This episode almost exclusively focused on Belle and her developing relationship with her editor, Duncan. Are they on, are they off? It seems to take more twists and turns than most relationships, that’s for sure. It’s obvious in the opening, where they are discussing business, that she’s can’t get their previous dalliance out of her mind. She keeps having flashbacks, and I don’t think it was a coincidence that the word ‘cheap’ invokes a flashback. As he is very clearly trying to avoid the topic of the two of them (especially how he basically threw her out after they had sex) it would be natural for Hannah to feel somewhat used.
But he does come around to the idea, just as Belle seems to be completely going off the idea, mostly due to a conversation she had with a client. The client, Al, had asked her about relationships while she is still in the business. And although he never says it would never work, it seems as though Belle believes this to be true, and therefore conjures him up just after Duncan has apologised and they are about to get intimate. So she throws him out.
It only takes until the end of the episode for her to apologise for her behaviour. She had in fact, put him in quite an impossible situation. Telling him it bothered her that he doesn’t seem to mind what she does, and just to appease her he told her it does, and then her throwing him out because it has no chance of working then. It seemed completely unreasonable, and in fact, was meant to be. We saw Belle struggling with her past demons (her relationship with Alex). But the two are going to give it a chance, and again we get to see the dynamic of Hannah trying to juggle both herself and Belle. But this time it has an interesting twist – Duncan almost intimately knows Belle as he is her editor, and whereas Alex was mostly left in the dark, he has a complete understanding of the details of what she does.
In other news, Bambi and Byron announce to Ben and Hannah that they are engaged. Hannah immediately objects to the idea, telling them that it is a little strange that they met ‘for a shag’ and two weeks later, are engaged.
And although this in some part stems from the part of her that truly believes that a relationship while being an escort can never work, there is obviously more than a little truth behind the idea.
And it affects Byron and Bambi as well, because the next time we see them, they’re discussing all of their ‘favourite’ things in order to learn more about each other. And although they briefly skim over their family lives, they revert back to talking about their favourite super heroes. Neither of them have a relationship with their parents (Byron’s don’t like him, Bambi’s gave her away) and it seems as though the subject is almost too hard for them to talk about, that they simply cannot talk about something so personal with one another – so they go back to a much easier topic.
FURTHER THOUGHTS
- Belle finally divulges her magical number. 1036 men. I wonder if that includes the men Hannah has slept with? Logic says yes, but I guess it is murky ground.
- I feared that things will end up badly for Bambi, and with the announcement of her engagement to Byron, I’m more inclined to think it will. An underlying theme, not just in this season but throughout the whole series, is that it is almost impossible to have a relationship with somebody while you’re in this job. Even Stephanie confirms this.
- Find out Stephanie’s inclination is for women. That’s not either really here nor there, but provides more of an insight to a character than we’ve ever really had before.
- Belle’s unashamed love for the almighty pound also makes a resurface. We see what she actually does with her money (safe deposit box), and the issue of taxes is skirted around. I wonder just how much money she has stored away....
QUOTABLE QUOTES
“Love is overrated. And built on very shaky ground. Where as an affair with a wardrobe is solid, and it lasts forever.” Belle
“Number one unwritten rule of being an escort. You’re only allowed on lover. Money.” Belle
“What? I had to do it. He’s my editor and escorts can’t have boyfriends. Keep up.” Belle
“Sex, enthusiasm, respect, clarity.” Belle
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