What I’m Watching: Californication (Season Premiere)

Californication: Season 4, Episode 1 “Exile on Main St.” (B+)

It’s great to have this show back as the lead-in for Showtime’s “Biggest Sunday Night Ever,” even if it meant it had to be entirely off the air for the calendar year of 2010. In this premiere, not too much happens, but we get a sense of what this season is going to be about and how it’s going to differ from past years. Most interestingly, Mia appears to be absent, but her presence can be felt everywhere. I don’t think we’ve ever seen Karen so angry and completely furious, as if she’s immune to Hank’s considerable charms. That’s not true of every lady, of course, as a bewildered Hank quickly beds the actress playing Mia, who did a truly spectacular job introducing herself by seriously psyching him out when they first met. Hank’s uncertainty when it comes to being involved in another screenplay adaptation makes sense, and I do hope his concepts won’t be too ruined when translated to the big screen (a la season six of “The L Word,” for instance, and, as it happens, the David Duchovny film “The TV Set”). Of course, it does seem that Hank will have more serious things to worry about being okay with himself as a writer, as evidenced by the events at the end of the episode. Carla Gugino is a fun addition as the lawyer representing Hank and watching the two of them interact (and presumably eventually sleep together) should prove quite entertaining. Charlie is fun as ever, and I’m just hopeful that Karen and Becca being mad at Hank doesn’t mean we’ll see them less.