'Californication': Playing nice

Someone sprinkled a little sugar on our "Californication" characters Sunday night, most of them acting far sweeter toward each other than they have all season. The real storm was behind them now. Bygones. Squashed. Let's have a picnic and begin anew. And I suppose the dumb little grin I had on my face meant that I ate it all up with a spoon.

Except for Dean Koons (Peter Gallagher) dressed up as a general and challenging Hank (David Duchovny) to a fake gun fight, which had its moments but got a little cheesy once the boys were rolling around in the grass, this episode worked on multiple levels. Most satisfying was seeing our man in the middle, Hank, completely off balance for the duration. First he couldn't satisfy Karen (Natascha McElhone) in the boudoir, then he watched as she endlessly flirted with the professor she once had an affair with in college, a man who also happens to be a writer Hank once admired.

The whole thing was like an assault on the manhood of a man whose manhood is never the question. Last week during the holdup, we saw Hank truly vulnerable and shaken. This week we saw him jealous and in many ways inferior. These are the never-before-seen shades of Hank Moody that make his character infinitely more interesting, and Duchovny plays these just as well as the rest. Here's hoping we get to see much more of this.

As for jealousy, that shade also colored Marcy (Pamela Adlon) this week as she found herself walking in on Charlie (Evan Handler) getting it on with "a waitress with a screenplay" ... on the floor of their home. "You said not to mess up the bed if we're showing the house," the husband said to his wife.

Later at the bar, Marcy pestered and Charlie smiled. "Marcy Runkle is jealous -- I never thought I'd see the day," he said. But "I've said all along, I still love you," he added, intimating that the impending divorce between them doesn't have to be so. "It's not what you say, Charlie," she said, probably speaking for every female on this show. "It's out of sight, out of mind. See Marcy, want Marcy. No see Marcy, want boobies."

Ultimately they successfully sold the house, celebrated by defiling one last room of it and then Marcy noticed the butterfly tattoo he'd gotten on his lower back last week, her name attached. It could be the best drunken mistake of Charlie's life, because Marcy seemed touched enough by the gesture that she just might reconsider. On this show, the tattoo is a very powerful thing.

And so we're now left with a seemingly happy bunch headed into next week's season finale, with one main question hovering over us: Will Hank and Becca (Madeleine Martin) actually join Karen in New York this time? Hopefully that kid Damien isn't around with another playlist.

Your predictions and comments are welcome below.

-- Josh Gajewski

Photo: It was a happy day ... sort of ... for Hank (David Duchovny, right) and Jackie (Eva Amurri) on Sunday night's "Californication." Credit: Showtime.

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Comments

[Natalie]

Right before it became clear that Hank hadn't 'satisfied' Karen, he talked about how they had 'made love' - an expression we know Hank hates. Even Karen's eyes popped when he said it. It was an interesting moment that I wanted them to do more with - why would making love involve no orgasm in his world?! I wish they'd just let it hang rather than have to tidy it up with what looked like what was going to be an orgasmic evening instead.

http://themothchase.wordpress.com

[Tom]

I hope so.
So David D. can work in the same town his wife lives.
OMG! Live imitates art.

[S]

Actually,the episode began with Hank using the term making love. It was before Karen told Hank that she didn't quite get there. I don't think Hank's use of the term has anything to do with Karen having the big O. When Hank is with Karen he is making love and when he is with other women he is having sex. In the episode "The Apartment", I think he was trying to make that point clear to Felicia in an understated kind of way.

[Rich Nield]

While I completely agree with the above review I still think there's a bit of sweet and soar waiting for us in the finale - the next episode is entitled Mia cupia - which can only mean one thing... Mia is back.I think that the secret night they had together in the first season will come out and Karen will have to leave Hank as he's taken it too far. That's my prediction - David D is a legend.

[Jeremiah]

I've been disappointed with this season for the most part. I haven't found Hank's love quadrangle (borrowing a LOST term) to be all that compelling. There's been no real connection between him and any of them. He seems too nonchalant, even more so than in seasons 1 and 2. It's not until Karen returns that we got any semblance of conflict in his life. Too little, too late. What I did like the best about this most recent episode, though, was the line from the dean about how academics can't live in the real world. It summed up the frivolity that is season three.