Californication (on Showtime)

[©brad]

Riddle me this, xixax friends, as you all are far smarter than I - how is it that an artist (and I'm using that term quite loosely here) can be simultaneously brilliant and hackey in the span of just a single scene? How does her brilliant side not overule the hack side (which of course resides in everyone). How are we so blind to our own fuckups when we see them so clearly in someone else's work?

Because you see, what makes a show like Californication so frustrating to me is that there is some true brilliance amidst the manic, heavy-handed shambles. Case in point- last night's finale had a scene where Hank and Becca go on a father-daughter walk during which Becca admits to having sex for the first time. Now we've seen such a scene many a time, but goddamn was this one near perfect - not over-written, not over-acted, not over-anything. It felt real, genuine, poignant. It just fucking worked. Even the most cynical cynic would be hard-pressed not to feel a twinge of "oh man..." So, how the fuck can Tom Kapinos (writer/creator), the same Tom Kapinos who crafted said brilliant scene write such an embarrassing, heavy-handed dream sequence of Hank drowning in a pool, nevermind preside over a season rife with sitcom cliches and poorly structured character arcs. I know he's smart. I know he can write. I know he possess an intellect far more sophisticated than mine. So how does this shit happen? How does he not know? I can't believe it's just laziness, or the pressure behind producing 12+ episodes of content in such a short amount of time.

I felt the same way about (500) days of summer. That movie pissed me off more than the countless Kate Hudson-starring rom-coms I've suffered through on flights back home (and we all know those are the kind of movies that make you wish for death's cold embrace). I can deal with mediocrity when I need to, but 500 days - what the fuck. That movie had several moments that were balls to the walls awesome, inexplicably intermixed with trite hollywood bullshit. Do artists just blow their wads on great moments, and in doing so render themselves void of any juice left to fill in the gaps? 

[Fernando]

I wonder if anyone can unriddle what you mention, beats me for sure, but ive wondered that a lot too, almost every writer eventually does shitty scripts or scenes, the rare breed that doesn't is way short and our boy pta and charlie kaufman fall in this breed (so far).

as for the last episode im with you about not only that drowning dream sequence but all of them, to me it seems a cheap way to explain what the character is living, didnt all the past episodes did that??? having said that, that shitty ending made me really sad.

[ElPandaRoyal]

I wonder if anyone can unriddle what you mention, beats me for sure, but ive wondered that a lot too, almost every writer eventually does shitty scripts or scenes, the rare breed that doesn't is way short and our boy pta and charlie kaufman fall in this breed (so far).

as for the last episode im with you about not only that drowning dream sequence but all of them, to me it seems a cheap way to explain what the character is living, didnt all the past episodes did that??? having said that, that shitty ending made me really sad.

I understand completely what you guys are saying, but this episode in particular didn't bother me at all. The pool scenes made complete sense to me, and that ending really felt like it punched me in the nutts. It was the best of the season finales.

[cronopio 2]

cool season premiere.

[Gold Trumpet]

Not much to say. Started watching this show because it was on Showtime and I got into season 4 so I backtracked through the first 3 seasons and now I am hooked. I don't think the show is amazing in every department. Lots of the scenes and elements of drama are forced, but I also would consider this show to be better than most out there. When it comes to TV, I'm not looking for polished products all around. It's almost impossible to maintain excellence for very long. I'm looking for moments of inspiration where the quality peaks above what you would expect. There are a lot of perfect little moments in this that a general show or film just doesn't show. Sometimes the moments are packaged in standard plot stories and sometimes the show knows exactly how to make Hank's antics nearly the whole story and just ride his personality. It's pretty amazing.

I also watched it with a friend and they accused me of being a Hank Moody type of personality and recognizing my own kind by saying I liked the show.