Californication – Spotting a tranny hooker from a mile away

I’m beginning to feel like Samurai Apocalypse (RZA) is filling a role in Hank’s life that we’ve seen occupied once before. Think back for a moment to season two … if you’ve a picture of Lew Ashby (Callum Keith Rennie) in your mind’s eye, than we’re on the same page.

Let’s set aside for the moment that Lew Ashby was awesome — “Sam” is decidedly not — and focus instead on the influence Lew had on Hank, and the all-consuming environment that Ashby’s larger-than-life persona forced Hank into. I’m getting the same, albeit non-awesome, vibe from Sam.

The mere fact that Sam found Hank’s Achilles’ heel — money — and managed to force him into doing a garbage project that Hank’s above should have warned us that Hank was going to sink into Sam’s world. I only wonder how far it will spiral Hank down the drain; will Becca be able to forgive him for being involved in the beat down that Tyler (Scott Michael Foster), her own “Hank,” received outside of the club that night? Will there be ramifications for Sam, Hank, and Charlie after they got pulled over by the real police for riding around town in a misappropriated police cruiser pulling citizens over?

And how about Hank’s budding relationship with Kali (Meagan Good)? Hank has slept with the wrong woman plenty of times, but I don’t think he’s ever encountered an opponent as prone to violence as Sam. Given the beating Sam and his crew dished out to Tyler, not to mention the various weapons we’ve seen him brandishing, if I was Hank I’d be plenty nervous every time I was around Sam. Could be a sign that Hank should keep his artistic distance.

Of course, the ride-along with the Santa Monica cop (Bryan Callen) was fun. The experience being a bore at first was kind of predictable, but I loved the cop’s “episode” in the donut shop. At first I thought he was kidding, but it was kind of funny that they got assigned to such a dud who’d suffer what likely was a stroke during their break from doing nothing. Nice.

Charlie’s experience with the tranny hooker was insane. I look forward to that hanging over his head for the remainder of the series … if only he’d been able to pull up short. Maybe next time.

I don’t understand what’s going on with the Richard Bates (Jason Beghe) story. If in the end it’s all about getting Hank and Karen back together, well, they could have done that in a much simpler manner. But could that be what this is about? Consider that all Bates does is strip down and tuck his penis between his legs when he gets drunk; Hank had sex with Karen’s underage almost-stepdaughter, to name just one. Hank will always be the love of her life, but could Batesy’s bad habit (which can be controlled by keeping him sober) be enough to drive Karen back to a man who she’s left countless times?

Then again, if it’s not about that … what’s the point?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 07, 2012 @ 13:03 EST5EDT