This award-winning series, created by Tom Kapinos in 2007, is groundbreaking television even by Showtime’s daring standards. Californication is a dark - very dark - comedy drama about Hank Moody (David Duchovny), a bad-boy writer who has lost his literary mojo, but absolutely not his mojo mojo, as it were; it has nudity a-gogo, frequent sex scenes, recreational drug-taking and frank discussion of sexual matters.
Some have accused it of being a male fantasy writ large - and Duchovny’s admission that he had been treated for that most modern of conditions, sex addiction, appeared to give credence to the view - but it’s not. On the face of it, many of the female characters are indeed there to provide cheap thrills for the male leads, but the more subtle narrative running through Californication is that women are vastly more complicated, clever and attractive creatures than men could ever be - and besides, there are always consequences for the men doltishly being led astray by their penises.
To recap, if you’ve not been watching - what’s wrong with you? - Hank moved from New York to Los Angeles in series one, and in between having sex with lots of women, tried to win back his long-term on-off girlfriend and soulmate, Karen (Natascha McElhone, pictured right with Duchovny), mother of their now teenage daughter Becca. He did, but Hank’s sexual history being what it is, in series two his past exploits came back to haunt him, the rapprochement didn’t last and Karen took a job in New York. But they parted on good terms, having agreed that they could see other people while they are apart.
So as the third series began last night, it was predictably with the sound of sexual congress and to hear Hank deliver a paean to the vagina. “It’s warm and cosy and inviting. Capacious yet accommodating, cheeky but impudent. It’s a lovely place to curl up inside.”
Unfortunately it wasn’t said about his soulmate’s vagina, but it’s the thought that counts. His bedfellow was the mother of one of Becca’s classmates, but in the kind of neat swerve Californication fans have grown used to, the woman (while keeping up the nudey count) was also there to show the vapidness of Hank’s sex life - he fell asleep on the job because his, er, heart wasn’t really in it. That, we all know, belongs to Karen.
Hank’s problem, you see, is that Becca (beautifully played by Madeleine Martin) is actually more mature than him, creepily so, as she keeps tabs on Hank, now dealing with being a sole parent - “Single dadness isn’t as easy as it looks” - and reports back to Karen, while subtly reminding Hank that Karen is on the market herself. If these two don’t eventually ride off into the sunset together (this time for ever) it won’t be because of a lack of effort by Becca.
Hank then met Becca’s best friend’s mother, who invited him over for dinner. “I don’t play well with others,” he told her, but went anyway, and we knew it was all going to end badly because Hank is a trouble magnet. First he upset his host’s husband, made a pass at another guest and unwittingly ended a fellow writer’s 10 years of sobriety by insisting he share a toast with him. And before you knew it, said author had downed a bottle of scotch, was buck naked and revealing his “mangina”. I do wish my dinner parties were as interesting.
The counterpoint to Hank and Karen’s story is provided by warring couple Charlie and Marcy. Charlie (Evan Handler) is Hank’s agent, sacked in series two when his regular habit of masturbating in the office was discovered, and who is now in a bitter divorce battle with his ex-cokehead wife. Kapinos’s writing for them is played purely for comedy, more of which will surely be provided by Kathleen Turner, who is guest-starring this series as Charlie’s sexually predatory new boss.
The writing is stylish, witty and often laugh-out-loud funny because it rings true - “I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking,” said Hank at one point in last night’s episode, which, as usual, sped by far too quickly. Duchovny is incredibly charismatic as Hank, while McElhone plays Karen with great subtlety and warmth. This was a wonderful start to the series, in which Hank will teach a university creative writing course. Oh boy - Hank and all those college girls...
- Californication continues on Fiver every Wednesday
- Find Californication on Amazon
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