Royal Pains Review: Off Key?
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After all that transpired last week on Royal Pains, I got a little bit of reorientation-induced "Vertigo."
The show continues to struggle to find its stride, starting off strong, but slowly veering from the path it forged for itself in the Season 5 premiere.
Here's the first thing I found disorienting: the complete lack of Jeremiah in this episode. After all the emphasis placed on his return and his desire to be with Divya, his absence was as deafening as the orchestral music that drove Santi crazy.
Which lends itself well to my discomfort with the lack of discussion of anything regarding Divya's pregnancy. That storyline alone presented the most emotional and dynamic of plots so far this season... and yet this installment was completely void of any mention of it.
We did get to see Divya treat a patient, as per usual; apparently a conductor with a real ear for music, no pun intended. I appreciated the new diagnoses, which involved a fractured bone in the ear that caused sound distortions as well as vertigo in Santi. Definitely a new one for me.
I'm learning to forgive the fact that anything the writers start regarding Boris and any revelations pertaining to his bloodline pop up and disappear until season finale time. But the fact it was brought up and dropped last week with no followup this time around is making it even more difficult for me to understand what purpose he serves on this show anymore, except as a reminder of who HankMed's patron is.
Granted, the repercussions from Hank's brain injury are a direct result of Boris' issues, of which there are a plethora. But I think the writers can proceed in the present manner of Hank simply dealing with it as he sees fit, like he did this evening admitting to one of his patients that recovery is not easy.
That said, it was probably revisiting patients from earlier in what has only been a short season so far. I wasn't a super fan of Molly, but her father was an interesting individual worth revisiting. I like that he and Hank bonded a bit over the difficulties associated with diagnoses and recovery.
Another thing we can be grateful for was the assertive decision to continue playing Evan's pursuit of a seat on Village Council in front of the camera as opposed to exclusively in the weekly webisodes the show is releasing online. I was almost afraid it was a way to do away with having to deal with it on a weekly basis.
While this season of Royal Pains seemed to be playing all the right notes earlier on in the season, it seems they've managed to find themselves off key and could use some tuning moving forward.
How are you feeling about the season so far, Hamptonites?
C. Charles is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow her on Twitter.