Secret Diary of a Call Girl • Incognito [4]
Hannah/Belle (Billie Piper) has constantly worried about being discovered by the people in her life, and here she risks even greater publicity by not only publishing a book about her experiences as a call girl, but attending the launch party in person. Fortunately, Hannah/Belle has the presence of mind to show up disguised as a waitress, allowing her to freely listen to her critics without attracting much attention.
Having spent a good portion of the previous year trying to be monogamous when the only life she had known was that of a call girl, Hannah was ready to begin a new chapter in her life, both figuratively and literally, and tried her hand at writing about her experiences. Because of Belle's influence, Hannah has had to be very secretive in her life, and while she may have gotten used to that before now, the introduction of her identity as an author complicates matters further.
Hannah is made to balance her life as a woman with her life as a call girl against her life as a published writer, and the scrutiny surrounding the book's validity is likely to force her to withdraw even further. Deny it all she wants, eventually Hannah/Belle is going to run into someone that recognizes her escapades for who they belong to, and she will have some explaining to do.
Daria • I Don't [2]
An active presence at family functions is not something that Daria (Tracy Grandstaff) can be accused of, but here, on her cousin's wedding day, she is expected to feign excitement. Daria's view of the world is vastly different from that of her immediate family, especially sister Quinn (Wendy Hoopes), but it's also very possible that her aversion to familial tidings is a response to her mother's (Hoopes) strained relationship with her family.
Daria is made to pretend that she's like any other member of her family, but through the intervention of her like-minded aunt Amy (Rita Pietropinto) she realizes that she needn't change herself to please people who have no interest in who she is. While Daria maintains that she loves her family, she's also determined to remain true to herself, and if that means a little awkwardness, so be it.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer • Reptile Boy [2]
Everyone in Buffy's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) life has an idea of who or what she needs to be, and despite her constant protests that she wants to be like any other normal girl, she is, time and again, made to put her chosen destiny ahead of her personal desires. It's when both Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) and Angel (David Boreanaz) fail to recognize her as an individual that she finally has enough.
Along with Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), Buffy tries to blend in with college culture, only to be made to feel inadequate due to her hesitation to partake in much of the debauchery. Through a series of poor decisions Buffy and Cordelia find themselves chained in a basement and waiting to be fed to an ancient demon. Though her friends intervene in time to save her, Buffy realizes that she can't live the life of a normal girl when there's still evil in the world, and as much as she's love to shirk her calling and walk away from her duty, she can't allow herself to be that person, either.
Better Off Ted • It's Nothing Business, It's Just Personal [2]
Lem (Malcolm Barrett) is given a red lab coat in place of the white ones of everyone else, and while he, at first, worries that he's being singled out for something terrible, he soon comes to believe that the coat is a reward for doing an especially good job. The competitive nature of Veridian Dynamic's science division is displayed full force when Phil (Jonathan Slavin) begins working harder in order to earn the coat, in turn making Lem work harder in an effort to keep it.
Through a series of misunderstandings, the two of them are made to believe that the coat is actually a punishment for having done an incredibly poor job, forcing the both of them to work harder than they ever have in order to keep from being given the coat again. Both men have been assets to the company for a long while, and though they've always worked hard, they've never felt the need, until now, to change their habits in order to maintain a certain level of success. Phil and Lem's reactions are explained when it's revealed that the company planted the red lab coat in an experiment to see whether or not it would result in higher productivity, and though they're both told of the deception, they continue to be suspicious of the crimson jacket.
Firefly • Better Days [3]
It's business as usual for the crew of the Serenity, but what seems to be a straight-forward scalp-job turns out to be quite the payday for our band of illegal smugglers. Soon the crew is living fantasy lives in their heads in an effort to determine how they'll spend their share of the money, though Captain Mal refuses to get ahead of himself.
It's not long before everyone is living in the lap of luxury, developing a taste for the finer things in life and deciding how long it will be before they each move on from their work on the ship. Mal is convinced that living so large is what makes people forget who they are and where they come from, worrying that his people will lose sight of everything that made them the people they are today and will end up getting themselves into trouble.
Later, when Mal disappears,their loyalty to him outweighs their desire to relax, and they work fast in an effort to save their friend and Captain. Unfortunately, they learn that their major windfall was lost during the gunfight, and they're stuck once more aboard their beloved Firefly; and Malcolm Reynolds wouldn't have it any other way.
Winner of the Week • Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Speaking truthfully, this week didn't have the highest caliber of entertainment, and while Secret Diary has certainly earned a win this week regardless of the quality of the shows following it, it's just unfortunate that the events on my screen seemed to be getting progressively worse as the days drew on.
Part of what made this week's episode so interesting is Hannah/Belle's shift into another part of her life; the second series saw her shift from call girl to girlfriend, and the struggles she had in maintaining both lifestyles without betraying either part of herself, and here she makes another transition to author, which should also provide a lot of stories as the series draws on.
Hannah/Belle is at her most interesting when there's conflict in her life, and this conflict is created almost entirely by her own will. She's very capable of doing what she needs to in order to get what she wants, and this situation is no different, but the difficulties she's had in keeping her secret from her friends and family have been myriad, so the struggle to keep her identity quiet when she's gone ahead and revealed her lifestyle to the entire world should be something to see.
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