Royal Pains Is Underway, And We Have Questions

The fifth season of Royal Pains is now well underway (and, so far, keeping to the "one lavish party per episode" rule established by previous seasons). And while it's never been the sort of show to tax the viewer's faculties unduly...we do have questions.

Is Blythe Ballard really the villain the show is making her out to be?

The show is about Hank (Mark Feuerstein), and HankMed, so by pointing out that the business is technically operating outside the bounds of what local zoning ordinances permit, Blythe Ballard (Frances Conroy) is obviously being set up as the season's Big Bad, threatening our heroes and their selfless efforts to administer health-care services to...the local gentry for prices that I would probably consider immorally exorbitant if I knew what they were (yes: even when such prices are charged to patients who can easily afford to pay them). I'm joking, a little -- if I didn't buy into the central premise, I wouldn't watch Royal Pains, and obviously HankMed is a social good in the Hamptons. But, that said, no one on staff thought to investigate local zoning guidelines before moving in heavy medical hardware and installing it in what is definitely a private home? Blythe isn't actually wrong to point out that HankMed is skirting the law, and for God's sake, it's not like they couldn't afford, by now, to rent a little office to keep their shit in. I hate to sound like a straight-edge, but for real, I can't be on the side of city code enforcers on hoarding shows (which I 100% am) and not come down on HankMed for also being scofflaws -- though, admittedly, much more orderly ones.

Where is this pregnancy storyline going?

In an inverse version of How I Met Your Mother's Robin storyline, in which a woman who never wanted children was sad to learn that she was infertile, Divya (Reshma Shetty) -- who'd thought since adolescence that, due to an injury, she'd never be able to have children and is weirded out to learn that she's pregnant. It's partly that the situation isn't ideal, in that she's no longer involved with the baby's father, and partly the shock of finding out that a door she'd always thought was closed is actually open...maybe: by the episode's end, we learn that Divya's pregnancy is already at least high-risk and possibly not viable. Divya is a medical professional, so she's certainly qualified to weigh the pros and cons. Now that a quick Google search has revealed that if Reshma Shetty is pregnant, it isn't public yet, the storyline could still potentially go either way....

How long are they going to dick around with Divya and Jeremiah?

...but maybe, if Divya decides to continue with the pregnancy, she'll be inclined to nest, meaning she'll finally notice my beloved Jeremiah (played by my even more beloved Ben Shenkman). I'm not going to spend too much time on this Q since I think there will probably be developments when they go on this Symphony fact-finding trip together, but I'm encouraged that his time in Iceland has apparently boosted Jeremiah's confidence and assertiveness.

When is Jeremiah going to shave?

I get that he wanted to be warm when he was in what's practically the Arctic, but now it's summer in the Hamptons. Lose that shit and let us see your pretty face!

Does anyone really believe Boris is actually dead?

Evan (Paulo Costanzo) and his new friendship with a psychic (real psychic Char Margolis) was cute and everything, but the idea that the "late" Boris (Campbell Scott) might be haunting his old castle is kind of absurd because, come on, Boris isn't dead. He has a jillion dollars (and Euros); he has lots of security reasons to peace out on his  life while monitoring things through intermediaries; and I'm pretty sure we never saw a body. Ergo: Boris is alive, obviously -- and why isn't everyone more suspicious about his actual whereabouts? It's like no one on this show has ever seen TV before!