The episode lives up to its title “Rock and a Hard Place,” because a series of delicate situations need to be resolved. Charlie loses another job, but Hank comes to the rescue yet again. He agrees to set up a meeting with Stu to attempt to get Atticus’ rock opera project green lit. Stu admits his business is suffering without Marcy, much like Hank can’t write without his muse. When we start to think we have seen it all in Californication, we get a drug dealer, played by Jorge Garcia of Lost fame, caught in a “muthafucka” battle with Hank. But the story of the episode is Faith. She’s electric in every scene, whether she’s lying by the pool trading jabs with Hank or retrieving the guitar and the cocaine to appease an edgy Atticus. Hank hasn’t exactly been foaming at the mouth over Faith. He’s smoked with her and stolen from a dead man for her but hasn’t made a move on her. It feels like Hank is taking time to find himself, but maybe what he needs is right in front of him. In the end, Faith tells Hank that she’s taking a liking to his work. Like a true groupie, she wants to help another person with talent make their mark on the world. “You’ve got that thing, that spark,” she says with an honest smile. She thinks Hank hasn’t “nailed it yet,” leaving everyone to wonder what else there is to come for Hank Moody. “I didn’t say this would be easy.”
