Californication, Showtime, Airs Sundays 10pm E/P
Episode: “La Ronde” (Season Two, Episode Nine)
Synopsis: Hank meets Janie Jones for a date at a Venice art gallery, where they bump into a very pregnant Sonja and Julian. After a quick escape, Janie invites Hank back to her place, but he declines. Karen goes on an impromptu date, of sorts, with Lew Ashby. She returns home to find Hank waiting with the big news that he did not sleep with another woman. And, after a congratulatory roll in the sack, Karen finds a disturbing lump on Hank’s groin. Meanwhile, with Marcy in rehab, Charlie is left to hold down the fort at her waxing salon. And he and Daisy bond over Dirty Dancing.
Review: Were I the one in charge of titles for the show, this episode would be called “Musical Vaginas.” Luckily, the job title belongs to someone else. But seriously, this week’s episode found everyone in motion romantically speaking, and none of the women were in the right hands. (Sure the same can obviously be said of the guys as well, but “musical penis” doesn’t have the same ring to it.) Hank was with Janie, Lew’s ex. Lew was with Karen, Hank’s ex. Charlie was with Daisy, and Marcy was in rehab, but spoke of kissing another guy at the airport. And Becca was missing all together.
I’m really enjoying the story arc involving the quadrangle of Hank, Karen, Lew, and Janie. If the wrong two mix too hot and heavy there’s going to be a fantastic clash of egos between Hank and Lew. The two of them continue to be one of the more entertaining duos on TV. Their banter is priceless, hysterical, and sometimes painful as they reveal their pains behind the barbs. “Your labia got in the way of that one,” Lew tells Hank after a mishandled golf swing. Funny stuff. Would the heterosexual soul-mates survive if either the Lew/Karen or Hank/Janie pairings actually rubbed naughty bits? I’m curious to find out the answer to that one, but I don’t want the friendship to end…
And Charlie… oh Charlie. Is he actually falling in love with Daisy the pornlet (porn starlet?) She seems sincere, she’s sexually adventurous, and she seemingly cured him of his quick draw problem, but is she for real? She’s working out some unspoken daddy issues here, and Charlie is bound to get hurt. In the real world I’d say he should drop her now so he doesn’t fall any deeper, but this TV so maybe the pair will actually make things work. Either way, it looks like the end for little Marcy, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
Hank’s efforts to reunite Lew and Janie would make a great epilogue to the book he’s writing, but I think he’s taking a personal stake in the outcome as well. The two couples have obvious similarities, and maybe Hank thinks a success for one would guarantee a reunion of the other. The first season ended with the absurd and unabashedly gleeful Moody clan driving off together. Will this season give the characters and viewers two happy endings? And will they be spaced twenty minutes apart?
What did you think of this week’s episode? Only three left in the season… where do you see things heading?
