Ghost Light
As these episodes are released weekly on AppleTV, do be aware of spoilers within each recap! Episode 7 of Little Voice begins with Bess waking up in the morning and realizing her notebook is gone. Angry, she turns the apartment inside out before awkwardly learning it’s Prisha’s brunch party and her entire family show up. Just a little bit awkward, Bess quickly retreats and gets dressed in her room. However, she continues to wallow in self-pity. That night, Bess’ Father arrives and gives her some encouraging words of wisdom surrounding the song and music video she’s recently put together. A call from Louie though brings her racing right back to the school again. Once there, Elaine tries to encourage her to stop mothering Louie and let him deal with his own problems but she shouts, telling her she doesn’t get it and promises to return again if he rings. That night, Bess uses inspiration from her life to start singing a song called “Ghost Lights.” Mid-song Louie rings but this time she decides not to answer. Instead, she continues on but she starts experiencing flashes from her past while she sings. It’s actually a really nice moment and one of the highlights of the series. In the morning, Louie’s vlog starts to pick up while Bess’ video hits 3000 views. Prisha, Benny and Samuel all show up and wish her well before heading out together to try and bag a record deal. They jump between different labels and Bess’ initial enthusiasm is dampened by a wave of disappointing auditions and rejections. However, she keeps fighting and the final producer is clearly impressed with her. Unfortunately he echoes what everyone else has said and it’s a valid criticism – what genre is Bess trying to break into? How do they market her against everyone else in the music industry? Bess takes the criticism on the chin and tells Jeremy he’s a bad person on the way out the door. On the way home she finds her Father drinking heavily and pushes her away. As Samuel comforts her in the wake of her Father stumbling off, he takes her home and holds her close. Bess’ character development finally moves in a positive direction this episode as she doesn’t cave in the wake of the music producers in the office. However, it does also beg the question of quite where the conflict is in this series. Every single character bends over backwards for Bess without giving her actions a second thought. The pockets of drama here feel contrived too, with particular emphasis on the notebook issue which is basically resolved within half an episode. However, there’s still plenty of time for this one to deliver a compelling final act.
