The halfway point of “Call Girl’s” first season sees the concept stretching its wings even further, while also providing viewers with what is allegedly the ultimate straight man fantasy: A threesome with two incredibly hot, wanting women seemingly willing to do just about anything. Hannah (Billie Piper) tells viewers in the precredits sequence, “It’s not that I don’t like going down on girls, it’s just that I never really enjoy going out with ‘em.” Before the episode is over, she’ll do both.
The installment begins with Hannah in a bridal shop trying on a wedding dress. Why? Is this some kink dress up thing for a client? She receives a call from Stephanie (Cherie Lunghi) asking her if she’d be game for a threesome. She doesn’t rule it out, but wants to know who the client is. It’s Ashok (Ace Bhatti), last seen in the third episode, and Belle’s regular. She seems immediately put off. Why after all this time does Ash want two women instead of just Belle? Why didn’t he ask her about it first? She takes the job, but does so more out of curiosity than anything else. There’s no way she’s going to let two strangers get their lascivious paws all over her beloved, trustworthy Ash.
Then we find out why she’s in the shop in the first place. She’s there shopping with Ben (Iddo Goldberg) for his wedding tux. The shop assistant mistakes Hannah for Ben’s bride to be, and he indignantly points out that she’s not his bride, she’s “just here to help out.” They haven’t yet spoken about the e-mail she sent him in last week’s episode – the one that gave the address to her website. But apparently it’s not such a huge a deal to Ben that they go out shopping. Afterwards they go out for a drink and the ice is finally broken. His biggest question – which also answers something we’ve been asking ourselves since the series began – is, “Were you doing it when we were still seeing each other?” Hannah answers no. So Hannah and Ben were an item once upon a time! Perhaps not a huge revelation, but it does explain quite a bit about their friendship, as well as beg for further exploration. He presses her further, “Why do you do it?” She replies, “Would you believe me if I said I enjoyed it?” He asks what she’s doing tonight and she tells him of the threesome and Ashok and that “he’s lovely and he’s my oldest client – he’s like a friend.”
We then get a brief flashback showing how Belle got into the biz. It was almost like an accident. She met a man and went home with him for the night. The next morning her gives her cab fare to get home, but when she looked at the amount, it was well over what a cab ride would cost. Thus began her journey. Back in the present, Belle goes to the hotel room to meet Naomi (Beth Cordingly), her partner for the night. They prepare for Ash’s arrival and when Naomi asks what Ash is like, Belle gives a vaguely romantic sort of reply about the man, to which Naomi replies, “What I meant was is he into vanilla or anal?” Once he arrives there’s an extensive montage of the three of them in all sorts of positions and situations throughout the evening, and it’s really sexy stuff and shows more skin than I think has been shown thus far on the show. Afterwards, the trio lounge in bed and Ash thanks Belle for the book he recently gave her, and admits it really moved him.
After he leaves, Belle awkwardly asks Naomi if she’d like to hang out some time as friends. She agrees, which leads to the real meat of the story. They become fast friends, going out for Chinese and comparing work stories. They’ve got a lot in common, clearly, and they can talk about stuff back and forth that they can’t speak about with anyone else. One afternoon Belle gets a call from Stephanie asking if she’s got room for a new client on Wednesday. But Wednesday is Ashok’s day? “He’s with Naomi this week.” Boom! Not what she wanted to hear. She’s not interested in the new client, and she feels betrayed by her new friend, although it’s been clear since the beginning that Naomi’s approach to business is a little more businesslike than Belle’s. She’s crushed, and tells the viewer, “The end of the affair was written from the beginning. He’s a man who pays women for sex. I’m the whore. At some point his tastes were bound to change.” She then deletes Naomi’s info from her cell phone. It’s really a very sad scene, and shows how much we’ve come to care for Belle/Hannah in a short amount of time. In reality, we probably wouldn’t have sympathy for such a situation, but this isn’t reality, it’s TV.
She, of course, turns to the only friend she’s got, Ben. He comes to her place and they make some amends. He admits that much of his problem stems from her work being such a huge part of her life that he just didn’t know about. He says, “You’re the only girl I’ve shagged who still likes me.” She replies, “Except Vanessa.” The episode ends with Ben asking Hannah to be his best man. Really this was an episode about friendship and what exactly cements that institution, with the point being an understanding of the friends involved in the relationship. Ben understands Hannah and vice versa. Hannah and Naomi didn’t understand one another, of course they never really had a chance. Ben and Hannah continue giving each other chances, despite the fumbles.
