Californication“Vaginatown”
Original Air Date: Oct 26, 2008
Susannah Buzard - TwoCents Reviewer
susannah@thetwocentscorp.com
Episode 5 opens in a familiar format: a dream of wish-fulfillment. Hank imagines watching a game of table tennis with Becca and Karen. Becca hugs Hank and a few seconds later, Karen joins Becca, and the three of them embrace.
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[photo: Showtime]
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Californication
ReplyDelete“Vaginatown”
Original Air Date: Oct 26, 2008
Susannah Buzard - TwoCents Reviewer
susannah@thetwocentscorp.com
Episode 5 opens in a familiar format: a dream of wish-fulfillment. Hank imagines watching a game of table tennis with Becca and Karen. Becca hugs Hank and a few seconds later, Karen joins Becca, and the three of them embrace.
Hank wakes up to the sight of a bedside table full of empty liquor bottles. He realizes he is at Ashby’s house. Most can empathize with the feeling of thinking you have it all, only to wake up and remember that something awful has happened.
Hank goes to the kitchen where he finds Ashby, whose presence is eclipsed by the obnoxious voice of (actress name) from Dawson’s Creek blaring from his flatscreen tv. She is hosting a cooking show “Oh, tear, she says. “Sometimes I can’t help myself.”
Hank chugs some orange juice (which he realizes at first sip is full of vodka) and walks to the tv for a closer look at our Food Network friend. He expresses to Ashby (in a less than subdued way) his ambivalence: he’s attracted to but can’t stand her. Kind of like how some women feel about Hank and Ashby.
Ashby claims he can get the girl for Hank, and Hank doesn’t believe him.
In the next scene, Hank picks up Becca from school, but it is the wrong day. Karen smells vodka on his breath, even though Hank says the beauty of vodka is that it doesn’t smell. Hank tells Karen the new situation “sucks” and when Becca gets into the car with him, she echoes his sentiment. It’s no fun being shuffled back and forth between parents, particularly when yours were back together under the same roof during the previous episode. Poor Becca.
Hank returns to Ashby and finds Chloe, the annoying chef, in Ashby’s kitchen. “I don’t barf after every show only to maintain a size 4. Lou told me your sad story, and you’re just laughing through the pain, you poor baby.” The scene progresses when Chloe says, “So, you wanna $@%^?” Hank immediately responds in the affirmative, and the next thing we know, Chloe is demanding that Hank slather chocolate on her back that she made for the occasion. It is a humorous exchange, despite that Ms. Dawson’s Creek graduate is a bit of a caricature. Ashby’s behavior towards women is similar to Hank’s, yet he lacks Hank’s charm. Ashby is not tragically flawed, he is simply flawed, and seems to entirely lack a conscience.
Meanwhile, Charlie Runkle is in trouble with Daisy the porn star, as no one will hire her after Charlie alienates her agent. What do other people think of the Charlie Runkle/porn plot? I found his character more interesting when he was engaging in S & M with his assistant and lying to Marcy rather than when he is honest with Marcy and becoming part of the porn industry. His 55k investment in a porn film, however, seems to set up future problems in his relationship with Marcy. Will anyone stay together in this show?