Karlafornication

They say listening to music does wonders for the unconscious mind. I wonder what influence watching TV – even computer-compressed illegal streaming – does for us. I watched as much of Karla as I could before it timed out, then some Californication. It’s an interesting juxtaposition.

They don’t have much in common, usually. Karla had to be filmed in Los Angeles, California, so there is the location thing. But it is set in Ontario, Canada not far from where I live. To Americans, it would be about the “Ken and Barbie” Killers. The idea that the movie was being made angered a lot of Canadians and the movie was misrepresented by critics by and large. Now that I’ve gotten around to seeing it without the pressure of having to pay for it, I have to admit the movie is very well executed in the sense that it is appropriate and it seems to convey what we know of the tragedies. My main emotion was frustration, and I impotently pounded my hand a couple of times imagining how I’d like to bash Paul Bernardo in the head. I don’t have any sympathy for that couple-from-hell, but the movie conveys something more important than a purely exploitive approach would have. We see how plausible it is and how vital it is to keep an eye open for how this activity can happen and how unlikely it is that this high-profile case was rare. There are so many abusive twits and monsters like Bernardo looking for a good time it can be hard to tell a sociopath from a psychopath. It makes me all the more concerned for the safety of someone I know.

Californication so far has only one episode I have disliked, “The Raw and the Cooked,” which puts up walls between me and the characters it is so poorly written. I consider it a jump-the-shark episode. Why is the plagiarist Mia invited to the party? Why is Charlie nice to her when she partly cost him his career? When a surprise is revealed about the Scientologist and Hank – which happened before the reconciliation with Karen motivates what seems like a rejection from Karen so fickle that I lose respect for her. Then there’s Hank asking the daughter Becca’s boyfriend Damien if he supports Roe Verses Wade as part of his screening process and tries to discourage him from dating the girl despite his choicey-friendly view and although both Hank and Karen are both strict with Becca in most respects they are absurdly tolerant of her (revealed now and not mentioned in the future) belief in the Satanic Bible. Granted, Becca has a Wednesday Addams thing going, but she is diminished somewhat by this. The best I can say about The Satanic Bible is that I genuinely pray that in the 12 years (give or take) since his death Anton LaVey has been rotting where he always wanted to be. I can’t believe Charlie and Hank haven’t mounted an all-out offensive against Mia and Charlie’s evil former assistant Dani. I’m hoping the Satanism aspect pays off and they ritualistically kill Dani. But it looks like that character is written off. And of the two shows I’m watching on my days off here, THIS is the one leaving me with more frustration. At least better episodes followed. . .