Vitals

David Duchovny as Hank Moody, alcoholic novelist and dad

Venice Beach, Summer 2008

Series: Californication
Episode: “La Petite Mort” (Episode 2.12)
Air Date: December 14, 2008
Director: Bart Freundlich
Costume Designer: Peggy A. Schnitzer

Background

The penultimate scene of “La Petite Mort”, Californication‘s second season finale, wrapped up the show’s last truly great season as Hank gave up the chance to accompany Karen back to New York, choosing instead to stay behind with their daughter Becca to avoid unfairly transplanting the poor girl yet again.

Becca had recently started dating Damien (played by Ezra Miller from The Perks of Being a Wallflower), and Karen felt bad splitting them up. Hank chooses to stay to help Becca nurture her relationship and allow Karen to explore her career opportunities in New York. Yet, at the start of the third season, Becca is evidently single with no mention ever made again of Damien. It’s a shame because:

a) Ezra Miller was very good as Hank’s mini-foil.
b) It marked the beginning of the show’s decline by throwing continuity out the window in favor of just giving Hank opportunities to have more sex.

The show is coming to a conclusion next weekend with the end of its seventh season. Californication seems to be another victim of the Showtime curse that plagued other shows like Dexter and Weeds, starting off incredibly strong with an original premise. After a few great seasons, the writing stalled out and each show – once an innovative and creative experience for viewers – became a slow race to the finish, supported only by loyal viewers who pledge to watch their favorite shows to the end, hoping for one last flash of genius reminiscent of the show’s early years. Keep your fingers crossed for Californication‘s finale.

Whether a finale can ruin your mood or not, there’s no denying that we deserve a pleasant summer after the polar vortex that killed everyone’s morale this winter. Get a t-shirt like Hank’s and keep projecting positivity out into the universe, whether it’s genuine or not.

What’d He Wear?

Hank’s smiley face t-shirt makes its one and only appearance in this episode. Either he doesn’t put it into his rotation that often, or it was one of the shirts he inherited from Lew Ashby (although we never saw Ashby wearing it either.)

It is a cobalt blue short-sleeve t-shirt of soft cotton. The smiley face in question is the standard yellow circle with a black border, black eyes, and a black mouth. It’s either a vintage shirt or it has been printed to resemble one as the screen-printed smiley face is beginning to wear away toward the top.

Hank wears his usual dark wash denim jeans with bootcut legs. His shoes are a pair of indigo blue Puma Whirlwind sneakers with white side trim. White laces are standard for indigo Whirlwinds, so the bright orange laces on Hank’s pair must have been laced himself to give them a little more pop.

These are the same Pumas that showed up eight episodes earlier in “The Raw and the Cooked” as a continuity error, but they are clearly intended to be Hank’s shoes in this scene. Duchovny is a Puma fan in real life, so I’m sticking by my theory that these are his personal pair. (I personally own an indigo pair – with the original white laces – and they are some of my favorite shoes.)

You can still pick up a pair of new Whirlwinds from Puma, although it looks like the indigo and white combination has been discontinued.

The rest of Hank’s accessories are the same, including his silver index finger ring, the black leather studded bracelet, and its thinner braided leather accomplice. The two bracelets are available from Urban Wrist.

Hank and Becca watch Karen’s flight take off from LAX from the back of his Porsche, presumably parked near the Vista Del Mar Park. Hank wears his brown Izod 725 sunglasses and his dark brown corduroy smoking jacket.

How to Get the Look

Somehow Hank is able to pull off a smiley face t-shirt without looking tacky. See if you can do the same.

• Cobalt blue short-sleeve cotton t-shirt with a fading yellow “smiley face”
• Dark blue bootcut denim jeans with zip fly
• Dark brown single-breasted corded suede smoking jacket with a 2-button front, jetted breast pocket, flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and single rear vent
• Puma Whirlwind sneakers with indigo uppers, white trim, and orange laces
• Silver ring with two ridged bands, worn on the right index finger
• Black leather bracelet with silver hexagonal and round studs, worn on the left wrist
• Thin black braided leather bracelet, also worn on the left wrist
• Izod 725 sunglasses with dark brown lenses

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Buy the second season.

The Quote

At the end of the day, it’s all about her. It’s always been about her. What happens between us, I can’t fucking control. Lord knows I’ve tried every which way. But what I can do is be the absolute best I can be for her. If I followed you to New York, I’d just be hoping against hope that we lived happily ever after. Maybe we do. Maybe we don’t. But you got some shit you got to do, lady. I think you should do it. I’ll hold down the fort… keep her off the pole.