What I’m Watching: Royal Pains

Royal Pains: Season 2, Episode 5 “Mano a Mano” (B+)

There was quite a bit of multitasking in this episode, with no less than four distinctly separate plotlines being explored. The least interesting among them is the deteriorating and then improving condition of Boris, since he’s really only a peripheral character and at his most fascinating when he is able to do things like whisk Hank away for a weekend to Cuba, not resting in a recovery bed. Fortunately, the other events in Cuba were a lot of fun, featuring two great guest stars, Ana de la Reguera (“Cop Out”) and Tony Plana, best known as Ignacio Suarez on “Ugly Betty.” I’m glad that Hank decided to go for it and indulge in a bit of romance, and it was entertaining to see Evan play dominoes and make a new friend as well. I loved seeing Jill and Divya bond and actually hang out, even if the happenings on their night out were a bit silly. Divya telling Dr. Peck, from here on out referred to by her first name because she’ll be sticking around, that she doesn’t have a problem with women and it’s just her was quite a fantastic moment. Divya was pretty prickly when Dr. Peck came by to suck up to Hank and Evan, but in a delicious twist, Emily is setting up shop in the same neighborhood as a competitor. It seems like Emily is more than capable of faking flirtatiousness, so the initial chemistry she had with Hank probably wasn’t real, but having her around should still make for an interesting few episodes, especially considering that notable guest stars Marcia Gay Harden and Henry Winkler seem to have been all but forgotten. Any doctor who has a three-second rule about helping people in an emergency deserves to be taken down a peg, and I’m eager to see Hank Med go to war with her in the coming episodes.