‘Little Voice’ Episode 9 Review: Finale ties up season as Bess ends up with Samuel, Prisha comes out to sister
Spoilers for ‘Little Voice’ Episode 9, ‘Sing What I Can’t Say’
Apple TV+’s musical drama series ‘Little Voice’ has, in the last few episodes, seen a lot of conflicts. Bess (Brittany O’Grady) losing her cool with her friends and family. Samuel (Colton Ryan) being unable to get Bess to see him the way he wants to be seen. Ethan (Sean Teale) caught between his commitment to his girlfriend and his feelings for Bess. Prisha (Shalini Bathina) unable to tell her family that she’s gay and that driving a wedge between her and Ananya (Nadia Mohebban). Bess’ father Percy (Chuck Cooper) going missing after falling off the wagon. Louie (Kevin Valdez) and Bess trying to cope with the return of their mother.
But the season 1 finale, ‘Sing What I Can’t Say’, neatly ties up most of this. On an outing with their mother, Bess and Louie are shooting the latter’s theater vlog in a public space. Bess, having taken care of her autistic brother for years, knows how to react to his annoyance and seemingly-erratic behavior. But their mother, who has been away for most of their lives, does not. Ultimately, she ends up slapping Louie.
She begs for forgiveness and tells them why she had left in the first place. She said that she was very young when she had them and she did not know how to deal with Louie’s condition. One day, similar to this day, she ended up slapping him. She made him promise that he would never tell anyone -- and he never did -- but she couldn’t live with the guilt and consequently, left them. Bess said that she wouldn’t forgive her ever. Louie, however, forgave her but neither wanted anything to do with her again and this time, they left.
In the meantime, Prisha finally opens up to her sister about being gay. Her sister lashes out at her, saying that she did not want to know this and now she would have to keep a secret from her parents. Prisha tries to explain that it’s her truth, but her sister does not even try to understand. Later, Prisha tells Bess that she is the sister she chose and Bess says the same.
One of the more touching scenes in the episode is when Bess and Louie go to the old age home she sings at. There, during a performance of a song from ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’, one of the residents, who was a minor dancer in the first stage performance of the play, and who had so far been completely catatonic, finds life in Bess’ voice and exhibits traces of lucidity and even moves her hands in a dancey way.
Finally, Bess decides to perform at Saint C’s, the bar where she works. Before the performance, Prisha and Ananya make up and kiss but they aren’t the only ones. Just as she’s about to get on the stage, Samuel kisses Bess and she reciprocates. The two, despite their complicated relationship so far, seemed at ease now. And during the performance, in spite of a power failure, they don’t stop singing -- they sing the titular song, which is also the show’s intro theme. As they are singing, we see Ethan enter the bar and stare at Bess on stage but she doesn’t notice him.
The episode, and the season, ends adorably. We see Louie getting a surprise from his flatmates -- who are all on the spectrum. They reenact one of Louie’s most favorite plays, ‘Hamilton’, and cast Louie as Alexander Hamilton.
‘Little Voice’ Season 1 has been an emotional journey. The show takes you to both highs and lows but it doesn’t overdo it. There is a quiet vulnerability in the show’s writing, the performances, and especially the songs (composed by Sara Bareilles, the show’s co-creator). And this vulnerability lends the show a degree of authenticity that often lacks in dramas that deal with the mundanity of life. Hopefully, Apple TV+ will renew this show and give us more of this authenticity that we always need.
‘Little Voice’ is available for viewing on Apple TV+.