The dust has settled from four seasons of Hank-ification. Sexual indiscretions and mediocre attempts at parenting have landed Hank Moody (David Duchovny) with 3 years probation, no jail time, community service and a twenty-five thousand dollar fine. Not bad for someone who just fucked and punched his way into a Hollywood feature film based off of his infamous life.
But where do we go from here? Becca (Madeleine Martin) and Karen (Natascha McElhone) are off on a road trip with Ben (Michael Ealy) and his daughter Pearl (Zoë Kravitz). It would seem Karen has found new love. And Hank has apparently turned tail on Abby (Carla Gugino), the finest girl he’s had since Karen, and gone back to fornicating – specifically with the actress playing Karen in the FnP film.
Well, creator Tom Kapinos left us with some heavy-handed clues that would make Weeds’ showrunner Jenji Kohan jealous.
“And, we’ll be back,” Becca says to Hank.
“Something tells me it’ll never be the same,” Hank replies.
“Who knows? Maybe, it’ll be better.” Becca states
And, there you have it. Kapinos has mapped out the future of Californication in three quick lines. Yes, Cali will be back for Season 5 and with it Becca and Karen. No, it won’t be the same. Kapinos will be taking the story in a new direction. Perhaps, Martin and McElhone won’t be regulars, but they’ll be there. Hank will always need his rocks as he finds the next stage of moral depravity to dive into. That way he can continue to only “accidentally” commit suicide. He did it twice this season, nearly killing himself again in a drunken and drowning stupor.
The first season of Californication began with Hank’s first book being a total fail, if only in his opinion. Now, we can expect Hank to move up the ladder to Entourage success levels. The FnP film will be the most anticipated movie of the year after the tabloid court case. So, expect Hank to spiral into stardom. Needless to say, the women will come even more freely and the sex will be nonstop. Hopefully, that doesn’t also come with seeing Charlie Runkle’s (Evan Handler) naked arse too many times.
Speaking of Runkle, it would appear that Marcy (Pamela Adlon) will be going into season 5 still attached to Stu Baggs (Stephen Tobolowsky). Marcy and Charlie have shown how much they love each other through blood shed and a catfight. And although the truth about the baby-daddy is out in the open there was no final resolution to the situation. Instead, Kapinos showed everyone on set together apparently moving forward business as usual.
However, three years probation is a long time. Long enough, in fact, for Kapinos to initiate the “TV Time Jump” so that we can see where Hank’s life winds up after stepping into the limelight with more cash and losing Karen and Becca for some time.
Cali has never been known for keeping guest-stars from season to season. So if Tobolowsky and Ealy don’t return, we’ll get some added exposition at the start of Season 5 as we find out what happened to these new couples.
For now, Hank is left driving off into the future with the sun setting on a four-season story arc. Traditionally, viewers have always loathed directional changes in a series. However, it’s necessary to keep the writing and characters fresh. Jenji Kohan did it with Weeds, giving the writers and actors more room to flex their creative muscle. Fans needed some time to adjust, but overall it was a success.
Now, Kapinos will do the same. And, it should be one rockin’ ride, perhaps all the way through Californication Season 6 or 7.
