1541 - Californication: season four

At some point during this season David Duchovney did an interview in which he talked about the arch of a television character - particularly on a show like this where the story is character driven and continues to grow.  He said that it's a difficult balance because if a character doesn't move forward than it dies - but if it changes too far from it's origins then the audience grows detached from it.  And when it comes to this particular show the character of Hank Moody is probably one of the most charismatic man-childs in television history - but the one thing that happened consistently in this season was that the people closest to him (save perhaps Charlie) told him time and again that he needs to get his shit together and change.  This season ended, I believe, with him realizing that that was indeed true.  And the beauty of how this season ended is that the story is now free to move in practically any direction that it wants to - and I look forward to that.  Will it have a major shake-up ala Weeds?  I doubt it - but it could be interesting - like Becca says in the final scenes - "Sometimes you just need to shake things up". 
This season was all about Hank having to deal with the fall-out, coming full circle with the events that happened all the way back in the first episode of the series.  This is a show that has a really unique tone - it gets down right goofy at times but almost always ends on a moment of poignancy - sometimes that hits home better than others.  This season more so than any of the others I think the series achieved the balance and had it's strongest ongoing arc - because the stakes were so high.  It's hard to imagine a situation where they could be higher.  I'm very curious to see where this series will go - the creators claim to have a long term plan, so that excites me.  What will the next chapter of Hank Moody's life bring us?...  Looking forward to it. 
If you've never seen this series you'll probably want to start back at the beginning - but beware there are some rough patches and unnecessary tangents (I'm looking at you, seasons two and three!) but I think its worth it in the end.  Enjoy!