Maybe next week I'll decide that Divya Katdare (Reshma Shetty) is a fully-fledged character, there are definitely hints that she might be. Right now though, it feels like she just exists on the show because someone somewhere in the development process realized that the show was terribly monochromatic and desperately needed some diversity.
Maybe next week I'll decide that there's actually some semblance of a reason that makes sense for Dr. Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein), our main character, to have stayed in the Hamptons in a job he seems so much to dislike. He's been against this "concierge doctor" thing from the beginning, and even when he seems to grudgingly accept it, he still seems to not like it. I just don't buy that he has to be doing it though. Maybe next week I'll get his motivations, maybe next week I'll believe them. At this point I don't.
I don't feel as though any of these obstacles are insurmountable – perhaps more insurmountable is the fact that almost all of Lawson's rich clients are unlikable, but that too can change. No, most of the problems the show has are things that can be fixed, altered, edited, corrected with time and a little bit of effort. That's why, it seems to me, I'm still on board, it's why I haven't deleted the Season Pass from my TiVo.
For Royal Pains, greatness may be just around the corner, and it's my hope that eventually the show will both reach and turn that corner. I don't think it's a moving target, but it still may not be easy to get to. I'm hoping it does though. I'm rooting for it and not just because I've invested so much time, because I think it has a chance.
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