When I first screened Californication, I called it the best the best pilot I'd seen in a long while.
Last night's season finale put a rubber stamp on its place as the best new series of the year and propelled David Duchovny's to the head of the pack for 'Best Actor in a Comedy Series;' no small feat with competition like Steve Carell and Alec Baldwin.
The final scene, a surprising act of redemption was absolutely brilliant, a final act of defiance to those who criticized the premise as nothing more than a cliched soap with an overabundance of nudity.
All season, the writing oozed of such self-referential charm quashing any hints of pretension. Coupled with the writers' ability to deftly navigate the line of severely dark overtures and side splitting humor, the plot was as tightly scribed as anything on television today.
With Duchovny's brilliant performance, Hank's acute awareness of the utter predictability of his self-inflicted path to destruction and inability to stop it rendered him one of the great charactures of the tragically flawed protagonist.
Quite an accomplishment in a year that saw The Sopranos try, and fail, to do the same.
Final Grade: A
Contact Nadum at Nadum_TV@comcast.com
