'Little Voice' Episode 5 Preview: Bess’ song should turn out amazing even without her father featuring in it
Apple TV+’s emotive new musical series ‘Little Voice’ in episode 4 revealed something important about Bess (Brittany O'Grady) and why she is the way she is. When Bess gets an opportunity to record at a studio that has something of a legendary history to it she feels elated.
But her parade gets drenched in rain when her father, Percy (Chuck Cooper), a blues artist with a bit of a niche following, comes along to sing in the track as well, and things don’t go as she planned. Percy, for some reason, is 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.
It would seem that Bess and Percy share some of the stage insecurities they have. It goes to show that while both of them are uniquely talented in their own ways, the fear of rejection runs in their blood.
So, what can we expect from episode 5 of ‘Little Voice’?
For starters, maybe we will be able to see how Bess’s song turns out. With or without her father’s parts, it should still sound amazing. Partly also because the music of singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (also one of the show’s co-creators) is hauntingly good.
But in terms of other things, we might explore Bess and her best friend and roommate Prisha’s (Shalini Bathina) dynamics. Prisha has a big secret she keeps from her loving but orthodox Indian parents. She’s gay. In episode 4, 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.
Despite how much she wants to help Prisha overcome this, she isn’t able to. Is this likely to cause their relationship to sour? One would hope not. And finally, will we see Bess move forward with her love interest Ethan (Sean Teale)? As much as she is infatuated with Ethan, she knows that he has a girlfriend with whom he lives. But will her obvious attraction get in the way of that?
There is also the question of Samuel (Colton Ryan), the man who is actually better suited to her. Samuel challenges Bess and often gets on her nerves. But in many ways, that's what she needs. Not someone who mollycoddles her or someone who puts her on a pedestal. Rather, she needs someone who complements her musicality and is blunt with her when she's in a conundrum.
Bess’ life is filled to the brim with chaos. She’s constantly putting out little fires everywhere. So much so that she barely ever has time to actually think about what she wants from life. Maybe we will see Bess get some semblance of control as the series progresses.
New episodes of ‘Little Voice’ drop every Friday, only on Apple TV+.