Duncan the publisher. Duncan the coach. Duncan the admired. The writers have established the connection Hannah and Duncan share, however, in this episode they do seem to spell it out, for anyone that may have missed it. Although they do essentially work together, he reads the details of her very intimate adventures, Hannah states that it goes beyond a professional admiration for each others work, on her end at least.
And of course, when he gives her the task of going deeper with her writing, to get to the root of the desire and thoughts/feelings that both she and her client have, it is of course, opening up a can of worms, so to speak. Less description of the event and a deeper analysis to what lies beneath it. Hannah, or Belle as she is in this scene, states it as describing the subconscious. I have to admit I did think to myself this may be a bit of a tall order, on account of her not being able to pick up on the fact that she wrote about all three of her feet.
But she finds herself falling back into old habits when she is trying to write about her barnyard experience with Simon. A client, who hasn’t had sex for many years, because what seems to float his boat is women talking about and making barnyard noises. Of course, when people in college found out about it, he was ridiculed. This obviously had a psychological affect on him, and in this respect, I can see the appeal of going to a professional. He asks Belle when he first meets her if she meets a lot of perverts, and to me at least, it seems like he might be struggling with the definition, and where on the spectrum of ‘pervert’ he might fall. Although Belle might find this affliction a little strange, she doesn’t ridicule him, and goes out of her way to make him comfortable.
When she first meets Simon, he is very timid. And as the scenes go on, we see him gain more confidence, which is where Belle finds out about his love of animals. And acceptance Belle has of this, I think, is probably important to him and his sustained level of confidence. And of course, this in itself, can show you the merit of Belle’s profession. A lot of different people can like a lot of different things, and it is more or less Belle’s job to create their fantasy (going back to last weeks episode).
When Belle tries to write about this experience, she finds herself using a descriptive technique. She knows she can’t send this to Duncan, when he asked her to try to get to the crux of the situation, the raw desire of it all. So, what she does instead, is imagine sex with Duncan. And that is how she does it. He is obviously impressed with her newly submitted chapter. He even comments about her obvious connection with the client, who unbeknown to him, is actually himself.
So of course they are setting up an attraction between the two characters. But it is hard to analyse if it will actually go anywhere. For starters, he only knows Belle. In one regard, that is a good thing. He is already aware of what she does for a living, and who that side of her is. But he doesn’t know Hannah. He doesn’t know much about her really, besides her occupation. And it’s been shown before, in last season, that Hannah embarking on a relationship while still being a call girl can simply not work. So will the writers try again? Or will they make it unrequited love?
One of the two minor stories this week, involved the Jackie (Hannah’s sister) and Ben (Hannah’s best friend) story line. It would seem that they are more than sex, but the direction of the relationship is unclear. Jackie still is technically married, even if her husband is cheating on her. Does she even like Ben or is she just using him to get back at her husband? And it could even be speculated that she chose Ben because of her strained relationship with Hannah. I thought last week, that Jackie almost seemed jealous of the life Hannah led, even if she did try to ridicule it. Perhaps she is trying to take something of Hannah’s and put her mark on it.
She knows that Hannah and Ben have had sex. And when she enquires about her experience with Ben, she gives the impression she wants to almost make it into a competition as she tries to compare their experiences. Although Hannah at this point, walks off disgusted.
When Jackie cooks dinner for Hannah and invites Ben without telling her, she also walks out declaring she just can’t do it. Ben tells Jackie he should go after her, but Jackie states she just wants a reaction. In this scene, it’s almost as if she’s treating Hannah like a child – but judging by her previous actions, it really appears to be Jackie that is acting like a child.... (or perhaps that’s just me?)
The other storyline, which I actually thought to be the most interesting of this episode, was the developing relationship between Bambi and her client, Byron. It was clear last week that this storyline was going in this direction. She has developed feelings for him, and it seems he likes her too. It was also interesting to see the juxtaposition of Belle, and her almost business approach with Simon, to Bambi’s interaction with Byron – which seemed quite romantic.
Although, after talking to Belle, where she reminds Bambi that Byron is her client, not her boyfriend – she seems not to be able to help it. When she gets a phone call half way through her date, when Bambi tells Belle she is with a ‘client’, Byron walks off, seemingly hurt by being referred to merely a client. And that is where they each tell each other their feelings for one another. And I at least, as the viewer, felt genuinely happy for Bambi at that moment, because she does seem like such a sweet girl.
But I fear things are not to work out between the two, as the lines become more and more blurry. What will their future hold? When you seem the lovingly embrace each other while asleep, you can’t help but fear it’s going to end with a broken heart, or a choice between love and career.
FURTHER THOUGHTS
- Ben is not that great of a friend to Hannah really. When she makes it clear that she is uncomfortable with him being with her sister, he still spends the night at her place on the couch.
- Jackie really isn’t that much of a sister either, come to think of it. Hannah has made it clear she doesn’t want her at her house, this point is made excruciatingly clear after Jackie walks in on Hannah and a client (whom Hannah quickly states is sortve a boyfriend). The fact that she still sticks around AND flaunts her relationship with Ben that puts Hannah at such unease, seems a little cruel.
QUOTABLE QUOTES
“For the record, I do it better than I write it.” Belle
“We want to know about desire. How it works, what’s underneath it. What’s in your head. What’s in his head.” Duncan
“I’ve had more fun with you than with anyone.” Bambi
“You make me forget that this is your job.” Byron
“Give me an hour with him, I’ll give you a new man.” Belle
“I should have thrown them out the flat. Not myself.” Hannah
And here is the rest of it.
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