The Not-So-Great Ashby
Thoughts on
This was one of those
some good, some bad eps for me, like always. What I meant by the title is that I
don't know that Ashby's all that 'great'.
I like him, but I'm not convinced of 'great' yet. He's doing his best to get Hank into
trouble, and that's a not-so-great a thing for him to do, IMHO.
The first scene was
really so touching, funny and disheartening at the same time. Becca was so
very Hank-ish, seemingly wise and wonderful and full
of reality. I hope Defamer
appreciates the plug, although I've come to think they don't really exist to
appreciate *anything*. Well, except
maybe each other. But I thought it
was a nice plug for them, and I loved the picture.
Karen worrying about
her heart was a little beyond belief for me. Great thing to put in Becca's head, thanks.
Daddy broke my heart, sweetie.
I can see where she might be embarrassed her common law husband got
thrown in jail, that is, if she totally overlooks her major contribution to him
being there. I get this weird
feeling that they're trying a little too hard to make Karen seem halfway
normal, and it's not working. Maybe
they want us to think she's a normal, hardworking woman and mother, most of who
wouldn't put up with Hank's 'antics' in real life, for one day. But I think they're overlooking that
Karen is a Bohemian delight, raised in an era of questionable freedoms embraced
wholeheartedly by the culture that, at the time, were unexplored, even
unimaginable. Hank was like a
breath of fresh air for her, an honest, plain speaking man, who didn't mess
around with pretentiousness or pettiness.
She admired him for things she hates him for now, and for God's sake,
how fair is that?
She's changed, 'grown
up', or so she perceives, and Hank hasn't, in other words, and she borders on
ridiculous, when she starts playing the victim. She's as responsible for who Hank is as he is, and she can seem so shallow, when she
puts up this righteously indignant front of a moralistic and grounded mother
who's been shat upon by her wayward husband. Please. I see Hank doing his damnedest to
straighten up and fly right, with little to no help from her, thank you, and I
don't get why she doesn't.
Wish Karen could see
what I see, but I have to keep reminding myself she's pretty clueless compared
to me. I get to follow Hank
everywhere, and she doesn't. Maybe
that's part of the reason for her apparent disconnect from how hard Hank really
is trying to love her the way she'd appreciate. I get to see a lot of Hank's heart and
devotion that she doesn't. So, it
looks like she's already decided she made a big mistake leaving Bill (hello?)
and now, she's looking for an excuse to dump Hank, too. I can tell. She's a puzzle and I want to like her,
empathize with her very much, but I just don't. She's way too fickle to follow very
far. I'm beginning to think where
the first season was all about the redemption of Hank, this one *should* be
about the redemption of Karen.
She's a mess and she needs work, in the worst way.
One of my favorite
parts of the scene was where Karen grabs the phone from Becca,
and they cut to Hank, still smiling, but then reality comes down on him as he
waits hopefully for Karen's smile to emerge, and it doesn't. You see all the smartass drain right out
of Hank's face when he realizes she doesnÕt think he or his cavalier attitude
is the least bit funny or endearing.
He sees instead that she's genuinely angry and embarrassed, and the way
his face changes and the realization and 'regret' gradually appear on his face
is masterful.
"Don't bend over
for the soap." Schweet. And good advice.
Marcy love grows in
leaps and bounds for me, although she can be so hilariously annoying on
coke. I kind of feel for Charlie,
unable to back her off the coke thing, and it saddens me that he just lets her
go off, headlong into coke oblivion, even joining her for the fun. From what we've heard, he knows how bad
things can get for her, when she gets obsessed with coke, and he strikes me as
a guy with no self-control whatsoever, and no power whatsoever over his
wife. That's not always a good thing,
and I wish he'd show some balls and tell her no, once in a while. But still, the salon scene was funny,
and it's obvious where Marce's head is; up her
nose. Perhaps
where Charlie's is, too, come to think of it. Like Marcy said last ep,
it really does wonders for the sex life.
Daisy? Meh. She's cute, her frankness endearing, but
I don't see the potential in her Charlie does. He thinks he sees a new career ahead of
him, and he's impressed with Daisy.
Maybe he's just easily impressed.
I was always surprised at his attraction to Dani,
but I kinda think he likes any kind of attention from any kind of lady. If she's female and willing to pay
attention to him, he's all hers.
The
jailhouse scene? I wish they'd left in a lot of the stuff
I read in sides, way back before the season started. The fat, farting biker/guitar god freak
who loved his own butt was kinda funny, I guess, but I wish they'd let Trannie Hooker do his/her thing, instead, maybe.
