Something that never fails to annoy me is entitled, rich, snobby people. People who drop millions for their own selfish gain and don’t spare a second thought for what that could mean for anyone else. These sorts of people tend to be paired with another characteristic that drives me batty: senseless ambition, especially projected on to one’s spawn. I mean, these are universally annoying traits, but they annoy me so much more than, say, when people chew with their mouth open or bite their nails.
I suppose given that I find these all hugely irritating, I should probably quit watching Royal Pains or at least not discuss this episode since it boils down to “rage rage rage,” but I’ll take a stab at it anyways. Hah. Stab.
Maybe it’s because I grew up in an affluent neighborhood where parents like the mother of the patient of the week are not totally uncommon, but God, she bothered me. Even more so than Tucker’s father was supposed to last episode. Maybe I’m overly literal, but seeing her literally buy an at-home hospital while the dog walker had an infected hand just drove me up the wall. And her blind projected ambition for her children was nauseating and extremely Manchurian Candidate-esque, and I have less than zero patience for parents who favor one child and dismiss the other as being worth less or less worthy of achievement. I spent about ninety percent of those parts of the episode in agony, wanting to take those children into protective custody and sing them folk songs about everyone having worth and being their own special butterfly while feeding them cookies. And while normally I find Evan’s side-plots adorable, his wining and dining of New Parts Newberg and her snobby granddaughter just fell flat for me. And don’t even get me started on Jill. My feelings regarding her are well documented.
The one bright spot in this week’s frankly disappointing episode was Divya. Oh, sweet Divya. My smart, snarky, darling little lotus blossom. I love the way you handle Evan, I love that you want more to your life than polo matches, and I am shallowly in love with your pretty hair. Most importantly, I love you. Please continue to exist as a shining example of what rich and priveleged characters should be instead of Gossip Girl clichés, and bring along Tucker if you’d like as your protogé. I will be watching your ascent into glory.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Jun 20, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
Yeah, maybe you should stop watching and reviewing this show. Your negativity and bias precluded your enjoying the fun bits of the show. Well, heck, you just go ahead and keep watching and reviewing … I’ll just read elsewhere for a review and discussion.
Maybe you could recite “there is a doctor that cares for all of them – rich and poor”. Jeez – get a little focus here. The point of the show is to highlight the needs of all and the inequities in their care. He is a concierge doctor that helps by keeping the rich self-absorbed out of the emergency room and by helping the poor gain access to excellent care. You are supposed to not like the entitled characters – its like the moral of the story.
I hate to chime in along with the rest, but about the only part of your review I enjoyed or agreed with was your feelings for Divya. The actress is, in my opinion, the most beautiful woman on a show filled with beautiful women. Sadly, her character is criminally underused.
I don’t mind if you dislike the characters. I tried watching the first three episodes, but realized that Royal Pains lacked the likability of the other USA shows I follow. I like the actor playing the lead, but he comes across as a bit too sanctimonious. While we’re supposed to dislike the rich, I feel as if it has the covert theme of ‘poor little rich people, they need healthcare, too, but the poor are taking it away from them.’ However, I really liked the Jill character. The actress and her on-screen personae come across as intelligent and down-to-earth. She also appears more self-aware than our lead who’s still ‘woe is me.’ But, like everyone else, I love, love, love Divya. But, even she couldn’t make me continue to watch.
This is a show I’m interested in seeing what happens, but don’t want to watch it myself. There’s another CC show I enjoyed, even the reviewer appeared to hate it. While I, and others, disagreed with his assessments, I’m sorry to see he stopped reviewing it altogether. The reason I read CC and others, is that I like to hear the informed opinions of reviewers assigned to watch. Even if they hate it, and I disagree, it’s just nice seeing what people think outside a random ‘open post.’
See, I’m on the fence about this show. I agree quite a bit with what Julia says… Though not about the rich, because someday I want to grow up and own lots of toys.
But where I’ve wanted to like the show, I can’t always get into it, and I think I’ve figured out why. I love Mark Feuerstein, but I just plain don’t like Hank.
Also, marenamoo proves my point: “The point of the show is to highlight the needs of all and the inequities in their care.” In my opinion the point of the show should be to entertain first, something I think it struggles to do (It does not fail… I think its still just trying to get its sea legs). I think it spends too much time on preaching.
Look, I think Feuerstein (and thus Hank) has great charisma, but the character needs to show more of that than he has been currently.
Still a lot of potential with the show, but here’s the GREAT THING: Its on cable, so it’ll get more of a chance to develop than it ever would on network TV.
I like Jill, love Dhivya, am ok with Hank, but I absolutely loathe Evan.
Yes, we were told in the pilot that he was a social climber but for pity’s sake can he not be so completely devoid of any likable qualities?
For me, the pilot held my interest and I thought the show could get even more interesting, however, that hasn’t proven to be the case.
That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed other episodes.
The problem I have with this show is, “EVAN!” I am so, so tired of this character. He wastes more of my time selling ‘Hank Med’ and bear in mind, I watch this show on a DVR so his percentage of sale time is way overboard and boring for my interest. Certainly the writers can hold one early morning meeting and come up with a solution for Hank’s insipid brother.
Perhaps an old, pregnant girl friend can pop up or how about he’s hauled off to jail on a warrant for past due parking tickets. Anything, please! Help this man out of his doldrums.
A quote to the writers: “Help me, help you!”