Director: Scott Winant
Cast: David Duchovny (Hank Moody), Natascha McElhone (Karen Van Der Beek), Madeleine Martin (Rebecca), Madeline Zima (Mia), Evan Handler (Charlie), Damian Young (William "Bill" Cross), Rachel Miner (Dani), Pamela Adlon (Marcy), Paula Marshall (Sonja), Lucy Davis (Nora) & L. E. Brooke (The Blonde)
Cast: David Duchovny (Hank Moody), Natascha McElhone (Karen Van Der Beek), Madeleine Martin (Rebecca), Madeline Zima (Mia), Evan Handler (Charlie), Damian Young (William "Bill" Cross), Rachel Miner (Dani), Pamela Adlon (Marcy), Paula Marshall (Sonja), Lucy Davis (Nora) & L. E. Brooke (The Blonde)
Hanks goes to a party with his ex-wife Karen, her new fiance Bill, his daughter Becca, and their mutual friends. Unfortunately, he soon realizes Karen's trying to set him up with a Scientologist friend of hers..."Why is the city of angels so hellbent on destroying its female population?"
-- Hank Moody (David Duchovny)
Aren't those opening credits awful? No matter, because Californication takes another solid, if unremarkable, step forward in episode 2. While Hell-A Woman lacks an involving plot (everything is more a series of incidents), it's all held together by strong performances and an undercurrent of dirtiness.
Hank (David Duchovny) meets his ex-wife's fiance Bill Cross (Damian Young), and wastes no time in demeaning him and making a play for his former lover. It's patently clear Hank is a confident dog, with a smart mouth, low morals and rampant appetite for sex. There are also more scenes of female nudity for the more salacious viewer; from "The Blonde" (porn star Brooke Banner, credited as L.E Brooke, and giving a decent performance!) to middle-aged Scientologist Sonja (Paula Marshall), who Hank is set up with by ex-wife Karen (Natascha McElhone).
Hank's family life is dysfunctional, in that he's clearly still obsessed with Karen (who even makes imagined appearances in his car), and doesn't try to hide it -- not even from her new fiance! He also has an amusing relationship with daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin), as they pass each other cash as penance for bad language. A parent-child bond clearly means a lot to Hank, as he even passes up sex with the aforementioned porn star, because her baby began to cry for its mother in the next room.
The complication that provided a twist in the Pilot is returned to here, as Hank's conquest Mia (Madeline Zima) -- his ex-wife's fiance's daughter, keep up -- clearly relishes teasing him about it. Some under the table touchy-feely at a social gathering and veiled allusions to their activity is the order of the day. Cleverly, as Hank would likely enjoy rubbing Bill's nose in the fact he's bedded his daughter, the main concern Hank has is that Mia's only 16 years old.
Work-wise, Hank grudgingly accept a job with Hell-A Woman magazine as a website blogger and offers "Hank Hates You All" as his first post -- a witty indictment of how L.A destroys women's femininity with plastic surgery (particularly "vagina rejuvenation") and shaved pubis.
Lucy Davis (The Office) makes another US drama appearance following her supporting role in Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip. As Hell-A Woman rep Nora, she's essentially playing the same character from Studio 60 -- again trapped in twee, twittering English girl mode. Davis was memorably cute in The Office, but can't seem to progress into anything else, so just devolves her Dawn character.
Overall, Californication is an amusing and entertaining character study. The storylines, so far, don't amount to much, but Duchovny's charismatic performance, clever dialogue, some intriguing relationships, full-frontal nudity and a pleasantly short running time, makes it a very easy watch. This episode also contains a wonderful moment of sex-farce; involving a naked Scientologist ("You are one kinky Thetan!"), drug-taking, an expensive painting and vomit...
18 October 2007
Five, 10.00 pm
