'Californication': He's in love with rock 'n' roll, whoa ...

It's very simple. If you like "Californication" to begin with, chances are good that you have somewhat of a dark –- or at times, even sick –- sense of humor. If so, count me among you. And, my fellow sickos, this episode was for us.

So crude, but so, so funny. And then, just when we thought that this was simply another stroll down Guilty Pleasure Lane, we took a sudden left turn onto a nice and quiet street in Venice, where, in the fading California sun, we witnessed one of the most emotional moments of the series, a tough-love scolding of a father by the one true love of his life, his daughter Becca. 

That's what this show does when at its best: It makes us laugh, then cringe, then laugh again, and right when we can't possibly look away from the ongoing stream of absurdity –- when we in fact find ourselves pining for more in the form of that next big punchline or humorous misstep –- we instead get a surprise punch to the emotional gut, and are reminded again that this is actually a show about something more than just gratuitous fun on a Sunday night.

And then we get back to the gratuitous fun, but still ...

Sunday night's episode of "Californication" was superb. Certain moments were absolutely gross, yes, but unlike some of the previous episodes, the comedic payoffs here proved more than worth it.

Some random thoughts from a crazy Sunday night...

Today, a "Californication" caucus

My head is spinning, “Californication” fans. I'm eating tracking polls for breakfast, fumbling with online electoral maps and hearing David Gergen in my sleep. Simply put, I have a problem. But maybe that's why I enjoyed this week's “Californication” so much. It wasn't particularly high-minded or substantive, which in the past may have led me to huff and puff a little bit. But this time, I desperately needed the trouble-making antics of Hank (David Duchovny) and Charlie (Evan Handler), and each of them delivered mightily.

But more on this week a little later. For now ... a caucus!

Remember that word? We heard it so often in the primaries, starting in Iowa, and in my election state of mind this week I decided to bring it back one last time. “Californication” has now reached the halfway point of Season 2, and I thought I'd bring in fellow enthusiasts to discuss the show's highs, lows and prospects.

I simply asked five questions to each, and I welcome you to weigh in as well.

'Californication': Lew, let us go

Tonight's episode of “Californication” started by getting back to the basics: a dream sequence, that brief window into Hank's subconscious, before his eyes blinked open to his morning reality. It was a throwback of sorts to Season 1, when many episodes began just that way. The trouble for us here was that the reality in which Hank awoke was someone else's couch, someone else's home and what's beginning to feel like someone else's show.

Hank heard it himself, actually, once he arose from that couch and walked into the kitchen. “You're in Ashby's world now,” said Lew Ashby, the music producer who's supposed to be Hank's new writing subject. But Ashby's world is too hollow, an all-flash, no-substance world in which screwdrivers and cigarettes get served up for breakfast and women arrive for lunch and dinner.

'Californication': Free Bird

Hank is alone and miserable again, and I think I speak for us all when I say, it's about time.

If the first three episodes of this season proved anything, it's that "Californication" just isn't the same when Hank is more or less content with his world. We need his misery just as much as his writing needs it. And let's face it: We all wondered how this would work –- Hank and Karen together again, ever since she jumped in the car with him at the end of season one. Even David Duchovny. I was watching the optional commentary on the season one DVD the other day and noted Duchovny's words. "You got us back together and now you're in that box," he told show runner Tom Kapinos. "Good luck with that."

Indeed, it didn't work. Season one's happy ending led to a slow start to season two. For three episodes the show seemed to be stuck, and too many situations and gags fell short of finding much laughter or substance.

Sunday night, though, we broke free from the muck, and the mojo returned. Hilarity and emotion came together again as Hank was backed into a corner and then, ultimately, kicked to the curb.

The proposal came first, Hank on one knee. "I was hoping you'd finally make an honest woman of me," he said to the mother of his child. "I love you, Karen. And I want to spend the rest of my life annoying the ---- out of you." I laughed along with Karen, but was equally suspicious when he went on to say "Seriously, I love L.A., I can't get enough of it." It had to be an omen. No man changes so much, so soon.

'Californication': Tough love

Welcome to the blog I don't want to write.

The concerned blog.

The one where I have to wonder if maybe I was wrong. After all, I've used this space before to defend this show to anyone who'd ever tried to dismiss it as being little more than soft-core porn, a tale short on substance and long on cheap thrills and gratuitous flesh.

My problem, tonight, is that the following thought trickled into my head: OK, maybe it is about the sex. This happened, I think, right about the time Charlie found himself in a van, a cheap porn production suddenly breaking out beside him. Or no, wait, was it when the party of hookers showed up at Lew Ashby's pad? No no, I think it may have been when little Becca arrived at the lunch table on her first day of school. "Might not want to sit there," a boy said, to which she replied, "Why? Have you got the herp or something?"

Too much. All of this. I didn't laugh. I cringed. 

'Californication': An evening with the Runkels

If last week was the big night out, then this was the hangover. As it turns out, Hank can't get himself into too much trouble when locked in a jail cell, and not getting into too much trouble is just no fun for us.

Thankfully, there were the Runkels.

Charlie and Marcy saved this episode from falling flat, thanks mostly to a priceless scene in which the couple found themselves high and greasy -– the result of these two reverting back to an apparently old habit, evenings of cocaine and crustaceans.

'Californication': A scandalous return, much to our delight

In some ways, it's difficult to tell who is more sex obsessed: David Duchovny, or the rest of us.

The 48-year-old actor issued a statement in August, saying through his lawyer that he'd voluntarily entered a facility for the treatment of sex addiction, and asked for "respect and privacy" as he and his family dealt with the issue. Then again, you already know this by now, because we in the media (and, admit it, you at home) bypassed the whole respecting-his-privacy bit and ran with this story like dogs with a bone.

It was too easy, after all. Duchovny had by this time gained much notoriety –- and a Golden Globe -– for his portrayal of Hank Moody in "Californication," the Showtime series about a writer who happens to have lots and lots ... and lots ... of sex. And so it came to be, all of us thinking about it, talking about it, sending it to each other via texts and e-mails that read something to the effect of, "Have you heard!?" The phrase "life imitates art" shot out of us like a tick. News features asking, "What is sex addiction?" followed.

But perhaps herein lies the beating heart of "Californication," the reason why it stands a real chance of sticking around for a very long time -– that is, if Duchovny is in fact willing and able to return. That reason –- however obvious or ludicrous as it may sound –- is that we're the ones who should admit that we can't get enough.

Returning tonight, the devil in a city of angels

The thing everyone talks about is the sex. Rightly so, to a point –- it's there in the title, "Californication," and there on the screen –- nudity, lots of it; seven bare-breasted women appear in Season 1, for those scoring at home, and several others in various states of undress. There are drugs too, and the drinks go down easily, and the cigarettes always burn.

And yes, all of that window dressing is there for a reason: “We don't want these people to behave well,” Brendan Bernhard recently wrote in the New York Sun. “We want them to act like they're on an expensive cable channel having too much sex, taking too many drugs, and getting into too many mishaps at an hour when children are supposed to be in bed. ... The show knows exactly what it's about, and I've yet to watch an episode that wasn't entertaining.”