Californication Review -- 1x05, "LOL"

"Bee, Arr, Bee, Hank."

Californication Official Site

So Hank, in addition to being a pubic hair snob (see episode 3), is also a language snob; he's a hater of people who use IM-speak in particular and denizens of "cyberspace" in general, all of whom are involved in a conspiracy of morons which will eventually destroy language and culture. What a sweetheart.

We open with another dumb church dream. This one involves Bill as a priest and Karen as a nun, and wakes up Hank in a sweat... right next to his cute red-head. She uses the phrase "LOL" out loud, which admittedly I've never heard anyone say unironically, and he bitches at her for it. She then goes down on him, and he bitches at her for using the term "BJ", like, great job Hank, that's definitely the way to show your appreciation.

Later he makes fun of people who say "LOL" on public radio and Meredith overhears him and decides to break up -- which is justified for that reason alone but is really caused by her married boyfriend's decision to leave his wife. Meanwhile, Hank speaks at Mia's school (as a favor to Bill, for which he demands the latter's jacket), and Becca's big crush on her hot guitar teacher crashes and burns when Mia seduces him instead.

Well, I'm going to be predictable and say: the dream scenes have got to go. Watching last week's Damages, I was truly creeped out by the dreams one character was having, in which his teeth fell gruesomely out of his mouth. Those are dream scenes worth having. The ones on Californication are trite and predictable, and now they involve cheap, obvious shots at Catholic priests.

My favorite part of this episode was that Hank had a moment of honest self-doubt. He went to Karen after the upheaval with Meredith and asked her almost humbly if he had been mean to her while they were dating. Humble is a new style for Hank, and I liked it.

But the Meredith character was one of the few compelling ones, and now I am afraid she's gone. The actress had a bit of fire, especially when Hank pissed her off by being Hank, that I quite enjoyed in contrast to Natascha McElhone's studied imitation of a robot. I already also wrote that I liked her combo of vulnerability and toughness, and found her a convincing match for Hank. They do a little in-another-lifetime-we-could've-rocked moment when she leaves that I actually found kind of moving.

There's a subplot with Hank's agent and his horny, deserted wife. It ends with the conclusion that wives shouldn't be too adventurous with their husband's assholes. I don't really have much to say about this; hopefully that summary speaks for itself.

Why do I keep watching this show? Aside from the fact that I'm a TV whore who will watch anything, I can't really explain it. Partly, I suppose, because now I am in the habit of blogging about it. Partly because it's fun to watch bad stuff and snark at it. But I also genuinely enjoy it. Maybe it's a subconscious crush on David Duchovny? Fascination with explicit sex scenes? (I wouldn't be the only one, I suppose.) Attachment to the writing style, which reminds me of this dude's earlier work on my beloved Dawson's Creek?

Who can say?

In Summary: I certainly can't give a good reason to love this show. Long live so-bad-it's-good TV!

Related
Californication Review -- 1x03, "The Whore of Babylon"
Californication Review -- 1x02, "Hell-A Woman"