#the very beginnings of their relationship vs one of the last real moments of normalcy in the life they made

[retro-plasma]

thinking abt them........

[valerie-jean-louise]

The Ethan and Samuel of it All: My Thoughts on the Little Voice Love Triangle

Disclaimer: This is SUPER LONG (in my opinion.) Sorry about that. This is also my first time writing out my opinion about a show on tumblr. I’m a tumblr consumer not a creator, but I had the time to sit and write, so I thought “what the hell?” Okay, here it goes…

First off, Ethan. I’m hearing that people think Ethan is “toxic” or “unhealthy”. I don’t really think he’s toxic, he’s just not in the right place to be starting a new relationship with anyone at the moment. What bugs me is that he let things develop with Bess without being upfront with her about being in a very serious relationship. At first you can tell that Bess pursues him more, but then after bonding a bit during that first evening I can tell that his attitude changes and it goes from just not getting around to telling Bess about Laila to hiding it from her. He then appears to have a change of heart and invites Laila to see Bess perform, although he arrives alone and seems to be coming on to Bess before Laila gets there, then surprise! Here’s my live-in girlfriend who I’ve known for like a decade and who moved to another country to be with me.

Ethan is such a nice guy that he can’t handle hurting Laila and I know he doesn’t want to hurt Bess too, but his inability to deal with the situation that he’s helped build up is just hurting all of them. He is unintentionally playing mind games with Bess and probably Laila too. From what I can tell of his character he is most likely acting strange and pulling away from Laila without her knowing why. Bess is also at fault here. At first she pursued Ethan, thinking that he was single,  but once she knew he had a girlfriend she should have backed away. They made their “friend oath” in episode 2, but by the end of the night they both seemed a bit unsure about it. After working on the music video Bess still didn’t want to stick to the “friends” deal but Ethan should have stepped up and either spelled it out for Bess that he really can’t give her anything else but friendship or have broken up with Laila right away. Instead he makes a promise to Bess, giving her hope for a future relationship, then trails her along. It did seem like Ethan was back on track with being friends until he watched Bess and Samuel dance. His whole demeanor changed after that. It’s the usual I’m cool with us not actually being together, but you can’t be with anyone else but me situation. Which is kinda a jerk move when he has a girlfriend.

I feel like there is a connection between them, but it’s also a bit on the surface and isolated from their real lives. Ethan is infatuated with Bess and her music, almost putting her on a pedestal. He hasn’t seen Bess at her worst and I don’t think Bess has shared too much about the hardships in her life. Bess is Ethan’s new beautiful and mysterious and creative infatuation compared to the familiarity of nice Laila (who is also beautiful) and her amazing cookies. Ethan has become Bess’ new form of escapism from dealing with the many responsibilities and issues she has in her life. I just don’t know if it would last in the real world when all the issues and demons are exposed.

Now for my dear Samuel. I feel that if Bess hadn’t met Ethan first, things would be a bit different between her and Samuel. You can tell in episode 1 that they are a little intrigued by each other and in episode 2 when they run into each other at the bar they both give each other looks that screams “interested”, especially when Samuel complements Bess’ music. But that was when Bess barely knew Ethan and then found out that he had a girlfriend, so she seemed more open to other possibilities. That changes after episode 3 when her and Ethan fail at their “friend pact” within hours of making it. So Samuel gets friend zoned.

Samuel is also a really nice guy, observant, truthful, he tells it as it is, has integrity, and would go the extra mile for any of his friends which I feel makes it hard for someone like Bess to realize that he has feelings for her. He can straight talk about everything except for the fact that he has feelings for Bess (luckily Prisha spells that one out for her.) It’s not until Bess starts acting out and pushes Samuel away when he tries to be there for her that he can’t help but burst out that he “f*cking cares” about her. Which I see as him saying he not only cares as a friend but as more than that because it’s followed up with him saying that she’s seeking out Ethan because she doesn’t believe she deserves to be cared about, that’s why she is pursuing someone that can’t care for her the way she might want. (Although Samuel has only observed the looks Bess and Ethan shared during the filming and doesn’t know that Ethan’s been making and breaking promises to Bess, which makes that scene even more heartbreaking.)

