By Curt Schleier

Will the real Hank Moody please stand up?

Is Moody (David Duchovny), the hedonistic, sleep-with-anything-with-a-vagina a-hole or is a genuinely nice guy gone astray?

That’s one of the questions at the center of CALIFORNICATION, and in The Devil’s Threesome we see Moody, the good guy.

He’s apparently unconcerned that his brand new Porsche was stolen with what he believes is the one copy of his new novella in it.  He has a bigger problem.  His agent, Charlie (Evan Handler) is living with him now that he and his wife are splitsville.  And Charlie wants Dave to be his wingman on this new road of singlehood.

At the gym that evening, Charlie takes boxing lessons from a female instructor who taunts Hank into the ring, where she promptly kicks his behind.  He doesn’t remember, but it turns out they spent a night together once and he never called again.  So despite the bruises she inflicts, she agrees to service Charlie if Hank takes part.  America is a wonderful country.

Meanwhile, Karen (Natascha McElhone), Hank’s former girlfriend, and Marcy (Pamela Adlon), Charlie’s former wife, have a get together for a girl’s night out.  They spend the evening talking about the good old days, when they were couples who hung out together, before Karen and Hank broke up and before Marcy experimented with Charlie’s secretary, Dani (Rachel Miner). 


That experimented went nowhere, as the foul-mouthed Marcy makes clear.  “To get a girl off is like disconnecting a bomb. All those wires down there.  Give me a mouthful of cock any day. Call me old fashioned.”

Then Marcy lets out a secret.  Though Karen is engaged, Hank spent a large portion of some windfall money he received on an antique engagement ring, the kind she loves.  It makes her think twice – again – about the wisdom of her upcoming nuptials to someone else.  So the two ladies decide to crash the Moody pad, expecting to find their men pining away. 

Instead they discover the devil’s threesome, and it is a messy sight, even with Moody not actively participating.

The girls run out. The men run after them.  And when he catches up to her, it becomes clear again that Hank and Karen belong together.  It’s one of those stupid TV devices, bringing couples together just close enough so you think it will all work out, and then tearing them apart.  It’s done time and again, mostly because it works.  Karen and Hank are so appealing characters, their daughter is so wonderful, they need to get together if just for me.  And I’ll watch until they do.


Meanwhile, there’s other news on the horizon.  The good news is that Mia (Madeline Zima), daughter of Karen’s fiancé, made a copy of Hank’s manuscript.  The bad news is that she’s passing it off as her own.  A showdown is due next week.