Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 7
Aired: August 7, 2009 on BBC1
SYNOPSIS
Famous Sicilian artist (and frequent Babylon guest) Christiano Cucci has died, and he so loved the hotel that he wants his funeral service held there. James, smelling a chance to become the manager of all food and drink at Babylon, begs Juliet for the chance to show her what he can do. She agrees – if he pulls off the event, he will get his promotion. However, at Juliet’s insistence, James must partner with Geno to do so.
Meanwhile, famous comedian Jim Doody (played by real-life comedian Hugh Dennis) has checked into the hotel. One of Juliet’s old flames, she starts swooning whenever he’s around… which sets Sam off on a jealous rage. He ends up going to the room of Sophie (Poppy Elliot), a flirty guest, to have a one-night stand. But Juliet is in for disappointment: despite his being all flirty with her, Jim is married. Sam, too, feels awful, because he only slept with Sophie to “get back” at Juliet… until Sophie says that they didn’t actually sleep together, as Sam passed out from tequilla before anything happened. So Sam feels better, and he and Juliet try getting back together again.
Babylon has a new receptionist, Isabel. But Ben thinks something’s “off” about her. Her accent and mannerisms don’t seem to indicate that she’s worked in a luxury hotel before, and he eventually “busts’ her when she displays a lack of general knowledge about the hotel business. Although he threatens to run to Juliet with the information, he changes his mind when she (real name: Melanie, played by Emmerdale actress Amy Nutall) stands up to a guest that had been bullying Ben. Ben quickly throws together a list of references for Isabel\Mel that Juliet had been asking for, and the two become friends.
As you might guess, the funeral doesn’t quite go as planned for James. First of all, he has to deal with Luna and Eve (Christiano’s longtime wife and recent trophy wife, respectively). He’s driven crazy by their opposing requests for the funeral. But then things really hit the fan when James wakes up in Christiano’s room and finds the body gone! Christiano is actually not dead, and is in the kitchen looking for something to eat. Christiano explains that he is in a lot of debt, and that by faking his death the value of his works will go up, thus allowing his debts to be off. Once that happens, he will go back to his beloved Eve.
There’s just one problem… Geno had spotted Eve kissing on someone else. He fights with his emotions, then decides to tell Christiano about it. Christiano freaks, and although he initially decides to go ahead with the “funeral”, during the actual service he can’t take it any more. He gets up and starts yelling about his new wife, to the shock and horror of everyone involved!
During the whole mess, Geno had been invaluable to James, using his “Spanishness” to smooth things out between the rigid James and the greiving Sicilians. So when Juliet calls both of them into her office, James initially denies everything, leaving Geno to take the fall. He changes his mind, however, and takes all the blame on himself. Juliet and Sam talk, and although James will not get the promotion, he will not be fired. And so Babylon lives to fight another day.
MY THOUGHTS
This show can’t die fast enough. In fact, I can’t wait for it to be over next week so I can stop watching the show and writing these silly recaps!
When is Amy Nutall’s character going to get the make-over we all know she’s going to get? She’s so gangly and unattractive in this episode (see the picture above), I wonder when (or if) she’ll turn into the woman shown in this promotional photograph:
Much better… but still no Emma Pierson! I wonder if her appearance in the opening credits means that they’ll be a new season for the show? It seems odd to go to the trouble of adding her in for just two episodes, don’t you think?
Once again, we’re subjected to Geno’s ever-changing background. Is he Italian or is he Spanish? And why is this show always so dismissive of anything from the Roamnce countries? It’s almost shocking that they play that “bullfighting music” any time a Spanish person is on the screen, much like how in 70s American sitcoms they’d always play that Chinese tune whenever an Asian walked on the screen… a practice that certainly wouldn’t fly today.
And maybe it’s just an American thing… but did anyone else giggle uncontrollably whenever someone said Christiano’s last name? Cucci? Coochie? I know it makes me look like a 12 year-old, but come on, people! That’s funny!
ETA: Wasn’t James already the “manager of food” or whatever at the hotel? I seem to remember an episode when a “consultant” came in and everyone was afraid for their jobs and James gave his title as “Food and Beverage Manager”… or something like that.