I’m currently into season 3 of Californication (yes, I’m severely behind). A friend suggested it, talking about about Hank’s character being outrageous. It took me a while to get around to this show but with season 3 I’ve decided to jot some thoughts down based on what I’ve seen thus far.
First off, the series reminds me of the most edgy Hollywood stuff a Hollywood writer could produce in terms of dramatic comedy. The fact that the main character is a writer in Los Angeles demonstrates to me one of Hollywood’s worst issues in that most writers seem to simply write about their own hedonistic experiences. I can’t say for certain if every writer in Hollywood goes through these situations, but whenever you see most productions, you’ll commonly find themes of hedonism, parties, drugs, sex and rock and roll. It’s as if that’s all Hollywood deals with in their little world.
As implied by the title, Californication really endeavors to have at least one sexual display per show (if not a whole lot more). At first, this display might seem compelling as having one of the trademark attention grabbers from Hollywood’s typical cheap brand of tricks; however, over time the issue becomes overly gratuitous as if the writers are compelled to figure out ways to live up to the title.
When it comes to the characters, there really isn’t a hero per se; it’s a mixed bag of people with huge flaws that seem to be connected somehow to California. It’s as if the writers are attempting to blame the state itself for all the major issues compared to a “purer” view of New York (which is where Hank constantly bemoans having left). With the except of Becca, I found all the characters to be misfits despite them seeming “cool” with their socialite style personalities in constantly being connected to upper middle class style gatherings.
In fact, I can’t even call these people misfits as they are wretched, broken souls who are weak in disposition. They are all prone to their self-indulgent nature where fame, money, drugs and sex easily hook them from making morally correct decisions, thus leading them into further conflicts. The series reminds me of a far more degenerate version of Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place or any day time drama where each situation becomes conflated through an artificial connection that explodes in people’s faces.
As I mentioned, the only person I had any deal of sympathy for is Becca because she essentially is a victim in a neurotic relationship between the decadent Hanky Moody and her equally troubled mother, Karen. Her anti-social behavior partly is spawned after having two people she cannot look up to as both parents perform morally gray decisions. In turn, she chooses ways to rebel as a cry for help in both attempting to reconcile her parents and even blow them off.
What’s amazing to me is how the characters manage to live with themselves day-to-day. Obviously, they recognize a surface level flaw in themselves, but they lack the willpower to permanently correct themselves. Anytime one person is ready to move forward, an incident readily appears to take them back down. And these people more often than not fall pray to their vices and ego stroking that cause their consistent inability to be vindicated.
While the show is entertaining to a point, it’s also extremely frustrating and reminds me of standard American humor, almost Looney Tunes-like where the minute a person is about to change, they revert back and we end up at the beginning with no resolution to any core problem. The worst offender in the show is Hank where you slowly lose the ability to root for him as he constantly makes the same mistakes. You cannot sympathize with someone like that who miraculously is blessed in being able to sweet talk every woman he meets in the show into his (or her) bed.
My friend commented that the situations at times are unrealistic and I find that to be a pretty mild comment. The situations are flat out ridiculous and make me wonder if the writers simply hate the denizens of Los Angeles/Hollywood in demonstrating this shade of people. It makes you partly think that everyone in Los Angeles is some low life whose only goal is to fuck every person in the city, attend parties and snort coke.
The thing is that this view of Los Angeles/California tends to be the one projected by a lot of Hollywood writers. Too many shows emphasize parties, glamorous life styles, drugs, etc. It’s very irritating and shows how shallow these people are themselves because they cannot move past that block on the Sunset Strip or Santa Monica Blvd.
I read some criticisms about the series and I can see why people might have a slanted view against Californication. As I mentioned, it’s a damning series and after a while the plots become super redundant to the point where you know what’s going to happen next. However, the way Californication gets around complete redundancy is through cheap shock value whether it’s vulgarity or even more ridiculous incidents.
I suppose for myself, the only thing I really wanted to see (or hear rather) was Hank state, “The truth is out there!” But Hank’s character is so blasted half the time and filled with conflicted emotions that I doubt he cares about any pure truth.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.