The first season of ‘Californication’ blew my brains out. It was right after ‘Dexter’ but before ‘Weeds’ (I jumped the ‘Weeds’ bandwagon rather late) and it was pleasantly shocking. Remember the very first episode? Blow-job in the church, though imaginary? That was like ‘am I seeing this on TV for real?’

The story, the controversy on the verge of hitting you in the face with a hammer, the somewhat bitter humor, the casting — everything was just top notch.

Agent Mulder David Duchovny is brilliant as Hank Moody (that last name does have meaning both in English and in Russian — it sounds right like the beginning of the word ‘douchebag’ in the later). He is cute (even adorable when his daughter is around), funny as hell and just hot. Though only from this side of the screen because to be in a relationship with him is torture on so many levels. Poor Karen (Natascha McElhone) won’t ever be able to forget him and move on and it is always a tad too much for her to accept Hank and live with him in their ‘happily ever after’.

Becca, the aforementioned couple’s daughter, is another example of stereotypes done right. She is in her ‘finding herself’ mode, dressing in black and basically being funny and cute Goth princess as Hank calls her (was it even possible to imagine funny and cute Goth child before?).

The crazy Runkles, Charlie and Marcy rule the show whenever they are on screen. They are both nuts, they look like a real life long time married couple and their chemistry is uncanny.

I loved each and every minute of season 1. And the ending was grand and it felt like a finale. If only they stopped there, left Hank and Karen to their own devices and gave us a ghost of hope that they wouldn’t f*ck up again…

But no, money is God and in God we trust, so here comes season 2. I confess, it was pleasant to see them all again. The first episode took the bull by the… uhm, horns right from the start. I felt for the male audience. Really, I did.

But we all knew where it would go, right? Hank is back on his promiscuous ways still longing for Karen. And the moment of their breakup was so incredibly artificial. The supposed ‘last drop’ was not compelling; the Hank’s Nemesis, Mia was way out of line. How the hell did she get to that party? Was she invited by Hank? If yes, well, he deserved what he got.

My major complain is not the storyline though. It is the general feeling of uneasiness. The jokes are somewhat lazy in not a good way. Only the Runkles are still crazy funny.

I will definitely watch it for some gems that are bound to happen in the mediocre swamp of what this show has become but I hope there’s no season 3. Some premises are not that strong.