head, which were triggered due to the magnetic Buddha. Poor Nicole.

Wilson and House are the dynamic duo again, which means PI Lucas will probably be riding off soon enough. The feud between them did not last very long, but it was long enough to agonize House. He showed more of his humanity in this episode than in most, which is probably why the patient and medical was nothing more than a foot note this time. What really mattered was House's relationship with his stern father, his friendship with Wilson, and the emotions bubbling just under the surface of everyone's favorite acerbic doctor. The friendship between Wilson and House will probably be on shaky ground for some time, Amber's ghost isn't that easy to ignore, but it was a great relief to see them together again. When Robert Sean Leonard and Hugh Laurie are on the screen, nothing else really matters. These two can make a completely empty room feel full of tension and meaning.

Next week 13 is confronted by a one night stand who needs a doctor immediately and has to deal with her questionable choices since finding out about Huntington's. "House" is on FOX Tuesday nights at 8 PM EST.

Story by Chelsea 'Dee' Doyle
Starpulse contributing writer