Temping is Hell (Necessary Evil #1) by Cathy Yardley

 Kate needs a job, badly, after her uncle’s company folded and she was forced to move back in with her judgmental parents. Even as a temp, getting a job isn’t easy – she has an unfortunate habit of speaking her mind.

But never did she think she’d be working for Hell – big corporate, everything she despises. And that would be in a normal workplace – but what about when your boss, Thomas, has actually sold his soul?

Of course, he wants it back – and he also wants Kate, much as he tries to focus on the business at hand. The question is whether he can live with the choices he has to make to get his soul back – and how deeply Kate is going to get enmeshed in these infernal affairs.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect to love this book. I thought this was a book with another corporation that was secretly a front for hell. I thought we were going to get another rich billionaire who is cruel and awful and mean but in would come the spunky manic pixie dream girl who would melt his heart and then everything would be hearts and flowers. I expected to hate it.

I was gleefully, wonderfully, blissfully wrong.

The whole concept of the book is one I haven’t come across before – Thomas trying to wriggle out of a contract he signed to sell his soul. He’s a really fascinating and surprisingly deep character that goes way beyond “oh he’s so rich and hot and rich and hot and hot and sexy and hot” we often see heroes described as. Yes he is hot, this is established early and then… not mentioned. Maggie’s attraction and shirtless pictures of him are allowed to speak volumes. Of course he’s hot, he wouldn’t appear shirtless in a glossy magazine if he weren’t, but that doesn’t mean every other chapter we need to describe every sculpted curve of abdominal muscles; so the book doesn’t. It was refreshing – Kate’s sexual attraction to Thomas was made clear and his appeal was maintained without devolving into the repetitive description that is so common. This allowed room for what really makes Thomas a meaty character – not just his sad tortured past (which is somewhat a requirement) but the issues he currently faces: the challenge of being sufficiently ruthless to actually get the job done. He has to kill people – and not only does he have to kill them, he has to be cruel to even get the names; as Yagi tells him repeatedly, if he’s not willing to be ruthless, to do anything, to risk anything to sacrifice anything how can he win against someone who is more than willing to do all of the above.

666 Park Avenue, Season 1, Episode 7: Downward Spiral

 

We’re introduced to a new character (again) – Melanie, a heavily pregnant woman whose mother lives on the 10^th floor. She meets Gavin in the elevator who guesses her child will be a girl.

This doesn’t please Melanie’s mother who wants her to stay away from Gavin and thinks it’s a bad idea her coming to the Drake while she’s pregnant. She doesn’t want Melanie around the bad things in the building. Melanie objects – if it’s dangerous her mother shouldn’t be there either. She says she can’t leave and hustles her out the door as fast as she can – she must keep baby Nona safe. Melanie leaves, gets in the lift – which acts up, cutting the lights and stopping between floors. Which is when she goes into labour.

Cut to the present – yes that was a flashback – to Nona (yes, the Nona), the psychic and her catatonic grandmother.

Henry and Jane are going to get a commendation from the mayor for Henry being such a hero – and of course the Dorans are giving them a lift. Jane is still troubled after last week though. She protests again that she doesn’t feel safe there and though everything’s going great for Henry, she doesn’t want to stay. He counters that she was the one who encouraged him to come to New York – and everything is going great for “them” not just him.

They go to the award and the Dorans are there to push him towards becoming mayor. And Olivia has some red meat for Jane – she knows someone who needs an architect. She tells Olivia she’s planning to leave New York and Olivia plants her barbs – running away just when you get an opportunity?

Henry in turn talks to Gavin about Jane’s concerns and Gavin suggests he propose to her. And he’s not going to get another shot at becoming mayor so he has to do what he can to keep Jane – Gavin volunteers Olivia as a perfect person to advise him to make his proposal perfect. Yeah, y’know what would make it perfect? Not proposing marriage to try and tie her to a city where she’s terrified. That would make it a whole lot more perfect. Gavin tells Olivia he’s not letting Jane or Henry leave New York.

So it’s off to go ring shopping with Olivia – and Henry worries about the astronomical price of the fabulous rings in Olivia’s chosen shop – except it seems all of them are priced in his budget. Or they are when Olivia nods to the nice salesman.

