During my 87-zillionth viewing of this episode, it just occurred to me that Boyd knows he's a fake (or at least suspects it.) HOUSE: See, that is exactly the kind of brilliance that sounds deep, but you can say that about any person who doesn't pine for the social approval of everyone he meets, which you were cleverly able to deduce about me by not being a moron. Next time tell God to be more specific. BOYD: God wants you to invite Dr. Wilson to your poker game. Boyd knows perfectly well that God didn't tell him about the poker game, much less that God said that House should let Wilson play. He knows that Grace told him about it.

That's a good point, Poeia. He seems to know he's a scammer. Or he doesn't realize he's a scammer (he really thinks he hears voices), and he was just purposely messing with House in that scene, hoping to convince House that he really does have conversations with God. But at the end of the episode, there is this exchange: House: You still hearing voices? Boyd: You're lucky. You go through life with a certainty that what you're doing is right. I know how comforting that is. Good luck. Almost like he thinks that, by scamming people into believing in his healing powers and therefore in God, that he's maybe doing something that is "right"? But then, if House thought that Boyd could really hear voices, then he would get a psych consult, right? So maybe Boyd just makes up the stuff about hearing voices, and he realizes it, but he does it anyway because he thinks it's "right" if it gets people going to church. While we're at it, I have a stupid question about this episode. House figured out that Wilson was living at Grace's because A. He had an over-the-top reaction to Boyd approaching Grace, so House figured Wilson had a personal investment in Grace, and B. Boyd knew about the poker game, and as House and Wilson were the only ones who previously knew about it, then one of them must have told him. House didn't tell Boyd. Wilson claims he didn't tell Boyd. So Wilson must have told someone who told Boyd. The only connection between Boyd and Wilson was Grace. And as House says, the poker game is "the kind of thing you mention to someone you're used to sharing the details of your day with"... someone you live with. But... during the poker game... what was the point of putting the phone down and making poor Chase even more nervous? Why not just tell Chase, "Relax, he's not coming home" and hang up and THEN reveal to Wilson what he knew? Why all the tension with the phone, why all the looks between House and Wilson, in which it appears that House is looking at Wilson for tells? (But he isn't looking for tells; he already knows what's going on.) What the hell are they saying to each other in those looks? And what was the point of leaving poor Chase hanging? At first I thought he left Chase hanging because he wasn't sure of anything yet, because he was trying to read Wilson before telling Chase to relax. But there was nothing to read. There was nothing in Wilson's face to verify that oh yes he was living with Grace. And House already had figured that out anyway.

I always thought that poker scene, with House looking at Wilson as Chase talked, was a classic House "epiphany" scene, in which he puts the puzzle pieces together. In this case, instead of looking at the white board while he's figure it out, he's looking across the table at Wilson, and putting two and two together.

I thought it was the magical epiphany scene too. I liked that the ending of the episode didn't make it out like House won. Chase pointed out God's hand in the events as a miracle, much to House's annoyance. I respected them for not making it as though House was better than God. By having a tie, they let the audience decide for themselves.

I agree. He knew Wilson's reaction to Boyd talking to Grace was extreme but, until Chase's phone call he didn't know that Grace was living with anyone. That was the piece of information that let him have his epiphany. (Of course, House knew nothing about Grace's personal life. She might have been married. But we'll overlook that.)