Previously...
Californication, series 1
Episode 12: The Last Waltz
Wednesday 16 July, 10:10pm: Mia’s dreams of becoming a literary sensation are put on hold when Bill tells her that there is no way he will allow her book to be published. He’s appalled by the sexual content and thinks the male character bears more than a passing resemblance to Hank. Will Mia finally reveal the truth behind their sordid affair?
Episode
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Showing on: Wednesday 16 July, 10:10pm on FIVER
Hank can't shake his ongoing nightmares of Karen's imminent marriage to Bill, only to wake up and find that today's the day. His nightmare has become real. But before he and Becca even get out the door, she announces that she just got her first period.
At a local convenience store, Hank wrestles with a woman and her burly husband over the last box of tampons. When the woman realises that the tampons are, in fact, for Becca, she softens, offering to instruct Becca on her first time.
Meanwhile, Bill tells Mia there is no way he will allow her book to see the light of day. The character in the book's sex fantasy is too frighteningly similar to Hank. Enraged, Mia asks him why he's so sure it's a fantasy at all leaving Bill speechless in her wake.
Marcy helps Karen put the final touches on her makeup as Karen admits she slept with Hank after his father died. Marcy then facilitates a last chance meeting between her and Hank in which he takes the high road and wishes her and Bill all the best.
The ceremony has gone off without a hitch when Mia raises her hand declaring that her father and Karen are not right for each other. Hank tries to minimise the damage by leading Mia out when she spills the truth about her and Hank having sex. Bill attacks Hank. Karen, Becca and the guests demand answers. Hank's about to come clean when Mia saves him by saying the sex fantasy in her book is just that. Moments later, Bill and Karen are husband and wife.
At the reception, Hank dances with each woman in his life: Becca, who's proud of him for behaving himself; Mia, who reveals that Hank might have been her first time; and Marcy, whom he manages to reunite with Charlie. Finally, with Karen, he regrets his mistakes but takes pride in their one great triumph, Becca, before Bill cuts in. Hank warns him not to screw things up like he did.
All things tied up, it seems there might be hope for Hank Moody after all. He and Becca are getting in the car to leave when Karen suddenly comes running. She gives no reason, just jumps in the car and tells Hank to drive. He happily obliges as the three head off together into the night.
Repeated Saturday 19 July, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 09 July, 10:10pm on FIVER
Becca informs Karen that she wants to live with Hank as Karen is being fitted for her wedding dress. Karen is devastated.
At UTK, Charlie tries to reconcile with Marcy, but fails. Dani enters with news of her meeting with Mia about her book. Charlie is forced to put it on the fast track, else Dani will pursue a sexual harassment case against him.
Over lunch, Charlie tells Hank of the book and Hank discovers that it's his work that Mia is passing off as her own.
Hank attempts to confront Mia at UTK, but is surprised to find that the only way of doing so is to walk in on a meeting between her, Charlie, Dani and an old publisher acquaintance – a meeting from which he's quickly ejected.
Bill tries to comfort Karen, but only ends up hurting her more with his insensitivity.
Outside UTK, Hank confronts Mia and she tells him to back off or she'll reveal their secret.
Dani tries to celebrate, but Charlie tells her to leave. He then reads the manuscript.
As Becca packs, she tells Mia that she's moving in with Hank not for fun, but to take care of him – because he's just about lost everything.
Charlie finds out from Hank about the affair with Mia. Their conversation is cut short by the arrival of Becca and a very upset Karen.
Becca and Hank spend some time together, which offers Hank some peace. Later that night, Karen comes by and realises that maybe she's making a mistake in marrying Bill.
Repeated Saturday 12 July, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 02 July, 10:10pm on FIVER
It’s just another sunny day in hell as Hank contemplates the state of his life. On hand to offer him encouragement and advice is best friend and agent Charlie Rumkle, who has moved in with him after Marcy kicked him out of their marital home. As Marcy reflects on her affair with Dani, Charlie finds himself competing with Hank for female attention and decides to shape up. But Hank has some wise words for Charlie – sex can’t replace love. Should promiscuous Hank be listening to his own advice?
On Charlie’s orders, the pair head to the gym and before long, Hank has attracted the attention of female boxer Laura. Unfortunately, she is one of Hank’s recent conquests and he can’t remember who she is. She hopes that a round in the ring will knock some sense into him.
