Still alive, still awake

What's up?

You'll have to pardon my spotty posting, yet again. I was out of town, relaxing lakeside with friends. All my paperwork is definitely in, I made sure, so I'm waiting it out to see which comes through first, my temporary permit or my permanent registration (which I am given to understand they will soon be calling a "License" in my state, since it's the same board that approves MDs, with essentially the same process). And I've watched "the dog episode;" even took notes. I just have yet to write about it.

I've had little glimpses of future episodes, and there is indeed more Divya ahead. Okay, then, I'm doing it for Divya.

Which is not to say it's painful, exactly, to watch this show. Overall, Royal Pains is not bad, it's just not grabbing me the way its lead-in, Burn Notice, consistently does. And House, which is medically pretty silly sometimes, nonetheless gives what I think is a nicer, clearer idea of how medical thinking works, and how that changes the course of the story.

So I'm struggling a little to adjust my ideas about the show that RP could be, as opposed to the one we get each week. And that process is hampered a little by some quirks of the writing and plotting that I'll say more about as I go -- basically, I'd like it more if they took a firmer line and showed us what kind of show they want to be. For now, they're still kind of all over the place, and there's a lot of mush in between the fun, smart, or cool moments.

Naturally, this has become the highest-rated show on cable right now, and has been picked up for a second season.

Oy.