'Pains' Next EHM

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

Probably thought I'd forgotten about last week's episode of Royal Pains, eh?

More like a) I had to catch up with it via the DVR this weekend; and, b) didn't want to interrupt PTR's birthday wishes to fave Kristen Bell.

And yet, after watching the ep I felt ... well, not sure.

So Hank and Co. attend a "Bark" Mitzvah (yes, seriously ... hey, it's the Hamptons) at New Parts Newberg's palace, who also just so happens to have signed a retainer whereby Hank is at her beck and call for the slightest of ailments. It is there that partygoers - including Newberg - seem to be getting sick faster than Hank and Co. can diagnose them. It seemed as if they had a dangerous outbreak of who knows what on hand, but that was before Hank got Dr. Macgeyver-y once again to figure out the true source of the problem: Newberg's DOG was responsible for the spread of a kind of staph infection to individual partygoers, who then passed it to each other.

'kay. That's new.

I have to give the writers credit. They've got to come up with what I'm going to begin calling the EHM: Emergency Hank Moment each week, and it has to be both "out there" in concept (given it IS the Hamptons where anything goes) YET still serious in medical nature (as in, we don't really want to be laughing at seriously ill people - no matter how absurd they and/or their surroundings may be).

As such, I've started to watch this show almost as if it were a game. When is the EHM? Who is it going to be? How much is Evan going to get in the way? Is Divya going to rock it? What is Jill's role?

On the flip side, this becomes somewhat formulaic, and I have yet to determine if I might get tired of the routine. There is enough "other" stuff going on that keeps me interested - mostly the inter-personal relationships being developed by everyone BUT Evan. And, the setting continues to prove ever so much fun to watch not to mention listening to the tremendously snappy and witty dialogue with everyone BUT Evan.

Dunno, though. We shall see.

In other news ... Divya's got an arranged marriage going on, eh? I confess I wondered whether this whole my-parents-don't-really-know-what-I-do thing might give way to a surprise or two as it pertains to this character's development. Seriously ... how long could she really keep that a secret in such an exclusive world where everyone seems to know everyone's business?

On the Jill and Hank front ... I did like the way their relationship was tested during this ep given it was Jill who suddenly got a case of need-to-keep-it-on-the-down-low given her previous personal history. Of course that was a very temporary case of DL-ness; she was over it by the end of the ep. And yet, it does seem to be a conflict of professional interest for her to be involved with Hank, and I'm not sure we've seen the last of this potential blind spot - especially if she seems to have already been judged by some of her peers for mixing too much business with pleasure.

And Evan ... meh, who cares.

New episodes of Royal Pains air Thursdays at 10 p.m. on USA Network. You can join other fans on Facebook; follow Royal Pains on Twitter, or visit the official Royal Pains Web site for the scoop on the series!