TV Show Review: Royal Pains - Season 3 Volume 1

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Fun mix of medical mystery, great characters, and humor

Cons: Only half the third season

The Bottom Line:

Only half season

Still plenty of laughs and fun

In ten episodes

"We Have a Long Day Ahead of Us.  You Might Want to Pace Your Judging."

I don’t know that I’ve ever watched a medical show before, but Royal Pains has me completely addicted.  It’s a nice mix of medical mystery and personal soap opera with a healthy dose of comedy to lighten things up.  And personally, I can’t stop watching.  If you’ve fallen behind, I’ve got good news with the release of Royal Pains Season Three Volume One in plenty of time to catch up before the second half of the season begins.

This two disc set consists of 10 episodes that pick up nine months after the end of season two.  Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein) and his brother Evan (Paulo Costanzo) have spent the time in theHamptons, offering medical assistance to those in need.  After canceling her wedding, their physician assistant Divya Katdare (Reshma Shetty) has been working with them.  The only people who have been missing are the women in their lives.  Jill Casey (Jill Flint) spent the time helping at a small medical facility inSouth America, and she returns fully intending to return as soon as she can.  Meanwhile, Evan’s girlfriend Paige (recurring guest star Brooke D’Orsay) has been traveling Europe with family.

But the summer gets off to a bang as one of the first buses bring summer people into the resort area is involved in an accident, right in front of Hank.  Evan, the money guy in the business, wants to use that for publicity.  Divya takes on a second job when she feels the need to pay off a huge debt.  And Evan’s plans to propose to Paige hit snags in a secret that Hank thinks he knows about Paige and her father’s (Bob Gunton) insistence that Evan be able to provide for Paige better.   And there’s potential big news with Boris (recurring guest star Campbell Scott) and his disease as well.  And I haven’t even gotten to the shock that Hank and Evan’s father Eddie (guest star Henry Winkler) has for them inFlorida.

Looking for medical problems?  Besides the accident, there’s a man with strange visions, a new business owner with a mysterious rash, a woman with a blood clotting problem, a magician suddenly facing anxiety attacks, and a professional runner whose temps start rising after her runs.

Yes, I am talking about events in just 10 episodes.  It’s truly amazing what all they pack into 43 minutes a week.  Granted, some episodes focus more on the case of the week while others focus more on the characters and their stories while relegating the medical mystery of the week to a sub-plot.  Either way, I still enjoy the episodes because I love the main and recurring cast.

And that will probably make it a little hard to jump in here.  If you don’t already know the characters, it might be hard to follow all the twists and turns of the story.  Since I’ve been watching since day one, I can’t comment for sure on that, but I’m sure it would take several episodes to fully get all the relationships.  Trust me, it’s well worth it because these characters and their stories are a delight.  And you can always go back to the first two seasons on DVD to catch up – not a pain in the slightest.

The actors really hold this show together.  The show only has four main actors, Mark, Paulo, Jill, and Reshma.  All four of them are great and hit the right notes between comedy and drama in every episode.  Having said that, there are a lot of recurring characters that really enrich the show, and those actors are just as good as the main cast.  I usually watch the guest star list carefully to find out just who I’ll have the pleasure of seeing this week.  And the case of the week guest stars always round things out beautifully.

While season two was divided in half (like most shows on the USA Network where this show airs), this is the first time they’ve released a half episode set.  I love the show and love having it on DVD, but I hope this doesn’t become a regular habit.  I prefer to get them in one lump at the end of the season.  And since their seasons are usually 16 episodes, this leaves an even smaller second half of the season set.

Anyway, rant aside, we do get all 10 episodes in wide screen and full surround, just like they originally aired.  Extras on the two disc set include a commentary from two executive producers on one episode, deleted scenes from five episodes, and a gag reel.

My star rating reflects my feelings on the half season set, not the episodes themselves.  Royal Pains seems to have only gotten stronger with the first half of season three.  I just hope they don’t make this a trend and go back to releasing full season sets in the future.

Season 3 Volume 1 Episodes:

1. Traffic

2. But There’s a Catch

3. Rash Talk

4. The Shaw/Hank Redemption

5. A Man Called Grandpa

6. An Apple a Day

7. Ta Da For

8. Run, Hank, Run

9. Me First

10. A Little Art, a Little Science