californication
fear and loathing at the fundraiser (4/13)

Continuing tonight is the US comedy-drama about a jaded New York novelist (David Duchovny) who relocates to Hollywood after his best-seller is made into a hit film. In tonight’s episode, Hank struggles to be on his best behaviour at a fundraiser evening; Karen starts a row when a man bumps into her and Charlie gets up to mischief with his secretary.

When Hank’s new girlfriend, Meredith, expresses her desire to develop their relationship outside the bedroom, he finds himself reluctantly agreeing to attend an environmental fundraiser. But little does Hank know that he is walking into a potential viper’s nest of trouble.

First up, Hank runs into Todd Carr, the screenwriter of his film. The last time Hank saw Carr, he let slip that he had slept with Carr’s wife, Sandy, and ended up in a public fistfight (see last week’s episode, ‘The Whore of Babylon’). On this occasion, Carr seems more conciliatory and informs Hank that he is about to leave his wife. But Carr has a sting in his tail – he reveals that Sandy is also at the fundraiser and is furious with Hank for revealing her infidelity.

While Hank is busy keeping an eye out for the vengeful Sandy, he runs into his ex, Karen, who is attending the event with her boyfriend, Bill. Hank hopes to impress Karen by behaving himself in public for once, but has difficulty keeping control when Meredith introduces him to her friends, Jonathan and Nikki Mandel. Hank is surprised when, left alone with Nikki, she begins to flirt outrageously. “Looks can be deceiving,” Nikki tells Hank, before revealing that Meredith has been having a long-term affair with her husband.

Hank realises that Jonathan Mandel is the married man that Meredith has talked about. Taken to one side, an emotional Meredith confesses that she is still hopelessly in love with Jonathan and cannot truly commit to Hank. “When you’ve spent the last five years loving a man and wondering why he doesn’t love you back, you tend to get a wee bit cynical about things,” she admits. Moved by her words, Hank is overcome by the chivalrous need to defend her – and marches off to confront the philandering Jonathan.

Elsewhere, Karen also finds herself in danger of causing a scene when she bumps into a man who spills his drink all over her. The man declines to apologise and resorts to calling her a very offensive word. Karen is further incensed when Bill fails to stand up for her. Could it be that she needs someone more headstrong to defend her – someone like Hank, maybe?

Also this week, Charlie gets the shock of his life when Hank catches him taking saucy pictures of his secretary, Dani, in his office. Charlie almost collapses in fright and Hank has to calm him down. “Don’t have a coronary because I wouldn’t know how to explain it to your wife,” Hank tells him. A shameful Charlie confesses that he got carried away and decides he must make amends to his wife.