By Curt Schleier

The universe is slightly off kilter.  Things are going well for Hank Moody (David Duchovny).  How can that be?

Moody’s descent into hell has been at the center of CALIFORNIACATION.  The success novel he worked so hard on was made into a crummy film “starring Tom and Katie.”  His relationship with Karen (Natascha McElhone) ended.  And he developed a writing block that kept him from doing anything he considered meaningful.

But everything changed, ironically, when his father died.  He slept with Karen again before he went east for the funeral and he thinks that “knocked something loose.”  Whether it was the sex or his belief that the two of them would get back together again is unclear, but Moody started to write.  Using his mother’s typewriter he quickly wrote a slender tome and rushed back to California, where more good news awaited him.

The lousy film with Tom & Katie was so big a hit, Hank is entitled to a large check. 

He’s come back with an engagement ring for Karen, even though she plans to marry someone else.  And Hank wants her to read the manuscript; she’s read everything he’s written and he values her judgment.  The two will marry, raise their daughter and perhaps even have more kids.

Can things get any better?  Apparently not.

Karen refuses to read the book.. The sex, she tells Hank, was grieving sex and didn’t mean anything.  In a moment of pathos so genuine it virtually leaps off the screen, Moody asks:


“What if I wanted to go back and do it all over again, but this time do it right?”

“Hank,” she says with finality, “I don’t love you anymore.”

I don’t know if Hank is going to give up, but he realizes he’s been defeated.  “I am such a fucking asshole,” he says with resignation as he walks out the door.

But things go from bad to worse.  He’s bought a new Porsche with the film money and that gets carjacked – with his one copy of the manuscript in it.


Meanwhile his agent Charlie (Evan Handler) is excited about the opportunity to sell a new Moody novel.  He comes home unexpectedly to celebrate and finds his wife Marcy (Pamela Adlon) in bed with his secretary, Dani (Rachel Miner). 

Can things get any worse? 

Yes.  Previews for next week show they can get a lot worse.