May not get to see last night's "Middleman" until tonight, but in the meantime, quick spoilers for episode two of "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" coming up just as soon as I check my messages...This show may not be deep, but when they give Billie Piper the right notes to play, it can be funny. Belle wrestling with her professional obligations to a client who doesn't want to have sex at an orgy party versus her attraction to her favorite author gave her the opportunity for a number of priceless reaction shots (particularly when she first learns of the client's plans). It does make her seem a bit of a brat, but that's who Hannah/Belle pretty much is.
We then take a left turn at the very end of the episode when the fake personal emergency gets replaced by a genuine one, with the birth of her sister's baby. The writers of the show seem as ambivalent about Hannah's family as she does; the idea of her going from an orgy party to her holding her baby nephew is interesting, but the scenes felt disengaged, and the only part of the final act that really worked was Hannah's reaction to Ben (who, like everybody else in her real life, doesn't know what she does for a living) finding the Louise Brooks wig in her purse.
But as I wrote last week, the episodes are short enough that there really isn't time to get bored.
What did everybody else think?
I know the show is supposed to shock, and maybe it's just because I live in NYC, but none of this stuff is terribly exciting, and I thought her behavior at the party was terribly unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteLove the column title, Alan.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to like this show. I just don't. It's slightly boring, and the shocks are not shocking enough.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll be watching any more of this one.
Yeah, I agree with the above commenters. Even if the episodes are short, they're still sort of boring, and I'm not really sure why I'm supposed to care about Belle.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of another Showtime show, Californication. Lots of sex to draw you in, but I have a hard time caring about the lead character (although to be fair, Duchovny's character I found actively off-putting, while Piper's character here just makes me indifferent.)
She really reminded me of someone in that black wig, and then it hit me - Kate Beckinsale.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat agree with what has been said - if this weren't summer and there were a full slate of shows I wanted to watch, this would fall off my list, but for now it's passable. I keep thinking we are going to see some kind of long-term storyline develop, such as the guy she fell for in the first episode, or more conflict around her secret life and Ben, but it all seems very much on the surface right now.
(Note I haven't even bothered to watch this week's episode. I guess that says much more than I just did.)