Saturday, March 13, 2010

Californication



I am typically a big fan of the Showtime series formula: center the show around a character that does really bad things, but has some sort of moral center or at least some likable qualities. A drug-dealing widow, a pill-popping nurse, a serial killer who tries to correct the flaws in the justice system—these are, apparently, the anti-heroes for our times. I love them all. So why hasn’t Californication, the series about an oversexed writer drowning in “a sea of pointless pussy”, captured my attention? Hard to say at this point, since I’m only halfway through the first season, but here goes…

For starters, I find the motivation for Hank’s compulsive string of meaningless affairs trite at best and infuriating at worst. He throws himself at women, we have been led to believe so far, because he thinks his ex “wife” of sorts cheated on him; now, unable to trust women, he embarks on a campaign to sleep with unavailable women in a series of misguided revenge fucks. This would be compelling enough as a flaw, I think, if it were better explained. The notion that Hank has become such a sex-a-holic because Karen cheated on him is rather cliché. He can’t help chasing pussy all the time—her infidelity pushed him to it! I realize this explanation of his behavior is somewhat of a stretch even within the show: it’s essentially Hank’s explanation and so not necessarily reliable. Nonetheless, the introduction of Karen’s possible infidelity so early on has really colored my view of the character and of the show. I think Hank would be a much more interesting character if his predilection for casual sex were explained in some other way: a philosophical aversion to monogamy, for example.

I realize I’m most likely in the minority here, but his constant efforts to win Karen back and settle into family life also annoy me. I think one of my favorite aspects of the Showtime series referred to above is that they highlight the flaws, imperfections, and impossibilities in our collective vision of “normal” life. The deviant behavior is in some sense celebrated with normalcy either serving as a cover (as in the case of Dexter), a desirable piece of one’s lifestyle but not necessarily the ultimate goal (as in Nurse Jackie), or a fragile state supported that requires a bit of subversion to maintain (Weeds). Thus far, at least, Californication seems to hold up the norm as the goal: Hank would like nothing more than to marry Karen, settle down with her to raise their daughter, and resume a productive career as a writer. It’s only the superficial and chaotic atmosphere of Los Angeles, not to mention Karen’s unwillingness to take him back, that prevent him from attaining the coveted trifecta of American normalcy—marriage, children, work.

In short, the deviance in this series strikes me as more contrived than in other Showtime series and as present primarily for shock value. It doesn’t seem quite as subversive as some of the other shows, and I think it’s that implicit critique of society’s view of what’s “normal” that the show is lacking for me thus far.