Although Charlie's
taunting of Mia was right-on and very clever, I think he's pushing Hank's luck,
more than his own. I get why he
feels the way he does about the little sociopath, but he's not doing Hank any
favors, antagonizing Mia with all the juicy details he apparently knows about
what went on between Mia and Hank.
I was about half-expecting her to blurt out something revealing about
Hank, in front of Dani, who would probably, in turn,
help Mia figure out even better ways to torture Hank with blackmail for the
rest of his life. She's good at that
crap, and I can see her schooling Mia on how to put the screws to just about
anybody.
Glad Mia kept her
mouth shut and stormed off, though.
Mia's got the big head something awful, and I'd loved to see somebody
bring her down off her high horse, sometime this season. Not likely to happen, but I can
dream. Dani
needs her comeuppance, too, but I kinda doubt we'll see her get it. I'm glad Charlie balked at her little
seduction, but I knew there was no way Charlie would win that little battle, in
the end. I find it really sad how
the unethical folks in this show seem to get all the perks, but I guess that's
how it is sometimes, like it or not.
I'm waffling about
the convo with Lew, how Hank blames LA for his woes,
and how Lew blasts him for it. I
liked it, in a way, because it's true to a degree; a city is what you make it,
and it never, all by itself, hurt anybody, and it sounds so whiney and
snobby. Hank (and Karen)'s to blame
for his own problems, whether he'll admit it or not. But Lew's defense seemed a little
clichˇd, somehow, like it was something out of a book. And how convenient the butt-loving guy
was someone Lew knew as a killer guitar player. Right there, to help
Lew make his point. Convenient.
I've come to love Callum Keith (anybody know what his friends call him?), and
it's bizarre how he's everywhere I look these days. And he looks like a different guy, every
time I see him, too. Weird. And a fabulous actor.
But he's meant to be a love him/hate him kind of guy in his role as
Ashby, I think, and so far, I've done both. He's a ruggedly good-looking guy, a
smart guy, knows what he's doing, he's funny, cool. He makes a fabulous banter partner for
Hank, because he can certainly hold his own. He's also a man without conscience, a
child, in a way, and the last guy on Earth Hank should be hanging out with, but
I can also see the appeal for a writer like Hank to take on the daunting task
of biographizing him.
Karen and Sonja at
lunch was kind of bizarre, IMHO. Sonja can be such a straightforward, yet
airheaded person. I think the
connection between them is purely a matter of business benefits for them both,
but I have this strange distrust of Sonja, like maybe she's really after Hank. She doesn't really seem that devious,
but she's just almost too serene to be real, like she's hiding a monster, under
the calm and friendly, peace-loving facade. But you could almost say that about
every woman on the show, I guess.
But something about her bothers me, and I wish Karen wasn't so attracted
by the offer she made.
So Charlie gets
fired, and yeah, the scene was painful to watch, but mostly because Charlie's O
face never was easy for me to stomach, anyway. But does this mean we won't be seeing Dani anymore? I
suppose, being Mia's agent, she could pop in now and then, with Mia. I'm not really going to miss Dani a lot, whether we see
her again or not. She's really no
better than Mia, as a conniving b-yatch, trying to
get attention and get ahead, utilize any means necessary to do it, she's just
more experienced at it. She and Mia
could make one Hella awful duo of destruction, if it
ever occurs to them how alike they are as it has me. Look out.
I liked the way Becca counts her own money, considering bail for Dad. Mia bringing that book into the house
was silly, but I think they're establishing her as Girl Gone Wild. I think she's determined to break Hank
and Karen up, surprise, any way she can, and probably knows Karen will have her
doubts that the book is purely fiction.
Too, though, it would be cool if she recognized Hank's writing the way
Charlie did, and I figure if anybody would know Hank's writing, it would be
Karen.
Only,
what would she think of Hank's 'confessional'?
The typical reaction would be disgust, abandonment, calling the
police. But Karen's not exactly
typical and knows Hank better than anybody, and if she'd read the book when
Hank asked her to, we may not be where we are now. I don't know if she'd forgive Hank for
it or not, but at this point, I think it might clue her into what a manically
Machiavellian individual Mia really is, and she just might side with Hank on
that one. Maybe not, but I still
have to wonder if we'll ever know if Karen's read the book or what she thinks
of it, or Hank or Mia, afterwards.
Mia's even more
annoying than last season, but I expected that. I'm getting the distinct[er] impression that since she can't have Hank, she's going
to BE Hank. Good luck, chicky. I get
dibs on being the first one to punch her lights out, though. She keeps mouthing off to people the way
she does, and she'll mouth off to the wrong person someday and get her lovely
ass decked. Just ask Hank. Still, I had to love the way she and Becca came together in Hank's defense, and Becca sticks up for Hank, calls her mother on the 'gosh, he
has to learn he just can't do and say whatever', line, by reminding her that
she knew who Hank was when she jumped in the car with them that night. Go, girl. I still don't like the two young ones
bonding.
