Sun Blogs: The TV Yogi
I Should Have Gone to School in LA, Obviously
September 27, 2009 - 11:00pm
Previously on Californication: I had a ridiculous love-hate relationship with this show. Also previously on Californication: Hank’s woman left for greener pastures in New York, leaving him to single parent in California with all the single, nearly naked women. And the supposed cliffhanger: Will Hank stay faithful? No need to touch that one…
I was really, really worried about this season’s Californication. Showtime’s previews were all: “See Hank teach! See Hank fuck! See Hank teach and fuck brittle brunettes with PhDs! Also, Ed Westwick!” And with Natasha McElhone on the other side of the country, I just was worried it was going to devolve into even more of the wannabe-male-writers fantasy, except this time replete with smart co-eds. How this was supposed to be different from Mia’s own version of well-read-crazy, I didn’t know.
But I was pleasantly surprised. The episode opens with Hank, having sex with another nameless, angry brunette (for a second I thought it was Mia, which was very terrifying), but he, or his penis, or both, falls asleep during. She gets pissed off, he does some penis flexes to impress her, she leaves … etc. What made this different than the usual loveable fuck-upery is that they bump into his daughter Becca( now with somewhat more legitimate acting ability, or at least less robotic tendencies) on the way out the door.
Hank quickly deduces that Becca and her friend (what happened to boyfriend they both stayed in Venice for?) are high. What’s more, they are high on Hank’s weed, which is something I’ve seen before, namely on Kyle XY, but since that’s an ABC Family show I’m almost embarrassed to admit to watching, we’ll move on. Anyway, Hank doesn’t really know how to handle his new rebellious daughter, and after some parental spluttering about not smoking weed, he sends the girls to his room, and, predictably, finishes the weed for himself. I would judge, but I’m worried any potential offspring I may have will be pointing to this paragraph as an excuse of my own hypocrisy in the coming decades.
And… Titles! Venice! I miss you, Venice. And then a really weird commercial about Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head getting into a car accident. It wasn’t intended to be scary, I don’t think, but I think that if I were a potato-headed person, I would find it terrifying. (People, if my self-indulgent asides — such as this one — get annoying, please let me know. Not that I’ll care, probably.)
Anyway, back to the show. Hank makes the acquaintance of Becca’s new BFF’s mom, who also happens to be Embeth Davidtz (last seen as Pryce’s wife on Mad Men, and really confusing me metaphysically speaking, because it’s a Sunday and she’s supposed to be in India). She’s an actress I usually like, but her role on this show is grating — she’s just too knowing. Anyway, she obviously wants in Hank’s pants, which is annoying but not surprising, because, you know, The Duchovny, and invites him over to dinner. Also, she’s a college professor, so we now know how Hank is going to get his job.
On his way to dinner, Hank almost runs over her husband, who is one of those obnoxious people who rides his bike in the middle of the road. In Chicago, we have separate lanes for bikers, so that’s not a problem, which is why I get really frustrated in Ithaca. That crap always happens to me when I’m driving on state street, and these damn bike riders are always weaving in and out of the middle of the lane, as if environmentalism comes hand-in-hand with a death wish. So yeah, Hank gets into a mini scuffle, and then, surprise! It’s Peter Gallagher, who seems to have finally managed to tame his damn eyebrows since the last time he was in fictional Southern California. Gallagher’s eyebrows are also the dean of the university, and married to Embeth Davidtz, so now we have Hank’s supposedly-sexy female and toolish antagonist, all wrapped up and ready to go.
Another writer that Hank has a huge man crush on (at one point he tells him that he got a “writer’s boner” from reading his book, which is a pretty big compliment, I’d assume) is there at the dinner and apparently going to be guest teaching a class this semester. Hank gets other awesome writer drunk, awesome writer is recovering alcoholic, wacky hijinks ensue. Two points of note: One, Hank poses that Becca and Becca’s new friend are lesbians, much to Gallagher’s eyebrows consternation and Embeth’s very British amusement. (Bringing me to ask, once again: What happened to Becca’s boyfriend? Did the continuity fairy take the season of?) Second, other manly writer drunkenly comes wandering back into the dining room, completely naked, and proceeds to perform what I think is a reading, or maybe slam poetry, of his next great novel. Whilst of, course, having folded in his penis between his legs so that it looks like a vagina. He then proceeds to jump out the window and belly flop amazingly onto the grass, prompting the following awkward miscommunication in my living room:
“How did he do that?!”
[Cue roommates giving me looks. ] “Julie, he just folded it in.”
“No, I … meant the belly flop. How did he bounce?”
Anyway, so now the scene is set for Hank to have a job as a college professor. I would complain because the plot is kind of dull, but the humor of Duchovny’s acting, paired with still clever dialogue, and Becca no longer acting like a freakazoid make it a fair draw. Also, I secretly wish David Duchovny was my professor, for obvious reasons. I also wish for once they could bring on other female actresses who could carry the scene half as well as McElhone does, without always coming off as uptight annoying prudes just waiting to let their hair down. I miss the redhead from first season.
Next week: Ed Westwick apparently likes men. And vampires.