1713 - Californication: season five

When discussing television series I often resort to food metaphors.  Something like Breaking Bad, The Wire, or Louie are, for me, like main course meals.  They absolutely fill you up with their goodness - they nourish you.  Then there are shows like Entourage, which no offense, but is more like a dessert.  It's not essential, and it's nothing you want every day (or need really) - however when you get it it's usually pretty good, but you might regret wasting your calories on it soon after.
Californication is somewhere in between for me.  It's always been a slightly uneven show, somewhere being poignant and just plain silly.  I think this season they were finally able to find the balance and work a more consistent tone. 
My one complaint about this season was how they took a lot of really strong and layered supporting characters from the top of the season and really reduced them to stereotypes by the end.  Even poor Becca felt like her character was downgraded by the end of this season.  I don't want to say that this was the best season of the show, but it's the season where I feel like they finally really found the show's voice.
This season ended on a pretty solid cliffhanger and I can only hope that they do it justice by playing it out when the show returns next year.  I think Hank Moody is easily one of the most charismatic and fun characters on television and I for one am gain to follow him a little while longer.  If you haven't started yet this season isn't actually a bad one to start at, since the previous ones all kind of lead up to the fourth season and Hank dealing with his misdeeds.  This is almost a reset.  Although I recommend going back and starting from scratch - fair warning though - it's a bit of a bumpy ride here and there.