“No Way to Treat a Lady” may well have been one of my favorite episodes of Californication to date. It started off as business as usual. Hank being his normal overtly cool self teasing Becca on her first day of private school, before heading over to Lew Ashby’s to pen the icon’s biography. True to his new demeanor, Hank declines the temptations of the flesh and flatly refuses a “free lay” with a hooker from his past named Trixie.
Unfortunately, as the cliche goes Hank’s past comes to haunt him. Once we saw the setup of Karen meeting Hank’s former hooker we knew that judgment day would surely come. And it did.
Karen and Hank have the most emotional scene ever to grace an ep of Californication. It reminded me of that episode of the Fresh Prince of Bell-Air when Will meets his father, only to yell at his surrogate father Uncle Phil, “You are not my father.” Then get betrayed by the same man who abandoned him as a kid.
Ok, I digressed.
Seeing Karen finally attack Hank for who he is, the man who could never be the man she wants, was refreshingly exhilarating. In that moment, Californication delivers a scene that pushes the envelope for comedic writing and proves that this series has life beyond being a one-season wonder.
We also saw the bitter downturn in Charlie’s career. He’s gone from representing Hollywood writers and actors to trying to weasel his way into the porn industry. Too bad he’s just not cut out for what that entails. His aggressive in-your-face agent style earns him a seat in a porn movie - unintentionally. But, that same style also earns him and his would-be client the boot from the same set - which really was just a SUV and a handycam.
Episode Synopsis
On Hank’s first day as biographer to Lew Ashby, he’s re-introduced to Trixie, the hooker with a heart of gold, who stirs up trouble by claiming that Hank is better in bed than Ashby.
When Karen and Sonja meet to discuss a renovation project, Julian interrupts to work his guru magic on Karen. Becca grudgingly starts her first day at Mia’s private school, where she meets an unexpected friend, Damien. Meanwhile, Charlie spots one of Marcy’s clients, a porn actress named Daisy.
While pitching himself as her agent, Charlie hops a ride with Daisy only to realize that he’s in the middle of an impromptu porn shoot.
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