I had not heard about Royal Pains until last night while watching the season premiere of Burn Notice. Since I missed the first 10 minutes of Burn Notice I figured I would just stay up and catch the beginning again at 12:15. I'm not really into medical shows (I'm a little squeamish) but hadn't changed the channel before Royal Pains started. It caught my attention so I watched the first few minutes.
Not wanting to get hooked into a new show, I was going to change the channel but asked my wife, a nurse, if she wanted me to leave it on. She was interested so we continued watching. I found myself being drawn into the series premiere and was a fan by the end.
* Semi-Spoiler Alert *
Royal Pains is about Hank Lawson, played by Mark Feuerstein, a Dr. who loses his perfect life after making the correct medical and ethical decision instead of the right political decision. The rich patient dies and his family blackballs Hank making it impossible for him to get another job.
After sitting around for over a month in self-pity and being dumped by his fiance, Hank's brother Evan (Paul Costanzo) drags him away for a weekend in the Hamptons. Hank fights almost everything Evan tries to get him to do and mostly with good reason. Evan is a quirky, fast talking, troubling maker who dreams of the high life. Evan also is Hank's accountant.
Long story short, Hank saves a girls life at a party for Boris, some kind of foreign royalty. Boris thanks Hank by giving him a bar of gold and offering for Hank to spend the summer in his soon to be vacant guest house. Hank still disillusioned over his life says thanks but no. The rest of the episode fills out with two more medical cases of socialites (word travels fast in the Hamptons). We meet Divya (Remesha Shetty), a young woman bent on becoming Hanks new assistant and Jill Casey (Jill Flint) seemingly destined to be Hank's love interest.
I think the reason I love the show is because it has quirky characters, Hank the perpetual fixit man and do-gooder but also with a bit of a rebellious streak; he doesn't want to be made something he's not. Evan the somewhat annoying, self-important brother who does a lot of the things you wish you could do but don't have the guts for. Divya is beautiful and appears to come from means but is choosing to make it on her own; she won't take no for an answer. Jill is the cute damsel, not so much in distress, but in need of someone to whisk her away from the everyday grind of poor patients and rants of the rich babies demanding attention.
The show also has a gritty real hero type feel with MacGyver-esk qualities. Hank uses whatever items are available to treat the patients that keep forcing themselves upon him.
The pilot episode was great and if they can keep the entire series up to this quality, I will definitely be hooked.
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