Californication, Season 6, Episode 7: The Dope Show, Review

Remember when everyone thought Marilyn Manson was the anti-Christ? In the post-Columbine world were school shooting violence was triggered by the demonic music and the drug culture was to blame for society’s problems, Marilyn Manson was the poster boy for the fears of concerned parents. Manson’s star has faded in recent years, but the volatile rocker is back to instill a little anarchy in the children of America in Californication’s latest episode “The Dope Show.”

Manson joins the Californication cast at exactly the right time. Coming out of a near death experience has Hank and Runckle re-assessing what is important in life. For Hank, he comes home to find Becca on a party binge, trashing Runckle’s house and experimenting with older, grisly men. There is no bigger train wreck on Californication than Atticus, so Hank brings Becca to the Fetch residence to witness the ugly side of rock and roll. The thing is, rock and roll has a ton of upside. Fortune, drugs and famous friends are a part of the lifestyle and Becca is surprised to meet her hero, Marilyn Manson.

As much as Manson has been criticized, he has always been the first to come out and defend his art. So Californication has a little fun with his cameo by portraying Manson as drug obsessed with a sick sense of humor, essentially everything the parents of suburbia feared all those years ago. 

With Hank and Karen’s love affair evaporating, Runckle and Marcy are starting to pick up the slack. Last week, Runckle’s plane phobia gave him the chance to soul search. The experience assured him that the feelings for Marcy that he suppressed for so long, are still there. They hook up for the first time in years, leading us to believe that maybe they will give little Stew a stable household at some point down the road. 

Love triangles have given way to love circles in Californication. How many times will we see the Hank/Karen and Charlie/Marcy storylines repeat themselves? With likely one season of Californication left we should soon see resolutions, but if these characters have shown us anything over the past six seasons it is that everyone is destined to end up continuously searching for answers.  

“I think we learn that some things never change,” says Karen after another failed parental journey with Hank.   

Californication, for better or worse, will not either.

Charlie Runckle Memories: 

When a mom requests a play date, it turns into a bathroom blowjob for Runckle. Leaving your young child at an arcade alone is a parental failure in its own right, but for Runckle even the simplest command is a challenge.  When he meets the mom in the stall, she asks him to video their encounter for pay-site porn. In Runckle fashion he gets too excited and cannot finish with accuracy, prompting the mom to holler at him for not being a good listener.