The episode, “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be“, took us to TV purgatory and wavered somewhere between a lovely and bad episode. Sadly, though, the season finale of Californication leaned toward the latter.

The set of Santa Monica Cop was a fitting backdrop for what was a Hollywood summation to several storylines developed over the coursework of the last few episodes. Samurai handled Tyler, as did Hank, who also confessed to having his own relations with Kali and – for the cherry on top – Charlie took a bullet for his dear mate and client, thereby, putting a finish to their recently stewed beef.

The preliminary scene with Lou Ashby was by far the best part of tonight’s finale. We even gave Richard’s call of the wild speech to Karen and Hank a tip of our caps, but from there the episode went steadily downhill, with Marcy and Charlie’s interactions giving a slight pulse to the otherwise cold finish.

Karen’s speech to Hank was nothing they have not heard before. Hank’s solution to everything is to run? They wanted him to stay in place and live life together with her? Finales are supposed to leave the viewer with something to ponder and look forward to in the off season. All they got in the episode were reruns and leftovers.

The murder suicide angle appeared like a convenient and simple way to close out the season as fans were left to wonder what went wrong. The only thing we could think of was that perhaps the whole episode was some delirious dream Hank was having after being drugged and Season 6 will open with him recovering in the hospital. That would be weak sauce, but like we said, we were left holding my hands in the air asking: what happened?

We appeal to you: What can next season offer up that will bring us back for more? We will certainly tune in when the time comes for more memorable Californication quotes like there were tonight, despite the dearth of a cohesive plot, but something has got to change. It seems fitting that the show’s production company is Aggressive Mediocrity Inc. because that is exactly what Californication is headed toward unless something is completed to breathe life back in to this series.