Before the season started, I wasn't sure if I would even watch the show anymore. Towards the end of the first season, everything dragged under the weight of the soapy interpersonal stuff going on between each other and the initial charm wore off.
Compared to Burn Notice, Royal Pains is a more ambitious show, branching out with many characters and plot lines. But conventional wisdom would say that for a USA show, things should be simple and kept to a bare minimum: the emphasis should be on fun, interesting medical stories and/or rich, eccentric people in the Hamptons, not derivative character problems dressed up in a summer outfit.
The second season starts with a flurry of personal problems, not those interesting ones you'd find on FX or AMC, but cutesy annoying ones that make you grate your teeth. By far, the worst is Jill's story. Jill is one of those characters who is pointless except that Hank likes her, which means she has to stay. And it's not like Jill Flint (the actress, not the character with the same first name) is that bad. She just has nothing to do... until the big bad surgeon, Elizabeth Blair (Marcia Gay Harden), who disapproves of the way Jill handles the doctors and her relationships, comes for her. Oh no, Jill's job is in trouble and this monstrous, spiteful woman is after her. Instantly, the audience is inclined to take Jill's side over Blair's, whose ever word is laced with poison.
Even after losing all the money, Evan continues to act like a self-serving prick, elevating his previous douchebaggyness to another level. He's far more annoying now because he actually did something wrong. By the end of the episode, I had a visceral hatred for him and I actually liked him somewhat last season. Their father, Eddie (Henry Winkler), shows up at the end of the episode with a check--and receives a punch from Hank.
Not everything is bad, though. I like Divya and her story may (huge, huge emphasis) have potential, although I suspect the story will end up being a search for love and realization that this arranged marriage thing doesn't work, played out in a boring way.
The enigmatic Boris, played by the talented Campbell Scott, is the best part about the episode. Hank takes the mantle of "quarterback" of Boris's health and is already looking for solutions.
As usual there was a medical story which was standard stuff, not that exciting and was mostly filler for the other stuff going on. Having more ongoing problems will always cut into the standalone stories, and in Royal Pains where the charm is found in combination of both the medicine and the characters, not the characters alone, the medical story never came together. Paralleling Hank's own life, the son of a prominent inventor wants to distance himself from his father's legacy by dismantling his basement workshop. However, he finds himself under a series of ailments, and Hank solves the problem with his Michael Weston-like ingenuity.
If I don't watch the series, I don't feel like I'll be missing much, but it's the sort of mindless summer television to get through a few empty months.
The TV Obsessed reviews over 40 shows on his blog. Be sure to check it out.
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