‘Little Voice’ Episode 8 ‘Sea Change’ Review: Bess asks Ethan to leave after he breaks up with his girlfriend
Spoilers for ‘Little Voice’ Episode 8 ‘Sea Change’
Seachange, an idiomatic expression, means a profound or notable transformation. So what profound change does episode 8 of Apple TV+’s musical drama series ‘Little Voice’ portray? Lots of things. But before we get to Bess (Brittany O’Grady), let’s look at the others.
Bess’ roommate and best friend Prisha (Shalini Bathina) takes a big step. After Sundeep (Gopal Divan), the guy her parents are trying to set her up with, informs her that he loves someone else, Prisha does something unexpected: she tells him she’s gay and the two decide to fake their burgeoning relationship to pursue their own partners. But when she tells this to Ananya (Nadia Mohebban), the woman she loves, she is less than happy to be treated as a shameful secret.
Things always get worse before they get better in ‘Little Voice’, but how can their relationship continue if Prisha doesn’t find the courage to talk to her parents about her sexuality?
On the other side, we see Bess’ mother, who left Percy (Chuck Cooper), Bess, and Louie (Kevin Valdez) years ago, return. She claims that she was afraid to return knowing that she would not find forgiveness. But ultimately, after finding religion, she managed to heal herself and forgive herself. And she was going to be there for her children for as long as it took.
Bess is already in a bad state. The return of her mother is unlikely to help. And it doesn’t. In episode 7, we saw Bess find Percy drunk out of his mind at the corner of a street. He was so inebriated, he did not even recognize his daughter, shouted at her, and left. Bess was left sobbing and was comforted by Samuel (Colton Ryan) who took her to his home. But as morning arrived, Bess clearly regretted spending the night with him, even though nothing happened between them.
She left, worried for Percy and though she let Samuel help her after some initial reluctance, the fact that Percy was missing worried her. Her mother’s return only added to it and she ended up going on her drinking mode again, even during her shift at the bar. Her boss expressed concern but she only acted icily. When Benny (Phillip Johnson Richardson), her friend and manager, tells her about another gig, she snaps at him, like she has been lashing out at others.
But things went from bad to worse because Ethan (Sean Teale), the man she was in love with, arrived at the bar. He told her that he wanted to be with her and that he had left his girlfriend -- the reason why they couldn’t be together before. But Bess was in no mood and she asked Ethan to leave. But Samuel saw them together and his face registered nothing but sadness and disappointment.
So what was the profound change? The return of Bess’ mother, Prisha’s coming out of the closet? Or Ethan leaving Laila? What seems like the probable answer to this question is that the profound change over here was Bess’ steady shift from a nervous but happy woman to a person completely shattered by her responsibilities and difficulties, always a step away from a breakdown, always unhappy.
But ‘Little Voice’ is a hopeful show. Bess’ unhappiness has to be temporary. She has to find love and she has to make peace with the cold cruel world. Otherwise, what’s the point?
New episodes of ‘Little Voice’ drop every Friday, only on Apple TV+.