'Secret Diary of a Call Girl': It's Not Personal

Yet, if so, I wonder why Hannah was so mad at Naomi for ending up with Ashok. (She deleted the woman's digits from her cell phone.) He was only a client, and it was only business. My guess is that Hannah is not as cold toward her johns as she would have us think, and that she thought of Ash (in her heart at least) as a sort of boyfriend who Naomi eventually stole. For one, when Naomi asked Hannah to describe Ash, she waxed poetic about his personal traits (geeky, smells nice) and not whether he liked ''anal or vanilla,'' which is what the other girl really wanted to know. Secondly, after their marathon threesome, it was Hannah who was so philosophical afterward (let's talk about books!) and who went in for the cuddle with old Ash. This gave Naomi such a cold, self-satisfied smile that I almost think she planned to steal Hannah's ''man'' the whole time, just to be wicked.

So did we like/agree with this depiction of the female frenemy? I think not — and that it served only to throw Hannah's friendship with male friend Ben into warm relief. Think about it: He may be put off a bit by her being a slut, but at least he's not a sneaky, cold bitch. And it offered him a chance to come to Hannah's rescue, bringing pastries and a shoulder to cry on. That said, I am not dissing Ben in any way, because he obviously cares deeply about Hannah and wants her to be able to talk to him about her life and her job. If anything, I'm getting the sneaking feeling that finding out Hannah's secret, and realizing that it bugs him, is helping Ben own up to the fact that he's still in love with her. There was something telling last night in the moment when he said Hannah was the only woman he'd ever had sex with that still liked him and it was Hannah who had to remind him about Vanessa, his fiancée.

Besides that, two other things stuck with me: One, how quickly Hannah glossed over her tale of becoming a hooker. (A one-night stand paid her, and that was that; she liked the thought of it, basically.) Two, the stuff on Hannah's ''What Belle Enjoys'' (and doesn't enjoy) list at the escort service's website. GFE? Scat? A-levels (doesn't that have something to do with school)? Moresomes? Snowballing? Stags? Watersports? I'm mildly afraid to look these things up: My work computer could be confiscated. But I will....

So what did you guys think about last night's episode? Are you with me and against the Naomi plotline? Or did it unearth some things about girls that struck a chord? Tired of the show (many of you posters seem to be; please say it's not so!)? Or hanging in at least until next week, when we will see the scary part of both one-night stands (the guy who won't leave) and clients (the john who won't either)? PS: Billie Piper fans should tune in to Sci Fi this Friday at 9 p.m., when she will be making a return appearance on Doctor Who.