REGINA RUSSELL BANALI

Written by R. Lord and directed by George Ayvas, this episode stars Regina Russell Banali as Beth, a new friend and frequent guest of Lady Chatterley’s (Shauna O’Brien) frequent dinner parties. The episode opens with one such party, where Beth meets a man named Curt (Johnny Quaid) and takes him up to one of the bedrooms to have sex with him.

As Beth and Curt are going at it on the bed, Lady Chatterley secretly watches through a window, a plot device that was common on Beverly Hills Bordello (which Ayvas also wrote for), but I think this is the first time I’ve seen that happen on this show. Beth is having breakfast with Lady Chatterley the following day, and they are discussing the night before. Lady Chatterley notes that Beth appears to be “insatiable,” with a habit of hooking up with a new man each time she comes to one of Lady Chatterley’s parties. Still, she makes it clear that she doesn’t judge her as Beth is young and single so she should feel free to explore her sexuality.

Another day, Mike (Jesse Coleman) arrives at Lady Chatterley’s mansion looking for Beth. As Lady Chatterley questions him, she discovers, to her surprise, that Mike is Beth’s husband. This is where we find out that Lady Chatterley does have some morals when it comes to sex. She’s okay with consenting adults doing what they want as long as everything is out in the open; she disapproves of people deceiving others. So, she devised a plan to help Mike teach Beth a lesson.

At Lady Chatterley’s next party, Beth is surprised to see Mike chatting with another woman. She confronts him, but he tells her he knows everything about her and goes to a bedroom with that woman, Amanda (Yvette Faulkner). Lady Chatterley and Beth watch through the window as Mike has sex with Amanda.

Later, at Beth’s urging, Mike and Beth meet with Lady Chatterley together to discuss everything. Beth admits that she was hurt but also turned on by watching Mike have sex with another woman, and Mike admits that it’s not the idea that Beth has been banging other men that bothers him the most; it’s that she was doing it behind his back. So now they intend to have an honest and open marriage. And then they go to the bedroom to have sex.

As I noted before, it’s not unusual for infidelity to bring couples closer together, so this is considered a happy ending.

Banali was also good at performing in the sex scenes but was never the greatest actress. Her dialog is always delivered in a flat monotone with little range of facial expressions. A missed opportunity is that Peggy Trentini appears in this episode. She’s even given third billing in the cast after O’Brien and Banali, but she doesn’t actually do much. She plays a woman named Suzanne, who answers the door when Mike shows up at the mansion and takes him to Lady Chatterley. I guess she works there. I always thought she was smoking hot, and this was a small role that was wasted for someone like her. She should have played Amanda and had the sex scene with Coleman.

Chacebook rating: THREE STARS

Jason Majercik is selling this UNRATED 6-disc DVD set of Lady Chatterley’s Stories for $49.99. Email him at quinn_nash@hotmail.com for his softcore inventory list.