• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Lieff Ink

TELL YOUR STORY

  • About
  • Services
    • Writing • Editing
    • PR
    • Writing Tutor
  • Words
  • Press
  • Blog
  • Clients
    • Client List
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • Book
    • Accolades
    • Reviews

Royal Pains: The MacGyver Of Medical Shows

June 3, 2010


When young emergency room doctor Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein) is fired after being wrongly blamed for a high profile patient’s death he goes to the Hamptons to party with his CPA brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo) where he ends up saving a girl’s life. Word gets around that Hanks is a “concierge doctor” and with the help of Evan and Physician Assistant Divya (Reshma Shetty), Hank Med is born.

Although Hank is reluctant to become the doctor-for-hire for the rich and famous, he finds himself in high demand. Whether it’s a crazy middle aged woman with more plastic parts than natural parts, a teenage kid who drives a Ferrari or a grizzled fisherman, Hank helps everyone and has no choice but to make wherever they are into a hospital room.

Royal Pains is the medical show that could with some MacGyver-like tendencies. Hank is calm, smart, quick and on his game and checks his arrogance at the door. He is kind without being annoying and clever in more ways than one. Since he sees all his patients outside of a hospital he uses whatever he can to fix the problem. Examples include using rubber cement to fix a motorcycle accident wound or using a mirrored serving platter to detect which members of a family have the correct blood type for a transfusion. His clients are people who are willing to pay big bucks to protect their privacy; they will do whatever it takes to keep their medical issues under wraps.

While Royal Pains is on the small, underdog USA Network it is in rather good company with other popular shows like Burn Notice, In Plain Sight and Psych, among others. It’s also nice to see a show that is set somewhere other than NYC or LA where the main characters aren’t the rich people, they help the rich people. As local hospital administrator and Hank’s love interest Jill Casey (Jill Flint) says, Hank is the Robin Hood of medicine.

But Robin Hood can’t do it alone and Evan and Divya are two very intelligent and very witty sidekicks who provide smart dialogue and irresistible chemistry. Each member of the Hank Med trio does their part in making sure that their grassroots company succeeds in one of the most specialized and high-end markets in the country. And it works.

Since the Hamptons is clearly a summer getaway spot it makes sense that USA has made Royal Pains a summer show. Although summer shows are sometimes viewed as the ones that can’t hack it during the prime time TV season, this show proves that theory wrong. Unlike House where episodes can sometimes feel redundant, Royal Pains switches it up by bringing in sub-characters in and out of episodes which makes it more interesting. My favorite sub-character is Tucker Bryant, a 16-year-old who is way beyond his years, has several Ferraris at his disposal and has a billionaire addict father (badass Andrew McCarthy who looks as though the 80s could have been yesterday) who is hardly around. Hank and Tucker bond over their absentee fathers while still maintaining clever dialogue along with the always welcomed Top Gun references.

Favorite Tucker line: “Dude don’t punk the Crackberry or she’ll light your ass up like a Christmas tree.” (Warning Hank not to make fun of Pinkberry frozen yogurt in the presence of his girlfriend).

The second season of Royal Pains debuts tonight and if the show’s sophomore season is as good as its first then we are in for one hell of a summer.

Laura

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Blog Archive

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010

Footer

Laura Lieff was named Colorado Mountain College’s 2017-2018 Part Time Staff Member of the Year for her work as a writing tutor and teaching assistant.
Laura Lieff was named Colorado Mountain College’s 2017-2018 Part Time Staff Member of the Year for her work as a writing tutor and teaching assistant.

Work With Me

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
lieff-ink-logo_updated-2
  • About
  • Services
  • Words
  • Blog
  • Client List
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 · PO Box 1228 Edwards CO 81632 · info@lauralieff.com