And our most pointless residents return – Brian and Louise. Brian has been staying with a friend but returns for some of his things; Louise is on a photo-shoot in Miami. Brian goes jogging with Henry to tell him what a bad idea marriage was and how Louise probably cheated on him because he’s no longer a successful playwrite and is not “providing” for her (uh-huh). Then he learns Henry’s going to propose. Awkward. Brian goes home more flirting with Alexis and they have sex, finally.

That night Nona’s grandmother manages to walk out into the hallway, despite being wheelchairbound and catatonic. Nona follows her and her grandmother says “don’t let Jane leave”. The next day she hurries downstairs to talk to Jane and beg her to stay – that she is a part of the Drake. But Jane is scared of the Drake and is determined to leave. Nona tells her if she leaves she’ll lose the one person in the Drake she can trust. Jane refuses – so it’s time to turn up the spooky!

Jane gets in the elevator but it doesn’t move. Nona appears in a corner and tells her they are moving even if she can’t feel it. The doors open and there’s a girl skipping across the tiles. Nona calls her a child to the Drake – like her – which gives them a special connection to the building. She says Jane is special too – she denies it but Nona asks how she’d get into Jane’s dream if she weren’t? And Jane wakes up. Ok, as far as tactics convincing her to stay go, this ranks a little behind leaving a grizzly bear in her room with a ribbon round its neck.

The next day Jane goes to talk to Nona and ask her if she’s been dream hopping – and Nona repeats that Jane is special and introduces Jane to her grandmother. Jane is shocked to realise Nona has been looking after her catatonic grandmother for 2 years and thinks she should call social services. Nona rejects it – she doesn’t want to go into care and no doctor can help her grandmother, because she changed in the Drake when her parents disappeared. And she was looking for answers, like Jane – as to why so many people in the Drake die or disappear. She takes Jane to a cupboard where there’s a huge number of newspaper clips and stories about the Drake. Jane realises Nona is the one who sent her the old newspaper but Nona has an extra bombshell – she has a picture of the girl they saw in the dream, playing in the Drake. On the back it says it’s Jane – in 1992. Except Jane remembers nothing about being there.

In the hospital, Dr. Scott fulfils his promise to Henry to get Kandinski out of the hospital. He has implanted a scalpel in the assassin during surgery, which Kandinski pulls out of himself (uckies) and uses to stab the policeman guarding his door.

Dr. Scott calls Gavin, outraged that Kandinski killed 2 people to escape! How could Gavin possibly have got him involved in this?! Gavin has no time or tolerance for that bullshit and points out Scott sewed a scalpel into his patient – what did he think it was for? After putting his pet doctor in his place, Gavin instructs Kandinski in tracking down Victor and retrieving Gavin’s box – by bringing Victor in alive.

666 Park Avenue: Season 1, Episode 6: Diabolic

 After last episode, it’s no surprise that Jane is having nightmares about the man with the axe. Henry is comforting and 2 detectives are due to interview her. They arrive and Jane is very nervous.

Jane walks the detectives through what happened – but when they take her to the dumbwaiter she climbed up they find that it’s old, dusty and festooned with spiderwebs, clearly hasn’t been used in a long long time. They ask Henry if he saw either the person who was killed or the attacker – which he didn’t (and the body has disappeared). They start suggesting it was a hallowe’en prank. The detectives start throwing a whole lot of doubt at them and Henry snaps at them.

The next morning Henry finds Jane on the computer. She quickly minimises the screen when Henry arrives and goes to make pancakes. Henry checks the site and finds she is apartment hunting. At last, the common sense to run!

Henry catches up with Detective Cooper for progress since Jane is scared enough to want to leave and Cooper talks about her imagining things or being mentally ill, and detective Jarvis is even more abrupt – they found no body and no damage. They leave and Henry gets a phone call from Laurel, his PR stalker trying to jump start his political career – which means he has to go to a political lunch. At the lunch he does very well – but he thinks Jane should have been there. Laurel thinks Jane is a liability and she doesn’t understand city politics.

Gavin hears that 4 more of his properties had also been targeted, their security system’s hacked. Someone is sending a message that they can get to him – him and his wife. Gavin insists that Olivia not be told. He even calls a doctor – Dr. Scott (still carrying the bruise from Brian last week)- to test Olivia and take blood from her to check if she’s ok after the kidnapping. He also asks Dr. Scott to bring the results to him first – with a reminder of his underpayment of the rent. It seems, with his education loans, the doctor is living beyond his means. Ah a man in need! Gavin likes them – and a loan is arranged for $50,000. You’ll regret it, Scott.

When he gets the test results back, he tells Olivia it was just too much champagne and not enough food that made her faint, but when she leaves to make coffee, he tells Gavin it was chloroform. And we find out why Dr. Scott needs the money – he gambles, a lot. And he’s already getting his regrets when his chest opens in a serious of wounds – burns almost – spelling $50,000. That’s one hell of an IOU. He goes to see Gavin who refers to his gambling debt and offers him a different way to pay Gavin back – it’s useful to have a doctor on call. But that doctor had better come when he calls.

Gavin also magnanimously forgives Tony for his failing to keep Olivia safe last week and Tony thanks him for saving his life. Of course, Gavin has a job for Tony – he wants someone brought in for a meeting, someone who will probably refuse but he’s sure Tony will be persuasive.

In a building many scales less opulent than the drake, a man unpacks his back and pulls out Gavin’s spooky wooden box. He starts to open the box but he gets a call – saying he, Mr. Wallace, just earned a million dollars for the box. Wallace thinks if he’s willing to pay a million dollars for it, someone else may be willing to pay more. The voice instantly raises his offer to 3 million on the condition that Wallace does not open it.

2 gentlemen come to see Mr. Wallace and find him prone on the table, gasping and whimpering and unable to move – he doesn’t look well at all. One of them comments that he shouldn’t have opened the box, snaps the spooky box closed and takes it. His associate sets the place – and Mr. Wallace – on fire.

666 Park Avenue, Season 1, Episode 4: Hero Complex

 

Things change drastically for Henry in this episode. First of all, he gets an email from the councillor (now splattered or fried) telling him that he isn’t going to get an interview. Jane is there to comfort and Gavin is there to commiserate, pushing him again to consider running for office rather than working for those who do. Still, Henry thinks he needs to concentrate on his own job first. Which Gavin accepts – but then warns him that Henry’s office is currently investigating Gavin for inside information over the Alpern deal – but makes it clear he doesn’t blame Henry nor does he expect Henry to use any influence on his behalf.

At work, Regina Wilson, the ADA, questions Henry about his relationship with Gavin. Gavin bought the Alpern development when it had a toxic waste dump next to it then sold it on for profit to Chinese investors almost overnight and before anyone had any idea about the dump. She throws out several pictures of them together and points out they’re very close socially, same parties etc etc. Henry protests and asks if he’s being followed – she replies that Gavin is, Henry just happens to be there all the time. Henry claims that nothing illegal or unethical is happening but they point out it looks bad and he will lose everything – his career, his job, his reputation, everything. Unless he co-operates and spies on Gavin for them. He refuses but they urge him to sleep on it.

Before the big party at the mayor’s house Olivia wants Henry and Jane to travel with them but Henry begs off. He tells Gavin he needs to distance himself socially from them while the investigation is ongoing. Gavin says they’re just trying to rattle him to get them to spy and to get at Gavin – and points out that Henry’s boss is on the take from ever developer in the city. Henry is shocked, he’d never heard this, Gavin didn’t want to put him in an awkward position.

But Henry is suspicious – the Dorans are so extremely nice to him and Jane, lavish gifts, high level access, invites to parties – he begins to worry (at last) that Gavin expects some quid pro quo. Gavin dismisses it, he sees talent, and he dismisses the insider knowledge – he never buys property without checking it out and that includes soil samples. Gavin offers him a drunk – but Henry turns and leaves, despite Gavin’s warnings. Olivia, who has been secretly listening, suggests it’s time to cut Henry loose – and Doran ominously suggests he will do what he has to do, when he has to do it.

Later, Henry sneaks up to Gavin’s penthouse and snoops round his computer, copying files on the Alpern development onto his thumb drive. In his haste to leave, he forgets the cap of his thumb drive.

Jane has her own little project – her suitcase she’s dragged up from the basement. The tumblers on the combination lock keep moving on their own, working their way towards open even while Jane can’t manage to force the lock. The Spooky Ghost girl repeatedly appears to express her fear of the suitcase, one time appearing and disappearing in front of Jane, freaking her out enough that she shuts the case in her cupboard and stops trying to open it (she could have put it back where she found it).

Olivia has an issue for her though – the thief in the Drake is getting out of hand and has now stolen her diamond brooch (and someone’s suitcase from the hidden room, right Jane?). Something needs to be done – a detective or something.

Speaking of the thief, Nona cleans up her flat and sets out cookies to welcome, Ingrid, her therapist. She’s disappointed that Nona’s grandmother is again missing and isn’t entirely convinced by Nona’s insistence she’s fine, peaceful and no longer needs therapy sessions – she wants a session when Nona’s grandmother is there. As Nona leads her out, she takes the opportunity to steal her sunglasses.

She goes down in the lift with Jane who compliments her on her new sunglasses. When the lift opens, she hurriedly hides the sunglasses when she sees Ingrid still in the lobby. Ingrid asks Nona if she’d seen her glasses and she denies it. Jane is introduced and asks about them because of the thefts; Ingrid describes them and Jane instantly puts 2 and 2 together.

She goes to see Nona in her flat, her grandmother is away, again (though the excuse changes) and asks if Nona has seen any of the missing items. When Nona denies it, she takes off the gloves and demands she give them back – and if she’s going to steal don’t be fool enough to wear the evidence. After threatening her with Olivia, Nona swears she doesn’t have the Jane’s necklace but she may have some of the other things – a bag of them all appears on Tony’s reception desk to be handed out to their owners.

Outside Jane ambushes Ingrid the therapist to return the sunglasses to ask some extremely unethical questions about Nona. Ingrid protests her ethics then breaks them anyway, telling Jane about Nona’s dead parents and absent grandmother. She says Nona needs someone she can trust – with a strong implication it should be Jane, complete stranger stalker lady! This therapist isn’t the best in the world, is she?

666 Park Avenue, Season 1, Episode 3: The Dead Don't Stay Dead

 Last week, Jane got locked behind The Door. She’s trapped in their now, lit only by the failing light from her mobile phone. She’s in a room full of creepy dolls that are whispering “let us out” (for the record, that’s me, gone. Out the building, out the city, out the state. This is my “I would so have run” moment). She also sees movement in the darkness, very fast movement and almost catches sight of a little girl. Then something grabs her leg.

She screams and Henry opens the door. Looking, he doesn’t see a little girl – and he points to an air vent in the ceiling from which you can hear conversations from above, explaining the whispering (yeah, right. I’d be running).

As they leave the basement, there’s a blur behind them – and a little girl holding a creepy doll hiding behind a rocking horse.

We have a new resident of the Drake – Annie, a journalist who writes obituaries for a newspaper but wishes she could do so much more as she complains to Gavin Doran in the lift. He offers to help – encouraging her to embrace her creativity and make herself an opportunity. She takes his advice and, when writing an obituary, she changes it to make the man a famous Cold War hero, making the column massively more interesting and appealing both to readers and her bosses.

But the next day she’s taking a taxi to work and finds the traffic is grid-locked to allow a major diplomatic funeral to take place. She checks the news and finds her fictional Cold War hero is being given full honours. Her obituary is being treated as real. Freaking out a little, she runs back to the Drake and tells Gavin what happened, that people have believed her fiction and she needs to correct it. But Gavin says he’s being buried as a hero –does she really want to take that away from the man, to say nothing of her career – so she lets it go.

At work she’s praised for her piece by her co-workers and one of them wishes her mother had been there to see her success. Annie had already mentioned her mother, how she had written hundreds of children’s books but never got them published and never truly reached her dreams. Inspired, she decides to edit her mother’s obituary, changing her into a best selling children’s author. As soon as she sends the edit, the photograph of her mother transforms to that of a far wealthier woman – as do her own clothes, jewellery, hair and makeup to reflect the 4 million copies her mother sold. Her stories are changing reality.

She’s called into her boss’s office who is amazed at what she’s achieved even though something doesn’t feel right to him. But the editors are impressed and want her to write a piece about Kandisky – the fictional Russian agent she invented as an enemy for her Cold War hero. They want a full profile on him and if it’s good it could be a huge boost to her career. She hurries home, pours some champagne and writes her fictional biography of a scar-faced killer who tortures people with wrenches and pliers. As soon as she sends it in there’s a man at her door. She goes to check – and sees a scar-faced man with a tool bag. She tries to run but he breaks in and catches her, dragging her away from the window and tying her to a chair.

With the protagonists, Jane continues to talk architecture at a completely uninterested Henry. She’s determined to dig up all of the building’s secrets and notices that The Room is not on the plans – which means it’s been renovated and there are original plans out there. Henry thinks it was walled up for a reason and maybe it’s best to leave things along rather than knock down random walls. But Jane views Gavin’s desire to restore the Drake’s former glory as permission for her to uncover everything.

Jane goes to see Gavin about the original plans and notices that there are orchids throughout the building, there in tribute to the Dorans’ dead daughter, Sascha who died on that date. Gavin agrees to get the plans but asks Jane to keep an eye on Olivia since on this date she can be… self-destructive. Olivia arrives then and Jane hurries to ask her to lunch and Olivia agrees (snarking about her clothes in the process)

At lunch Olivia makes the conversation as awkward as possible, discussing Jane and Henry’s sex life, his political ambitions and eventually brings the conversation to Jane’s dreams – her visions that leave her unable to feel what is real and that the dead won’t stay dead. Odd dinner conversation and Olivia looks perturbed by it – though not because it’s rather tasteless to say such things on the anniversary of her daughter’s death.

On the way back to the Drake, Olivia drives at extreme speeds and incredibly recklessly – nearly smashing them against a concrete wall. Which is how Sascha died, against that wall and, unknown to Gavin, after writing a suicide note. Olivia never mentioned the note or that the death was suicide because Gavin had an argument with Sascha before she died and Olivia didn’t want Gavin to blame himself. She mentions that something happened to Sascha when she was 15 – something that changed her.

666 Park Avenue, Season 1, Episode 2: Murmurations

Mr. Doran opens it up by reminding us how creepy he is before we cut to Jane who is working with Tony – who is totally NOT bitter about her getting the building manager’s job over him, not at all (he may be less bitter if Jane didn't keep mentioning all the fantastic parties she gets invited to) – to clear out the Barlow’s flat after the building ate him last episode. She’s a little perturbed by how quickly Mr. Barlow left, especially not telling her anything, but she forgets that when scratching in the walls turns out to be a massive flock of birds that batters its way out and smashes a window escaping (Mr. Doran looks on, creepily). An entire flock of birds. A BIG flock of birds at that.

Tony’s more distracted trying to get the elevator fixed since it already tried to eat a woman last week and still totally not bitter. She catches Nona walking past and asks her more about the thief since Jane’s lost her grandmother’s necklace. Nona sympathises and then tells her not to mess with the birds – since they’re important to the Drake. Yes, more creepy.

Speaking of woman crushed by an elevator, Brian goes to see Louise in hospital where she’s recovering well – but they have money worries since she can’t work and the job she did have scheduled has both now cancelled her and won’t work with her again. Alexis, her assistant shows up to bring things for her and take the opportunity to get a little touchy-feely with peeping-tom Brian.

Henry and Jane go to another glitzy, ritzy party run by the totally-not-creepy Dorans who are also totally-not-grooming them. Time to see Gavin Doran’s extremely expensive property deals, enjoy the view, make out on the balcony (stay classy guys) and meet another resident – Danielle! She’s single but going on a date tomorrow and good ol’ Gavin is calling up a romantic restaurant to have them treated well. That Gavin, always selflessly thinking of others.

That night Jane realises she left some clothes in the dryer and, since there’s a thief in the building, goes down to check. At least it beats last week’s excuse of just wandering around in the middle of the night for shits and giggles. While down there she hears something and checks out the Big Menacing Door – behind which is a flat – and a dead body with blood stains on its chest. She gasps – and he sits up. And she wakes up back in her bed, but her washing basket is filled with the dried clothes.

The next day Henry reveals he’s invited the Doran’s for dinner (cooking a meal for billionaires – don’t be intimidated Jane), but she generously doesn’t kill him. She does ask Tony if there’s ever been a murder in the building – he says no and adds that she’s creepy – yeah, she and everyone else who lives there. And the exterminator arrives to deal with the birds, they find an old ventilation shaft absolutely chock full of starlings (also creepy)

In Brian’s flat he’s writing his play (no, he actually is) and trying to resist peeping into Alexis’s bedroom, even though she’s not even there. He closes the curtain to avoid distractions and Jane and the exterminator arrive to knock on walls. While talking to Jane he notices that the curtains he closed are open again – and through the window Alexis is getting changed again.

