There comes a time during every show’s season when the writers resort to a gimmick. The hottest gimmick right now is the musical episode. Musical episodes have been around for a while - think Ally McBeal, and perhaps the greatest musical episode of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer - but thanks to the popularity of Glee, musical episodes have been popping up more frequently – you may remember last year’s Grey's Anatomy musical episode which had powerhouse ratings, but mixed critical reviews. Heck, even House had an episode last year with a musical number choreographed by dance icon Mia Michaels.
Other gimmicks include the homage and parody, and this week’s Royal Pains entered the realm of the parody. Yes, this episode cleverly titled “The Hankover” parodies the 2009 comedy, The Hangover.
Usually I roll my eyes at these things but deep down I get it. A full season of television is anywhere from 20 to 25 episodes, and not every hour can develop season-long story arcs. Sometimes you just need some filler material, and that is what this episode is. Fun filler, but filler nonetheless.
Being familiar with the film, I was expecting some pretty intense stuff, but where as the film carries an R rating, the episode is clearly more on the PG-13 side. It opens with all the main characters waking up after a supposed rough night – except they’re all in great shape, so I’m not sure how crazy the night ended up getting. For example, Evan runs over to Hank to tell him Raj is lying face down on the pavement outside the balcony, but Hank is busy administering medical advice to a patient. So far, this is a little less The Hangover and more just a normal day in the life of HankMed than I think the writers intended.
In perhaps the greatest homage to the film, the episode flashes to 24 hours earlier to show us what happened that resulted in our characters waking up all over the place. Divya and Jill spent the evening clubbing in downtown Manhattan after bailing on the high tea bachelorette party planned by Divya’s mother and learning that Divya’s sister, who also had an arranged marriage, is living her own life and sleeping with another man.
Meanwhile, Evan decides to throw Raj a bachelor party and hires a pole dancer as the entertainment. We are lead to believe that Raj acted inappropriately with the dancer since a) This is a bachelor party, b) This is supposed to be a parody of The Hangover, and c) The writer’s keep throwing hints that Evan doesn’t want Divya to marry Raj.
It is revealed the next morning via surveillance video, however, that Raj was actually just talking to the pole dancer, and offering her a real job at one of his hotel chains. He also told the dancer how much he respects and admires Divya and looks forward to spending his life with her. Divya conveniently happens to see this admission, and any concerns she had about her marriage mimicking her sister’s seem to vanish. Good for Divya, but bad for Evan. Oh and Raj lying face down? Turns out he just passed out. Of course.