'Little Voice' Episode 4 'Love Hurts' shows Bess' vulnerability as she fails to help her father and brother
Spoilers for ‘Little Voice’ Episode 4, ‘Love Hurts’
Apple TV+’s emotive new musical series ‘Little Voice’ tugs at the heartstrings, one episode at a time. Episode 4, ‘Love Hurts’, sees the protagonist Bess (Brittany O'Grady) get an opportunity to record at a studio that has something of a legendary history to it -- it has been home to several musicians like Jimi Hendrix at one point or the other.
Her parade faces a little drizzle when the producer offers her suggestions that go against her vision for the song. Thankfully, they later see that her own way -- an empty-ish intro -- was really the best way forward. But even as the sun began shining on her, the clouds weren’t too far away. Bess wanted her father, Percy (Chuck Cooper), a blues artist with a bit of a niche following, to sing in the track as well. The producer, a fan of Percy, could not have been more excited. And then things go wrong.
Percy, for some reason, finds it unable to sing the right lines. He complains about the levels on his headset, the click track, and every other thing. He forgets the lines. And he keeps drinking while recording, getting Bess worried about him. He loses his temper with everyone and uses up most of the time she has in the studio.
But Bess’ problems are far from over. She also has her brother Louie (Kevin Valdez) to worry about. With Louie being on the spectrum, Bess can’t help but feel responsible for him all the time even when it’s his first day on a job as an usher in a theater. And her worries find validation when Louie starts losing his patience with a patron, and immediately after, creates a ruckus when he notices one of his more favorite stage actors in the audience.
And if that wasn’t enough, there was her roommate Prisha (Shalini Bathina), who has a big secret she keeps from her loving but orthodox Indian parents. Bess meets the whole family for lunch as they have an arranged marriage meeting. And while Prisha tries to casually keep delaying the inevitability of getting married, it’s only Bess who knows why. Prisha, she had discovered earlier, was gay. But she was too afraid of hurting her parents to mention that.
In all of this -- just in a span of a day -- Bess can’t help but feel hurt by her own compassion and empathy. She tries and fails to help either her father, her brother or her friend. And it’s not like she does anything wrong. She just can’t help those who don’t want to be helped. She feels overwhelmed and helpless.
‘Little Voice’ gets many things right. But the notes it hits the most appropriate are the ones around personal struggles such as these. There’s an immense amount of vulnerability in the show, either projected through Bess or just the situations that those around her are in. And in this vulnerability, the haunting music of singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (also one of the show’s co-creators) makes itself feel even more alive and even more real.
There is no telling what might happen to Bess going ahead. But for the time being, she is hurt, she is scared and she does not know what to do. If only she found courage in her own little voice.
New episodes of ‘Little Voice’ drop every Friday, only on Apple TV+.