Lew bails out Hank
before Karen can do it herself. Great. I loved
his initial refusal to hop on board the Rolls to Hell, the 'girls back home'
line was sweet, and I love the way he sticks to his guns and the determination
to do right by his fam-damn-ily, or however it's
spelled. Lew did everything he
could to lead Hank off the straight and narrow path, see the bar scene, but
Hank persisted. Hooray for Hank. I can't even imagine how hard it must be
for a guy like Hank to give up smoking, drinking, drugging and promiscuous sex
all at the same time, but I really do admire his efforts so far, at least, even
if Karen doesn't.
OMG,
Charlie and Marcy at the hotel. It was hilarious and
disturbing and gross, all at the same time! But mostly hilarious. They both looked ...nasty, both of them
all greased up for the scene, like greased pigs. <g> But Marcy was uproariously
foul-mouthed and cokie smurf
cute, and Charlie was the most pitiful thing I ever saw in boxer shorts and a
bib, with food in his mouth the entire time. Yuck! But lol, anyway.
Loved, loved, loved the scene in the car. Powerful acting from both the guys, I
thought. This is where I felt love
for Lew. I've known guys like him,
and I guess everybody has, in one way or another. Sad, lonely, but hiding it all with that
bravado, that seeming, devil-may-care lack of conscience 'tude,
and drowning himself in drink, drugs and pointless pussy. I mean, there must be a million of them,
in
Hank has got to be the bestest bromancer
ever. He kicked ass at the hotel,
with both cokie smurf and
her lobster-sodded hubby. Can you think of a better guy friend
than Hank right now? I can't. But I am sort of Hank-addled, if you'll
pardon my lack of objectivity and recall range. Charlie doesn't realize it either,
perhaps, but he has a real jewel in Hank.
Funny, touching scene, I thought.
Let's see ...ah, the
Daddy scene. Sigh. And then the pillow talk scene, before I
could recover from the Daddy scene.
Sigh. Karen is so weird and
Hank is so wonderful and why is that?
Why would I be more sympathetic to the criminal male element in the
scene than the heartbroken, put-upon female? Is it the lovely, enchanting, wispy
strains of his voice as he tries to soothe and seduce his prey? Is it his large, but agile, exploratory
feet? Is it that cuddle
position he assumes at the end of the scene? Is it that ...guy playing him? Gee, ya think? I admit it, I'm totally and completely
besotted with Hank. Inebriated beyond all good sense.
Still, I've endured
things like what Karen's going through, not exactly the same, no, but similar
humiliations at the hands of a man who supposedly loved me, in my time, so I
should be able to relate to what she's feeling. But I still sympathize with her
tormentor more, and I really couldn't tell you
why. I see her confusion, of course
...one minute she's snarky and bitchy, the next minute she's inviting him to
bed... What is up with her,
anyway? I guess that's the
infuriating magic of Hank, eh?
<g>
Boy, did she hit that nail on the head, or what?! Can't stay mad at him? I can't even *get* mad at him, and I
have to wonder why.
"What if that's
not enough?" You make it
enough and go from there, my good woman.
I don't think Karen knows what she wants or what she has,
never did, and she thinks there's some Great Beyond, beyond Hank. What she doesn't realize is she's laying next to her Great Beyond, and doesn't know how to
love him, which to her must mean rein him in, hold onto him. Things got complicated and she bailed
out before, and now she's scared she's made yet another mistake and her future
is someplace else. In short, she's
an idiot.
How do I know she's
an idiot? Been there, done that,
and everything is absolutely perfectly clear in hindsight. Joni Mitchell wrote one of the coolest
songs ever about the phenomenon. I
just wish I could convey that to her, before it's too late. But some things we just have to learn on
our own, or they'll never stick. Ask practically any parent on the planet
for confirmation. She'll learn or
she won't, but maybe Hank will save her yet. May not be for a long time, but if she's
as smart as I think she will be when she really grows up, I think he'll save
her. I think he'll save both of
them. Pardon my paraphrasing, but
in this case, I think it's true.
Go, Hank!
I was hoping to have
a 'Did anybody else notice?' section in each review, but frankly, I haven't had
a chance to watch anything but the season premiere a million times, which is
when I generally pick up on the WTF?!-ness
of any given episode; repeated viewings. But if I have time to later, I'll come
back and add it, or pick up on it later in the season, perhaps.
In the meantime,
thanks again for reading. Later.
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