End to Beginning

_***½

Stephanie books Belle for one last client before retirement, promising that this will get everything out of her system and allow Hannah to live with Alex happily ever after, and while Hannah is loathe to consider betraying Alex in this way again, she also has been unable to find another source of income.

Previous: Tentatively Normal

If there's one thing that Hannah (Billie Piper) should really understand about her life as Belle by now it's that it's a highly addictive life of glamor for her, and since giving it up the first time was so rough on her, having to do so again in short order is likely to be even worse. Also on her mind is potentially losing Alex (Callum Blue) again, an even more troubling loss than Belle, and whether or not it's worth making a small amount of money over.

As she goes through her morning routine, Hannah muses that she woke up realizing that "this might be enough," understanding that she has a chance at a normal life doing mundane things and that that may now be more exciting to her than the life that Belle had been leading. Together Hannah and Alex get ready for work, walking separate ways down the street, and then Hannah abruptly turns back because she hasn't yet told Alex about having left her previous job., hoping to find a new one before he learns of her deception. For the first time in a long time Hannah is struggling to maintain a sense of normality, a battle she will have to get used to in her efforts to lead the average life, and in this moment she's finally gaining an understanding of what it is that everyone else does during their day. Frustrated with her recent failures Hannah dons her guise as Belle one last time, hoping to make enough cash to get by until she can find a steady job, and her love for Belle's work is evident as she walks toward the door, narrating her moment as though she's a retired footballer coming back to the game, stating that the anticipation is what she's missed the most, having no idea what awaits her on the other side of the door until it finally opens.

In trying to be a good friend, Bambi (Ashley Madekwe) confronts Belle, telling her that she might not be able to give up the work if she takes just one more job, as one more job can then into one more after that and snowball out of control. Bambi worries that Alex might find out about this betrayal and that Hannah might become as lost as she was during their previous breakup, but when Belle shrugs her off, Bambi goes to Ben (Iddo Goldberg) for help. While it takes some convincing to get Ben to help Hannah get out of Belle's shoes, the two arrive in time to comfort Hannah as she leaves her hotel, being there to take care of her as her life comes crashing down around her once more. Despite having been fairly poorly treated by Hannah/Belle throughout the series, Bambi has proven herself as a fantastic friend, taking on the protector role that Hannah had had with her in the beginning and coming into her own as a person.

In coming to her door, Stephanie (Cherie Lunghi) is only risking creating a greater rift between herself and Hannah/Belle, and should she ever want to work with her again this is the worst way to go about it. Were Hannah/Belle to accept, and things go poorly, she is destroying the relationship that Hannah left the business for, but should Hannah/Belle not accept, then she will remember Stephanie only as the woman who knows no boundaries, and there really is no way for Stephanie to leave the situation without appearing villainous. Granted, the fact that Hannah had kept some of Belle's clothes hidden away rather than throwing them out suggests that she herself was not ready to give up the life, but that's no excuse for the way that Stephanie treats her.

As Hannah looks for a new job, Ben pipes up and tells her to work with what she knows, in this case, sex: she could get a job doing phone sex, or become a sex therapist, and while none of his ideas are all that bad, Hannah turns her nose up at them because she doesn't want to listen to people talk about their poor sex lives. Should Hannah be discussing sex she would rather it be through the act of having sex, and it just seems as though she's not all that committed to changing her life to accommodate Alex, making her struggle in this story seem somewhat disingenuous.

This story is all but made by Piper's performance as she plays Hannah, uncertain that she can lead the life her boyfriend wants her to, Belle, unsure if she can give up the job at all, and the broken shell of a woman with no one to blame but herself. Piper's chemistry with Blue and Madekwe is great in this episode, and this is, possibly, the first time that Hannah's shown actually needing to rely on the people around her for support. The characters become very real in this story thanks to the actors playing them, and Piper manages to convey the numbness of her despair very accurately to make Hannah seem like a genuine person.

Director Peter Lydon excels in showing Hannah's creative process as she sits down to write a book about her experiences, having the scenes in her story playing out behind her as she writes, reimagining events and taking pleasure in what's no longer her life. As Hannah types at her computer, an elaborate tryst between Belle and Ash (Ace Bhatti) takes place in the background, Hannah clearly enjoying the experience as she lingers on every moment, only for the camera to pull back and reveal that she had been unable to concentrate on typing during her fantasy and was left with nothing written down. The words she had meant to write appear on screen as the sex plays out, displaying that she does, indeed, have a very creative mind, but that it's going to take a lot of work. Flash forward and we have Belle doing a press tour, interviewing in a wig and harsh makeup, sunglasses covering her face, having revealed herself to the world and reveling in her new found success.

The timeline of events regarding Alex, as written by Julie Gearey, are somewhat confusing, as it's clear that he has been setting something up from the beginning, claiming to be off to a medical conference for the weekend and having set meeting with Stephanie earlier on, but he has no reason to be suspicious until much later. When Alex brings Hannah lunch at work, only to learn that she no longer works there, he seems to clue into the situation in that moment, and were this the catalyst to the events of the episode it would make sense, but coming in in the middle seems as though it were thrown in to throw viewers off the scent. As for their break up, it is written very maturely, with Alex stating that "[he] didn't want [Hannah] to come," adding that "[he] think[s] that [she] loves this job more than [she] love[s him]." Their exchange here is very calm, very adult, and it comes to an end amicable, with both realizing that there is no avoiding it or turning back, and while neither of them want to be apart from one another, they both accept that it simply can't work between them. It was clear from the beginning of their relationship that things wouldn't work out in their favor, and the way it ends is completely satisfying in regards to who they are as a couple and as individuals.

At no point during this series of episode was Hannah concerned about her family learning her secret, but with her televised interview and new found fame, it's likely to become a plot point within the next group of episodes. Having Belle reveal herself to the world here will also likely make her work somewhat more difficult, should she continue at all, an irony likely not lost on ex-boyfriend Alex.

Next: Episode 3.1
Next: Series 02 Overview