Meanwhile, devious Mia has made an appointment with Charlie to discuss the novella she stole from Hank. Upon arrival at the office, she is disappointed to discover that Charlie has cancelled her meeting until Dani, a wannabe agent, offers to read her work instead. Dani loves Mia’s/Hank’s writing and promises Mia that she will be a literary sensation. But just how far is Mia willing to go?
Later, while Karen and Marcy are debating the ups and downs of their love lives, Marcy accidentally reveals that Hank bought Karen an engagement ring. This piece of news forces Karen to question her relationship with fiancé Bill – is he really the right man for her? However, these doubts are blown out of the water when Marcy and Karen find their ex-partners in bed with the female boxer. Has this ill-fated threesome blown Hank’s last chance?
Repeated Saturday 05 July, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 25 June, 10:10pm on FIVER
The exploits of bohemian novelist Hank Moody in the City of Angels continue with him having scored a big new contract, thanks to his agent and best friend Charlie.
A big wad of cash in hand, Hank thinks it might be time for a change and buys a ring for his ex-girlfriend Karen to try and convince her that he has finally begun to mend his sinful ways. What’s more, Hank has written the draft of a novel during the last few weeks and wants Karen to read it – however, she’s not too happy about this turn of events.
On a lighter note, Hank treats himself to a new Porsche and immediately gets up to his old tricks with the good-looking female sales assistant. Will he ever learn?
With the remaining cash still burning a hole in his pocket, Hank also wants to treat his daughter Becca to a nice present after seeing her perform her first song. At the guitar shop, Becca begins to have ideas of her own regarding her father’s generous offer and buys an instrument from an old rocker when she notices he has fallen on hard times.
Repeated Saturday 28 June, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 18 June, 10:10pm on FIVER
‘California Son’ begins with Hank staring at a blank computer screen, still unable to write. His inactivity is soon shattered when he receives a phone call from his sister, who delivers the devastating news that their father has died.
While drowning his sorrows in a bar, Hank meets a woman named Trixie who fails to reveal that she is a prostitute. When Hank finds out, the deed has already been done but Hank is all out of cash after buying a load of cocaine. Hank takes a few punches from Trixie’s pimp before his agent and best friend Charlie arrives to bail him out.
Charlie offers Hank his condolences for the loss of his father, but Hank is adamant that he is not going to the funeral, proclaiming his father to be the ‘moodiest of Moodys’. As Hank struggles with bad memories of his father, a series of flashbacks provide a rare glimpse into Hank’s history.
It is revealed that Karen and Hank split because she had an affair with a man whose house she was redesigning, although their relationship had deteriorated long before that – a result of Hank’s hectic schedule and inflated ego. We also learn that when it comes to womanising, Hank was heavily influenced by his father, who had many affairs throughout his marriage. This appalled Hank, making him a more committed father.
Back in the present, Hank and Karen find themselves drawn back towards each other and Hank admits that he still loves her. Is there a chance that Becca will get her wish and that Karen and Hank will be reunited?
Repeated Saturday 21 June, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 11 June, 10:10pm on FIVER
Hank is concerned when he discovers that Becca, who possesses a philosophical outlook that belies her youth, doesn’t believe in happy endings – a result of his and Karen’s failed relationship. Karen admits that when it comes to matters of the heart you have to be realistic, but Hank firmly believes that anything is possible, especially in love. With this in mind, Hank continues to pursue his dream of winning Karen back in a bid to prove to Becca that happy endings do sometimes exist. But will Becca just end up disappointed again?
Meanwhile, Hank’s best friend and agent Charlie Rumkle is contemplating a dream of his own: he hopes that a ménage à trois will help save his marriage to Marcy. But he doesn’t count on the third person in his threesome being the woman he has been having an affair with, his secretary Dani. After failing to convince Marcy to choose someone else, Marcy’s fantasy is brought to life. However, the reality of the situation doesn’t quite live up to everyone’s expectations.
