Californication

This is probably the best episode of the Season for me. Much like "The Apartment" with non-stop entertainment, but with genuinely heartfelt and heart-stopping moments to balance it out and make it a better episode overall.



Although I was traumatized to see Kathleen Turner go ("Collini - out"), it was nice to push the supporting cast aside and focus on the five main heartbeats of the show. Everyone Series should make time to do something like this and not get too lost in their story lines. I love episodes like this. It reminded me of the "Sex and the City" episode "The Post-it Always Sticks Twice" where the episode is an all-out party and one of my favourites of the Series. The same goes for "Dogtown".



I love it when this show throws things at you like the gun-point scene. They're genuinely startling and scary, although the aftermath was slightly and obvious and contrived (the only weak point in the episode for me).



I loved the references to past story lines, and Karen making Hank the omelette was beautiful. And Runkle's tattoo was hilarious. I'll go now because I've threw "love" around too many times some people might start to feel nauseous.



"Now Runkle, just because we don't have a professional relationship doesn't mean you cannot me, dine me and stand-up sixty-nine me once in a while, huh?"



"Who's Kelly?"

"I've been thinking about that for like ten minutes. She's either a cocktail waitress from Toronto, or a very promising young marine biologist"

"Either way your father is very lucky to have known her"



"A cosmic f*** you would be if you were the last person I kissed before I died"

This week was an excellent episode of Californication. I wasn't really feeling last week's episode, but this reminded me of the Hank Moody I grew to know and love during Seasons 1 and 2. I don't want to say this season is bad, but it definitely isn't exciting me as much as the last two did. Last year, we had an excellent build-up and a superb final two episodes, and so far, I don't know how I feel about it. It feels like there's just nothing left to go off of, seeing as we all know that Karen and his daughter will eventually forgive him. It's too bad, because there's always a plethora of things for Hank to do to screw himself over.



Basically, this episode was Hank and Charlie getting into shenanigans over and over again. The best ones were by far the one where Hank and Charlie are nearly killed during the robbery. I really liked them bringing back "The Artist Within." The guy who played him was such a goofy actor and it was nice to see them refer back to it. All they need to do now is bring back Mia and I'll be satisfied.



So far, Californication Season 3 has had some really great moments and some clunkers. I've really liked the idea of Hank having three women he's had bedded with him in class, and I feel like they dragged it out for awhile and didn't get nearly enough out of it. Perhaps a bit anti-climatic, as the big reveal came during The Apartment, which was one of the seasons best episodes, but since then, it feels like Hank just hasn't had anything to do. But tonight was hilarious, don't get me wrong. Let's just see if the final two episodes can bring us back to some story.

This is what Californication is all about: 30 minutes of non-stop inappropriate humor, conflict, drama, fighting and everything else you love about Showtime's favorite series. Having Charlie and Hank on the town, getting into all sorts of trouble and getting drunk along the way was just fun, energetic television and led to one of the best installments of the show in quite some time. Even the scenes with the female characters were not half bad.



I think getting rid of Rick Springfield and Kathleen Turner and focusing on the main cast is good for Californication. Although I do want Dean Koontz back!