Californication Season 3 preview: 5 reasons to envy Hank Moody

Sure, he’s a total train wreck. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be jealous of some of the serendipitous moments in Hank Moody’s life. As Californication enters Season 3, we’ve got five reasons to envy the series’ protagonist/womanizer/washed-up novelist.

1. He literally stumbles into a new job. Accepting a last-minute dinner invite from the mother of one of Becca’s friends turns out to be terrific luck for Hank, who soon finds himself a teaching creative writing to swooning coeds at a swanky LA college.

 

2. He’s still a ladies man. The college yields not one, not two, but three lovely women for Hank to pass the time with, each with her own charms. His English department boss is an elegant Brit in her 40s, played by Embeth Davidtz (Schindler’s List, Fracture, Bridget Jones’ Diary). Numb3rs‘ Dianne Farr plays his teaching assistant, a clever 30-something with a ticking biological clock. And Eva Amurri (Saved!, The Banger Sisters) looks uncannily like her mother, Susan Sarandon, as she plays a talented student in Hank’s class who moonlights as a stripper.

 

3. He has a great relationship with his ex. Sure, Karen is in New York for her dream job. But she and Hank still co-parent Becca and trade compliments via webcam. They clearly love each other, but they know conventional doesn’t work for them so they each see other people and trust it’ll work out in the long run.

 

4. He doesn’t have to worry about Mia anymore. The precocious teen who stole his last novel is taking F*cking and Punching on a national book tour, so she’s not there to manipulate him (Madeline Zima, who plays Mia, is booked on NBC’s Heroes this fall, so she’s unlikely to appear on Californication), or to drag Becca into any adolescent shenanigans. Actually, Beccy does that quite well on her own.

 

5. He’ll get to party with Rick Springfield. The “Jesse’s Girl” scribe shows up early in the season as a client Charlie signs at his new agency. Charlie’s cougarific boss, played to hilariously horny effect by Kathleen Turner, ends up putting the kibosh on any chances Charlie had to get back with Marcy. But he and Hank make the best of things with Rick, who is no stranger to womanizing, boozing and all that jazz.

 

Californication returns to Showtime this Sunday, September 29, 2009, at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Image: Courtesy of Showtime