TVSquad

(S03E04) - "You once spent an entire class ranting about how much you hate Coldplay. Something tells me you could care less about what's frowned upon." - Jackie to Hank

Hank is normally the kind of guy most average heterosexual males would form mobs against, complete with rows of flaming torches and pitchforks (used both as weapons and Freudian references to using one's phallus as a weapon).

Still, he's become the most likable monkey in the Californication barrel. And it's not because he's living a life that would make most Arabian princes jealous. It's because there is a method to his manliness tendencies. He's vulnerable and sees those vulnerabilities in people around him, especially those of the opposite sex with genes that get saved in the secret cabinet in most high priced fertility clinics.

And time and again, the most interesting and fascinating relationship is the one he has or is trying to have with his own daughter, Becca. You would think that this X chromosome whisperer would have no trouble figuring out the mind of his own flesh and blood, but he seems more lost than a Spanish explorer using Mapquest. Or maybe he just doesn't want to face the real changes that are occurring in both of their lives? Even the king of sex gets squeamish talking about the birds and bees with his own drone.

As for the other people in Hank's life, I've enjoyed Kathleen Turner's "Sue" character up until now. Her scenes are still funny, but it's becoming too one-dimensional and predictable. Every sentence that flies out of her mouth has at least three words from the Abridged Perversion Dictionary, and her suggestion that Hank boink every power player in the publishing world to get back on his feet is starting to seem paper-thin. If this show were set in any other place outside of Los Angeles, I would have written off her intentions altogether.

Plus, I wanted to hate the "incident" with the tampon at Charlie and Marcy's house, and write it off completely as just a crass joke in search of a cheap laugh for an easy way out of a situation. But in the end, I found it funny. How else could the show ruin their chances of selling their house and finally cutting each other out of their lives? If it were anything else, I would have felt cheated and used.

Even I have vulnerabilities.

[Watch clips of Californication at SlashControl.]