Californication Season Two
Hank Moody is a piece of shit. Throughout the entire first season of Californication, David Duchovny’s depiction of this promiscuous and thoroughly flawed main character makes me wonder about MY life. What am I doing wrong? Why won’t ridiculously hot women come up to ME when I’ve just spent all night drinking and I roll out of bed looking like crap and act like a loser at a local book store? Oh, right, cause I’m not this fictional freaking character. Nobody can POSSIBLY get this much ass this easily or I give up – I give up being a man. After this, the entire first season proceeds to be about Moody’s sexual conquests and one predictable fuck up after another. Our reluctant and almost unbelievably apathetic main character is pretentious and makes you wonder a few things:
1. How does he live in these ridiculously expensive places in Venice? He’s done literally nothing with himself in years.
2. What DOES make him happy?
3. What redeeming qualities does he have?
None of these questions are answered in the first season of Californication. The whole season is kind of a chore.
Then you get to the second season, which is about 5 times better than the first, and answers all these questions.
Throughout this season, Moody redeems himself for the entire first season by giving us a dose of his humanity. Throughout the first season his ex-wife, daughter, and friends are all the only redeemable characters in the show. From the very first episode of this second season, Moody becomes something a casual viewer of the first season never would have imagined: the show’s moral compass. The entire second season tests every character’s will and just about every character falls short of your expectations for them – except Hank. All of a sudden we’re given a relatable man who is, despite his drug-induced, rock ‘n’ roll, junkie lifestyle, trying to keep his life together. What?! Nooo, not the Californication guy! Yes! That guy! *and the audience goes wild because they finally have a character they care about on this show*
You have quite a bit of fun in this season watching Hank’s best friend Charlie (Sex and the City’s Evan Handler, who always inexplicably plays guys who get cute brunettes) begin to ruin his marriage by not only losing his job, but then taking on the adorable pornstar Daisy (Undeclared’s Carla Gallo) as a client. Hank also makes a new friend in this series that ends up arching as a complication and plotpoint throughout the entire season.
This second season of Californication is more than watchable, it’s actually enjoyable. Although the theme song is still one of the worst theme songs in current television (worse than The Office AND Dollhouse), the show finally earns its Showtime stripes. I found myself plowing right through these episodes, as opposed to the first season where it felt like walking through tar.
Even though Hank is trying his hardest to be a good person, there is actually more T & A in this season than there was in the last. Oh David Duchovny, when will your sex addiction NOT lead to a successful television vehicle for you? I can now, finally (safely) say that this show is actually better than Red Shoe Diaries. Can’t wait for the third season.
Californication Season Two is out on DVD now.
For a free copy of the second season of Californication, just email me with the name of the underaged girl Hank inadvertantly has sex with in the first episode of the first season, and what sexual move she does that inspires Hank to write a book.
gilmore [at] geekscape [dot] net
Also, check out the quiz they’re running to promote this new season:
