Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 8
Aired: August 14, 2009 on BBC1
SYNOPSIS
Juliet and Sam are all lovey-dovey after last week’s “reunion”… but sadly, it’s not to last. While hosting a mixer for upscale singles, Juliet runs into one of her old friends. That friend gets incredibly drunk and starts making an ass out of herself because she has a secret. The woman hosting the event wants the woman thrown out, and when Sam and Juliet escort her to a room to sleep it off, Juliet’s “friend” reveals a dark secret to Sam about Juliet’s past. The secret is so bad that it immediately drives a wedge between Sam and Juliet.
Meanwhile, in the canteen, the rest of the staff are chuckling over a steamy, tawdry manuscript that someone has found lying around the hotel. Geno is intrigued, and tries to find the author of the book… but he’s in for a big surprise when he finds out who the author is.
It’s now obvious to everyone that Mel isn’t who she says she is. In fact, it’s so obvious that Juliet is *this close* to firing her. Ben takes it upon himself to give Mel a makeover, and he enrolls most of the staff in giving her a crash course in etiquette. As you might guess, she emerges much more beautiful and poised, and passes the ultimate test: an incredibly picky guest by the name of “Dick Balls”.
Lastly, Tony is hosting a meeting of concierges from London’s luxury hotels. The group is scheduled to appoint a new leader for their trade group. However, Tony irritates them when he’s repeatedly called away for various tasks. Tony takes a special interest in a guest who’s apparently trying to give up heroin cold turkey. After talking with him for what seems like hours (whilst his concierge friends await him to elect their new leader), the man asks Tony to buy him a small amount of the drug to “get him through” the detox. Tony arranges it thusly, only to have the police raid the room and threaten him with arrest. Or do they?
As mentioned, Sam finds out a dark secret about Juliet, just as the two were planning a trip away to Hawai’i. The secret is so dark that when the taxi comes to take him away to the airport he’s conflicted: should he stay at Babylon, or should he walk away forever?
MY THOUGHTS
I’m glad this series is done. Hotel Babylon has always been a guilty pleasure, but these days it seems like there’s much more “guilt” than “pleasure”. When (and if) the series returns for season 5, I won’t be there. Well, I probably won’t be there… keep reading.
OTHER NEWS
Ratings for Babylon are down the tubes. Whereas in the early days of the series, you could expect over 5.5 million people to watch the show, ratings for this season are averaging 3.1 million. Where Babylon was once easily the king of its time slot, it’s now beaten by reruns. That’s not good.
What’s more, most of the show’s sets and props are being auctioned off soon, and that’s not a good sign. It’s certainly possible that the show could simply be retooling for an all-new, full redecorated Babylon next season… but if you ask me, it’s much more likely that the show is simply going away.