Hunting down the starlings they find that access to the ventilation shaft is behind The Door that is covered in concrete (the exterminator, wise man, decides that if someone concretes up a door, they have a good reason to do so). Jane is determined to have it knocked down. Nona sees the exterminator hammering at the door and warns him that he’ll annoy the birds. He fobs her off and she steals his rabbit foot key-ring to get a vision off it – a vision of him being killed by birds. And guess what happens that night? The birds attack him and he’s run over by a taxi. Nona’s definitely the person to ask the creepy questions. Or tomorrow’s lottery numbers

Meanwhile lonely Danielle is stood up for her date – but creepy Gavin Doran is there to console her (that’s not stalkery at all). And he has a friend he’d love for her to meet, while he stands back and watches them (creepily, of course). And later Olivia is there to take her shopping for her new date – it was a hit.

666 Park Avenue, Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot

 The pilot begins both darkly and dramatically – a concert violinist is playing in an orchestra when his fingers start bleeding. He grits his teeth and keeps playing as the cuts spread to all his fingers, continuing to play until the very end. When the performance has finished he hurries home and packs hurriedly, gathering his things and his passport into a suitcase – and smashing his violin under foot. He hurries down stairs with his bad to leave, but all the doors and the lift close, apparently on their own. And, in the silence, a phone rings. He answers the phone and there’s a man on the other end who tells him it’s time to pay his debts. He talks about a violinist with no talent who gave up everything to be the best – not anything, everything. He’s had 10 years and now his debt is due. He manages to ram down the doors and escape the building – but a single panel on the wood panelled door opens and sucks him back in. The camera pans to the house number – 999 Park Avenue, but as the light moves, the shadows spell out 666 Park Avenue

Ok, nice Faustian bargain set up. I’m impressed at how much it rammed into just that opening sequence.

Move to the day and Jane Van Veen and Henry Martin arriving to see Mr. Doran. They’re being interviewed for the role of Resident Manager of the apartment building. He’s not particularly impressed with their lack of experience and thanks them for their time, as they leave, Jane pulls out her architectural and historic preservation degrees and pulls a wow that makes Mr. Doran reconsider.

They’re given a tour of the building – 12 floors with the Dorans on the 13^th, 203 apartments, 388 residents and a brief meeting some people around – Brian a writer (who lives with his wife, Louise, a photographer, who doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of respect for his writing as a job) and Tony one of the apartment workers. And they see their apartment – which is huge and stunning. The previous manager left to “go somewhere warmer” (Arizona, honest).

Everything is their dream except Jane does see a resident, John Barlow, with a blood stained hand that bothers her. He claims he cut it, but when we see him in his room, scrubbing the hand clean, his hand is unblemished. He goes to dry his clean hand – and it’s covered in blood again, he begs someone unknown for forgiveness.

The Dorans – Gavin and Olivia Doran are ominously plotting about the new residents – about using her to get to him. The next day Jane starts her job as building manager, getting maintenance reports, talking to Gavin Doran about the state of the building – and being invited to a cocktail party and symphony by Olivia Doran (though she and Henry have some brief consternation about how they’re going to pay for a dress – they’re apparently very short on money). During her tour of the building Jane meets Nona, another resident who warns her there’s a thief in the building.

In the laundry in the basement there are several posters listing stolen items – charm bracelets, wallets etc. While there, when she’s all alone, the lights start flickering ominously. She grabs a dusty ladder to try and fix one and during the intermittent darkness a woman, a ghostly woman in white flickers towards her, closer every time the light comes on without moving in between – and disappears when the Jane fixes the light. But from the ladder she does see the dragon mosaic on the floor which impresses her. She tells Henry about it along with her plans to do some research to show her worth to Gavin Doran, since he’s not involving her in the major renovation she fears he may not have confidence in her so is determined to prove herself.

Back to John Barlow with the Lady MacBeth hands, he is reading a paper about a murdered judge. His phone rings and he tells the man on the other end – who sounds like Gavin Doran – about the murder being in all the papers and that they made a deal – John keeps his end and he gets his wife back. He’s told to check the bedroom and there she is, Mary Barlow, apparently alive and well.

Moving back to Ben and Louise and sex that doesn’t quite hit the spot for her since she’s very distracted (they could try wearing less clothes). Her assistant has just quit on her just before a major photo-shoot for Vogue. She rushes around in a panic while Ben follows her being reassuring and promising to help however he can. They have a sweet moment where she admits she knows she’s a little difficult at times and they’re all fluffy. Ben goes back to his computer to write – so far he’s managed a title and “act one” and look over his computer to play peeping Tom looking at the woman opposite. Louise does find an assistant – Alexis, the woman Brian has been peeping at.