“Everything that I write is either for her or about her,” Hank tells Atticus before leaving his job and his muse only to end up back at his truest love’s door. “I’m with her, even if I’m not.” Ask any guy that has an ounce of romance in him about how nothing you plan in your head unfolds exactly the way you want it to. In those moments before the knock you can’t prepare for someone’s reaction, you can only put it out there and hope. The episode opens with Hank knocking and Karen accepting. The sweeping passionate kiss ensues. The band is back together. With that opening scene, we’re back to the comfort zone of the series. We’re in a love square where Hank and Karen head for insert new partners A and B here for half of the season. They’ll come back like they always do, pushing away the placeholders and looking each other in the eyes, likely on a beach, and saying it’s time to give it one more try. Those other “one more try” times were just practice. Before we get back into Hank and Karen’s typical love square, we have a new season and new plot to carry Californication into syndication. After quitting on Atticus and Faith for the slim chance that Karen would take him back, Hank is jobless. You can’t provide for a woman if you have no job. Newly remarried and forever erectility dysfunct Charlie Runckle nets Hank a shot at the only medium he’s yet to “shit on.” So now Hank is going to put on his TV writing cap and develop a series based on Santa Monica Cop, the film that he personally helped burn to ashes in season five. There to vet Hank is TV executive Rick Rath, who is played by the commanding presence known as Michael Imperioli. You might recognize him from the vodka commercials or some show from the early 2000s. Now armed with long, flowing grey locks, Imperioli’s Rick Rath instantly connects with Hank. They’re both New York guys and writers who are crushed by the creative constraints of living their lives in the soul-crushing valley. As excited as I am for that relationship to develop, Californication throws us a plot twist so obvious that I’m surprised they waited this long to bring it around. With the general ease Hank has when it comes to scoring with the ladies, you’d think he’d have a pregnancy scare or another child somewhere along the way. To round out the trifecta of plots that will define season seven, Levon (played by Oliver Cooper of Project X fame), the awkward college student who hassles Hank for an interview, is claiming that Hank could be his father. That should be more than enough to stir up a little drama with Karen. With the plots firmly anchored and Hank’s fear and self-loathing in Los Angles continuing to run down its familiar course, Californication doesn’t begin the end with a bang, rather it shows us that the stories we construct, whether they’re on paper or playing out in front of you, can get easily skewed. We all know how Hank thinks this thing should end. Somewhere deep inside of Karen there’s a voice telling her to succumb to Hank’s projection of reality. Only that’s not how it works in Californication. There’s always something blocking the doorway. Extras: Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