Elsewhere, Todd Carr, the man who directed the film version of Hank’s novel, is keen to work with him again but Hank isn’t so sure, considering that their last encounter ended in fisticuffs. However, he soon agrees when he finds out that Todd has something that could earn him some major brownie points with Karen. She is thrilled by what follows, but before they get the chance to celebrate, they receive a call from Mia. Will the teenage temptress finally spill the beans about her relationship with Hank?
Repeated Saturday 14 June, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 04 June, 10:10pm on FIVER
Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder begins with a proposition for Hank. A visit to the supermarket finds him meeting an attractive surfer girl who ends up staying the night at his house. Things go well at first, as the two bond over why vinyl albums sound infinitely superior to anything from the digital age. Come the morning, though, he wakes up to find not only that she is gone, but that some of his possessions are too!
There is also a shock for Hank’s agent Charlie Rumkle, who has been conducting a series of sex games with his incompetent but alluring assistant Dani. This week, their affair is in danger of being exposed when Charlie’s wife Marcy unexpectedly shows up at the office. As Dani saves his skin, Marcy comments, ‘She’s like your little slave, that one’. It’ll only be a matter of time before Charlie and Dani’s affair is discovered, so he is inspired to try and spice up his sex life with Marcy. But will he be able to take home the sort of sex he’s been enjoying at the office?
Meanwhile, having previously bedded Mia without knowing her age or the identity of her father, Hank’s relationship with her is now a creative one; she’s been excelling in writing classes at school after submitting material written by him. He now persuades her to find her own identity and offers to help her with her attempts to write her own assignments.
As for Becca, she’s also displaying an artistic bent in her role as lead singer and guitarist in the group Kill Jill, who perform at a school Battle of the Bands. Hank and Karen are proud parents indeed, even though when Karen asks Hank at one point in the performance, ‘Are you crying?’ he will only mutter something about ‘allergies’.
Repeated Saturday 07 June, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 28 May, 10:10pm on FIVER
Bill asks Hank to give a short talk on creative writing in the all-girls school attended by Bill’s daughter Mia. Hank accepts and he proves to be a hit with the girls – he even has trouble leaving the classroom with the admiring students flocking around him. He also learns just why teacher Nick Lowry thinks he’s got the best job in the world, which even Hank finds rather troubling.
Elsewhere, Hank’s best friend and agent Charlie Rumkle is going through a rough patch in his marriage as his wife Marcy demands more sex from him, and of an especially kinky sort in particular.
Things are just as problematic for Hank in his new relationship with lawyer Meredith. When he is giving an interview on a radio talk show hosted by punk rock icon Henry Rollins (as himself), the author complains about the dumbcyber-speak that has taken over the English language, what with all the text message abbreviations and silly acronyms used in everyday speech these days. Unfortunately, Meredith is quite fond of expressing herself that way, and she takes Hank’s general rant rather personally and splits up with him – not without saying goodbye, though.
Meanwhile, Hank’s daughter Becca experiences the pangs of a broken heart for the first time when her guitar teacher is pounced upon by Mia, much to the chagrin of Becca, who is clearly smitten.
Repeated Saturday 31 May, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 21 May, 10:10pm on FIVER
In this week’s episode of the adult comedy-drama, the acclaimed but disenchanted novelist Hank Moody has to bite his tongue. Meredith, his current flame, has a suggestion as to how their relationship can progress beyond the confines of the bedroom. Her idea is for them to attend a fundraising event in aid of the environment. ‘I’m not a joiner,’ he whines, but he reluctantly agrees to go anyway.
On his way to the fundraiser, Hank stops off at ex-girlfriend Karen’s house in order to present their 12-year-old daughter Becca with a very special gift. The only drawback is that it’s exactly the sort of present that Karen has discouraged him from buying for her. As ever, it’s Becca who has the most incisive, wily questions about her parents’ relationships.
At the environmental fundraiser, Hank’s agent Charlie tries to sign up an A-lister, who is dismissed by Hank with a typically unprintable riposte. Karen turns up too, and she trades wisecracks with Hank. On meeting a fellow author, Hank demeans her style of escapist writing, but is wrong-footed by her candour about the realities of the publishing world.
Repeated Saturday 24 May, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 14 May, 10:10pm on FIVER
Tonight’s episode begins with a well-attended bookshop signing for Moody, which is interrupted by the furious arrival of Todd Carr, the man who directed the A Crazy Little Thing Called Love movie that has upset Hank so much. The author’s constant sniping in the press has finally made Carr’s patience snap.
