USA's Royal Pains is adding a bit of Oscar royalty this season. Starting with the first episode, multi-award winner Marcia Gay Harden is joining the cast for a multi-episode arc. She'll play a board member at Hamptons Heritage Hospital, where she's a surgeon, and is described as an "adversary-turned-mentor to Jill" by Entertainment Weekly.
I'm not exactly sure what that means, but it kind of sounds like they might be spoiling things a bit with that description. If in the first episode of the season she's introduced as a thorn in Jill's side at the hospital, then we'll already know she will eventually turn into a mentor; so much for that emotional suspense. Of course, it doesn't say anything about how Dr. Elizabeth Blair (Harden) will feel about Hank and his private practice to the rich and famous, HankMed.
I can't imagine she'd be too thrilled about it as a board member of the hospital, since Hank not only takes potential patients (which translates to money) from them, but he also borrows expensive equipment all the time (which translates to money). In other words Hank is a thorn in the hospital's side, but because he's intimately involved with Jill, that seems to slide.
Or it could be something else entirely. We'll just have to wait until the second season premieres on Thursday, June 3 2010 to find out.
