Hotel Babylon: Season 4, Episode 3

Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 3
Aired: July 3, 2009 on BBC1

SYNOPSIS

This episode begins with a flashback to 1973. Harold Kelly, a jewel thief, is on the run from the cops, and he rushes through the service entrance to Hotel Babylon. There he hides a cache of giant, flawless emeralds behind a painting. He’s then arrested and sent to prison, where he is given a life term.

What does any of this have to do with Hotel Babylon today? Well, it seems that Kelly’s autobiography was recently published (posthumously), and in it he left several clues to the location of the stones. Babylon is soon overrun with curious treasure hunters, and the staff start finding them all over the hotel. Sam and the rest of the staff are convinced that the whole thing is a hoax… except for Anna, who spies a clue right under her nose.

Meanwhile, Geno is befriended by Arthur Barnes (Tony Robinson), a seemingly innocent man that just happened to fall in love with a gangster’s wife. But all is not as it seems: Arthur is actually a con man playing a highly dangerous game: calling out a gangster that hasn’t been seen in public for years.

While all this is going on, Tony is charged with taking care of Constance Evergreen (Honor Blackman), while her son attends to some “business”. At first, Constance appears to be a senile old actress that lost her marbles ages ago. Tony soon finds out that she’s perfectly normal, and that her “senile actress” act is just that – an act.

Sam and the rest of the Babylon gang get caught up in “jewel fever”, and they start tearing the hotel apart looking for the gems. Anna is the most persistent, and she comes within moments of finding the jewels… only to go in to labor. Oh, and just at that moment, the father of her baby shows up… Charlie (way to spoil it for you with the above pic, I know!). Anna gives birth (and looks fabulous before and after by the way) and  she and Charlie take off for their new life in New York. But not before Anna sneaks back to the area she was searching before… and finding a pouch full of emeralds!

The staff line up near the entrance to wish Anna good-bye. She hugs each one, but also gives Tony the key to her locker and tells him that she left him a surprise inside. Tony goes to her locker… and finds an emerald waiting for him.

MY THOUGHTS

What the hell? No one told me that Emma Pierson was leaving the show! What the hell am I gonna do now? Why even bother watching the show if Anna isn’t on it? You break my heart, Emma Pierson, you really do!

One thing I was taken aback by… the fact that not a single member of Babylon’s staff even so much as suggested that maybe the jewels should go back to their rightful owner (which is probably, at this point, the jewelery store’s insurance company). Not only is it selfish and greedy, snagging the emeralds is probably a bad idea, too. I imagine that the world of high-end jewelry is vanishingly small. It probably wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something’s not kosher when a book comes out about an old jewel heist in London and suddenly here’s an Englishwoman wanting to sell some high-end emeralds. Too much of a coincidence, no?

It was good to see Charlie again, even if the whole thing was a bit deus ex machina. Top-notch storytelling has never been Hotel Babylon’s forte, but it was still enjoyable. As was seeing Tony Robinson; it’s nice to see him in a suit in a luxury hotel and not covered with mud for a change!

Still… I wonder who much enjoyment I’ll get out of the show not that Anna’s gone…