Having been offered writing work – a blog for top magazine Hell-A – Hank is dissatisfied with the project, although this may be because the man in charge of the magazine is Bill, who just so happens to be Karen’s future groom. Bill’s also at the end of his tether with Hank, but while he wants the maverick writer to continue blogging, he has some advice: ‘Forget about the woman you didn’t want to marry’.
Unbeknown to Bill, Hank has already bedded his teenage daughter Mia. She now needs some help for her creative writing class, and with her tutor having not put pen to paper in five years, who better to guide her than a top author who nevertheless is no longer interested in the process of writing?
Indeed, Hank is so disenchanted that he fires his agent and best friend Charlie for the umpteenth time. Charlie in turn tells his incompetent assistant Dani that her services are no longer required, but it isn’t long before she is hastily reinstated. What’s changed his mind?
Meanwhile, Hank approaches attorney Meredith, with whom he has previously had a one-night stand, and tries to re-establish relations. Initially reluctant, her icy wall begins to thaw thanks to his laconic, mordant wit, and another one-night stand leads to a dinner date, and a challenge for Hank: to rescue her dog. But is any or all of this enough to help him banish the despair of, as he puts it, ‘rotting away in the California sun’?
Repeated Saturday 17 May, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 07 May, 10:10pm on FIVER
Hank is missing New York like mad, especially as he’s barely written a word since arriving on the west coast. His agent and best friend, Charlie, is despairing at his inability to write. Reacting to a moment of silence, he tells Hank, ‘That’s the sound of my phone not ringing for you.’
Help is at hand, though. Hell-A magazine writer Nora suggests to Hank that he should channel his rage and write a blog for the publication. Hank is rather more interested in playing around than writing, but with Nora firmly in a relationship, he opts for the woman who passed over her phone number when they were stuck in traffic. The woman turns out to be a porn star whose latest flick has been very loosely ‘inspired’ by the film of Hank’s book. Maybe he’ll approve of that adaptation instead...
Hank’s ex Karen and his precocious daughter Becca have moved out, with Karen planning to wed the sensible Bill Gross. However, both are keen to keep relations pleasant, to the extent of trying to matchmake Hank at their upcoming dinner party. As he forces a smile and takes his seat, he finds wandering hands not only from his date, but from Bill’s 16-year-old daughter Mia, whom he has already bedded (without knowing her age).
However, it is Becca, with a wisdom well in excess of her youth, who publicly and calmly delivers the back story as to how and why her estranged parents’ relationship originally developed. And it is also Becca who gives her father the emotional support lacking in his complex web of physical dalliances.
Repeated Saturday 10 May, 10.10pm on FIVER
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Showing on: Wednesday 30 April, 10:10pm on FIVER
David Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a disillusioned novelist who has swapped New York City for a new life in Los Angeles. Moody’s relocation (and his disappointment) occurs because his recent acclaimed novel, God Hates Us All – a cynical, often misanthropic tome – has been adapted for the big screen, but eventually emerges as a vacuous romantic comedy entitled A Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
In light of the adaptation, the act of actually writing is way down the list of Moody’s priorities. He took his family with him to the west coast, but it wasn’t long before his partner Karen tired of his lack of professional ambition, and opted for engagement to sensible and wealthy businessman Bill. Hank’s lifestyle descends into excess and indulgence, crossed with a fascinated disdain for his new-found celebrity – and he has an acid test ready for any woman he encounters: is she smitten by the novel, or entertained by what he believes to have been its watered-down cinematic version?
In this pilot episode, we see Moody lurch from one affair to another while trying to somehow convince Karen that they should resume their relationship. Their 12-year-old daughter Becca is wise beyond her years, with a maturity that easily exceeds that of her father, and often surpasses her mother’s too. Through it all, Becca accepts her father for who he is, no matter how reprehensible his behaviour can often be. For his part, Hank takes pride in fatherhood, offering her a respect he rarely awards his numerous sexual conquests. Ultimately, he yearns for redemption, in terms of career, monogamy and fatherhood – but how will he convince Karen to give him another chance?
Repeated Saturday 03 May, 10.10pm on FIVER