Royal Pains EP Farewell to Barnes - H 2012
Giovanni Rufino/USAAfter months off the air, USA Network trots out medical dramedy Royal Pains for a slew of new episodes.
Series star Mark Feuerstein and Tom Cavanagh spoke to The Hollywood Reporter during winter Television Critics Assoc. press tour about the episodes to come in the cable network’s Hamptons-set series, with the pair revealing some key season 3.5 spoilers:
1. Romantic Troubles Ahead: “My brother Evan and his potential fiancee go in a very specific direction, while Hank and Jill go in a different direction right off the bat in the season premiere,” Feuerstein told THR. But it won’t be just internal obstacles that cause issues for Hank and Jill, so much so that Cavanagh’s Jack will squarely cement himself in the picture. “[Jack] grows very close with Jill Casey,” Feuerstein offers, to which Cavanagh adds, “I want to steal her from under him but still maintain my friendship with him because I like [Hank].” (“The love triangle goes in every which way,” Feuerstein joked .. maybe.)
2. Hank Hits a Medical Wall: For most of the series’ run, Hank Med has had a success rate almost unheard of in the medical profession, saving and solving patients’ health issues nearly perfectly. But as Feuerstein reveals, that may not be the case this time around. “I have almost laughed at how successful my medical rate has been. I reach my biggest medical challenge when I come into contact with Jack’s condition, which is all I’ll say about it. It poses a new threat to what has heretofore been very short-term medical problems,” he teases.
3. Trust Is a Big Theme in New Episodes: “In the summer finale, Wilmer Valderrama goes into anaphylactic shock at his own art gallery. Will he live or will he die is a question we hope the audience is asking. But when Hank found out that it was Divya that failed to prescribe him the right medicine, trust comes into play,” Feuerstein says.
4. The Stakes Are Raised: The fifth episode of Royal Pains‘ winter return will be a pivotal one, perhaps a game-changer for Hank and his employees. “[Hank] went from a hospital in Brooklyn where he didn’t have to know the patients, didn’t have to engage, they were numbers and that’s how they treated them in the ER. Now he has very close relationships with his patients, this one (referring to Cavanagh’s Jack) in particular,” Feuerstein shares. “When things don’t go as planned and he can’t control certain medical situations it has a major impact on him. That’s as much as I’ll say. It raises the stakes.” Cavanagh added: “It’s almost like you turned up the volume slightly a little bit. In a third season, sometimes that’s a tricky thing to do. Keeping the show ascending is a difficult thing to do [and they’ve done that].”
5. Is Feurestein Demanding as a Director?: THR broke the news that Feuerstein was stepping behind the camera and directing an episode of the series. ” ‘That was awful! Do it again!’ ‘But Mark …’ ‘Shut up! Do it again!,’ ” Cavanagh recalled. Feuerstein added: “I couldn’t have done it without Tom, who had a huge part in that episode. A lot goes on with his character. It was hard because I was learning on-set and then off to watch the monitor, back and forth. The episode I directed was very different from most of our episodes in being less of a ratcheting-up of the medical stakes and being more of a day-in-the-life of every character on the show.”
Royal Pains airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on USA Network.
