Monday's episode of House [1] had everything I could have hoped for in the show's return — and I'm not exaggerating when I say everything. Cameron, Chase, and Foreman were all there — but so was the new team. There were scenes with Wilson and scenes with Cuddy — and a scene with the two of them together. They even threw in a little Hugh Laurie tooling away on the piano. Doesn't it just figure that the episode about a too-happy guy would make me smile for almost an hour straight?

The team's treatment of the happiest man alive ("Is he Canadian?") led them on a quest to figure out why House is the crankiest man alive. Meanwhile, House set about rekindling his bromance with Wilson by proposing joint custody with Amber. Could House survive seeing his best dude on Wednesday nights and every other weekend? To find out, just .

How great was it that this episode started with a strike? That's where we met the patient of the week, the overly happy man. In a normal hospital, I'm sure that guy would have been treated and released, but to House, cheerfulness is the sign of a major defect. I loved that instead of a word at the top of House's whiteboard of doom, there was just a cartoonish smiley face.

Kutner, meanwhile, had his own hypothesis: If being overly happy is the sign of a medical problem, then being overly cranky must be a symptom of a disease, too. I don't buy that, but it does fit in with the sort of logic Kutner has been spouting since the first day he arrived. As soon as Kutner "found" a vial of House's blood, though, I knew something was up: House doesn't leave things behind accidentally. (Remember the false scans that made the whole team think he was dying?) Nonetheless, the faux syphilis diagnosis unearthed an age-old House question: Did House and Cameron sleep together?

Naturally, House didn't have syphilis — but he did have issues with Amber continuing to date Wilson. I loved every scene with the three of them together, and all the joint custody references ("you have mommy's phone number, right?") were priceless. True to form, it wasn't enough for House just to spend time with Wilson; he also had to ruin any chance of Amber getting laid. One question: Is Amber employed at PPH, or did Cuddy just make her change beds?

Some other thoughts:

• Foreman's performance review subplot was relatively minor, but it led to an interesting point. House acknowledged that Foreman is someone the new team should fear — but he wants to force Foreman into the "good cop" role instead. Great image of the Foreman statue with a "Kick Me" sign on the back.
• "Thirty-one." "Thirty-one?" "I thought either way was good for you."
• There wasn't a lot of Taub in this episode, but the scene where he played his little trick to get $5 from Kutner was pretty great.
• Speaking of Kutner, interesting that his performance review noted that sometimes he gets too involved. Really? I would have gone with "sometimes you set patients on fire."
• "A disturbingly large number of your comments are racist or sexist." "That top makes you look like an Afghani prostitute . . . would be an example of that."
• It's always interesting when someone besides House has an epiphany. Does this mean Kutner is going to turn out to be a good doctor?
• Anyone else squeal out loud at the sight of Chase bowling with House?

Your thoughts? How good was it to see everyone back? And seriously, do you think Cameron and House ever slept together?

Photos courtesy of Fox [2]