I recently had the pleasure of watching the pre-air versions of the first two episodes of the new season of Californication. Many may have questioned where the show could possibly have gone after the uncharacteristically cheerful and almost finite cessation to the first season. However, I urge you to rest easy fellow viewers, as Hank has returned unchanged, still as despicable as he is loveable and sure to run into skirt wearing trouble wherever he turns.
The season opens with Hank asleep, a peaceful grin on his face clearly playing on fan speculation that his reuniting with his wife and daughter Becca was just an optimistic dream. Nevertheless, he is awakened by none other than Karen herself. It appears at this point that Hank’s new life has begun. At this point many may be thinking, why would I want to watch a show about a guy in a happy relationship, that’s boring. As I said before, things quickly escalate into the controversial crude tone of the shows premiere season. Mia is still tormenting the protagonist now that her stolen manuscript is a successful publication, Becca is still the victim of an extremely weird upbringing, and Charley…well, let’s just say his character really comes into its own by the second episode, I don’t want to spoil too much but be prepared to find him both hilarious and slightly scary.
The main theme of the opening is quickly established: how is Hank going to avoid his incessantly promiscuous nature and settle down with the woman he claims to love so dearly? Well, it immediately appears that this will not be an easy abstinence. His first run in with the fairer of the sexes comes in the unlikely scenario of a doctor’s office, with Hank being on the more painful end of a vasectomy due to his hatred of ‘rubbers’. Even here, in possibly one of the most sexually unappealing circumstances for a man, Hank cannot avoid being enticed by an attractive nurse. Things are already pretty much living up to the moral standard we have come to expect from Californication, yet if you are a fan of the show, this will surely come as a relief.
The comedy that ensues from this point lives up to the chuckles provided by the pilot episode, and is reminiscent more of the early days before the onset of emotional baggage increasingly became more of a focal point as the first season went on. Hank rapidly finds himself in a bizarre situation and is accused of nothing less than ‘mouth-rape’ on another woman whilst his wife is present; all of this of course Hank claims is an accident. You can practically taste the debauchery.
The first episode concludes with Hank being assaulted by a police officer, the final shot depicting Hank clutching his lower regions as the baton cruelly strikes the post-op tenderness of his now not so reproductive organs. Karen shouts the last line of the first half hour of the shows new dawn: ‘No, not the balls!’. Even though Hank is looking worse for wear, the show can be proud of providing fans with a very entertaining opening.
Final Verdict: 9/10
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