Once Bess had time to look at the destruction and pain she caused to the people in her life and came out of the dark place that was heartbreak over Ethan’s betrayal, her and Samuel were able to get back to some sense of normalcy. I’m assuming that she kept her distance from the storage space while her, Samuel, and Benny bonded during the auditions week. From the very beginning you could tell that Samuel had already forgiven Bess and was back to caring and supporting her as much as he can, while Bess was definitely feeling ashamed for how she acted toward him and wanted to take things back.

At the end of episode 7 Samuel was so proud of Bess. She put her and her music out there to be analyzed and criticized and then she told off Jeremy. (I love Luke Kirby btw. It sucks that he plays a skeezball in this.) After leaving the last audition they must have made plans to hangout. They were adorable. Making each other laugh, flirting, and constantly bumping arms even though they had an entire sidewalk. Things were looking up for them and their relationship, but Bess’ life is complicated and they run into Percy. The trauma of the event could send Bess spiraling way out of control and Samuel knows this. He’s so observant and sees all the little cracks in Bess so he knows if she pushes him away again that this could end really badly so he stands his ground to be there for her. I think since the last spiral Bess has learned that she needs to let Samuel in and puts down her walls to let him care for her in her time of need because he has been there supporting her this whole time even if she wasn’t paying attention.

A little extra thoughts about Bess (and Samuel):

Bess reacts to how people react to her music, because she is her music. So she falls for Ethan who fawns over her music and just keeps saying that it’s great and he loves it. But Samuel is a musician himself and will tell her that he loves a song, but also gives her his notes on something that might make it even better. You can tell by how she reacts to Samuel that she’s not used to feedback and criticism. This mirrors their actual relationships. Bess has Ethan in her dreamland relationship, while Samuel is there when the real world shit hits the fan. It’s fairy tale vs. reality.

Bess is also a very serious person. I mean, the girl has a lot on her plate, which can be super stressful and really bog a person down. You can hear it in her first songs we hear. As Samuel says “it’s got a lot of feeling.” Samuel helps lighten up her life and brings some fun into it. He helps her overcome her performance anxiety (Benny & Prisha too!) He lifts her spirits like when he comes out and plays with her in the park. In her mind this was just another job for her to make money, but Samuel makes it fun. It’s the film trope of a young person stressed out with too much responsibility on their shoulders that they don’t know the last time they just let go and had a good time until someone comes into their life and shows them a way.

Bess also has some demons that only Samuel (and sometimes Prisha) seems to be noticing. His expression when she started drinking at his apartment. The way he questioned her why she was suddenly doubting herself and the music video. Noticing right away that Jeremy was a creep. (The one OOC thing he did was leaving the bar when Bess was drunk, but the writers obviously did that to create that storyline. I mean, what musician leaves a gig without his equipment?) Samuel doesn’t want to just be the fun friend and musical collaborator, he wants to be partners with Bess which means taking on the hardships with all the good.

My thoughts on the end of the season and what could be next????

So if you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m Team Samuel. I feel like they could be endgame if the show runners get to properly conclude the show. Or Bess will end up being single in the end with Samuel as her friend and bandmate, still leaving the possibility for them open. I wrote this a couple days after episode 7 so the big question for this week is how will Bess feel when the dust settles and she runs into Ethan. Will Ethan have gotten the courage to break things off with Laila and is so could it be too little too late? Will Bess use Samuel as practice for letting someone in and turn and run back to Ethan? Will Bess realize that Samuel is actually the guy she is supposed to be with? Will she say f*ck it and friend zone them both? Will Bess pick Ethan, but then have him hurt her again? Or will they leave it all on a cliffhanger and hope for a second season to play it out more?

In my fantasy world she’ll just wake up in the morning next to Samuel and realize that he is the one she’s supposed to be with, but realistically it looks like things are about to get crazy. I could see her spiraling out of control again and making a move on Ethan in a moment of weakness, Ethan allowing it to happen (probably not really knowing what is going on with Bess) and so in Bess’ mind they have chosen each other. I feel like Samuel has to find out somehow, hurting the poor guy. But it turns out Ethan still can’t get the nerve up to break things off with Laila and Bess is hurt again. She tries to hide the pain of more heartbreak by Ethan from Samuel, but he’s a smart guy and figures out what is going on. The season ends on a cliffhanger: will Samuel forgive Bess and will Bess actually move on from Ethan? Or will Samuel not be able to forgive Bess? Could Ethan finally break things off with Laila and come running to Bess? Would she go back to him then? With only 2 episodes left I could totally see a cliffhanger in our futures.