Californication: Why does Hanky Moody remain likeable?

What keeps me coming back to Hank is his honesty, self-awareness and lack of hypocrisy.

Image from Californication Season 6

Yahoo TV: Hank Moody is not a man I ever wish to meet, yet alone be around, but he appears to have this quality that makes him ineffably magnetic. He's a misogynistic womaniser who sleeps with underage girls and spends most of his waking hours under the influence of whatever substance he can get his hands on. But there's a reason I still watch 'Californication' after all these years, and the central character has to be a big part of that. I think what keeps me coming back to Hank is his honesty, self-awareness and lack of hypocrisy; he is who he is and does not try to hide, for better or worse.

David Duchovny doesn't have an easy job portraying the man that is essentially a combination of Bret Easton Ellis, Charles Bukowski and himself. Hank is essentially a loner, barely capable of having a conversation with someone of the opposite gender without the subtext being sex. In fact, the only person it is clear that he cares for is his daughter, Rebecca, and most of Hank's more gentle moments come in the company of his offspring. I think it's the moments with his daughter that humanise Hank and it can be very easy to warm to him when he's in a more intimate setting.

What Duchovny does with Hank is make him oddly fascinating which is what is needed to make the show and the character work. I believe Hank to be a fundamentally repulsive human being that doesn't deserve an ounce of the acclaim or success he has received but Duchovny makes him a character you are intrigued by, and his performance is still one of the best on television. Duchovny manages to wield this special power that makes Hank likeable despite all the bad that is linked to him.

When it's all said and done, Californication will be remembered for Duchovny's performance and for his ability to make a repulsive figure a genuinely likeable and captivating man. Hank's adventures are fun to watch and I get a great amount of pleasure from watching David Duchovny do his thing and the fact that he makes Hank likeable is one grand achievement.

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