Californication

The narrative begins 3 years after Season Four, soon after the successful release of Hank’s new novel, Californication, when Hank breaks up with his latest lover Carrie (played by Natalie Zea) in New York. Depressed at the unpleasant breakup, he unquestioningly accepts Charlie’s invitation to return to L.A to meet a potential client, hip-hop artist Samurai Apocalypse (played by RZA). On the flight he almost joins the Mile High Club with a woman named Kali (Meagan Good) he later learns is Apocalypse’s main squeeze. While in L.A., Hank visits Karen and Becca and meets Karen’s new husband (also old foe), Bates. Later he meets Becca’s new boyfriend Tyler. The episode ends with Hank learning that his New York girlfriend has just torched his apartment.

Hank continues to consider writing Sam’s new movie, then decides against it after a brief but not-so-good meeting with the movie’s director, Peter Berg (playing himself). During a night at a local club with Sam, Hank spots Becca’s boyfriend Tyler making out with another girl. After confronting him, he decides to talk to Becca about Tyler instead of lashing out at him. He doesn’t end up telling Becca what he saw, but Sam and his men decide to teach Tyler a lesson that lands him in the hospital. Meanwhile, Charlie, Marcy, and Stu deal with Stuart, who has exposed himself to a preschool classmate.

Finding himself in debt to Sam for Tyler’s beating, Hank finishes writing Sam’s film script. Later, as he tries again to leave for New York, Sam asks him to take Kali out on the town. Tyler recovers from his injuries at Karen and Becca’s. Marcy and Stu leave little Stuart with Charlie when they go out, and Charlie pays too much attention to new nanny Lizzie (Camilla Luddington).

Hank receives an unwelcome surprise from Carrie, his New York ex-girlfriend, then is forced to bring her along to a dinner party at Karen’s that evening. The party soon gets out of control as Stu, Marcy, and Bates get talking about sexual proclivities. The party abruptly ends when Carrie realizes and reveals something about Hank. Meanwhile, Lizzie (Stuart’s new nanny) fixes up Charlie with a blind date named Mary.

Charlie’s boyhood dream and Hank’s worst nightmare come true when Sam invites them on a ride-along in a Santa Monica Police Department car to research his film role. The ride soon becomes a joyride, which turns sexually awry for Charlie. Thanks to Tyler, Bates drinks excessively at a Venice restaurant, but Hank and the guys arrive to save the day for Karen and Becca. Tyler mentions that he recognizes Sam from somewhere, causing realizations for some and trouble for Hank.

While Karen is still upset about what she thinks Hank did to Tyler, Sam asks Hank to help Kali write love-song lyrics. Hank tries to understand Kali better so he can write more sincere lyrics, so she tells him about her feelings when she came to LA. This makes Hank flash back to his and Karen’s move to LA. Later, Karen tells Hank she might have made a big mistake being with Bates, who won’t stop drinking.

On another drinking binge, Bates unknowingly sleeps with exotic dancer Holly, and Hank tries to pick up the pieces in order to keep Karen from being humiliated. Fired as Marcy’s nanny, Lizzie asks Charlie to help her get her job back; at the last minute Marcy begs her to return.

Hank gets stuck reading Tyler’s script discovering hidden talent (though the script appears to be a disturbingly autobiographical account of his relationship with Becca) and subsequently meets his parents. Runkle and Lizzie defile his ex’s marital bed, but hear a little more than they bargain for when Marcy and Stu come back early and are up for a little roleplay.

Movie production starts for Sam’s movie, Santa Monica Cop, but Hank jeopardizes his friendship with Sam by having a rendezvous with the lead actress. Charlie continues his relationship with Lizzie and attempts to sign Tyler to his talent group. Hank gets released from Sam’s movie and has a blowup with Charlie; he fires Charlie as his agent and as his friend.

Hank crashes with Karen and Becca while looking for power agent Larry Levine; when he finds him, Levine quickly sets up a meeting with German filmmaker and idol Lars Manderhoff; Hank also bumps into old flame Trixie (Judy Greer). Emotional and distraught from recent losses, Charlie seeks comfort from Marcy while dealing with Lizzie getting her big-break role in Santa Monica Cop thanks to Stu.

Hank overstays his welcome at Karen’s and prepares to hit the road with one last stop at Malibar. There he bumps into Lizzie, who uses her new acting skills to lure him back to Charlie’s place, which is full of his loved ones, plus Sam, Kali, Tyler, and Gabriel (Bates’ sponsor). The party ends abruptly when Hank has a run-in with Tyler after catching him with Kali in the bathroom.

As he sleeps in his car outside of Karen’s house, Hank has a nightmare starring his late friend Lew Ashby as a bartender in hell. When he wakes up and enters the house, Bates announces that he has decided to leave Karen; this offers the possibility of Hank and Karen reuniting and starting a new life in their former home. Hank meets Becca during her work break and she announces that Tyler has proposed to her. On the set of Santa Monica Cop, Sam’s jealousy and fondness for firearms give Charlie an opportunity to show how much he loves his best friend and number-one client; Carrie (Natalie Zea), the New York ex-girlfriend, returns and offers Hank a drink. He drinks it and Carrie reveals it’s laced with prescription anti-depressants. As they succumb to the drugs she remarks on how their bodies will be discovered together, and pleads with Hank to tell her he loves her. As Hank seems to lose consciousness he has a vision of Karen, to whom he says ‘I love you’, and the screen goes black.