Monday, October 1, 2012

Control and Relief

Melodramatic Mondays
****
A repeat client expresses a desire to try S&M, giving Belle the opportunity to try her hand at pleasing a man without the use of sex.

The review for "Moonlighting" can be read here.

The relationships cultivated by Belle (Billie Piper) seem almost more genuine than those of everyday Hannah, but as seen here they, too, have their complications. While Hannah and her accountant (Simon Kunz) have a mutually beneficial agreement sorted out, Hannah (as Belle) still finds herself unable to provide everything he needs from their relationship, as she finds true for Hannah's relationships as well.

It's good that the series has addressed the fact that Hannah has to constantly maintain her body in order to keep up appearances in her profession. Rather than pretend that the protagonist is constantly perfect there's a montage showing all of the crunches and plucking that she does daily in order to remain desirable to the clients. Many shows would ignore this aspect of character, as in most series it would be a minor detail, but here her work is all about the small details and it's important to highlight her athletic and cosmetic routines to show how hard she works to avoid any imperfections that might affect her work negatively.

Hannah's discussion with Mistress Sirona (Sally Dexter) about the importance of allowing one's self a lack of control, and the relief that that can be to many people is very interesting. In a series where where somewhat taboo topics such as prostitution and S&M are depicted fairly nonchalantly it's almost unexpected, though in no way unrelated, that the concept of human nature would be discussed so freely among the characters.

At one point Belle grows desperate for ideas in how to provide her client with the thrill he seeks, and leaves him to his own devices while cleaning her flat. Were she to be present, berating his work as he went along, this scene wouldn't bother me, but instead she's in her bedroom reading a magazine while he's cleaning her toilet with his tongue. I imagine that he's craving interaction with her, no matter how unpleasant, so for her to simply remove herself from the situation, a situation wherein he has payed to be with her, seems almost deceptive.

At some point the narrative requires that Hannah speaks with Ben (Iddo Goldberg,) despite the fact that both the audience and the characters are well aware that it will end only in anger. Hannah chooses to phone Ben during Belle's session with a client, which is unprofessional on it's own, and she grows so angry that she loses herself in the moment, becoming violent and uncontrollable. She's unable to hear her client's screams to stop, meant to show how affected she is by Ben's actions, but it's so irresponsible that it takes me out of the moment. It's a very powerful scene, but Belle should know better than to put her clients at that kind of risk.

This episode revolves almost entirely around Hannah/Belle and her accountant, and both actors play their roles incredibly well. Piper truly loses herself in Hannah's anger, beating Kunz's character with a viciousness I didn't know she had in her, and this only fuels the despair of Kunz's character; the two of them play off of one another incredibly well here.

Yann Demange directs Belle's scenes with a certain control to her character, having her constantly aware of her surroundings, her company, and able to take charge of whatever situation she finds herself in, in part because she herself creates those situations. Hannah, on the other hand, is directed to be completely lost in whatever is happening around her, sometimes unable to separate herself from the action. It's interesting that Demange and Piper can completely separate Hannah from Belle while maintaining that they are, in fact, the same person.

Lucy Prebble manages to sneak in another handful of small facts about Hannah's life that add significantly to the character but that the audience might never have thought on had it not been brought up, such as Hannah's trading of sex to her accountant in order to have her taxes done for free. Hannah's frustration with Ben's secret engagement is an extension of her frustration with her own inability to relate her activities to him; it's because of her closed-off nature that Ben feels unable to share his news with her, but it's due to her constant desire to tell him everything that this really hits home for her. Had she told him what she did for a living, were she able to open up to him in the ways that she wants him open to her, he wouldn't have kept this from her, and it's a cycle that she created and cannot escape.

The episode ends with Hannah revealing her activities to Ben, which is surely to lead to a series of awkward conversations, and fears that in telling one person she has in turn told the world. As Hannah contemplates Ben's reaction to her news, it's likely she'll worry about his actions after the fact.

The review for "Job Shared, Job Halved" can be read here.

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