Californication: The Third Season

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Season 3 was at least as strong as Season 2, if not stronger, which is quite a feat of writing.

Duchovny is masterful throughout, and his stunning chemistry with his screen muse Karen, is the cornerstone of what has been an unparalleled series.

Yep, it's strictly adult entertainment, and it needs to be seen as, to paraphrase the beautiful Embeth Davidtz, a mockumetary of the crazy, no-consequence LA life that it is portraying. The show, from the beginning, has been a parody of itself, but it works.

As we go into Season 4, Hank will be facing some major challenges, partly due to his poor, reactive handling of the Mia situation in the Season 3 finale.

Interesting times ahead.

As a fan of the series up to this point I almost did not purchase this season via Video On Demand due to the negative reviews written here. Magically enough if you purchase the season or episodes you get the full pleasure of enjoying the series as it was meant to be viewed. It is not such a far stretch that Amazon would not allow a free viewing of a series with this sort of content without applying some sort of buffer to it...it was simply a courteous way to offer an insight into the direction of this season. If you like the show than purchase the season and it won't disappoint...if you are new to the show than start at season one...and in closing...don't complain about free.

What is one to make of the third season of Showtime's raunchfest about the misadventures of self-destructive author Hank Moody? Season three is full of the usual debauchery that has propelled the series, but at the same time it seems to be lacking the depth and heart that made the first two seasons so compelling. Don't get me wrong, this is still an enormously entertaining season, but it borders on farce as Hank juggles relationships with three women at the same time sans any signs of remorse and basically glides through season three without having to face any consequences for his actions--until a season finale that is essentially disconnected from the events leading up to it. It's all very complicated and frustrating and results in Californication's most uneven season to date. But there just may be a method to the madness.

Season three follows Hank as he takes a teaching job at a university which affords him plenty of opportunities to rail against the "establishment" and slice and dice the stuffiness of academia in general. Most of all, however, it provides him with the opportunity to get involved with a student, his T.A. (Diane Farr) and the dean's uptight wife. Hank tries to convince himself that he is acting in the best interest of all three of his extracaricular activity partners, but he ends up being quite reckless with all three. Interestingly, none of the women seem to be too upset with Hank even when he hides them from one another in the episode titled "The Apartment". The entire season seems to have this vibe: it's all fun and games and nobody (especially not Hank) is held accountable for their actions. Only Becca seems to be aware that most of the adults are acting like children. Joining in the parade of bad behavior is Rick Springfield in a performance that serves as a parody (at least I think it does) of his rock and roll life style. Charlie continues to screw up royally as he attempts to fix things with Marcy and the dean (Peter Gallagher) is not portrayed favorably either, especially when he challenges Hank to a duel for the honor of his estranged wife.

Yet in spite of the emotional emptiness, the season is still a riot. But what still has me a bit confused is the season finale. It is easily the most moving episode of the season, but it doesn't really belong with the rest of season three. In fact, it seems that the majority of plot lines of this season get wrapped up in the next to last episode and then Hank is visited by demons from his past in the finale. So what we end up with is a season in which the characters, particularly Hank and Charlie, have a blast indulging in their drug and sex filled lifestyle until they are smacked upside the head with truths that they have been struggling to avoid. Perhaps this is intended to be a metaphor for how so many people live their lives: no matter how much fun you have or how well things appear to be going, you can't avoid your demons forever. Try to ignore them and they will find you eventually. It's either that or the show's writers lost track of what this show was really about and tried to tack on an emotional ending to this season. I hope it's the former for both Hank's sake and ours.