What I’m Watching: Royal Pains

Royal Pains: Season 2, Episode 11 “Big Whoop” (B+)

This episode featured all three of the season’s major recurring guest stars, all together in one episode, and all of their arcs are starting to be either wrapped up or headed in a new direction. Least interesting of all is Dr. Blair, who got spooked by Jill’s invocation of Boris’ name and decided not to sue Jill and her clinic. Dr. Blair’s presence has been hardly memorable, but at least it wasn’t too distracting and was sidelined to make time for far more important matters. Eddie’s shenanigans may now be revealed by his younger son, and I’m curious to see exactly what he’s been up to and whether the con has any benefit for his sure-to-be-hurt sons. The most intriguing of all is Dr. Emily Peck, who continues to delude Hank into thinking that she’s actually not competitive and anything cutthroat she might do is just cute. Divya’s suggestion that Emily serve as her replacement is a surprising and intriguing one. I would posit, however, that the absence of Divya would hurt the show, and Emily is too self-assured and unflappable to make up for her not being there. Whereas Divya finds Evan hopelessly annoying, Emily nothings him, which isn’t anywhere near as amusing. When it comes to casting, I must applaud the first-ever fitting role for actor Michael Rappaport, who here actually does a decent job playing a video game-obsessed process server. John Amos was great as always, here perfectly cast as a no-nonsense older doctor too stubborn to take care of himself.